On the agenda: Fountain Hills Strategic Planning Advisory Commission — colocation (Aug 27)

NOTICE OF MEETING
REGULAR MEETING
STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION

Chairman Patrick Garman
Vice Chairman Geoff Yazzetta
Commissioner Polly Bonnett
Commissioner Randy Crader
TIME:
WHEN:
WHERE:

Commissioner Bernie Hoenle
Commissioner Joseph Reyes
Commissioner Paul Smith

4:00 PM - REGULAR MEETING
DOORS OPEN 15 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE START OF THE MEETING.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2025
FOUNTAIN HILLS COUNCIL CHAMBERS
16705 E. AVENUE OF THE FOUNTAINS, FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ

REQUEST TO COMMENT
The public is welcome to participate in Commission meetings.
TO SPEAK TO A CONSENT OR REGULAR AGENDA ITEM, complete a Request to Comment card and hand it
to the Clerk prior to discussion of that item. Include the agenda item NUMBER on which you wish to
comment. A separate submission is required for each agenda item. Request to Comment cards will not be
accepted once the Commission deliberations begin. Submit a Request to Comment card prior to a public
hearing agenda item.
TO COMMENT ON A CONSENT OR REGULAR AGENDA ITEM IN WRITING ONLY, complete a Request to
Comment card, indicating that it is a written comment, check the box on whether you are FOR or AGAINST
a consent or regular agenda item, and hand it to the Clerk prior to discussion on that item. A separate
submission is required for each agenda item.
TO SPEAK TO CALL TO THE PUBLIC, complete a Request to Comment card and hand it to the Clerk. Speakers
will be allowed three contiguous minutes to address the Commission. Verbal comments should be directed
through the Presiding Officer and not to individual Commissioners.
This Request to Comment card, and any information you write on it, is a public record subject to public
disclosure.

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1.

CALL TO ORDER

2.

ROLL CALL

3.

STATEMENT OF PARTICIPATION
Anyone wishing to address the Commission regarding items listed on the agenda or under “Call to the
Public” should fill out a Request to Comment card located in the back of the Council Chambers and hand it to
the clerk prior to consideration of that agenda item. Once the agenda item has started, late requests to
speak cannot be accepted. When your name is called, please approach the podium, speak into the
microphone, and state your name and if you are a resident for the public record. Please limit your comments
to three minutes. It is the policy of the Commission to not comment on items brought forth under “Call to
the Public.” However, staff can be directed to report back to the Commission at a future date or to schedule
items raised for a future Commission agenda. It is also requested that applause be kept to a minimum to
avoid disruption of the meeting, to maintain decorum, and provide for an equal and uninterrupted
presentation.

4.

CALL TO THE PUBLIC
Pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.01(H), public comment is permitted (not required) on matters NOT listed on the
agenda. Any such comment (i) must be within the jurisdiction of the Council, and (ii) is subject to reasonable
time, place, and manner restrictions. The Council will not discuss or take legal action on matters raised
during Call to the Public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action. At the
conclusion of the Call to the Public, individual councilmembers may (i) respond to criticism, (ii) ask staff to
review a matter, or (iii) ask that the matter be placed on a future Council agenda.

5.

REPORTS BY COMMISSIONERS AND TOWN MANAGER

6.

CONSENT AGENDA
a.

7.

8.

CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of the Minutes from the Regular
Meeting held on May 28, 2025, and the Work Session held on June 25, 2025.

REGULAR AGENDA
a.

DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Post Workshop Way Forward.

b.

DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Implementation of Current the Strategic Plan.

c.

DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Future Agenda Topics.

d.

COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIRMAN

e.

UPDATE: Next Regular Meeting is Scheduled for September 24, 2025.

ADJOURNMENT

Dated this 20th day of August, 2025.

Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant/Deputy Town Clerk
The Town of Fountain Hills endeavors to make all public meetings accessible to persons with disabilities. Please call (480) 816-5100 (voice) or (800) 3678939 (TDD) 48-hours prior to the meeting to request reasonable accommodation to participate in the meeting or to obtain agenda information in large
print format. Supporting documentation and staff reports furnished to the Council with this agenda are available for review in the Clerk's Office.

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ITEM 6.a.

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date:
Meeting Type:

Submitting Department:
Prepared by:
Staff Contact Information:

8/27/2025
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Regular Meeting
Administration
Angela Espiritu, Executive Assistant/Deputy Town Clerk
Phone: 480-816-5107
Email: [email protected]

Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language)
CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of the Minutes from the Regular
Meeting held on May 28, 2025, and the Work Session held on June 25, 2025.
Staff Summary (background)
The intent of approving meeting minutes is to ensure an accurate account of the discussion
and action that took place at the meeting for archival purposes. Approved minutes are
placed on the town's website and maintained as permanent records in compliance with
state law
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
N/A
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Staff recommends approval of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held on May 28, 2025,
and the minutes of the Work Session held on June 25, 2025.
Suggested Motion
Move to APPROVE the Minutes of the Regular Meeting held on May 28, 2025, and the
Minutes of the Work Session held on June 25, 2025, as presented.
FISCAL IMPACT
Fiscal Impact:
Budget Reference:
Funding Source:
ATTACHMENTS
1.
SUMMARY MINUTES AND VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT 2025.0528
2.
06252025.SPAC. SUMMARY AND VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT

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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SUMMARY MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION
May 28, 2025
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Patrick Garman called to order the meeting of the Strategic Planning Advisory
Commission at 4:00 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL
Members Present: Chairman Patrick Garman; Vice Chairman Geoff Yazzetta;
Commissioner Polly Bonnett; Commissioner Randy Crader; Commissioner Bernie
Hoenle; Commissioner Paul Smith; Commissioner Joseph Reyes
Staff Present: Deputy Town Manager David Trimble; Executive Assistant Angela PadgettEspiritu; Public Works Director Justin Weldy; Town Engineer David Janover; Assistant
Town Engineer Andy Whisler
3. CALL TO THE PUBLIC
No one from the public spoke.
4. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Appoint a Commission Chairman.
MOVED BY Commissioner Paul Smith to REAPPOINT Chairman Patrick Garman, to the
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission, SECONDED BY Commissioner Joseph Reyes
Vote: 7–0 | motion passed unanimously
5. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Appoint a Commission Vice Chairman.
MOVED BY Commissioner Joesph Reyes to REAPPOINT Vice Chairman Geoff Yazzetta, to
the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission, SECONDED BY Commissioner Paul Smith
Vote: 7–0 | motion passed unanimously
6. REPORTS BY COMMISSIONERS AND TOWN MANAGER
•

Deputy Town Manager Trimble:
Reported that Town Manager Goodwin is currently on a business trip in North Carolina,
serving as a panelist for the Parks and Recreation Gold Medal Awards. As a former
winner, the Town’s representative is invited to judge future rounds.

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•

Commissioner Crader:
No report.

•

Commissioner Smith:
No report.

•

Commissioner Hoenle:
Shared that he attended a meeting focused on a new regional plan to improve shade
and reduce heat for public health, involving multiple sectors. He noted the Board
approved hiring a realtor for a property sale, with follow-up expected. He also
congratulated Chairman Garman on his daughter being named valedictorian and his
wife receiving a peer recognition award.

•

Vice Chairman Yazzetta:
No report.

•

Commissioner Reyes:
No report.

•

Commissioner Bonnett:
No report.

7. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Approval of the Minutes of the Regular
Meeting of April 23, 2025.
MOVED BY Vice Chairman Geoff Yazzetta to APPROVE the Minutes of the April 23, 2025,
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Meeting, SECONDED BY Commissioner Paul
Smith
Vote: 7–0 | motion passed unanimously
8. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Infrastructure Pillar Strategy of Future Strategic
Plan with Justin Weldy, Public Works Director.

•
•

•
•

Water & Sewer:
EPCOR plans to replace a frequently failing water main on Palisades; design is complete,
funding pending.
The Sanitary District has no major offsite projects planned; wastewater is recycled for
golf courses and limited park use.
Gas & Electricity:
Southwest Gas is replacing aging lateral gas lines in Sunridge Canyon.
SRP's infrastructure is generally sound, with isolated underground cable upgrades in
progress.

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•
•
•

•
•

•
•

•
•
•

•
•
•

Roads & Sidewalks:
Road reconstruction is underway in multiple neighborhoods based on condition
assessments.
Sidewalk infill projects are improving pedestrian access, supported by federal grants and
local contributions.
New road striping and design changes are improving bike safety and calming traffic.
Irrigation & Drainage:
Aging irrigation systems in medians and parks are failing and expensive to repair, with
61,000 feet of mainlines needing attention.
Drainage systems, including dams and washes, are under pressure; maintenance is
costly but essential for public safety.
Parks & Connectivity:
Walkability and park improvements continue, including projects like Panorama Park and
Ashbrook Wash trail access.
Trail connections are being integrated into drainage maintenance plans where feasible.
Funding & Capacity Constraints:
Road maintenance backlog remains a major challenge. Long-term, sustainable funding is
critical.
State expenditure limits restrict how much the town can spend each year, even when
funding is available.
Utility coordination, contractor capacity, and project timelines add complexity to scaling
infrastructure efforts.
Future Growth & Planning:
Downtown infrastructure is mostly private and in fair condition; no major upgrades
needed soon.
State land or external development would require infrastructure expansion but would
be developer-funded.
No new municipal buildings are planned, though a fire station may be considered if
growth increases in certain areas.

9. UPDATE: Commission Workgroups
No update.
10. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Future Agenda Topics.
Included in agenda item 11
11. COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Chairman Garman announced that the June meeting will be a planning workshop to
finalize two to three priorities under each of the five strategic pillars. This will prepare
the commission for next year, when specific tasks, responsibilities, and timelines will be
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assigned. He encouraged members to review past meeting minutes ahead of the
session. These comments also concluded agenda items 10 and 11.
12. NEXT MEETING DATE: Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
13. ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Patrick Garman adjourned the meeting of the Strategic Planning Advisory
Commission at 5:13 PM
MOVED BY Vice Chairman Geoff Yazzetta to ADJOURN the Meeting of May 28, 2025,
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Meeting, SECONDED BY Commissioner Paul
Smith

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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

Post-Production File

Town of Fountain Hills
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Regular Meeting Minutes
May 28, 2025

Transcription Provided By:
eScribers, LLC
* * * * *
Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not
be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
* * * * *

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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

GARMAN: All right. It's 1600. I'm going to call to order this Fountain Hills Strategic
Planning Advisory Commission meeting for May 28th, 2025.
Angela, can you do roll call for us, please?
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Yes. Thank you.
Chair Garman?
GARMAN: Here.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Vice Chair Yazzetta?
YAZZETTA: Here.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Commissioner Crader?
CRADER: Here.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Commissioner Hoenle?
HOENLE: Here.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Commissioner Bonnett?
BONNETT: Here.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Commissioner Reyes?
REYES: Here.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Commissioner Smith?
SMITH: Here.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: All members are present.
GARMAN: Great. Thanks, everyone, for your attendance today. So moving down
quickly to agenda item number 3 is call to the public.
Angela, do we have any -PADGETT-ESPIRITU: We do not.
GARMAN: -- submitted? Anybody in the audience?
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: No.
GARMAN: This is like a rock concert today for our commission. All right. So having seen
none or heard none, we're going to go on down to agenda item 4, which is for
consideration and possible action, so appointing the commission chair and vice chair. So
we'll start off with chair, going by Roberts Rules. Does anybody have anything,
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

discussion topics or a discussion?
SMITH: I would like to see Patrick. I would like to see you continue on this year. This is
a pivotal year, this year and next year, for the agenda that we've put together. So I
would like to see you. So is that a motion that I need to make?
GARMAN: Well -SMITH: Okay.
GARMAN: -- let's see if anybody else has any comments.
Hearing none. Okay. Are there any motions on the table?
No?
SMITH: I'll make that motion, then.
GARMAN: You motion that Patrick Garman -SMITH: Yeah, stay -GARMAN: -- continue as chair?
SMITH: -- and continue as chair.
GARMAN: Is there a -- I heard a second to my -REYES: And I second.
GARMAN: Thanks, Joe.
There's a second.
REYES: (Indiscernible) what you said, but that's okay.
GARMAN: Okay. The motion on the table is for me, Patrick Garman, to continue as
chair. Any discussion on that?
All right. We can move onto a vote. All in favor say aye.
ALL: Aye.
GARMAN: Any opposed?
The motion carries.
Angela, I got the gavel for one more year. Thank you.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: All right. Thank you.
GARMAN: So we're going to do this all over again. We're going to move down to vice
chair. Any comments about the vice chair before we move to a motion?
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

Hearing none.
REYES: I have a comment.
GARMAN: Okay. Joe?
REYES: This is the general (indiscernible) in here, and that's not the reason that he's
done a really good job, as you have, Pat. So it would be my honor to nominate him for
continuing as the deputy here in the next year or two or three, or as long as you want to
stay.
GARMAN: So -REYES: So I make a motion to that effect.
GARMAN: Perfect.
So I hear a motion to keep -By the way, is that okay?
YAZZETTA: Yes, it is.
GARMAN: All right. For Geoff to continue as the vice chair, do I hear a second?
SMITH: I second it.
GARMAN: All right. So we have the motion. Any other discussions about Geoff
continuing as vice chair?
Hearing none. All those in favor say aye.
ALL: Aye.
GARMAN: Any opposed?
Motion carries. Geoff Yazzetta -YAZZETTA: That's me.
GARMAN: -- will continue as vice chair -Thanks. Thank you very much, by the way.
YAZZETTA: Thank you.
GARMAN: -- will continue as chair for another year as well. We're cruising today.
Thank you all very much, by the way.
Okay. Reports by commissioners and the town manager. So maybe we'll start all the
way to our right. Anything for the group today?
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

TRIMBLE: Nothing today, Chairman. I'm just happy to be filling in again for Rachael,
who is on a business trip in North Carolina.
GARMAN: Business trip in North Carolina?
TRIMBLE: She is doing a -- she's on a judgment panel for the Parks and Recreation gold
medal winners. So the town won that award several years back, and I think when you
win it, you're then on the panel for the next round of competition if you will. So she's
on that for another year or two, and so that's where it is this year, out in North Carolina.
GARMAN: Awesome. All right. Thank you.
Randy?
CRADER: Nothing from me. Thanks.
GARMAN: Nothing? All right.
Paul?
SMITH: Nothing.
GARMAN: Bernie?
HOENLE: Okay. I attended the Zoom meeting for the Arizona Alliance for Livable
Communities, and they had a guest speaker on that was in charge of the heat office for
Phoenix and the valley. And they have a relatively new plan that's been approved based
on health of citizens for shade and shade improvement, which sort of tags along pretty
well with the article in today's Fountain Hills Times about tree management and
responsibilities. So it was very interesting the way it went through. All the different
connections are with Department of Transportation, with the health community, with
disabilities. All kinds of different things to look at, more opportunities for a healthy
environment and shade as part of that structure that reduces the heat, which it just
compounds. So it was really an interesting presentation.
The second thing is, as being on the Board, we did approve the agent to negotiate with
realtors for the sale of the property. Again, that was posted in the Times. And I'm sure
if they haven't contacted John Wesley, they will have shortly because there's some
things they need to talk about. So that's moving along.
And then finally -- sure, everybody may have heard about it, but you may not have -Page 5 of 31

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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

congratulations to the proud father of the valedictorian for the Fountain Hills High
School class, Mr. Garman and his daughter, Kit, and then also, his wife, Kim, received
recognition for the year as from her peers with a certificate and a check from Golden
Eagle Education Foundation. So congratulations to the award-winning family.
GARMAN: Thanks, Bernie. As you can tell, I married well. That's the secret.
[LAUGHTER]
GARMAN: Married up.
Yes. Go ahead, Bernie.
HOENLE: That's it.
GARMAN: Thank you.
Geoff?
YAZZETTA: Nothing to report. Thank you.
GARMAN: Joe?
REYES: Nothing to report.
GARMAN: Nothing?
Polly?
BONNETT: Nothing to report.
GARMAN: Nope.
Angela, anything for the group?
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: No -GARMAN: All right.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: -- nothing to report.
GARMAN: Thank you.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Thank you.
GARMAN: All right. Great. Okay. We're going to move on to agenda item 7, which is
for consideration and possible action. It would be the approval of the minutes from our
regular meeting on April 23rd, 2025. Does anybody have any comments about the
meeting minutes from last month?
Nope. Any motions on the table as far as the minutes from last month?
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

YAZZETTA: Move to approve.
GARMAN: All right. Do I hear a second?
SMITH: I second it.
GARMAN: Thanks, Paul.
So just to make sure I get this in our verbatim transcript, thank you very much for doing
the minutes every month. And there was a lot of talking last month.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: There was. You guys were very busy.
GARMAN: But thank you very much, Angela.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: You're welcome.
GARMAN: All right. So we're going to move on to a vote. So all those in favor of
approving the minutes as written from last month say aye.
ALL: Aye.
GARMAN: Any opposed?
None opposed. It's unanimous. Thank you.
Angela, the minutes are approved.
Moving down to the main attraction on our agenda today, agenda item 8. We're going
to talk about infrastructure today. If you remember, we have five pillars in our draft as
we're creating the strategic plan for this year that we identified last year. This year,
we're going through each one of those pillars and talking about strategies or priorities -excuse me -- priorities underneath each pillar. I've told you all before this, this story
that, you know, I was told a lot younger, if you start out small, things get big really quick.
If you start out big, things can get unmanageable really quick. So we tried to start out
small with the five pillars, and we're going to try to identify some priorities, you know,
one, two, three priorities underneath each one of those pillars. Today, we're talking
about something extremely important to a town, which is infrastructure. So Mr. Weldy
is here from the town to talk to us about infrastructure. We can -- he's going to give us
a presentation. If you're okay, we can ask you questions. If you allow me to be the
traffic cop, we can actually ask each other questions, too. A wide-ranging discussion is
encouraged because this is an important topic.
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

All right. Mr. Weldy, over to you.
WELDY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Vice Chair, and commission members.
Infrastructure, especially in a small community like this, which is somewhat isolated, is
important and critical for its survival. Fountain Hills is a little bit unique but not entirely
unique in regards to its potable water is privately owned by EPCOR USA, and the
Sanitary District is a separate entity. Each of those other two utilities, we work hand-inhand with day and day. We're going to start off by discussing policies, plans, and
procedures. They absolutely matter, and that is what guides us in our daily practice in
the decisions we make along with the council, the commission, and other boards, and
the town manager. Behind me are two individuals that are key components and play a
vital role in this. It's the town engineer, David Janover, and the assistant town engineer,
Andy Whisler. The next few comments I'm going to make are not on behalf of the other
utilities but rather my knowledge to date of what they are doing because we're going to
talk about the stuff that we know, and then we're going to get into a PowerPoint and
discuss some other things.
Let's start first with EPCOR USA. EPCOR USA, currently, in their capital plan, in their
three-to-five-year range, shows the replacement of the water main on Palisades from
Shea to Sunridge Drive. I'll give you a minute to think about where that is. That is a
large -- or a rather lengthy project. It is at design. It's the construction and the money
that they need to deal with next.
Yes, Mr. Chairman?
GARMAN: Is that the one that's broken a couple times on the -- right? It's between
Shea and going down Palisades that ruptured not too long ago, part of it?
WELDY: Mr. Chairman, that is correct. So this particular section between Sunridge and
Shea has fractured about eight times over the, probably, last seven or eight years. More
often than not, because of the location of it in the southbound travel lanes and the fact
that there are no shortcuts, you'll know when it's broken because you'll get a road
closed at Palomino/Eagle Ridge Drive or one further down at Shea that directs you
around if it's in the northbound lane. They're working on that. Again, it's at 100 percent
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

design. What they need to work on is the funding for that, and that's a critical piece of
infrastructure for a couple of reasons. One, it is the primary source of treated water
that is pushed to the tanks in Fountain Hills. A little bit of history on that. So the
treatment facility that pulls water from the CAP on Shea around 97th [sic], I believe it is,
in that area, that water is pushed up to the treatment plant at Palatial Estates. They
treat it there, and then they push it out to the individual zones. They refer to them as
zones, but to us, they are the tanks on the hill. And that line right there, more often
than not, when they have a catastrophic failure as a result of that overnight push, they
historically pull in the daytime, treat during the afternoon and evening hours. When
they've reached their water quality standards, they then push that water to the tanks
through different zones.
The next one is the Sanitary District. They currently -Yes, sir?
GARMAN: Sorry. I'm raising my hand. That cost is borne by the town government, or is
it EPCOR?
WELDY: Mr. Chairman, the cost is by EPCOR -GARMAN: Right.
WELDY: -- and then the ratepayers.
GARMAN: Right.
WELDY: So they have a CIP, three-to-five-year, and then an even longer plan. Each one
of those plans requires approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission on how
much they can charge the ratepayers and when.
And I'll take just a short breather right there for anybody that might have any other
questions about that one.
Moving onto the Fountain Hills Sanitary District. They currently do not have any large
CIP projects outside of the perimeters of their wastewater treatment plant and their
Advanced Water Treatment Plant. For reference, the wastewater treatment plant is on
Pepperwood, and that is where all of the waste comes in and is properly treated. The
lion's share of that water is then pushed up Saguaro to the Advanced Water Treatment
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MAY 28, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

Facility that is on Kiwanis. It is then brought to an acceptable level just below drinking,
and there are options from there. Either the water is pushed to the recharge wells, or it
is pushed to their paying customers, which are the golf courses and to a lesser extent,
the Town of Fountain Hills for some of their parks. Again, they don't have any large offsite infrastructure. They just continue to do maintenance and repairs when necessary.
I'm certain if they have a relatively large capital project, the town will be involved in that
planning and the plan review. Currently, we don't have any in the horizon.
The next one, and most people really don't think about this, is Southwest Gas because
there's not a lot of gas lines in Fountain Hills. But I will let you know that they do have a
multiyear plan approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission as part of an
agreement to replace some Drisco pipe. Most of that Drisco pipe in is laterals, and the
areas that they are concentrating on right now are the laterals that service the singlefamily homes in Sunridge Canyon. They're doing them one at a time based on their
observations and evaluations and the date of construction that that Drisco pipe was
installed. Any questions about that?
We'll move into the PowerPoint. I would ask for a little bit of leeway tonight as earlier I
discussed, as we were walking, that I'm having a little bit of an allergy attack. So not
only will I look at the role of Elmer Fudd, I'll also sound it tonight.
Those of you sitting on this commission are familiar with the current adopted strategic
plan, as are the members in this audience, and sitting in for the town manager, Mr.
Trimble. We are aware of this. If you read it, you'll note that the entire strategic plan is
important to all of the departments and the divisions based on the guidance from this
commission and past commissions and past councils, and the current council. When
you go through that section, it's kind of broken out by department and divisions, and
the Public Works Department really comes in in the latter section. I have a lot of text in
here, which the town engineer reminded me of. I'm not going to read all of this text
because we are primarily familiar with it. I just wanted to highlight some of the stuff
that we have done in order to accomplish the goals that were established in this. You
would honestly think that every single time I use this pointer, it's my first time.
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
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As you see here, the signature strategies and then the supporting task, the first
supporting task is develop a detailed infrastructure condition report with a scoring
mechanism for evaluation and reporting to the functionality, appearance, and upkeep of
the town's fixed assets. We have that document to an extent. It's the facilities reserve.
We certainly need to update it, and we do have a scoring matrix, but not all of what we
do when we score is available for the public to view because there's a lot pieces on that
chessboard that move. But we do have a fixed asset policy, and that's our facilities
reserve. And you certainly reviewed that, or some of you may or may not have
reviewed it as part of the adoption of the current policy, and I'm certain that you looked
or would ask to look at some of those as you move forward in the next adoption.
The next one down for the signature strategy is support local broadband strategic
buildouts and deployment efforts while ensuring the preservation of conduit and rightof-way for future technologies. The rationale behind that is obvious, a generic term for
high-speed internet access. The supporting task for that is make colocation of
broadband a requirement with existing infrastructure. That has been implemented and
is part of our review policy. We do not receive a large number of applications for new
infrastructure related to wireless and/or broadband, but the ones that we do receive,
we certainly look and see whether or not in the agreement, the lease agreement that
we have and for others on private property, to ensure that that language is included of
being able to colocate or share that space with others.
Moving onto the next one -- and again, it's a lot of text -- signature strategy number 3 is
increase the ease and safety of the multiuse aspects of Fountain Hills's roads. This one
right here is very important to us because we have a walkable community, and for the
majority of that community, the folks that get out and walk, ride their bicycles, push
strollers, do whatever they do, they are forced to walk down the streets. We have a
multiyear plan for multi-use paths and also sidewalks. Excuse me. An example of that is
the most recently completed grant project that did sidewalk infill on Saguaro from
Colony to Fountain Hills Boulevard and on Palisades between Saguaro and Fountain Hills
Boulevard. So the lion's share of that money was federal grant monies, which was
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about $4 million, and the town's portion for the construction was 200,000, and it looks
like we're going to be spending about 150,000 out of the town's portion to finish paying
for that. If you have not had the opportunity, please take a look at that sidewalk and
note all of the users that are currently using it. In fact, during construction, there were
folks that were using the segments that were completed and walking in and around.
Another part of that is the money that is provided by the mayor and council as part of
our capital projects. Some of them that are not as visible from this year that we have
completed was a section on Eagle Mountain at Summer Hill in front of the pro-shop
there. We worked in that area, we built a sidewalk, and we moved the crossing across
the road on Eagle Mountain, just slightly north of the intersection, to allow for a safer
crossing for not only the numerous golfers but all of the residents in there. Now, a
portion of that funding came from the Eagle Mountain Homeowners Association. They
put forth about $20,000 to help that project or bring it to fruition.
Another part of that is currently underway in front of Bashas'. Basically, from the
Avenue of the Fountains to Palisades on the west side, you will see, currently, that all
the traffic has shifted. We are filling that sidewalk gap. Other components about that
and what we are doing in regards to utilizing the town's roadways and multi-use paths
we're going to look at as part of our capital update here shortly.
The last one -- excuse me. Let's move on to supporting task B, develop a comprehensive
bicycle plan. The comprehensive bicycle plan, or the bicycle plan, is part of the Active
Transportation Plan. That took a considerable amount of time for review, approval,
and, obviously, implementation. That is one of the guiding documents and/or policies
that we use when we are reviewing sidewalk infill pavement markings -- those are the
stripes on the roads -- and when we implement that. A couple of good examples over
the last two years where we are doing pavement maintenance within the town -- we'll
just pick Grande as one good example. Between Saguaro and El Pueblo, you'll note that
we changed the pavement marking configuration in that area to a 7-foot shoulder, a 5foot bike lane, an 11-foot travel lane, and a 12-foot two-way left-turn lane. There's a
couple reasons behind that: One, we're complying with the guidelines from the Active
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Transportation Plan to add additional bicycle infrastructure, and two, it's an excellent
form of traffic calming because it is a clear, visible, and physical because we have raised
pavement markers, indication to drivers and motorists of where they should be on the
road. We implemented that not only on Grande but on El Pueblo from Grande all the
way back to Fountain Hills Boulevard, on Glenbrook from Fountain Hills Boulevard all
the way up to Bainbridge -- a lot of locations here. I'll slow down a little bit -- most
recently, on Panorama from the north end of the park all the way around to the other
end near the restaurants and the shopping area there, the Fountain Hills Express
location. Those are all in compliance with the guidelines of the Active Transportation
Plan.
The last signature strategy is really for Parks or Community Services. I'm not going to
speak on Kevin's behalf, but I will tell you that we work with him closely on all of the
walking surfaces and all of the amenities that are within each and every one of the
parks, including the most recently completed Panorama Park. Does anybody happen to
know where that new park is at in Fountain Hills?
It is on the corner of Panorama and El Lago. It's a little neighborhood park there that
used to be a relatively large swampy area that we filled the hole with drainage pipe and
then donated materials. Take a look at that little area down there. It's a really nice little
pocket park and benefit to the community.
We're going to move on now to some of the street paving that we are currently doing.
This does not include moving forward. We can discuss that at a later meeting if you
would like, but first, we need to get those locations to the mayor and council for
approval. These are the areas that we have completed this year. This section of town is
in the northwest area. I'm going to give you a minute to look at that map. I've seen it
hundreds of times, so I know exactly where it's at. These are two different sections right
here. The one on the left is actually Gunsight from Saguaro to La Montana, and the one
on the right is Ridgeway, I believe is the name of that one, and then the one on the
bottom is Winchester. This is Nicklaus Drive just off of Palmer there on the right, and
the one on the left is Trevino. These are all locations that were selected by the
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software -- the abbreviation for it is BOSS -- that we paid Roadway Asset Services to
provide as part of the assessment. This one right here is actually a direct select by the
mayor and council. It is currently being paved as we speak today, and the paving should
be completing here in the coming days. Any questions about pavement?
YAZZETTA: Those projects were total reconstruction, right? You took it down all the
way to the bottom and rebuilt?
WELDY: Mr. Vice Chair, that is correct. Each one of those were total reconstruction.
Some of them required a subbase to be redone or replaced, and others did not. We had
a geotechnical report not only by a firm but the two gentlemen sitting behind me
accompanied each one of those and with clear direction.
YAZZETTA: Got it. And how much slurry seal do we do on an annual basis?
WELDY: We currently did not do any this year. We have not done any slurry seal in
about almost three years. An example is when we came to the mayor and council about
almost four years ago now and asked to do a pilot project on Chama. The idea was that
we would go through and crack fill what we could crack fill, and then we would do a chip
seal with a cape, and in this case, the cape was a type 2 polymer slurry seal. We also
applied that on El Lago, west of Fountain Hills Boulevard, up to Palisades.
YAZZETTA: Uh-huh.
WELDY: Each of those two locations were two different areas that we asked for a
couple of different types of treatment based on the pavement condition to see if we
could move some of that backlog further out while we're planning for funding scenarios,
and currently, they're still under study. The one on Chama is two different age groups
of pavement, one pre-incorporation, one post. If you're familiar with the type of curb
that is pre-incorporation, it's a wedge, and the post-incorporation is more of a rolled or
mountable curb. You will see the difference in the rate of deterioration of those two
areas of the chip seal with a cape.
YAZZETTA: Thank you.
WELDY: You're welcome.
GARMAN: So my question is, though, as we're moving through this, you know, we're
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thinking what you might need from us, what the town might need, what it might look
like in 2032 and 2037. I know things are already funded or are already planned, or are
already in the works. What do you need from a strategic plan when you're shooting for
the moon, to get us to 2032, you know, 2037?
WELDY: The primary one is going to be one of our largest and most valuable assets, Mr.
Chairman, and that is going to be the roads. Since incorporation, the roads have been
underfunded for any number of reasons. We are currently working on the backlog to
try and catch up to some of that, but there's simply not enough funding to accomplish
that goal. And it's not only a goal for now and then next five years; it's from now on,
including 2032 and 2037. The elected body and the people that represent that elected
body are going to have to figure out a long-term sustainable funding solution for that
very incredibly important and expensive asset. That's one of the challenges that we
place -- or we face in regards to strategic planning.
The second one that we're challenged with in regards to infrastructure, and we're going
to be discussing this with the council at the next meeting, is mainline irrigation. We
have a staggering amount of irrigation piping in the raised medians on Palisades,
Saguaro, to a lesser extent, Fountain Hills Boulevard, to a lesser extent, Golden Eagle.
That infrastructure is outdated and mostly failed, and it requires a lot of repair and/or it
gets turned off. We're facing some challenges with that. That extends into every single
one of the parks. This is critical infrastructure. You can't have landscape medians,
which are part of the policies that are adopted and part of the zoning ordinances, and
not have a reliable water source for those, and that includes all the parks. Even if you
eliminate turf and add picnic tables and ramadas and performance pads and those kinds
of things, you still have to water the infrastructure around them, which is the turf, the
shrubs, the trees, and the plants. And that right now is one of the things that Kevin and
I are wrestling with, primarily, is how are we going to address that. It's an ongoing and
right now very expensive. There are several locations -- and I don't want to go into a lot
of detail -- where we've simply had to turn it off because it's the cost to replace it -- it's
no longer repair -- is astronomical. Those are two of the big challenges we face.
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And lastly, but this one is important, which is life safety, is all of the drainage courses
that we have within the town, all of the washes, all of the piping, all of the catch basins,
and to some extent, a lion's share of the streets. They're our primary drainage courses.
We need adequate funding to not only maintain but update and replace that
infrastructure moving forward. These are all critical things. None of these are wants.
All of these are needs. So when we discuss life safety, we have a series of dams. Those
dams require maintenance not only upstream and downstream; the primary purpose for
a dam is the protection of life and property downstream from that dam. Each one of
those dams falls within one of our washes. That requires maintenance, and
maintenance costs money, but it is part of our vital infrastructure.
GARMAN: I'm just going to keep talking. Everybody else here seems -- so we
mentioned, when we did parks and recs the last time, the connecting parks and -- I'm
sorry. I forgot who was Parks and Rec -- Kevin. Sorry -- connecting our parks and things
through some towns to connect them through washes. They go through the town, you
know, when they're not being used as washes. So is this -- you know, the drainage
maintenance through the different washes and dams, when you go through and do that
maintenance, would that be an opportunity to also alter them, as well as being
drainage, but also into connecting routes or arteries for hikers and things like that within
town?
WELDY: That's a very good question. And I'm going to give you an example of yes, and
recently, yes. So for those of you familiar with Ashbrook -- and I don't have a map up on
here. Either one of those guys behind me is a lot faster on this machine and can pull it
up, but let's get a visual. Between Fountain Hills Boulevard and Hampstead, just north
of Palisades is Ashbrook Wash. Over the last two years, on the north side of that wash,
the town has allowed for free suitable (indiscernible) to be placed there. The primary
reason for that is slope stabilization.
During the '18/'19 storm events that happened that winter, we had lateral migration.
It's going to get a little bit technical now. Lateral migration is when the water eats away
at the bank of the wash, and the bank continues to move closer to improvement. In this
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particular case, in that area, it moved to within one foot of an occupied dwelling. Just
off of their back porch, what used to be a slow little grade that went down to a babbling
brook was a nearly seven-foot vertical cut. So we allowed for and designed, the two
gentlemen behind me, that slope stabilization project. As part of that, the intent was
when we put gates on either end -- and I encourage you to go and take a look at it.
You'll see that there is a large gate for vehicles, but there is another opening without a
gate on it. That is intended for people to be able to use that area, which is nice and
smooth and clean and clear, to either ride their bicycles or hike. The intent is that each
time we have an opportunity to make that connectivity -- in this particular case, it's
connected to Hampstead, which is just around the corner from the town's FIT Trail.
Anybody familiar with that?
So the town has a FIT Trail that goes around town, and it has markers that shows you
where you're at and the distance you've traveled to that marker. It goes through
Golden Eagle Park; it comes out around through Golden Eagle, down through Bainbridge
and that area. This area on Ashbrook Wash connects to that indirectly.
Going back to the latter part of your question, you certainly can make improvements in
these drainage courses provided they do not impede the flow, but you also have to note
when a decision is made to make these improvements in these drainage areas,
especially in the impoundment area. The impoundment, by definition, is the area
behind the dam where water is stored. A good example of that is Golden Eagle Park.
That entire area is intended to be flooded with water. When it floods with water, that
means that life and property downstream from that were at less risk during the storm
event that caused that water. Some of that clean up during certain storms, especially
the unpredictable and intense ones as of recent, can be hundreds of thousands of
dollars to go in and clean that out. Golden Eagle Park was about almost 700,000. So
making those type of improvements in the drainage courses, absolutely, provided that
you understand that at some point in time, it will be flooded, and if you intend to use it
again, it will require cleaning. So you have to pick and choose what you may or may not
want in there in regards to improvements. Did I answer some of your question?
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GARMAN: Yeah, you did. I appreciate it. Sorry.
WELDY: You're welcome.
GARMAN: I'm thinking while I'm trying to talk.
WELDY: We appreciate it.
GARMAN: Yeah. Thank you.
YAZZETTA: The roads as a known quantity, we have the committee that did that whole
study over the last few years. When it comes to the drainage and the irrigation, have
we quantified how much needs to go into those resources to bring them up to par?
WELDY: Chairman and Vice Chair, so we don't have all of the drainage improvements
quantified. We certainly know what we have and where it's at, and over the last three
years, our now-retiring civil engineering inspector has been inspecting and inventorying
all of that pre-incorporation drainage structure. Think of the areas along Shea and
Fountain Hills Boulevard, those areas. The inspection generates a report. That report
we then share with the gentlemen behind us, and then we come up with a plan to clean
it and determine what we need to do to either maintain it or replace it.
YAZZETTA: Uh-huh.
WELDY: Quantifying it over a five- or ten-year horizon, we do not have that data as of
today. We are mostly reactive at this point in time.
YAZZETTA: Okay. And we're talking about removing the debris that settles in the
impoundment area, or are we talking about also maintaining the dam structures
themselves?
WELDY: There's two different ones. So several of the dams -- six of the dams are
inspected annually by the Maricopa County -YAZZETTA: Uh-huh.
WELDY: -- Flood Control District. They have clear guidelines and provide to us a report
for each individual dam. So dam maintenance is one component; wash maintenance
and drainage infrastructure is a separate one. One of them is regulated by a county
government with the expertise and knowledge on dam maintenance -YAZZETTA: Uh-huh.
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WELDY: -- and the other one is guided through the wash ordinance -YAZZETTA: I see.
WELDY: -- and good practices.
YAZZETTA: So the dams themselves, being that they're inspected annually, they're in
good condition, I would presume?
WELDY: Absolutely.
YAZZETTA: Okay. Excellent, excellent. I had one question, and it may have slipped my
mind. If it comes to me, I will turn my light on again. Thank you.
GARMAN: So I've heard this before as far as roads go, and this is what I mean. Well, if
we gave you all the money to have perfect roads in five years or ten years, we don't
have the infrastructure to go out and fix all the roads at the same time. So there's only,
you know, enough -- there's only a certain amount of money you can spend on
contracting, trucks, whatever, manpower or whatever you need to fix the streets. If
resources are provided to fix, update, improve roads, more of the roads, let's say every
year, is there a tail to that for the city that goes beyond merely fixing the road or
increasing the road? Do you have to -- do you know what I'm saying? Is there other -oh, we need more trucks. Oh, we need more contracting folks to write contracts.
What's the tail to all of that involved?
WELDY: Well, let's start a little bit deeper, and that's indeed a pun. So prior to us
starting any of these projects, regardless of whether it's type 2 polymer, slurry sealing,
crack filling, whatever we're doing, at least six months, but preferably eight to ten
months or even a year, we send a letter out to each of the utility companies we believe
have infrastructure underground and let them know that we are going to be in there
doing pavement work, and there will be a moratorium when that work is done.
Oftentimes, in the past, they've reached out to us and said, we've got a capital project,
but it won't be ready until November. We've actually held off on that segment and
moved that square yardage to another location in town and allowed that utility to come
in and make their repairs. So that's part of the tail.
The other one is in regards to the cost of construction and the time frame of
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construction. Costs are increasingly rising, and we know that based on our most recent
activities. And there is no convenient time for construction. Regardless of when you do
it -- and they're not a week here or a week there. It takes months -- it's going to have an
impact on the community that either lives on that road or uses that road for a commute,
whatever their use of that area is.
And this one is also important, and the chief financial officer has been discussing this in
public in front of the mayor and council recently, is our expenditure limits. We can only
spend so much money every year because the expenditure limit is set by the State of
Arizona, and so we have to stay within that. So we can only do so much of it every year.
There are some exceptions to special projects, of which I'm not an expertise on finance,
but the chief financial officer, Paul Soldinger, would certainly answer your questions in
regards to that. But if, theoretically, there was enough money available to throw at
everything we needed to get control of the backlog and move into a maintenance mode,
that would take years. How many would determine on the funding level and whether or
not we had enough resources to accomplish the goal, but it's still years to bring it up to
a manageable level in regards to maintenance.
GARMAN: I noticed you didn't mention in your priorities anything about the lake liner
or any -- do we have a safety net for the replacing the lake liner?
WELDY: Mr. Chairman, there is a considerable amount of discussion about the lake
liner. As the Public Works director, I fully support Community Services, and I am
involved in those conversations, but the expert on that would be Kevin Snipes.
GARMAN: Oh -WELDY: While we will be involved from start to finish and provide support and guidance
in whatever way we can, that's in Community Services. So is there a safety net? There
are plans, and it was part of this morning's management meeting discussion in regards
to planning and preparing for it. It's a big undertaking, to say the least.
GARMAN: How much is currently in the reserve? I know they set money aside every
year, council does.
YAZZETTA: It's in the millions now, like well into the millions, if I remember correctly,
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like five, six, maybe.
REYES: That sounds about -YAZZETTA: Okay.
REYES: -- right. It's something like that.
WELDY: My preference is not to throw numbers out because I simply don't know what
that is. I can tell you that I got $20 on me.
REYES: Put that in the lake liner.
GARMAN: Did you want to continue with your presentation before -WELDY: I certainly will, but I encourage you to ask all the questions you have so we can
see if we can get them answered, or if not, at least provide some backup for it.
GARMAN: So I noticed you didn't mention energy for the town, the SRP. Are you aware
of anything as far as getting electricity into the town, our growing consumption of
electricity or power?
WELDY: Mr. Chairman, currently, SRP does not have any large capital projects on the
horizon. All of their infrastructure, because they are well-funded, is relatively well
managed. All of their substations are well-managed and updated and upgraded.
Currently, the challenge that they fact that impacts a few of the residents is their
outdated, antiquated direct buried lines. I oftentimes, at night and on weekends, send
an email to the town manager and Mr. Trimble making them aware of an outage that's
affecting this area. There are still some sections of the town that is direct buried. SRP
has a 5-, 10-, and 15-year project schedule to replace that. It's called cable replacement.
And they just finished one up in and around -- we'll pick the general area -- Fountain
Hills Boulevard on the east, Palisades on the south, Ashbrook Wash on the north, and
then Hampstead. So they recently went in there and replaced cable in that area. They
have a few other cable projects that are on the drawing board but nothing substantial.
Overall, their infrastructure is relatively new and reliable. In Fountain Hills, we don't
face some of the challenges that other valley cities face or other states face in regards to
high winds that topple power poles and storm events in regards to icing that damage
the aerial stuff. Most of Fountain Hills is underground. The exception of that, on some
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borders, and then cutting out of Firerock is a 69 kV and a 23 kV, but their infrastructure
is relatively good.
GARMAN: So there's always interest on our commission about the -- I'm going to call it
the downtown. I always chuckle when -- I always say downtown, and people smile at it.
But the downtown plan that we have, are there identified infrastructure requirements
to implement the downtown plan that we have and has been publicized, and I think has
been approved by the council? Are there long-term improvements, infrastructure
requirements that are unrealized yet that might be needed in five to ten years to make
that plan a reality?
WELDY: Mr. Chairman, so we're going to -- I'm going to define the downtown just
briefly here. We're just going to pick El Lago on the south side, we'll go with La Montana
on the west, Saguaro on the east, and for lack of a better description, Palisades and a
part of La Montana on the north. The lion's share of the infrastructure that services Plot
208, which is the majority of that area, is contained within their private parking areas.
It's aged. Very little disruption in regards to outages and/or waterline breaks or sewer
line problems, but there is a limited amount of that infrastructure on the Avenue of the
Fountains, Parkview, Verde River, Palisades. There's a little bit more on La Montana and
a little bit more on Saguaro. But most of that infrastructure for the downtown is
contained within their properties, and there's only the mainlines that feed it. In regards
to, are there any needs in the next five to ten years, not that I'm aware of. Most
everything in the downtown is relatively young. Let's just say it's less than 30 years old
for the majority.
GARMAN: Over to you.
WELDY: Really?
GARMAN: I've used enough time.
WELDY: Short session.
These are one of -- this is the capital project that's approved by the council here. This is
the widening of Shea eastbound between Palisades and Fountain Hills Boulevard. This
project is primarily funded through Prop 400, and then we'll go into the next prop
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whenever that budget becomes available. This is a 70-30 split; 70 percent is paid from
the prop, 30 percent from the town coffers.
GARMAN: When is that starting?
WELDY: We anticipate it'll start mid to late summer.
GARMAN: All right. Thank you.
WELDY: This is the aforementioned sidewalk project, $4 million in federal grant funding.
This is the one that I described to you earlier today. The one on the right is showing the
improvements that we are about to start making on La Montana between Avenue of the
Fountains and Palisades. The one on the left is actually the improvements we made on
Eagle Mountain, adjacent to Summer Hill and the golf club.
This is a big infrastructure one. Currently, with little to no exception, all of the town's
guardrails do not meet the AASHTO recommendations, which there's a little bit of gray
area there as to when we need to replace them. But as we are doing maintenance -- or
in this particular case, the section we're doing on McDowell Mountain Road later in June
and in July directly ties into the Maricopa County Department of Transportation and
their really large project to be repaving and redoing McDowell Mountain Road from
Milepost 2 to Forest Road. Are most of you familiar with that area?
So Milepost 2 is the town limit, and it's two miles north of the elementary school, or just
two miles north of Glenbrook as you're headed north towards the Verdes, and Forest
Road is where you turn by the pecans and then come back around to a stop sign. That's
the end of McDowell Mountain Road and where Forest Road begins. So the Maricopa
County Department of Transportation has a really large project out there, and the
project starts at Milepost 2, which impacts not only our section of the guardrail but
theirs. So we're going to be bringing that up to the most recent AASHTO standards.
This is one that comes right back into the Active Transportation Plan and pedestrian
safety. These are marked crosswalks at numerous locations in the downtown. The
exception to one that's not in the downtown is at Kingstree and Saguaro, and the one
that I mentioned earlier, the midblock crossing on Eagle Mountain, just north of
Summer Hill.
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This is the storm infrastructure that we discussed. Here are a couple of examples of
what we are facing in regards to infrastructure. The pipe on the top left-hand side
represents one that's nearing the end of its useful life. We're going to discuss a little bit
more about that in a couple of more slides here. The options for this are limited on
what you can based on cost. I'm going to give you an example. On Shea, just east of
Fountain Hills Boulevard, there is a 96-inch pipe at the very bottom of that, digging
down that 35- or 40-foot deep to cross. All of the lanes of Shea is very expensive. One
of the other options is a structural lining in this case, which is relatively expensive and
challenging to get to because you have to build a road to get down there, and some of
that property is private property, the homes that run along Trevino. Believe it or not,
their property comes right up to the right-of-way of Shea from up there. So we have to
get temporary construction easements from each one of those. The reason I'm giving
you as much detail about that one particular pipe is that's one of the ones that we are
looking at, what are we going to do, how are we going to do it, when, and how much
money do we need to accomplish that goal?
GARMAN: I have a question. A couple what-if scenarios. If Maricopa County decides or
approves (indiscernible), and they add a lot of homes out there if that becomes more
populated, will that hook into any of our infrastructure within our town at all? Are we
expected to do anything with that? I know it's not connected or anything, but there is
talk of expansion out there.
WELDY: Mr. Chairman, so there's a sovereign nation between us -GARMAN: Uh-huh.
WELDY: -- and it's not likely any of the infrastructure that EPCOR or the Sanitary District
has would cross that nation. There's also a state agency, so that is SR-87, belongs to the
state, a whole different right-of-way situation there, and most of those are isolated with
independent wells and septic tanks. The only one that would even have somewhat of
an impact, and only because of the switching and the way the grid works, would be SRP,
but it would be minimal because they would also be feeding from a different direction
off the Bush Highway.
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GARMAN: And in five years, if the state decides to allow the development of the -- I'll
call it the state land -- out beyond -- the state trust land, how would that affect our
infrastructure, or could it affect it? I'm looking way into the future now.
WELDY: Mr. Chairman, so the State Land Department would sell that to anybody that
had enough money, and they've done it in the past. In regards to that, there are already
plans that are associated with that development that would require the upgrades to the
infrastructure to meet those demands. It would require update or upgrades, or
expansion to the wastewater treatment plant and, to a less extent, upgrades to EPCOR's
facilities. In regards to SRP, once again, there would most likely be one or more
substations in that area, but they are already strategically set just at the side of the state
trust land in the previously incorporated areas. For those of you that might live up off of
that area around Catclaw, you see an outdated sign that says, future substation, they
planned for that infrastructure as part of the incorporation when the Town of Fountain
Hills took over that land from the state. SRP began to plan at that time. So there are
tentative plans that will require an updating when that land is sold, and a developer
comes forth with a development plan. So development pays for development, is a short
story. I guess I could've started with that. But yes.
GARMAN: All right. Thanks.
WELDY: We talked about stormwater infrastructure. This project right here is a good
example. Over the years, this little area right here in this little cul-de-sac flooded. The
primary reason is because the storm drainpipe that was in there was privately owned by
the HOA. We were successful, the two gentlemen sitting to my right here in securing a
grant. When this piece of property came in incorporation, it showed that there was a
catch basin right here, and there was a 16-inch pipe that ran right down here, drained
into another pipe that comes off and drains into an area down here. Our exploration, in
fact, noted that the catch basin was constructed right here, and instead of a 16-inch
pipe, it was a 4-inch pipe that came right around in here and then went over into this
guy's yard and then dumped into this area here. That's what was causing the flooding.
As part of this project, when we were making these improvements with that grant
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money, we discovered that the pipe that services this area was at catastrophic failure,
which is the reason earlier on I discussed our options. In this particular option, we
worked with an engineer, and he has developed, and we are about to get started on a
pipelining project. So this is, for lack of a better description, a big balloon with
structural integrity that will be blown into one end of this pipe up here, and that big
balloon will come down that pipe, and then it'll end right here at this junction where we
put in our new pipe. They will then put an infrared or solar device in there to heat that
and adhere it to that drainage pipe. The primary reason we are going with the liner or a
slip liner, either one of them are an option, there is a masonry wall right under this
orange line. There are improvements on either side of this that would have to be
removed and replaced, which are very costly, but most importantly, it would be very
disruptive to these two homeowners for a considerable amount of time to dig a very
large trench through their side yards and backyards to put that in there. So the
pipelining is an excellent and affordable option.
Wayfinding doesn't have a lot to do with the infrastructure until you think about the fact
that what we're asking people to do is get off of Shea and come up here, come visit,
come spend your money, come stay, and that has an impact on the infrastructure
because they become users of that infrastructure. I had mentioned earlier what
happens to impoundment areas during storm events. There's a ballpark under that
debris. I saved this and several other terrible, terrible movies and periodically send
them to Kevin just because I know he goes, ugh. That's what I have, primarily.
Obviously, the buildings, which is another part of our key infrastructure in regards to the
Community Center, we are currently about to get a design to replace all of the town hall
campus roofs. So that's not only the Community Center, but it is also the library and the
town hall. I mentioned the, earlier, reserve study. All three of those buildings are
included in that.
We had earlier discussed landscape infrastructure and what we are looking at, and
we're going to be asking for in the future. Here are the real numbers: 61,000 linear
feet. These are just the main irrigation lines, not the hundreds and hundreds of feet of
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lateral that go off to feed trees, shrubs, and plants.
GARMAN: Are there any plans -- sorry to interrupt. Are there any plans for any other -or any need for any other government buildings over the next few years?
WELDY: Mr. Chairman, we do not have any on the horizon. We currently have the
capacity and additional capacity to house anything that we would need to. We have
three relatively large buildings that are relatively new, and I don't see us, unless I'm off
base, expanding staff wise or creating a department.
YAZZETTA: Not that I know of. The only thing I can think of is, getting back to the state
trust land, there was talk at one time of another fire station that might be a little more
centrally located for those folks, but that's all I can think of.
WELDY: This is just one example of a relatively small linear park. There's 3,200 feet in
between La Montana and Saguaro for that linear park on the Avenue. This is just the
main, again, not the laterals. This is the Adero Canyon Trailhead. Most people don't
realize it, but as part of that development, the town was required to put in a water main
that was intended to service Eagles Nest as part of a loop system. Will that happen? It
may or may not. Either way, just like any other developer, we put in the infrastructure
should it become necessary. Currently, it only services this, but there is an eight-inch
main that runs from that cul-de-sac up to that trailhead and just beyond the restroom
building. Just in case future development in Eagles Nest or they want to create a loop
for water quality, it's there.
This is Desert Vista Park, and again, we are just talking about the mains on the outside,
but I thought, what an excellent image. This shows all the laterals and all the heads in
great detail.
This is Fountain Park. For Fountain Park, just the mains alone are 10,000 linear feet, and
if you speak to Joe Beauvais, Kevin Snipes, you'll find out that it can be frustrating to
work on that infrastructure.
Four Peaks Park, has anybody been down there recently?
Substantial changes. What an improvement over the years.
This is Golden Eagle. These are one of -- this is one of the big ones.
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GARMAN: Hey, Justin. What's your estimate on time that you have left in your
presentation?
WELDY: I'm done. That's it.
GARMAN: That's it?
WELDY: Last two little slides here. There was a question about permits, so the best I
could do was what we issued last year for residential and nonresidential and with the
total. And then we're up to the question part.
GARMAN: Does anybody have any questions?
Bernie?
HOENLE: Just a couple of points to piggyback on what Justin already said. I think the
inground pipes and infrastructure is definitely going to continue to be an issue. I know,
personal experience, we had a under-slab water break in our house, so we now have
new plumbing that goes through the ceiling. We've got an EPCOR leak on the EPCOR
side of the water meter that's been going on for two weeks. So things keep moving
around out there.
The other thing is Adero Canyon. That wasn't brought up, but with the development
and more of the terracing and more of the population out there, we still got a choke
point coming out onto Palisades. So some way of having emergency evacuation plan
and fire plans and all that stuff needs to be addressed. And I know there's another
route to go through the housing development to get out on Via Linda, but that's not
going to handle a big flow of traffic. Then on the impact of some of the construction,
even on the downtown plan and everything that's going to be in the infrastructure and
the pavement, not only with construction coming in for addition of Park Place or any
other facilities around Parkview and Verde and that sort of stuff, it's going to be bringing
in buses and parking for the Discovery Center and things like that. So as we look at
future, basically -- I don't want to say fallout, but advantages of having this other
development, it's going to be an impact on the infrastructure. That's really about it. I
mean, Justin has a big job, and he's doing it extremely well, and I'm sure it's very
challenging. It's not going to get easier.
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GARMAN: All right. Any other questions, comments?
Paul?
SMITH: I'd just like to say between Kevin speaking -- was it last time or time before -and you were speaking. The ongoing maintenance issues are overwhelming, just to sit
here and listen to you through the years, not only the structural builds but the
maintenance issues that have to go on because once you get through with all the roads,
they got to be redone again. So you guys are doing a wonderful job. Thank you.
GARMAN: I think we're good.
WELDY: Thank you for the opportunity to present, and thank you for all the kind words.
Thank you for your patience. Just to let you know, I've been reminded that I ramble on
by several, so you can always stop me at any time. Have the best evening.
GARMAN: I appreciate it. Thanks for being flexible.
All right. Commission work groups, I think we've talked about this in the past, so we're
going to move down, then. We don't have any -- we're going to skip by the updated
commission groups.
But we are going to go down, then, to agenda item 10, discussion and possible action for
future agenda topics. For this, I just wanted to prep everyone. This will be a little bit of
comments from the chairman. I'll put these two together now that I look at it. Next
month, in June, we're going to have a workshop like we did last year in June, so it's our
last, kind of, meeting of our schedule . We're going to have some tables out here, we're
going to sit down here, and probably have some paper up, and we're going to talk about
the different pillars and what we've talked about in our meetings underneath each one
to kind of prioritize strategies underneath each one of those pillars hopefully to get, you
know, one, two, or three under each one going forward. So then when we don't come
back in July before we start up the new work year, we will have those middle priorities,
signature priorities in the middle.
And then next year, we're going to go into the nitty-gritty individual tasks or, you know,
signature tasks for next year where we assign responsibility and timelines for little -- for
the actual nuts and bolts for the plan or down in the weeds for the plan. So hopefully, I
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described that okay.
In the immediate future, get ready, look at these minutes, look at the minutes over the
last five months. Angela sent all those to you. They're verbatim if you want to hear a
lot of ums and people clearing their throat, or you can look at the overview that Angela
provides as well. And come in June ready to sit and talk about kind of the intermediary,
just like we talked about today, to give you an example, infrastructure, roads, and then
next year, as we come back, we'll talk about the specifics of the roads. What do we
mean by roads? Is it a specific part of the town? Is it a specific type of road? All the
little stuff that goes into it. But does anybody have any comments about that, about the
plan, at least through June?
All right. Then that's going to get us through agenda item 10 and 11 because those were
the comments that I wanted to do.
As far as our next meeting, it's going to be Wednesday, June 25th. Oh, my gosh. 25th.
That's right before the -- what is that, the week before July 4th holiday?
REYES: Yeah, it would be.
GARMAN: The next week will be July 4th, right?
Okay. Good. Because I'm taking a vacation that next week.
All right. So we're going to move down to agenda item 13, which is adjournment. Any
comments, first, about the meeting so far? I thought today was pretty -- I really liked
the way Justin synchronized the meeting -- or filtered, reduced. He just gave us his top
three priorities, you know, and I thought that was good, and I took a lot of notes today.
All right. Is there a motion as far as the adjournment of the meeting today?
YAZZETTA: Move to adjourn.
GARMAN: Is there a second?
SMITH: I'll second.
GARMAN: Any other comments about adjourning today?
Hearing none, we'll move on to a vote. All those in favor of adjourning say aye.
ALL: Aye.
GARMAN: Any opposed?
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None opposed. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you.

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Having no further business, Chairman Patrick Garman adjourned the Regular
Meeting of the Strategic Planning Advisory Commission held on May 28, 2025, at
5:13 p.m.

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS

_______________________
Patrick Garman, Chairman

ATTEST AND PREPARED BY:
____________________________________
Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant

CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the
minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Strategic Planning Advisory
Commission of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 28 day
of May 2025. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum
was present.
DATED 27 day of August 2025.
____________________________________
Angela Padgett-Espiritu, Executive Assistant

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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
SUMMARY MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION
OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION
June 25, 2025
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Patrick Garman called to order the meeting of the Strategic Planning Advisory
Commission at 4:00 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL
Members Present: Chairman Patrick Garman; Vice Chairman Geoff Yazzetta;
Commissioner Polly Bonnett; Commissioner Randy Crader; Commissioner Bernie
Hoenle; Commissioner Paul Smith; Commissioner Joseph Reyes
Staff Present: Town Manager Rachael Goodwin; Executive Assistant Angela PadgettEspiritu.
3. WORK SESSION STATEMENT
4. AGENDA ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
A. DISCUSSION: The Community Input Workshop Data as it relates to the
Strategic Planning Process.

Key Strategic Pillars Discussed:
1)
Finance
2)
Economic Development
3)
Land Use
4)
Health, Welfare, Safety & Quality of Life
5)
Infrastructure (to be discussed in the next meeting)
1). Finance:
•
AI Integration: Discussion around leveraging AI for cost savings, efficiency,
financial transparency, and town productivity.
•
Federal Grants & Alternative Funding: Emphasis on re-establishing or
strengthening grant writing capacity and exploring other revenue sources.
•
Budget Planning: Some support for long-term or two-year budgeting; noted
challenges due to unpredictable revenue forecasts.
•
Public Engagement: Town has hosted finance transparency events, but resident
participation is low.
•
Cybersecurity: Town’s IT infrastructure and cloud-based tools are proactively
managed for data security.
2). Economic Development:
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•
•
•

•

Downtown Revitalization: Major focus on enhancing walkability, aesthetics, and
usability of Avenue of the Fountains through placemaking.
Outdoor Activities & Tourism: Promoting trails, Dark Sky Discovery Center, and
year-round infrastructure like shade structures.
Diversification & Business Recruitment: Recognized need to attract a broader
mix of businesses and capitalize on Fountain Hills’ strengths (e.g., natural beauty,
dark skies).
Shea Corridor Development: Discussion about current underutilized commercial
and industrial areas.

3). Land Use:
•
State Trust Land Development: Considered a major opportunity for growth;
barriers include water access and infrastructure.
•
Creative/Flexible Zoning: Support for floating zones, mixed-use development,
and alternative land use strategies to encourage redevelopment.
•
Underutilized Parcels: Identified areas (e.g., Bashas’ Center, plot 208) for
potential redevelopment.
•
Challenges: Community resistance to change and high financing costs are
slowing progress.
4). Health, Welfare, Safety, and Quality of Life:
•
Wash Rehabilitation & Trail Connectivity: A 10-year plan to clean, stabilize, and
potentially transform washes into bike/walk trails to connect open spaces.
•
Emphasis on Multi-Use Infrastructure: Focused on safety, connectivity, and
creating accessible spaces for all residents.

5. NEXT MEETING DATE: Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
6. ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Patrick Garman adjourned the meeting of the Strategic Planning Advisory
Commission at 5:47 PM

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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
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Post-Production File

Town of Fountain Hills
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission
June 25, 2025

Transcription Provided By:
eScribers, LLC
* * * * *
Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not
be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
* * * * *

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(Outside conversations)
GARMAN: All right. So we'll go ahead and can get started then. I don't have anything. I
call it to order. Today, we're having a workshop to kind of bring together what we've
been working on in the last six months and really the last couple years as far as our
strategic plan. So you all have the agenda in front of you. And then I did some very
basic slides that we can go through to get to the point where we're going to look at
strategic initiatives -- strategic priorities, sorry, to build on what we put together last
year. So we've had a meeting, you know, February, March, April, May. We had -- we
talked about one of the strategic pillars and we had a conversation. And those were all
in their transcript, and they were summarized by Angela in an excellent fashion. So I
have those for us, kind of the highlights.
Geoff and I are going to kind of stand up and we're going to try to hit the highlights and
have a discussion, see what things underneath each pillar you all think are important for
us to build off of going forward. I just want to say today is like to, kind of, corral us, put
a, you know, a border on everything. So we just don't meander off all over so that we
can have a direction going forward. But it's not the -- a hundred percent solution. I'll
tell you that. You know, it's 85, 90, 95 percent solution. But if you have a great idea in
the ensuing months, I don't think that, hey, it's done. We're moving on. Everything is
negotiable and flexible. But so these are like the dotted lines to keep us moving forward
and not totally ink yet.
So before we start, the one thing that we could probably do before we start and that's
comments by all the commissioners, if anything, you wanted to bring up before we
actually get into the workshop. I'm looking at Joe first, depending on what you have,
Joe.
REYES: Pass. Other than I did get to the finding of the corridor Mark Elber (ph.) Tractor
Depot. I think it was the last one, and it was great. Kind of an extension, but it was hot.
That's it.
GARMAN: Polly?
BONNETT: Not anything right now.
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GARMAN: Geoff?
YAZZETTA: Nothing.
GARMAN: Bernie.
HOENLE: No one gets hurt.
GARMAN: No one gets hurt?
SMITH: Nothing from me.
GOODWIN: Nope. Nothing needed -REYES: Nothing we won't discuss.
GARMAN: All right.
REYES: So we won't be (indiscernible).
GARMAN: Let me go through a couple slides to orient. This sounds like all the meetings
I've ever had been, like, the last three years. Let's orient ourselves to the purpose of
today's meeting. So this is where we are as far as the time frame goes. If you
remember, Philip. I don't know how many people actually I look around here. Bernie,
are you and I are the only ones that were here at the approval of the last plan?
HOENLE: Yes.
GARMAN: You came on?
HOENLE: I came on.
GARMAN: So we approved the last plan back in, like, '22. And then after that, we
started to look at implementation and familiarization. So '22, '23, we started bringing
folks in, nonprofits folks from the town government here to talk about different issues
that are affecting the town. We started to talk about the '23, '24. So last year's
strategic priorities of those pillars. We did mix up last year's work with the workshop in
June, where we picked five pillars, which are on the next slide going forward. This year,
we did work on signature strategies. Remember we have a three-tiered plan. So we're
in the middle plan right now. We talked the last six months on important aspects
underneath each one of those five pillars that we assigned. So that's what we're here to
end up, the '24, '25 circle kind of right in the middle. And then we'll take July off, come
back in August and start working on the entire next year on supporting tasks. I think as
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we go through the next year, not only we're working on supporting tasks, but I think it's
important to probably go back and look at the current plan to see what's been done,
what's going to be done, and where we are as far as the status of that plan. The goal is
still to do editing, socialization, submission and approval through '26, '27. Right. So
that's the time frame.
Okay. So I have two pictures to show you because it's always pictures worth a thousand
words. So I couldn't fit the mission and vision up there in the roof of the house, so I put
it in the upper corners space. You see the mission and vision for the town is kind of the
roof. And then we identified some of the five strategic priorities, which kind of pillars
that hold up the roof. Underneath them, we're trying to finalize the signature strategies
today. And then the next year, we'll be working on supporting tasks, which are when
we assign a task, a responsibility and a timeline to go into the plan. Okay.
By the way, you guys can interrupt. It's much more informal than I'm used to it. This
is -- I turned it on side because sometimes, I had this where we're going forward, right?
We're moving into the future. Don't laugh, Randy. I know you do this much, much
better for a living, so I'm going to engage you in all of this after the -- after this. So this
is the same thing as what we just looked at, only it's pointing towards the future, right,
because we're moving to the future, but it's the same kind of look.
Okay. So for the signature strategies today, I put one, two, three, but it can be as few as
one. I think three -- if you get more than three, it starts to be a lot as far as the plan
goes. Because remember, each one of those are going to have some tasks underneath
them, and so we have five. So I put 1, 2, 3 as a guide. But as we talk today, it could be
1. It could be 2, 3. It could be, you know, 4 for 1 and 1 for another. So there's some
flexibility there, but I wanted to do the guide. So it's just a different way to look at it.
The pillars are on the left. We're looking at strategies today. Next year, we'll be
working on supporting tasks.
All right. So that's the first. Do you guys have any questions before we get into the first
topic? Geoff had a great idea. We're probably going to -- Geoff and I are probably going
to stand up and help guide, write stuff down, and then we're also going to time it. I
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didn't forget that. We're going to start with each one and kind of start out with like 15
minutes and see where we can get, so we're not here all night. We can try to get it
done.
So on the next slide, there's like five slides after this. Each one is one of the pillars. And
like the first one is finance because we did finance in January. And it's a synopsis of the
meeting, has different highlights in it. You'll be able to look through it up here and talk.
You don't have to confine yourself to just the highlights of that meeting, but I think it's a
good place to start about different topics.
Okay. Before I get up and walk over there, do you guys have any questions about where
we are? No.
All right. Please be engaged or I'll call you and put you on the spot. So let me -- you can
start reading the first one, which is financial, financial, financial. This really is stretching
my ability to use PowerPoint in between my own work meetings. So financial is usually
kind of the ones that we find are a little more boring, right. I don't know if you guys
remember the meeting. It was a little tortured as far as the different things that had
come up for financial. I remember each one of these. We don't need, you know, 10 or
20 of them. We only need a few. So I don't know if you've -- if there's something that
grabs your fancy that you want to talk about a little bit you think it's important, now is
the time to just kind of pick it out and say, yeah, that that was pretty interesting. Let's
hash that over.
Are you -- who's got the time? Should I get my phone?
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: I can do time.
REYES: Here we go.
GARMAN: Thank you.
GOODWIN: Only 15. You said 15?
GARMAN: Yes, 15. Yes. Awesome. Thanks. Before we get started, did you want to
bring -YAZZETTA: No. I think you encapsulated everything. I mean, so each one of the
meetings that we had with the respective pillar, this is the distilled information. So this
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is kind of like the guardrails that we're operating. We've already done the work, and
now, it's just we need to kind of like refine or hone it a little bit more, so that we come
up with those strategy ideas that we want to then branch out into the individual tasks
next year, so. Yeah. And again, if anyone has any like, you know, totally groundbreaking
idea? This isn't like a brainstorming session, but if it's not within this box, it can still be
up for consideration. But we want to make sure that discussion follows the work we've
already done just because it, you know, connects with that -- those meetings that we
had. That's all I got.
GOODWIN: So if I understand correctly, I guess, I should say these on the left-hand side,
numbered 1 through 5, we're choosing three of them to go up to the signature
strategies 1, 2, 3?
GARMAN: 1, 2, 3.
GOODWIN: Okay.
GARMAN: We can choose one of them.
GOODWIN: Okay.
GARMAN: Or this is just -- this is just what we talked about back in January. They are
the -YAZZETTA: These ideas that kind of rose to the top of the discussion when Paul was
making his presentation. And now, we get to kind of pick whichever ones we see fit to,
you know, move into the next step, so yeah.
GARMAN: And you guys feel free to raise your hands. I have a question that goes -HOENLE: Why don't I take a stab in the opposite direction?
GARMAN: Opposite direction?
HOENLE: Yeah. I'm going to say No. 2, to me, seems like -- I mean, maybe I'm wrong,
but I think everything else I can think of a whole bunch of things to put under that. That
one, there's so many changes and things going on and then relating it to finance. If I had
to put it on, I'd put it on as No. 5. If I didn't need it, I consider it for dropping it. That's
my harsh first because -GARMAN: That's great because that was the number one thing I was going to bring up.
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Absolutely. 180 degrees opposite to what you said.
So Angela, when you did the minutes and notes, did you do this to Copilot, through an
AI, or did you look through the transcript for an hour and a half and do it yourself?
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: I do. I look at those particular times. I use the verbatim transcript
to help.
GARMAN: You ask the AI? I mean, because the transcript is like 20 pages?
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Yeah. I go to that particular agenda item for your summary and
then I'll put it into -- not Copilot, but ChatGPT 4.0, and I'll ask it to summarize into bullet
point by speakers.
GARMAN: So you used AI to produce this?
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Yes.
GARMAN: That's what I thought. So going forward -- I mean we're already -- I want to
say, we. All right. Everybody's already using AI. We don't know where it's going to go.
You can't control it. But I thought that was really, like, when we brought that up, I was
like, that's pretty cool, and that's going to be the future. I don't know if that's a thing
because finance is how could they use AI to help with the tracking of finances. I'm sorry.
Go ahead, Geoff.
YAZZETTA: I was going to say AI tends -- in the last six months, it has become even more
involved in our everyday lives. I feel like it could be plugged into just about any one of
the pillars that we have. So I think it needs to be -- somehow, just because we don't
have a full grasp on what it can do yet. I mean, Angela is using it to condense this into
like an easily digestible summary, but what can it do with like the deep analysis for
things like infrastructure, preservation, or what have you. So do we set AI aside.
REYES: Maybe we can save it and then -- you're right. If it fits better in one of the other
ones, go along, we'll consider moving it, I think we -YAZZETTA: Because by the time we present this for approval of the council, it's going to
have evolved even further. So I think it just needs to be open-ended -HOENLE: Moving so rapidly.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
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HOENLE: 2 and 4 are just tools. Just automated tools, that's all. You don't have
anything about them other than you can use it or not, use it. It's technology.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GOODWIN: It's for productivity.
CRADER: Yeah. I was going to say is it -- is the goal of AI and like our suggestion of this
is it for efficiency or is it for cost savings. Right. Is it eliminating positions that a
machine could do for us, some of the entry levels work to make the other people's lives
easier? Is it for decision making in that regard, or is it for efficiency to get things done
faster making the town more productive, making our things that we do for the town as a
town more productive? I think there's like two different answers for that from a finance
perspective. Right. Like if we're trying to solidify the budget and maintain a certain
level of funding, do we look for cost reductions.
GARMAN: Well, what do we do in the town that doesn't cost money. That's why we
put it under finance because finance seemed to tie into everything, whether we're
talking infrastructure or, you know, you name it economics. It tied into everything. So I
don't know. I think it's interesting
YAZZETTA: Is the strategy leveraging AI, whichever tools the town chooses to find
efficiencies and cost savings across the board.
HOENLE: That's right.
GARMAN: That's was good. And that's -CRADER: It's cost saving.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. Leveraging AI in whatever capacity for efficiency and cost saving
because it can be in the town's entire portfolio. Are we keeping all the finance on that
board? I think it would be good if we kind of alternate back and forth.
REYES: I think getting into No. 3 there, federal grants and funding as a I'm really driving
on the road all day. How is this -- how the budget depends on federal funding. I think
that -- I think so far, I see what -- you're doing a pretty good job with grants and funding,
but we need to keep the foot on the gas pedal for that.
GOODWIN: That's why you should check them out. Take sometime off.
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REYES: You save my life.
YAZZETTA: All right. Federal grant funding. It's usually -- I bring my bad handwriting.
GARMAN: That was important in the last two as far as grant writing. I know it's been
good about that.
CRADER: I agree with what he said. I think the grant is one that's important now, and
probably will be more so in the future, so.
HOENLE: Well, it was one of those things that was called out in the plan before the
current plan.
CRADER: I remember that and seeing that.
HOENLE: And then it was dropped. And then I actually came back and talked to Rachael
about trying to share a grant writer position with the school district because both of us
needed grant writers.
GOODWIN: I floated that idea a couple times to see if they'd get any traction.
YAZZETTA: I'm looking at the screen. I'm not looking over your shoulder.
HOENLE: The issue with the council has always been is it more enough attractive than it
is to go after and get it. And they've canceled a couple of the grants that they already
had in their pocket.
CRADER: If they had a good grant writer that person could automatically take care of
that aspect of it, too.
GARMAN: I'll tell you though. The first one to the transparency communication. We hit
that pretty hard in the last plan. And to me, it didn't pan out. It kind of was like when
tissue paper gets wet, you know what I mean? It just kind of -- I remember the meeting
like, is it once a quarter an hour, once a month. They were having a meeting here
where the town's -- people in town can come in -- come in and get a brief on the town's
finances. Nobody shows up.
HOENLE: Yeah.
GARMAN: You know.
YAZZETTA: I think the only way you're going to get people to show up is if you offer
pizza.
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GOODWIN: Yeah. You're on financial.
YAZZETTA: No. Here's the thing is, a lot of people are going to say in public, well, you
know, they're not transparent. They're not forthcoming with whatever's going on. But
the bottom line is that there's two meetings per year, right, and they don't show up.
People just don't turn out for this type of thing. They want to say that, oh well, there's
no effort on town, but the effort is made. It's just finance doesn't really excite most
people, at least not enough to show up at 5 p.m. on a weeknight.
CRADER: I don't think they do. People don't feel like they have any input on finances. I
mean, they -- how much money are you working with? I have no idea. And it's too
overwhelming for them, I think.
YAZZETTA: How many council reports does Paul -- it's quarterly?
GOODWIN: Paul gives a quarterly update on revenues and projections and just kind of a
status. And then on top of that, we do two budget workshops just like we're doing here.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GOODWIN: And then we do two public meetings, you know, open to the public sort of
thing. So I mean, there's definitely -- there's ample opportunities.
YAZZETTA: There's a gate of opportunities. Yeah.
GOODWIN: There's ample opportunity to engage. To your point, it's just you've got to
be motivated enough to do it.
YAZZETTA: Sure.
GOODWIN: And also, to Paul's point, you also have to understand when you -- that's
too much money. I think that's a waste of money. You're walking in literally the middle
of the movie. You have no context of what's actually being discussed or what's
happening.
HOENLE: Right.
GOODWIN: And we get caught in that quite a bit.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. A lot of people look at the line items and have no idea what goes into
them.
GOODWIN: Uh-huh. Exactly.
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YAZZETTA: It's a tough topic. I don't feel -- I feel like the town is transparent and has
done, you know, about as much communication as necessary, in my opinion. I don't
know if we need that as a strategy for the upcoming plan.
GOODWIN: Well, I'll take that and I'll use a little bit of what everybody has just said
about the AI process and the automation, and I can improve transparency. It doesn't
necessarily fall under finance, but it does apply and that we've been working to -- we
have been working to improve our website. We just put in our first AI chatbot, Msty. If
you haven't tried Msty -- you know, so trying to embrace that technology forward, you
know, resource with thoughtfulness, I guess is that process. But the website is
continuing to be more and more robust and more and more, hopefully, usable,
searchable and, you know, friendly to the community so they can find the things that
they're looking for.
BONNETT: And your social media, it's been great.
GOODWIN: Oh, yeah. Pelton has been killing it. He's great. He's very good.
YAZZETTA: Pelton was walking down the street to take pictures of the crane dropping
the pillars in front of the shade structure.
GOODWIN: Oh, okay. The shade structure.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GOODWIN: Yeah. Mike Pelton was a big win when we brought him on board.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. He's awesome.
CRADER: Was that just -- they just did that today. The new shade. What's shade
structure?
GOODWIN: Yeah.
YAZZETTA: On the avenue. Yeah.
CRADER: I was just -- it must have been like just today or yesterday?
GOODWIN: Yeah. They've been working on it for the last couple of weeks where we are
trying to get a certain amount done before July 1st, and then the next round of funding
about three weeks after that, we'll have the actual shade that sails up.
YAZZETTA: I'm monitoring progress from the company.
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GOODWIN: Thank you.
GARMAN: That's the -- yeah. I don't want to say we used to go to the dog park a lot and
now, we come -GOODWIN: To the avenue.
GARMAN: My dog and we walk up and down the avenue.
GOODWIN: We joke that the avenue is the new drop.
GARMAN: Data security. I mean, anything that needs -- we need to look at? I see
that -- I get notified at least once a month that myself or somebody in my family, there's
been a data breach or something like that.
YAZZETTA: Did we have a strategy on grant funding? Did we come to a consensus?
GARMAN: That was brought up, but no -YAZZETTA: Okay.
GARMAN: But I'm just keeping that.
YAZZETTA: I want to make sure. Okay.
GOODWIN: You know, our IT is -- it's kind of in a separate bucket from finance. I know
from this perspective, we're kind of throwing it all together, but Mike does actually goes
quite to pretty extensive lengths to make sure our data and our security are in servers
and whatnot are all up to speed. In fact, we were talking about there's a recent threat
due to the Iran, you know, situation right now that they're supposed to be some sort of
data hack, and there's been a lot of chatter about it. He's like, we're good. He's like, I've
already done most of what they did. He's like, I did six months ago. We're already
ahead of the curve on a lot. But Mike is also very up to speed on that and takes that
very seriously. Now, whether we want to talk about cloud-based financial tools and you
know, again, that maybe that goes into a bigger conversation about technology where
that intersects with website or AI or other, you know, tools like that.
REYES: Well, those two things would go together. The security and cloud base totally
go together especially if you're looking at moving the -YAZZETTA: But it sounds like town is all finances into that prioritizing security.
GOODWIN: Yes. It's under there.
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YAZZETTA: Yeah. I don't know if it merits its own -GOODWIN: Yeah. I mean, we already use cloud based services for that. You know,
whether it's open gov or procurement process, or a lot of that's already sort of in the
works.
GARMAN: The last thing -- I put this in the last plan and everybody was good with it.
And then I took it to the council and they were like, don't do that. So I figured any
appetite for bringing that up again or -GOODWIN: I think the staff have no interest in doing it.
GARMAN: Like it's important what we do with the budget, you know.
GOODWIN: Yeah.
YAZZETTA: So just having -GARMAN: Anything on long term budget planning?
YAZZETTA: Yeah. Because having a two-year budget kind of -- does it -- I'm guessing it
does reduce staff's ability to be nimble because you set something in play today, and it's
like you can't adjust a year from now. You got to wait two years from now.
GOODWIN: I think -- yes. So on the -- there's two sets. There are some efficiencies and
Patrick's right in the idea that if you did a two-year budget, we're not coming back
talking about capital projects. If we do it, a lot of angst we get is we go, okay, here's a
three-year plan or a five-year plan for capital projects. Well, if you say yes to year one,
you kind of got to say yes to the rest of the years because you can't leave things in
limbo. And so, if we could get to a point where those types of things are adopted in a
longer-term vision versus the operations, the operations is where we need to remain
nimble and are -- they're highly subjective to the revenues in coming in. And that's
where that biannual budgeting gets a little bit of pushback because we can't project
revenues three years in advance because we're already doing it eighteen months to two
years in advance for one year budgeting. So going even further, that crystal ball gets
even more murky to know what the revenues are going to be because that's what our
budget is based on. But from the CIP side of things, I think it's smart if you're going to
adopt a project that is multi-year, you adopt it in its entirety, not on a year-to-year basis.
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YAZZETTA: The lights on the palm trees that's a part of Amanda presented. That's part
of a five-year plan or a multi-year plan?
GOODWIN: I don't remember. I'll be honest with you. I knew -YAZZETTA: It is -GOODWIN: -- it was a pilot project.
YAZZETTA: -- eluded my -- I thought that was part of one of the buckets of funds that
was approved.
GOODWIN: Let's just use the shade structure that you were just talking about.
YAZZETTA: Okay. Yeah.
GOODWIN: That's a multi-year project.
YAZZETTA: Okay.
GOODWIN: It's part of a three-year -- we're just finishing -YAZZETTA: Sure.
GOODWIN: If Monday finishes year one, year two kicks off, July 1, but can you imagine
if they didn't approve the funding in year two, we would have half a shade structure.
We would have the poles, but not the -YAZZETTA: Got it.
GOODWIN: -- rest of it.
YAZZETTA: So what you are doing this for some things?
GOODWIN: We are, but it's not official and it's in limbo year over year over year. We
run that risk every year of them pulling the plug on projects that are half done.
YAZZETTA: We already seen that haven't we?
GOODWIN: Uh-huh. It's not ideal.
YAZZETTA: So even if we put that in, it would get pulled by council.
GOODWIN: Potentially.
YAZZETTA: Just, you know, speaking candidly here, I watched -GOODWIN: No, you definitely need to read the room. The council definitely has some
very particular ideas about what they want. And to be fair and candid, it's really -- a lot
of it doesn't align with what was adopted in 2022, and this is where the rub is when we,
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as staff, bring things forward and we go, it's consistent with our strategic plan. It's
consistent with our general plan. And they -YAZZETTA: Sure.
BONNETT: So I have a question about that because the strategic plan and the priorities
that was driven by residents and surveys and all stakeholders for the entire town, which
the council is representing those interests.
GOODWIN: Yes.
BONNETT: Okay. Is what -REYES: And the council approved it.
BONNETT: Okay.
REYES: They voted on it and approved it. It's their plan.
BONNETT: And we have some new council members is that maybe part of the dynamic
shift?
GOODWIN: Yeah.
BONNETT: Perfect.
GOODWIN: And you can definitely -- and you nail on the head is that that is -- we try to
take our direction from this strategic plan. Right. This is how we derive our priorities
and whatnot. And when we make inroads on them and the council says that's not what
I want, we're left sort of going, what are we supposed to do then. Right. Because we're
trying to carry out the will of the people. You're telling me you think the will is different,
so where does that leave us. So it can be a challenge.
HOENLE: But you brought up another good point mentioning the general plan. The
general plan is starting to get even more out-of-date now. And it is high level and pretty
broad, and we're supposed to be able to dovetail into the general plan, and we don't.
So I went through most of that in the last couple of days.
CRADER: The plan was -- yeah. The general plan was voted on. I think it's a
requirement every 10 years.
GOODWIN: Yeah. Every 10 years.
GARMAN: Okay. So we're moving on. Anything here that you want us to write down,
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we got AI. We had something here about the grants and federal funding. We talked
about all the rest. Anything before we move on beyond AI? Nothing. No federal. No
grants. Nothing else you think is that important before we move on? We can revisit or
we can take it away in the future to make sure.
REYES: Well, identify opportunities for improvement to grant management. I don't
know we can water the opportunity -- we don't know what the opportunities are that
are in that. It's just that it's important to keep -GARMAN: Well, we can look at them now and emphasize it. In the last time, there was
a talk about hiring a person, remember.
GOODWIN: Yeah.
HOENLE: Maybe if you just went to outside or other sources of income for the town
because you got the tax for Arizona, you know, tax credits, things like that. So Maybe
broaden it up instead of just plain old grant management. Just other sources of income.
REYES: I don't know how to phrase that, but I agree with you, Bernie.
GARMAN: If you guys had to pick a secondary one, is that the one that you all are kind
of hovering over? Like you said, we would phrase it better, but yeah.
HOENLE: Yeah.
GARMAN: So I will say funding sources or.
HOENLE: Yeah.
REYES: Bernie sat on the funding sources expanded support -YAZZETTA: But you guys (indiscernible).
REYES: -- panel (indiscernible) flexibility.
GARMAN: Bernie, Paul.
REYES: Any Copilot to answer that question?
YAZZETTA: I'm just going to go funding.
GARMAN: Okay. Yeah.
CRADER: Funding support. That's broad.
HOENLE: Fund me page.
GARMAN: Okay.
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HOENLE: Go fund me.
GARMAN: All right. We're moving on. Who's keeping time because I don't -PADGETT-ESPIRITU: I know.
REYES: We started at 11 minutes after 4 started talking about -GARMAN: Okay. So economic is always a big one. A lot of words up there to peruse.
There's, you know, zoning downtown district, Shae Corridor, state trust land.
Reputation is an interesting one. Reputation for business.
HOENLE: Rachael, has Amanda finished their economic development plan?
GOODWIN: Uh-huh. Yeah. It's been adopted by council. I mean, a lot of these things
are sort of highlighted in that.
YAZZETTA: Was that the sets?
GOODWIN: Uh-huh.
YAZZETTA: Okay.
GARMAN: Just call it out if something you think is interesting.
REYES: If we're looking at some of this stuff, it's always all runs together into something
else. The capitalization. Capitalize on the outdoor activities, parks and Dark Sky
initiatives. That is -- those things are also part of the infrastructure that we'll get into
and I wanted to talk more about that under infrastructure, but.
GOODWIN: Well, I know -- I would challenge the group to think about these that what
are things that we can actually tangibly address. Right. Some of these are really highlevel challenges and concepts. Right. What are we -- do we feel like could reasonably
address and I will articulate even go and say by staff, right. What can actually get done
in a three-year window or a five-year window that can produce inroads in any of these?
YAZZETTA: How much might staff work on trying to attract a developer? I know there's
a couple that have thrown their hat in the ring and expressed interest for the State trust
land. But prior to this, how much time or effort has gone into like marketing that State
trust land to a developer?
GOODWIN: I would say very little. Mostly because of the major challenges, i.e. there's
no water and there is no designated water source for up there. So obviously, that's a
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big conversation, valley wide. Development can't happen without a guaranteed onehundred-year water source.
REYES: What's Maricopa doing in there?
GOODWIN: I think that they have -REYES: 650 tons?
GOODWIN: Yeah. And they are -- they're there all on well, I think.
REYES: I know. It sounds crazy. So the septic tank?
GOODWIN: Yeah. So there's that. And there's also no -YAZZETTA: Like oil field?
GOODWIN: Yeah.
REYES: Yeah.
GOODWIN: Yeah. They're all -- but there's no water source. There's also no
infrastructure for wastewater. So the sanitary district would have to -- and you
probably are familiar with that, that had the investment that that would require.
YAZZETTA: Yeah, a lot. But the developer would bear that cost and the -GOODWIN: Yes. They would have to -- each average.
YAZZETTA: -- cost -- has gone ultimately to the people that buy the homes.
GOODWIN: Yeah. Back to that major investor.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. Sure. Sure.
GOODWIN: But no. We have not done a lot of proactive marketing, if that's what you
want to talk about. Yeah.
YAZZETTA: Is that something that you think would be worthwhile, including the plan?
GOODWIN: I don't think it's bad. No. I mean, I think, again, arguably, it goes with that
last bullet of encouraging development while preserving our identity. Right. That is
kind of the last major area for planned development.
REYES: Would it be under land use or economic grounds?
HOENLE: Yeah, possibly.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. That probably should go under the land use section, so we'll save that
two-minute block for the next one.
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REYES: Okay.
YAZZETTA: I know we're back in time.
GARMAN: We're not going to be making any electric cars or chips or microchips.
YAZZETTA: Well, we've got the Innovation district, right?
GOODWIN: Uh-huh.
YAZZETTA: It's at least proposed.
GOODWIN: Intended. Yeah.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GARMAN: Where is that?
GOODWIN: Kind of a rough technology.
GARMAN: Where?
GOODWIN: I think it's over -- well -YAZZETTA: It was by when the Dutch brothers is, right, that triangle.
GOODWIN: So that is -- yeah. That's a -- yeah. Sorry. I'm thinking of the more the
manufacturing and the -YAZZETTA: Yeah. And our -GOODWIN: That's it. Where that's -YAZZETTA: Where there are anchor of industrial land that's remaining.
GOODWIN: Uh-huh.
GARMAN: Anything about economics as far as the downtown plan goes?
GOODWIN: That's got a lot of traction right now, the downtown revitalization.
GARMAN: We just run into it. Just, you know, if you all know. You've been here for a
while is it is bring in more stores. Let's bring in more -- but there's not people here to -a lot of retailers to make money. So we have a lot of retail -- empty retail space or too
much retail space for our town. So why don't we start what's beyond that?
HOENLE: You know -GARMAN: Manufacturing, building, real estate. I don't know, you know, things like that
as far as the economy goes. It's the economic diversification of it.
SMITH: You know, as the Dark Sky project moves on and becomes developed, there will
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be -- and I know we busloads of people being brought up, and we know that. That was
done 30 years ago. They came up to see the Fountain. Believe it or not. But anyway,
that is going to drive a lot of people into our down, you know, avenue of the Fountains.
So the development of avenue, we're not going to necessarily -- if we don't, you know,
bring in restaurants and retail on there. But the exposure to that will sure -- will help
that. So therefore, we need to focus -- and I know the town is also talking about the
shaded areas and that type of thing. And the safety, which is all tied together to me. I
mean, I have trouble separating it all by myself and the safety of those people. And of
course, you all, I think everybody knows more about it than I do, but Mark Shay (ph.),
he's kind of donated some property along there to -- and their plan is to kind of build it
in kind of a walking area with it and use it. That's going to drive more people to the
avenue. And so, I don't know how to approach it under this scenario, but it's going to be
very, very important. And I know the town is working on that structure. Those
structures, we need to support that.
GARMAN: What about the Shea Corridor? Sprouts. And what about it?
BONNETT: For residential or business development?
GARMAN: More business and/or what's behind it there. What's behind the target area
too. And that our lone manufacturer or was it back there?
YAZZETTA: There's like one parcel of land that's zoned industrial.
GARMAN: Industrializing it right now.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. Everything else out there is mostly storage and RV parking. There is
some manufacturing out there, but it's the mythical key and player, it's kind of hard to
find a place to put them with that little space.
Rachael, how can we support you and Amanda and town staff with a strategy to sort of?
GOODWIN: Yeah, that's -- I actually am pulling up. So I have the 2022 strategies in front
of me. You know, retain existing businesses and attract new ones. Okay. That's, I
mean, that's pretty direct, that's pretty much the underlying purpose of ED. The
formation of collaborative economic development groups. Okay. So I think if I gave -my feedback would be to focus on, you know, the downtown efforts. If we're going to
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focus on one area, I think the idea of revitalizing downtown and maybe how that
dovetails, particularly with plot 208 specifically to kind of -- again, we can't do all the
things all the time. Right. And that also meets up with what Paul was talking about, the
Dark Sky process. And the other things, hopefully, come along with that by doing those
things. Are we addressing misconceptions about seasonal departures? Are we
developing a better reputation for Fountain Hills being more business friendly. Right.
Like, are we doing those things as a byproduct of those downtown efforts?
YAZZETTA: Okay.
REYES: Occurring in downtown.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. Downtown revitalization, you know, somehow -- and I don't know
exactly how much the town can influence plot 208. Just from that presentation we had,
it was it a year and a half ago, there was -REYES: We could try that.
YAZZETTA: Sure. Yeah. I mean -GOODWIN: Yeah, we're working -- we are -YAZZETTA: I mean, if there's a lot of complexity there with their CCNRs and -GOODWIN: We are working with them to see if there's the appetite to sort of take on
that challenge collaboratively. I know the words eminent domain were thrown around,
but in a friendly way, i.e. please come take us. We don't have any other options. That
doesn't -- that's not an ideal thing, but you know, is there another approach like that.
So I certainly don't want to throw that out there. That is not something I would ever
want in -- exactly.
REYES: Don't write it. Don't write it. Don't write it.
YAZZETTA: Non-black and white (indiscernible).
GOODWIN: Yeah. But the idea of are there other avenues to pursue there, you know,
in other work.
GARMAN: Downtown. It's a broad -- I know it's very broad based. What about we
started out with capitalizing the outdoor activity yard. I mean, we could -- there's some
stuff that can be filled in underneath there. What do you all think about that?
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YAZZETTA: What holes do we have, like, we're putting the shade structure on the
avenue right now. What else is coming down the pipeline or what other gaps do we
have? Like, for example, that shade structure is going to make that middle part of the
avenue welcoming especially during the summer months.
GOODWIN: Yeah, that's the idea.
YAZZETTA: A year-round, right. What other holes are there that can be filled by adding
infrastructure in some of these, you know, passive places that'll get people to, you
know, want to sit and gather.
GOODWIN: Well, I think what we've talked about is the idea of these -- of pocket parks,
which are really going back to the general plan, it's this idea of that third space. Right.
It's not work. It's not home. It's this third space concept where you want to gather with
friends, with families, with, you know, for entertainment purposes, for socialization, et
cetera. So think about if we -- you know, the best example I can give you is, you know,
that little sort of bump out area next to Sofritas, right. It's this little courtyard. Well, if
you took that and you strung some lights and you had some Adirondack chairs out
there, right? And you're like, oh, this is a cool place that I could sit outside, you know,
and listen to some music. And it doesn't have to be this major event. It's just
organically happens on Friday and Saturday nights. Right. So creating this sense of
place is kind of a generic term for it. But investing in these small opportunities
throughout that downtown corridor to create that because, I mean, you just talked
about it, Patrick. People love the avenue. People walk up and down the near park
constantly, whether it's for dogs, whether it's for shade because it's some of the best
grass and trees that you get. I mean, but they won't walk on the sidewalks. They want
to walk in the middle. I mean, that's what I've tried to explain in sort of -YAZZETTA: It's like a nature walk.
GOODWIN: It is.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GOODWIN: But it feels nice. It's cooler.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
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GOODWIN: Right. You know, the -- so we're saying, how then do we duplicate that
same vibe, that same feeling on the sidewalk side so that it creates that draw into the
restaurants or the shops and whatever else.
YAZZETTA: Downtown placemaking?
GOODWIN: Yeah. So that's kind of the theory we've been working with right now is
creating that downtown placemaking in that sense of identity in our downtown.
GARMAN: So I think we need something else too under economics. I mean, that's a big
thing, right, to try to draw different types of businesses, employment, workforce.
SMITH: Are there adjacent businesses to the Dark Sky center that you can pull in?
GARMAN: That's what I was trying to think of, which is.
YAZZETTA: So astronomy is a billion industry in Arizona. I don't know, maybe with the
presence of the Dark Sky Discovery Center, it attracts some business to Fountain Hills,
but I'm not exactly sure what that intersection would look like. Because this is more of,
like, a tourism and educational attraction. We're going to create a few jobs. But that
is -- remains to be seen. We're not exactly sure, you know, what all of the, you know,
connections are going to be once it's open. So TBD, I would say.
GARMAN: I was just -- I'm just trying to think of capitalizing on what our strengths are
as a town and one, that's environment and outdoors and Dark Sky and things like that.
GOODWIN: Well, and some of that, dovetails with the quality of life. Pillar as well.
Right. I mean, and again, none of these operate in silos. But like our outdoor
activities -- well, that leads me to our trails. And you know, back to the infrastructure.
People love sidewalks, and people hate sidewalks, and I can't do anything right with
sidewalks right now. But if, you know, outdoor activities require infrastructure for
outdoor access. You know, there are Dark Skies. Okay. Can we have the Discovery
Center, but we're trying to develop a park to enable better stargazing opportunities. I
know astro tourism is, obviously, a big thing, and we're trying to capitalize on the
different celestial events, whether there are blood moons or meteor showers or
whatever we're doing. So I'm not sure exactly what will come out of that, but we're
trying to lean into it for sure.
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GARMAN: So I think to do some research. I'm just trying to think of things that kind of
will come under it as well. That's why I keep going back to like, you know, economic
diversification. There's stuff that can fall underneath that capitalizing outdoor activities,
strategic business recruitment, you know, those are all kind of things underneath those,
like trying to capitalize on what we have.
YAZZETTA: So the existing targeted collaborative economic development, I think that's
verbatim what it is. I think we could include a version of that in this upcoming plan, but
focus on the strengths of Fountain Hills, which is Dark Sky Discovery Center, which is the
trail network. I mean, it's kind of like a retread of what we already have, but I feel like it
is an ongoing goal -GARMAN: To capitalize on what on our strengths.
YAZZETTA: -- continue focusing on it.
GOODWIN: I mean, I'd push so far as to say, how do we develop more trails. How do
we -REYES: Well, that's coming up.
GOODWIN: -- increase beyond that.
YAZZETTA: You guys bring up the ideas on that.
GOODWIN: Awesome.
YAZZETTA: You won't believe. So Patrick, we're kind of running along on this one.
SMITH: Because it's a big one. But yeah, we're not being particularly productive.
HOENLE: So two things. One, and I don't know the answer, so I hate saying it, but how
do we tie in more of Adero Canyon and what about FireRock? I mean, it's sort of like
entities among themselves. And we don't really do anything with them or plan for
them. They just seem to have a life of their own, too.
YAZZETTA: maybe that targeted development is engaging with Adero or FireRock or
Eagle Mountain. I don't exactly know what that would produce.
HOENLE: Eagle's nest. Yeah.
YAZZETTA: But I mean, the town is already partners with Discovery Center.
HOENLE: The other thing is, I just spent last two weeks on the East Coast outside of D.C.
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and what they're doing in a couple of different areas -- I went down to Williamsburg too,
is they close off the streets at night and you walk on the streets and things are open.
They don't close it, 8:30 or 9 o'clock, like they do here. So you can go down and get a
cup of coffee or a piece of pie or some ice cream or something, and you walk. When we
lived in Italy, we went out after dinner and walked up and down. It was the passeggiata
and you just strolled. And the restaurants on King Street, they're now in the street.
They expanded the restaurants and went into the street over the sidewalk and into the
street, and they have canopies over them. They have tents and they didn't make
permanent structure. And they can always move back, especially they will when it starts
flooding again, but anyways. And then they have bollards all over the place.
YAZZETTA: And the ones take down in the street and they -HOENLE: Yeah. They're either hydraulic and they work electronically, and they come up
in the street when they want to close it off. And or other ones, they just lift them out
and -GOODWIN: Lay down.
GARMAN: Yeah.
GOODWIN: They can lay down and go.
HOENLE: Well, let's -- basically abatement for vehicles so you don't drive in with a bomb
or something. They flip up in the street. But anyways, so there's different techniques
that are being used. But the whole idea is people, you want them to stay and spend
money, and they don't really stay and spend money downtown.
GARMAN: I think we've got a couple -- we've talked about big ones. I mean,
downtown's a big one. I think there's a lot of hay that we can make with that. And I just
wrote down like diversification and capitalize on our strengths. I think there's a lot that
can go underneath that as well. Is that good enough to move on? We can revisit this.
Remember, we're going to have a whole another year. Okay. So we're moving on from
economics. Land use.
What jumps out at you, Randy? You want to spend effort on the State trust land.
CRADER: Yes. That goes to education. Remember that. I guess whoever develops it
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and buys it, that money goes to the State. It's supposed to be for education. Right.
YAZZETTA: State wide education. Right?
CRADER: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
YAZZETTA: Not distributed just locally and where the development is. Right.
GOODWIN: I wouldn't think so.
GARMAN: State trust. A half-acre of industrial land do something like that.
YAZZETTA: We talked about the floating zoning. I think that's a good idea where it
doesn't lock in. It's like someone could opt in to a certain, like John was talking about in
Mesa. They had the floating zone. It was one of their -- I think it was a commercial or
industrial corridor that they had, and it really was successful. So I know that the retail
district downtown that has received some pushback and have a little bit of friction. But
the floating zoning, you know, someone opt in or opt out, you know.
GOODWIN: And maybe even to zoom out on that just a touch to saying, you know,
exploring the zoning options and, you know, how to leverage them for greater flexibility,
right. And so, the ability to whether it's floating zoning, whether it's an entertainment
district in the downtown, whether it's a -- you know, again, back to that technology
corridor, right. So what does that mean understanding what we're trying to get to with
that. And then the education process of what is that? How does that really work.
Right.
YAZZETTA: So we say -HOENLE: So what's floating zoning actually mean? You know, I mean -GOODWIN: It's not an automatic. I think the whole point is that it's not an automatic.
This, you know, this square is zoned specifically this. It's the idea that you can have the
zoning designated voluntarily, and when you do, there's benefits to where you have
then committed to a certain standard or certain operational standard. And then there's
usually, I think, benefits of, okay, if you do that the town will, you know, yeah, give you a
special use for that space or, you know, there's other -- there's a tradeoff there. And so,
the idea is that if you buy a vacant parcel along the frontage road on Saguaro. Well, it
might be zoned, but you wanted to open up, I don't know, a beauty shop or something.
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Okay. If you commit to doing these things, and maintaining this facade and maintaining
these types of things will give you that use, and then you kind of get this designation,
but it has to be cooperative and voluntary is generally how that works. But that's
probably a terrible example, but the idea is there.
YAZZETTA: I think just creative zoning is just like a strategy is something we can unpack
in the future.
GARMAN: That's a good one. Creative zoning.
YAZZETTA: Yes.
GARMAN: Creative zoning solutions.
REYES: Is that a good way to put it?
GARMAN: I think that's a good way to put it.
GOODWIN: Yeah.
HOENLE: So the chamber keeps expanding numbers of members and a lot of them are
joining, not even being in Fountain Hills. Is there anything that's come up as
impediments to businesses coming to Fountain Hills other than the summer population?
GOODWIN: I mean, there's the expanding. It's too far, it's too expensive. The density is
not there. If I'm going to open a bicycle shop, if I want to be where people can get to
me and we would argue, but don't you want to be near the trails where people are
accessing, and the answer is no. People want to drop off of bike before work or after
work to get repairs, and then on the weekends want to go out and ride. They don't
want to come out and drop off their bike to be fixed out here.
HOENLE: Which is kind of the old traditional?
GOODWIN: Yes. It's very dated and it's very -HOENLE: Well, I agree with you. I think they're missing the point and having a more
flexible.
REYES: What was the underutilized areas consider redevelopment? Do we know what
those were? Last bullet. Consider redevelopment of underutilized areas. Do we have
any context of what those?
YAZZETTA: Plot 208.
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GOODWIN: I mean, I would think plot 208. I would think, again, that that frontage road
along Shea, where there's a lot of vacancies and undeveloped and uses where you're
seeing sort of that churn of use. I think Bashas' Shopping Center where there's a lot of
vacancy in there. So those different pockets, I guess.
YAZZETTA: I don't think this is a solution for this town, but larger cities, like if they want
to revitalize some, there will be some eminent domain. There's that other ED word
that's big and scary, but it's like we are going to redevelop this corridor. Here's what
we're putting in. We're attracting developers. I don't know how we do that here
without, you know, swinging a big hammer. You know what I mean? Does that make
sense? It seems like we want redevelopment, but it's -- if you look at the downtown
corridor, it's these piecemeal buildings, a lot of vacant parcels. There's just no real
defining identity for it, I think, which is also an impediment to people wanting to move
in from out of town and either build something or open up a shop in an existing space. I
don't know. Does the town have an appetite for -GOODWIN: I wish they did, I would say. I think the challenge here is exactly what you
said. I think they have these like, we want Trader Joe's and we want Sprouts. Yay. You
know, but we want Trader Joe's or we want, you know, a Vig, you know, restaurant, or
we want, you know, these high-end things to come, but we don't want to change. We
want them exactly right here in this one little box that works for me versus but that
doesn't work for them or their model.
YAZZETTA: And we don't want tenement apartment housing.
GOODWIN: Exactly. And we don't want the change that is sort of required to sort of
redevelop. Right. Redevelopment is a scary word because that means change and
change is scary. And the uncertainty about it is scary. I mean, look at how we got to
Sprouts was a massive, massive change of use down there. I mean, those apartments
and the referendum and all of that stuff. But you can ask Sprouts and they'll tell you
that's part of why they were -YAZZETTA: It's one of the driving factors.
GOODWIN: -- willing to come. It was one of the driving -- it's not the only driving factor,
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but the fact that there will be redevelopment of that whole shopping center and the
vision that they have for it is part of that driving factor.
REYES: Well, and they'll bring along with them. With them, I mean, people in Sprouts
here.
GARMAN: Is mixed use zoning -- mixed use and zoning different than creative zoning?
Is it subsumed under that?
YAZZETTA: I think that's an umbrella that captures all zoning, at least in my opinion.
GARMAN: That's why I'm asking. Do you guys think that's the same because -- with
mixed use came up quite a bit.
GOODWIN: I think -GARMAN: So do you think that would be creative zoning?
GOODWIN: I would think so. I think when you think of mixed use, it's a commercial or
retail first floor with residential upper level, right. That's kind of the generic term for
what a mixed-use space has become. But even that is somewhat dated model.
REYES: Pretty limited. I mean -GARMAN: What about going through all of the extra retail space that we have and
repurposing it as a 10-year plan or a 10-year goal? Do we have extra right?
GOODWIN: Maybe a little.
YAZZETTA: Well, that would involve rezoning, right. So that falls under creative zoning,
what we have. Because these can all be the tasks that fall beneath the strategy. Right. I
feel like we should try to spur something with the State trust land as a strategy as well. I
mean, that might be like a Hail Mary pass, but you know, Discovery Center coming
online later this year. Sprouts, they're breaking or intending to break ground next year,
right? I don't know when that will happen.
GOODWIN: I'm not sure what the timeline is.
YAZZETTA: But there is -- there's a lot of kind of new things happening in Fountain Hills,
and I know that a large thousand plus home development is a very slow-moving train.
But if there is some type of interest, you know, a developer has committed to the land
that starts to change the reputation or at least how people perceive the town of
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Fountain Hills. Things are happening, things are changing. There's growth. There's life.
In my opinion, it's things have been, you know, stagnant for a while and it's, you know, I
mean, I can't think of a different word to use. I apologize. But you know, if there's
some way that we can get something going on there. It's growth. It's change. You
know, it lets people know that, you know, we're moving in some direction. So I'll get off
my (indiscernible). I just wanted to add the State trust is.
GARMAN: I guess we don't know for sure. The State trust is going to be another Adero
Canyon, or is it going to be a little bigger than that? What is it going to?
YAZZETTA: It's (indiscernible).
BONNETT: Geoff, where is the State trust land?
YAZZETTA: As you're leaving town on Fountain Hills Boulevard. What's the school that's
right there on the blanket?
GOODWIN: It's now the elementary school.
YAZZETTA: The elementary school.
GOODWIN: At the kind of as -- if you were going up to Rio Verde -BONNETT: Okay.
GOODWIN: -- and just as you kind of leave town, the school is on your left sort of the
last vestige of Fountain Hills.
YAZZETTA: I asked there was Taco shop is on the right a couple blocks before and then
you're out in the open desert.
GOODWIN: It's essentially that space -- that open space before you hit -HOENLE: McDowell.
GOODWIN: -- McDowell Mountain Regional Park.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
BONNETT: Okay.
YAZZETTA: It's 1200 acres.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: I think so.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GOODWIN: Maybe more than that, I think. Was it 1200 homes?
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YAZZETTA: Yeah. I think it's 1200 or so -GOODWIN: On like 2000 acres.
YAZZETTA: Yeah, it is.
HOENLE: Two square miles?
YAZZETTA: Yeah. It's a good size area.
GOODWIN: Yeah. It's just it's very rugged.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. And there's a lot of infrastructure.
GARMAN: You guys want to tag the State trust?
HOENLE: Put it on the list.
GARMAN: Put it on the list and see what we can get.
BONNETT: Not to get off this topic, but tied to Sprouts coming, and the apartments
were mentioned. Where are -- where were those to be located?
GOODWIN: So the Target shopping center, just call that. Its formal name, I think is the
Four Peaks Shopping Center, but the Target Center. So if you use Target as sort of the
midpoint of the shopping center, everything west of Target, so -YAZZETTA: To your right.
GOODWIN: Yeah. If you're looking at Target, everything to the right is supposed to be a
new apartment complex with 300 plus, I think, apartments. Everything to the east or to
the left is poised to be redeveloped into more shopping and retail to serve. And that's
where Sprouts would go. Sprouts is if you know where Streets of New York was sort of
down at the very far end of that plaza, that's the footprint that's going to be
redeveloped for Sprouts.
BONNETT: Okay.
GOODWIN: And then everything else is hopeful to fill in again as services and shopping
and retail to create, you know, some walkable access for the apartment renters and
things like that.
BONNETT: And when there's further discussion in that?
GOODWIN: So Sprouts has been approved because they are in -- I think they're in my
right. But they or they have submitted. I shouldn't say they've been approved. They've
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submitted. So they've shown intent. The apartment redevelopment, so they're on
different PDs (ph.). The apartment was -- project was approved and it was a very
contentious 4:3 vote. There was an attempt at a referendum to push it to voters.
There's a lot of -- just different viewpoints on that redevelopment there, but it has been
approved. I don't have a timeline yet of when that's supposed to happen. There isn't
necessarily a clock on them.
YAZZETTA: With the high cost of financing, it is the reason the parcel at the corner of
Saguaro Avenue is still vacant despite Mark Shay having his approval for what, three
years now. It is very expensive to build and the rents that you get in Fountain Hills just
can't really justify the cost to build right now. So I think people are just kind of waiting
until interest rates come down a little bit. There's been a lot of supply. I mean, that
doesn't really affect Fountain Hills as much as the Greater Valley area. But there's a lot
of air coming out of the balloon, so to speak when it comes to rental rates. So my rent
park place has not increased in three years now.
GOODWIN: You're lucky one.
YAZZETTA: It skyrocketed COVID 2020 through midpoint of 2022 then kind of leveled
off, and it's -- things are real soft right now. Yeah.
BONNETT: Thank you.
GOODWIN: Uh-huh.
GARMAN: All right. So we got two big ones for land use. They're pretty big ones
though, State trust.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GARMAN: There's a lot that can go there. I mean, I'm looking through there now as you
guys are talking. And I think it's a lot to handle a whole lot of stuff. Okay. So I think
that's plenty. Are you okay with land use?
YAZZETTA: I'm good.
GARMAN: All right. Health, welfare, safety, quality of life, whatever you want to call it.
REYES: So can I pitch my big idea what you have?
YAZZETTA: I mean, it's the first bullet point, Patrick. So I think you should lead on.
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GARMAN: That's it. Yes.
YAZZETTA: It's the other (indiscernible).
GARMAN: The first one.
REYES: Two days ago, I have -- you guys types it out. I told Geoff this the other day. All
right.
YAZZETTA: So this is like, pie in the sky and just anyways.
REYES: We had a couple different briefings. One was that connectivity of the parks and
maybe even not really having enough open space or parks in our town, but connectivity.
And then we were talking about infrastructure and safety. So hear me out. Remember,
we talked about the washes we have, and is it -- I forget his name. Justin. Yeah. Last
month said, you know, at some point, there was two big things that he called out. One
was the irrigation, if you remember, and all the medians and stuff. He talked about a lot
about all the irrigation that goes on throughout town. It's old. Right. He might be
planner.
And the other one the washes need cleaned out for safety because, you know, God
forbid. If there's a fire or some of the embankments can fall in. Remember that. And
you're all there, right. He talked quite a bit about that being a safety, something that
over time, we could tackle, you know, outside of the roads and all of that. So that was
kind of a safety kind of an infrastructure thing was the washes would go through town.
I'm thinking that over time -- remember, this is a 10-year kind of thing we're looking at
horizon that as -- if the town created a plan to go through and clean and shore up the
washes that go through town, the community services, and those folks could look and
see what that plan is and piggyback behind it to create some trails. You know, it could
be an opportunity for some trails and some of the washes that get cleaned out, shored
up. They can come behind the ones that make the most sense and create a kind of a
trail whether it's for bike riding or walking or something that might possibly connect
some of our open spaces through town.
The long plan, it would mean a lot of collaboration within the town between the folks
who would have to go through and look and plan, cleaning out and making the washes
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safe. Of course, public opinion would matter a whole lot. But then at the end of the
day, we would have open, you know, clean, safe washes that people might be able to
ride a bike through, walk through, walk their dog through and connect some of the open
areas in town, some of the parks where it makes sense. It wouldn't be a hundred
percent of the washes. It would be the ones that make the most sense. You always
leave that specific decision making to the experts within the town government, but this
would be a goal looking out on the horizon. All right. There's my spiel. Discuss.
HOENLE: We're still trying to get bicycle networks, which has really done well and since
I've been here, compared to when I first started visit here and there were none. Really.
REYES: You know, we had the presentation about not talking about who did that
presentation? I can't remember his name. Anyway, it talked about some of that that
they were looking at and doing it this way. I think that it should be part -- it should be
one of our goals is to, you know, work with them, or that should be on our agenda to
develop that. Because until we had that presentation, I didn't realize that that was a
possibility even tying that stuff together. But it's amazing that it can be done. And if
you realize what they did with that type of thing down in Scottsdale when that first
started, you never realized that could be tied like that. And I think that's something that
we should really look for, you know, our 10-year plan on.
GARMAN: I like it because it crosses over between health, welfare and safety and
infrastructure crosses through. So got to get money to clean out the washes, right,
because it's a fire hazard. It's a highway for animals. I don't know. The sides are falling
in around some of the houses, blah, blah, blah. So it's an infrastructure thing. And since
we're going -- if we were going to go in and clean some of that out and make them more
safe, why not come behind and try to make some of them into trails while we're doing
it? And I know the people that own the houses around those would be thrilled to hear
this conversation, but you got to start somewhere.
HOENLE: So you're kind of grow as you go.
REYES: Yeah. I think that's kind of -YAZZETTA: Is there a specific watch that would connect to areas that would be like a
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good pilot project for something like this, or at least just as a concept?
REYES: Yeah.
YAZZETTA: Because I was up in Payson hiking over the weekend, and they have -- it's
the Payson area trail system, and it kind of goes around the perimeter of the town. It's
pretty well developed but it includes trails, you know, traditional, like hiking trails.
You've got, like, sidewalks in town, and then they've got, like, other proposed parts of
the network that they haven't added to yet. But you can hike not around the entire
perimeter, but you can hike, like, whole sections and -- it seems pretty cool. I'm going
to go back up and explore more. But anyways, when Patrick mentioned that to me that
I was like, oh, that sounds like something I just saw, so anyways.
GOODWIN: Yeah.
REYES: I know it's not easy, right? Every 5, 10 years, it's a flood, washes everything
away.
GOODWIN: I think I'm less concerned about that than the public side of it because we
have sort of looked at this in differing degrees over time. When the first public survey
was done and we did Vision Fountain Hills and that a couple years ago, it's been more
than a couple now, you know, trails and connectivity was one of the biggest things that
came out of it. And that to us meant connecting places of use, right. So whether it's
connecting the -- the ability to connect the parks so that you could get from park to park
or from our downtown to a park or to the schools or neighborhoods into, again, your
districts, so that we looked at concepts like this to try to figure out what that would be.
So to answer your question, there are some theoretical options that we've sort of begun
to map out into which washes would make the most sense, which are service the most
direct route from again to one of these.
REYES: I think you get it from Fountain Park to like the skate park. That kind of came to
mind.
GOODWIN: Yeah. Yeah.
REYES: Because when I first moved here three and a half years ago, I just went for a
walk one day and I just kind of found myself down there, just like, where does this go.
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GOODWIN: Yeah. We talked about -- so there's a number of different ways that have
been sort of, you know, visioned. But that being said there -- this would definitely be a
big lift to try to get the council and the community on board because I think Patrick kind
of nailed it in the idea that the washes, you know, people feel like those are an
extension of their backyard or their extension -- and I don't want strangers walking back
there. I don't know what you're doing. I don't know who you are. And now, you are in
my space so to speak. That being said, I'm going to double down on what Bernie said.
I'm from the same area that he was visiting, things like the WNOD. And you know,
those massive trail systems through the Washington Metro Area are massively popular.
People buy houses to be close to them, to access them. They use them for work,
transport, you know, riding bikes to work to and from schools. They're ingrained in the
community as huge, huge assets. So I think if you could ever get this done, it would be
seen as a huge asset. It's just the hill to get over that.
REYES: Sure.
GOODWIN: So I mean, I think it's worth exploring and seeing if the council has appetite
for it.
HOENLE: It's worth keeping it up front where they can see it.
YAZZETTA: How do we zoom out a bit toward this, so it's not specifically about the trails
through the washes? Instead, it's something about expanding the trail network to
connect.
CRADER: Let me tie it back into the -YAZZETTA: Place -REYES: The fire safety and such tied that in trails is right down here in little words. Little
(indiscernible).
GARMAN: Would you call it like a wash maintenance?
YAZZETTA: Well, that would be -- what do they call it? Defensible space. Like, you have
an area that's cleared for say like a hiking and bike path.
HOENLE: When you have to clean, does the town have a plan to clean out washes over
time?
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GOODWIN: Uh-huh.
HOENLE: Really?
GOODWIN: We're more than half million dollars into it right now.
REYES: I think they're doing right by my house.
HOENLE: What we stated before continue to expand and connect open space and
recreational facilities to create opportunities for physical activities.
GOODWIN: I think that nails it.
GARMAN: So how do we want to work this?
CRADER: Do we want it just like that?
GARMAN: Which number is that one? I'm not going to write all that down, but I'll just
paraphrase it. Yeah. Thank you so much. Do you see -CRADER: It's like a multi -GARMAN: What is the leverage wash safety then wash usability?
GOODWIN: I think you're going to find that that's an oxymoron. People are going to tell
you it's -GARMAN: An oxymoron?
GOODWIN: It's not safe to be -- if you're going to put people down there, they're going
to make it less safe because -GARMAN: What I meant safety from like a fire rushing through the wash, you know,
because -GOODWIN: That has nothing to do with the trail, though, like I think -GARMAN: Right. I know.
GOODWIN: So that's happening regardless.
GARMAN: Right.
GOODWIN: So putting the trail in though is not contingent on us doing that.
REYES: No. It's an opportunity.
GOODWIN: It is. I just think that tying it to safety isn't where this is going to get traction
because the wash safety is already underway and is being identified. And then you say,
well, putting a trail in would be great. Yes, I agree, I think a trail would be great. But
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then they go, but now, you're putting strangers in my backyard who might be littering or
smoking or, you know, they trust me. Any number of things will come up as to what
they might be doing down there.
HOENLE: My favorite ATP (ph.) driving through there.
GOODWIN: Uh-huh. Yes. So I think the emphasis saying utilizing the trails or utilizing
the wash system for multi-purpose, yes, it has a functionality as a safety mechanism for
floods and, you know, flows and things like that. But it can also be utilized as amenity
for the community 365 days of the year.
GARMAN: Okay. We'll find some verbiage for that. Do you guys see any others that I
just monopolize 10 minutes. What about -- what is the one I want to talk about?
Seniors. Senior services, dementia care, resources for caregivers. And we're talking like
health, health and welfare.
YAZZETTA: We have a fair amount of programing at the community center that is
geared towards seniors. Right. Do we need to enhance that or does that need to be a
priority in the plan to guide staff and council? It seems like it's happened organically on
its own. I mean the demographic is 60 plus, so the programing reflects that. Right.
GOODWIN: Yeah. I think -- you know, there's definitely a vested interest in particularly
the dementia care and the sort of continuum that's part of that. And as well as for -- not
just the, you know, not just the person that is diagnosed with it, but also the person that
is supporting them through that.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
REYES: The caregiver.
GOODWIN: Yeah, the caregivers. So I think that that's actually been one of our bigger
focuses over there.
YAZZETTA: That was one of the seminars, right?
GOODWIN: Uh-huh.
YAZZETTA: It was like caring for the caregiver.
GOODWIN: Yeah. They do -- they've been doing a summit each year to try to kind of
build on that.
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YAZZETTA: Okay.
GOODWIN: You know, aging -- I think one of the bigger concepts under that is aging in
place. Right. Being able to hopefully develop a system so that you can stay here in your
own home for as long as possible before needing it, you know, additional care. And so
aging in place is a big deal.
GARMAN: What about the -- you said aging in place?
GOODWIN: Uh-huh.
GARMAN: Blue -YAZZETTA: Blue zone.
HOENLE: Blue zone.
GARMAN: We want to have a beta test of a blue zone, a blue neighborhood?
HOENLE: We're already working on it.
GARMAN: I mean, in a blue cul de sac.
HOENLE: They got a big team, and they're close to getting chartered.
CRADER: Could they use some help?
HOENLE: Sure they could. I talked to Julie (indiscernible) around.
YAZZETTA: (Indiscernible) couple of years from now in about a year and a half.
HOENLE: Yeah. They'll probably have it done before the plan comes out.
YAZZETTA: How far along are they? They got to raise like 100 grand for the study.
Right.
HOENLE: They can do it for less, but yeah.
YAZZETTA: 75? It's still a lot of money.
REYES: Push forward with future parks, too. Is another one right there.
YAZZETTA: Any interest or desire in having a rec center in town? We have a community
center. Kevin had mentioned it would be like on his wish list. I think it was like, where
to put it.
GOODWIN: Yeah.
YAZZETTA: But I mean, that would be a great asset for the town. I don't know the
feasibility of it. You know, if it's just one of those, like, pie in the sky things like.
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GOODWIN: I would say it probably is at this point. As much as I agree with Kevin, just
like there's a, you know, there's a team of folks that would love to see a community
pool, and I agree with them on the surface, it's just operationally. It's just not
sustainable for what we have as a community.
HOENLE: I got a good spot for it.
GOODWIN: Do you? Is it in your backyard?
HOENLE: No. You know where it is?
GOODWIN: I do.
YAZZETTA: It's one of the school properties.
GOODWIN: Yeah.
REYES: Yeah. Last time, I think we have to look at our -- what's the quality of life for the
age demographic in our town. That's why I pointed to, like, senior services to aged care,
memory care. Last time around, we talked about boutique kind of cosmetic surgery,
IVs, you know.
CRADER: The wellness stuff. Your hangover IV.
HOENLE: Just for the new members. What we were talking about when I talked to
Rachael is there's a school property, which is Four Peak School that's closed. It's
mothballed right now, and eventually we're going to have to do something with it. But
it's in really in park territory, or it can be redeveloped to put in houses that would match
the rest of the houses around it. There's no decision made yet. It's not officially for
sale. It's been approved by the voters. It's sitting there until we make a decision.
BONNETT: Was even there at one time?
YAZZETTA: Yes.
HOENLE: Yes, even was there, they had an incubator for businesses to try and start-up
businesses there.
CRADER: There's going to be a community college at some point. What was the other
thing?
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YAZZETTA: -- continues to increase. I know there was some relief on the contract, what,
six months ago or whenever it was. I think we touched on it that, I mean, police and fire
is going to be 50 plus percent of the annual budget. Is it something -- and I know Jerry's
had meetings with -- Jerry Sheridan about the future of policing here, but should we
have something to explore the feasibility of an in-house police department, or is that a
bridge too far?
GOODWIN: I would say it's kind of -- it's not a warm and fuzzy topic. Not so much
because of the DNCO relationship or anything of that nature. It's the reality of -YAZZETTA: Start-up costs?
GOODWIN: Yeah, and maintenance. I mean, the idea that -REYES: That has come up through the years a number of times, but it's just not
economically feasible.
YAZZETTA: Then is there anything that we should look at from the fire department
perspective? They seem to be rocking and rolling.
GOODWIN: They -- that they are. And that they are. You know, I don't want to get too
far over my skis because I don't know what's coming down the pike with them. Once we
get into automatic aid and kind of get situated there, which that process is underway.
YAZZETTA: Okay.
GOODWIN: One of the things sort of on the horizon that we're just keeping an eye on
are the emergency side, i.e. the ambulance services, essentially, because those are
outsourced that isn't operated by -- we have the fire department, we have a contract,
which is normal. But those services are starting to become harder and harder to
maintain, and the cost for care has gone up. So a lot of those services are going by the
wayside to where municipalities do have to take it on. So if we were to ever get to that
point, there would be a big question of what that would look like. But I don't know that
for a fact, so it would not be -YAZZETTA: Too early to -GOODWIN: So it may too early to tell for something like this.
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GOODWIN: Yeah. We're going to have to -YAZZETTA: -- (indiscernible) -GOODWIN: Yeah.
YAZZETTA: It'd be so for the emergency plan.
GOODWIN: It's not a proactive thing. We're just kind of watching it right now.
REYES: Is there any -HOENLE: Where's the dividing line with Scottsdale and Fountain Hills in Adero Canyon?
GOODWIN: It's a weird line. Well, up through there, because part of Copperwynd and
part of the housing development sort of the -- I don't remember what it's called. That's
down below is Scottsdale's owned? So it's a very odd line up there to answer that
question. And oftentimes in Mutual Aid, which is what we are in, and then even an
Automatic aid, which we're working to get in, it's whoever's closest. It doesn't matter.
HOENLE: I'm just thinking if -- and I've brought this up several times. It's a choke point.
Going into that canyon, one intersection, there ought to be some emergency planning.
There ought to be some other connections and entrances in and out of there that need
to be developed. That's a disaster waiting to happen: fires, floods, accident, anything.
It's one way in and out of that whole huge development.
GOODWIN: Very good.
GARMAN: Is there any appetite for private, public performing arts center in town?
There's a Dark Sky. What if you have a performing arts center somewhere?
HOENLE: That's -- okay.
GARMAN: Public, private, you know, privately supported?
HOENLE: I like the idea.
GARMAN: Remember, we're talking 10 years in the line.
HOENLE: Yeah. And a lot of towns and cities, small ones, have done a good job at that.
But where would you even start to think about situating such?
GARMAN: It's not up to us to say this goes here. It's just starting the idea in the
conversation.
HOENLE: Take that for successful in moving out the plot 238.
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GARMAN: Awesome. Yeah.
CRADER: The entertainment section and then -- yeah.
GARMAN: Any others? We talked a lot and really got back to connectivity and trails and
may we have to talk -YAZZETTA: Public safety. Is there anything on like just being the Firewise movement
that's going on? is there anything that we should add just about fire safety and
preparing your property?
GOODWIN: I think that's about (indiscernible). I mean, it's a very timely topic right now.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GOODWIN: Within California, of course.
YAZZETTA: Yeah. A lot of my friends lost homes six months ago., so it's kind of
important. I don't want it to happen here.
GOODWIN: Well, maybe it's an education effort. You know, not only are we supporting
it, you know, through our efforts, but educating the community about -YAZZETTA: Because we did the -- what was that three months ago, the Firewise event?
HOENLE: Yeah.
GOODWIN: Yeah.
YAZZETTA: Does the fire department send letters out for brush clearance and do
inspections?
GOODWIN: They will come help you. They will come and do an inspection of your
home and like, give you recommendations about that.
YAZZETTA: But that's the homeowner initiates.
GOODWIN: Correct.
YAZZETTA: Okay. But the fire department isn't going out and inspecting, which I mean,
most of -- I don't know what it's called here, but where I'm from, this would be a very
high fire severity zone. And I think most neighborhoods fall into that. So LA Fire would
go around and look and all the other smaller municipalities and say, hey, you've got to
clear your brush up to a certain point. If you don't, then you're going to get a fine. And
if you still don't, they send someone to go do it and then they bill you for it.
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GOODWIN: They bill you. Well -- go ahead, Paul.
SMITH: No, I was just going to say I don't think we have a system for that.
GOODWIN: We don't. But I think it starts with that education process. Again, I don't
think one seminar in a year is enough to educate our residents about how to proactively
what they're allowed to do, what they what their, you know, responsibilities are as a
homeowner. Right. What they can do, what they can't do, how to do it, what resources
are available to them, et cetera.
SMITH: The big picture is fire safety. We don't have to decide -YAZZETTA: Sure.
SMITH: -- it would be -- is that a worthwhile cause.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
REYES: Fire safety and prevention. Yes.
SMITH: That covers safety.
GOODWIN: Especially, if you've seen homeowners' insurance rates go up.
GARMAN: We can move along a little more to that. The last one will be a little quicker.
Infrastructure. I figured we could nail down a few of these. This is the last one, by the
way, before we get out of here. You can see the things we talked about for this.
YAZZETTA: Well, I think we got to talk about the roads. So what is the latest on the
roads? Because -REYES: Which one?
YAZZETTA: -- a group of dedicated civil engineers spent the better part of two or three
years putting together a very comprehensive study. We've had a few of the, you know,
laser and instrument bands go around giving us a PCI score and everything.
GOODWIN: Correct.
YAZZETTA: I know there's been a lot of roadwork that's gone on Saguaro and the other,
you know, side streets. Palomino is up for debate right now.
GOODWIN: Yes. Palomino was decided the other night.
YAZZETTA: That's correct.
GOODWIN: The direction was given. The answer is that we are taking a pay as you go
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approach, i.e., we've been using what funding we have available and addressing as
much as we can as far as that funding will take us. There has not been very much
appetite to bond or create other avenues for funding, so we're using that. All right. So
what you just talked about that PCI rating, right, is being used to -- as a data source to
direct what streets need the most attention and when, and how do we then leverage
our monies the smartest. So that's kind of been the approach that we've been taking in
the last couple of years.
GARMAN: Are we going Worst First?
GOODWIN: It's not technically Worst First because there are some streets that are so
dang bad they're not worth it.
GARMAN: That hurts the homeowners' feelings a lot.
GOODWIN: And that's -- so to say, Worst First is not accurate.
GARMAN: Okay. I just want to make sure we're not doing that.
GOODWIN: Yes. No. What it is, is -- again, back to our AI and our data driven decisions,
it's saying if we have $5 million, how can we get the most streets done with the most
impact with this $5 million. And that's what it's called -- it's the RAS System. I can't
remember what it stands for, but that's what that system tells us. So we then take that,
go back to the council and say council, here are the 15 streets that the RAS System is
telling us, makes the most sense from the data collected. Problem being, of course, is
that folks, you know -- understandably get it. Folks care about their street. But when is
my street coming up? Why is your street worse than my street? My street has a great
big pothole here and you only have little potholes. Right. So it's this contention that's
created. When you apply, you know, and sometimes there's not we -- we've overridden
the areas on a couple of occasions where it said only pave this portion to this portion.
Like will the streets only another 100 feet long. Why don't we just do the whole street?
So then it's all on the same maintenance schedule. So there is some flexibility there, but
that has been the approach.
YAZZETTA: With pay as you go, does the overall PCI score of the entire road network
improve year over year? Are we holding or is it getting worse?
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GOODWIN: If you follow the system, it does.
YAZZETTA: It gets better?
GOODWIN: Yes. If you DB (ph.).
HOENLE: If you follow the system, that's key.
GOODWIN: Yes.
YAZZETTA: Yep.
HOENLE: And if you have -GOODWIN: Deviate.
YAZZETTA: Sure. Well, my understanding is that there is such a deficit when it comes to
roads. It would take a very large infusion of cash to bring the roads up to a level where
they can be maintained year over year with, say, Slurry Seal or you know.
GOODWIN: Uh-huh. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. And that's what
we don't have is this infusion of cash. So we're using -- we're trying to create as much
availability in our budget to do it. Again, understanding there's another compression
factor in that we have maximum we're allowed to spend period in our budget the way
it's set up. If you were to do a bond or you were to find some other mechanism, you're
not -- that particular area is not then capped. You can spend whatever you need to
spend to utilize that project. But if we do it based on what our availability is, we have to
stay under a maximum threshold. So if you say, well, I want to spend an extra million
dollars on streets, then I have to pull back a million dollars from somewhere else,
because we can only spend this much collectively.
YAZZETTA: Okay.
BONNETT: With that plan to resurface the streets and what's budgeted, is there any
discussion or has there been any discussion about new types of surfaces, heat
mitigation? I know Phoenix is trialing some of the -GOODWIN: They are great.
BONNETT: Yeah.
GOODWIN: There has been very little. I'll be honest. It's more about drivability and
maintain, you know -- i.e. I say that. Of course, we want the most up-to-date
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technology that we can to create the longest lasting roadway and road system. So
we've been doing a pilot program that uses -- instead of doing like a full depth
reconstruction, it does what's called a chip seal and a cape, which is basically you fill in a
bunch of stuff, and then you lay a big thermoplastic layer over it to kind of smooth
everything out. And does that band-aid work as opposed to redoing the entire street.
So we've done a couple of streets like that and they've gone really, really well.
GARMAN: Is that what they've done in Saguaro?
GOODWIN: It's not what they did in Saguaro. That was just a preservative treatment
for the hole. They did it on Lago. So the -REYES: (Indiscernible)?
GARMAN: Yeah.
GOODWIN: Yeah. So that's a good area to see the park all the way up.
REYES: And that went fast.
SMITH: In the respect to everybody's time, I think the roads was good. All this
discussion we should have.
YAZZETTA: Sorry. I can talk about this for hours.
SMITH: We should have like whole meetings on this coming up this fall not just pull
roads. Thus, can we -GOODWIN: I think Paul is trying to play catch up on some of this stuff too.
SMITH: Without, you know, my (indiscernible) -- people out in the parking lot waiting
on me know. Probably like you all too. But irrigation and drainage. You talked a lot
about irrigation system is aging. Is that a thing?
GOODWIN: It is.
SMITH: It was, like, really big on that.
GOODWIN: It is a very big thing and it's an expensive thing.
YAZZETTA: Well, we've got three things. Because we're, what, two years from passing
this future plan. Plan is five years long. We've got a lake liner to consider, which at
some point in the future. I mean, that is a reality. I know there's -SMITH: But they already have a plan in the savings for that.
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GOODWIN: We're working on it.
SMITH: I keep bringing that up and it's like, oh. Good.
GOODWIN: That may go back into the finance side of things is continuing to explore
options there because we don't have -YAZZETTA: We don't say expanding the roads, but if the irrigation infrastructure is
also -- has -- I don't know how much repair work that needs to be done. Maybe it could
just be like an umbrella, like, you know, key infrastructure, buckets, roads, irrigation,
Lake Weiner. You know, we need to make sure that we're focused on planning
appropriately for those.
REYES: It comes back to a property tax.
GARMAN: Is there any is there any -REYES: You know, I was -- you know, I really -YAZZETTA: Did listen to you. Want nice things, you got to pay for it.
REYES: I've been here 30 years. You know, I still believe that these 30 percent or 40
percent of the people that own property here and go off and leave it, and we have to
pay for it.
YAZZETTA: Yep.
REYES: You know, we talk about the downtown overlay and economics and all of that.
Is there any infrastructure that needs to -- that goes into the some of those plans that
are out there that downtown plan where apartments over in Shea. I mean, is there
infrastructure that has to be put in?
HOENLE: We've talked about a couple of the intersections that are very large and the
one on Saguaro. Example is the more people that we get into the downtown that they
will use that to go down to the park and they walk through there. We've talked about
many, many things with that, you know. They even brought up a roundabout right
there, but.
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Bide your time.
GOODWIN: Pardon?
PADGETT-ESPIRITU: Bide your time.
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YAZZETTA: That was one of those things. They paid for the study and then pulled the
plug.
SMITH: No. What I'm saying is there needs to be some more visible safety factors
there. If it's a different type of lighting system, warning system because people drive. I
drive and -YAZZETTA: I look at that intersection and yes. At night, it's less because the lights flash
and that's a little more noticeable. Are they putting those Botts dots back down or is
that going to happen with the thermoplastic? Okay. I mean anyway, there's something
that -SMITH: It's an ongoing problem. And you know, we've had people killed around that
park because drivers don't pay attention. Anyway.
GARMAN: Do we need any more fire stations or.
GOODWIN: Not right now. Not based on our size and growth.
GARMAN: Anything we need to hook into the State trust land yet?
YAZZETTA: Well, that would be EPCOR sanitary district, but developer would shoulder
that, and they would lay all the roads and everything to put drainage in. But like the
dams -- on the dams. Any of that in the future going to be a bit -GOODWIN: I mean, I think there's already -- I don't know that there's a strategic
initiative around that other than maintaining them.
YAZZETTA: Justin mentioned that the dams, they inspect those a couple times a year.
And he said those are all looking pretty good. Is that correctly or you're -GOODWIN: You're right. So using the county flood control, the dams that we own, we
have to inspect, which I would have thought the same thing. I'm learning that too.
Yeah. So yeah, we do inspections and those types of things for -- as part of our internal
process.
REYES: It's a pretty big reconstruction.
SMITH: There's a lot of new -REYES: Infrastructure is big.
GOODWIN: All right.
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GARMAN: Anything else?
YAZZETTA: My back hurts from standing here. Standing.
GARMAN: I think that's the last slide. So I'm going to sit down for a minute. So it's kind
of a messy I know. So I'll probably go through this like I did last year. Take the paper,
take these slides, put something together. Kind of show you a rough draft. We'll come
back in August because we don't have a meeting in July, and we'll kind of talk about
what the agenda is going to look like. If you all have any other ideas. I mean, first,
looking at these and looking at what came out of our conversation today and start
getting to the -- each of the individual, you know, specifics that we were talking about
for roads. But also kind of look back at the last plan to see what's been accomplished,
what doesn't matter anymore. We just take out things like that to see if they'll let the
current plan can inform us a little bit going forward. So it's kind of the two things I was
going to look at looking forward and then looking at the current plan.
Does anybody have any other ideas?
HOENLE: Let me say take a refresher. Look at the general plan.
YAZZETTA: Yeah.
GARMAN: Yeah.
GOODWIN: I would just say give some thought to when you want to put this in front of
council to get sort of their temperature checked before we get too far down any one
direction and find that it's not going to get traction. So we talked about doing it this
spring or before the break, but that didn't happen, and it's probably better. But
potentially, this fall coming back in at least given them an update where we're at, so we
can kind of course correct if we need to.
SMITH: I would ask, yeah, if we just tell me when and where.
GOODWIN: Okay. We'll try to pick a strategic date that there's not 900 other items
and -REYES: Is it a council presentation, or is that a -GARMAN: I will tell you, the last time we went through this, though. I had quite a few -there was a few of us would go and meet with the mayor, and the mayor gave us good
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
JUNE 25, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION

advice. She helped get it through so we didn't see the whole -- only -- we only read the
whole council a couple times, three times. But we went and saw the mayor quite a few
times.
GOODWIN: Yeah.
GARMAN: And she was good about saying, well, I think the council would like you to go
here or there. That was really helpful.
GOODWIN: Yeah. And it probably was -- I don't disagree. I think you may find that
different a little different now just because I don't know that the mayor -- the sense of
how this council is working in the priorities has been difficult to sort of navigate. I'll
think it through a little bit more and help figure out where -- how that might be best
done, but we can talk more.
REYES: Yeah. We got to take the plunge and go.
GARMAN: All right. I'm going to pound the gavel. Thank you all for coming today.
We'll get the notes out to you, and we'll see you in August. Thanks, Geoff.
GOODWIN: Polly, I'm going to have Ryan email you if that's okay with you. Ryan is our
events and product manager, so he will have all the details about that if you -- so he can
give you kind of a lay of what is happening when and where. And then you can let us
know if it works for you or if it's something you want to do.
BONNETT: Okay. Great. Thank you.
GOODWIN: Absolutely.

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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
JUNE 25, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION

HAVING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, CHAIRMAN PATRICK GARMAN ADJOURNED THE WORK
SESSION OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION HELD ON JUNE 25,
2025, 5:47 P.M.

APPROVED:
____________________________________
PATRICK GARMAN, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
____________________________________
ANGELA PADGETT-ESPIRITU, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
TO TOWN MANAGER & TOWN COUNCIL/DEPUTY
TOWN CLERK

CERTIFICATION
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE FOREGOING MINUTES ARE A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF
THE MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY
COMMISSION OF FOUNTAIN HILLS, ARIZONA HELD ON JUNE 25, 2025. I FURTHER
CERTIFY THAT THE MEETING WAS DULY CALLED AND HELD AND THAT A QUORUM WAS
PRESENT.

________________________________
ANGELA PADGETT-ESPIRITU, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
TO TOWN MANAGER & TOWN COUNCIL/DEPUTY
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TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
JUNE 25, 2025 STRATEGIC PLANNING ADVISORY COMMISSION

TOWN CLERK

Page 53 of 53

Page 94 of 99

ITEM 7.a.

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date:
Meeting Type:

Submitting Department:
Prepared by:
Staff Contact Information:

8/27/2025
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Regular Meeting
Administration / Town Clerk
Angela Espiritu, Executive Assistant/Deputy Town Clerk
Phone: 480-816-5107
Email: [email protected]

Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language)
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Post Workshop Way Forward.
Staff Summary (background)
This agenda item provides an opportunity for the Commission to review those proposed
items from the Workshop, consider any refinements or additions, and determine which
should move forward for inclusion in the Town’s Strategic Plan.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
n/a
Risk Analysis
n/a
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
n/a
Staff Recommendation(s)
Suggested Motion
n/a
FISCAL IMPACT
Fiscal Impact:
Budget Reference:
Funding Source:
ATTACHMENTS
None

Page 95 of 99

ITEM 7.b.

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date:
Meeting Type:

Submitting Department:
Prepared by:
Staff Contact Information:

8/27/2025
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Regular Meeting
Administration / Town Clerk
Phone:
Email:

Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language)
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Implementation of Current the Strategic Plan.
Staff Summary (background)
The Commission will discuss the implementation of the town's current Strategic Plan.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Risk Analysis
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
Staff Recommendation(s)
Suggested Motion
FISCAL IMPACT
Fiscal Impact:
Budget Reference:
Funding Source:
ATTACHMENTS
None

Page 96 of 99

ITEM 7.c.

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date:
Meeting Type:

Submitting Department:
Prepared by:
Staff Contact Information:

8/27/2025
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Regular Meeting
Administration / Town Clerk
Angela Espiritu, Executive Assistant/Deputy Town Clerk
Phone: 480-816-5107
Email: [email protected]

Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language)
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION: Future Agenda Topics.
Staff Summary (background)
The Commission will discuss potential topics to be placed on future meeting agendas. This
item provides members the opportunity to propose new discussion items, follow-up on
previous topics, and prioritize issues for upcoming meetings. Suggestions may include
emerging community concerns, policy initiatives, or ongoing projects requiring additional
review. No formal action will be taken during this item; it is intended for planning purposes
only.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
Risk Analysis
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
Staff Recommendation(s)
Suggested Motion
FISCAL IMPACT
Fiscal Impact:
Budget Reference:
Funding Source:
ATTACHMENTS
None

Page 97 of 99

ITEM 7.d.

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date:
Meeting Type:

Submitting Department:
Prepared by:
Staff Contact Information:

8/27/2025
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Regular Meeting
Administration / Town Clerk
Angela Espiritu, Executive Assistant/Deputy Town Clerk
Phone: 480-816-5107
Email: [email protected]

Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language)
COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Staff Summary (background)
The Commission will discuss potential topics to be placed on future meeting agendas. This
item provides members the opportunity to propose new discussion items, follow-up on
previous topics, and prioritize issues for upcoming meetings. Suggestions may include
emerging community concerns, policy initiatives, or ongoing projects requiring additional
review. No formal action will be taken during this item; it is intended for planning purposes
only.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
N/A
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
Suggested Motion
N/A
FISCAL IMPACT
Fiscal Impact:
Budget Reference:
Funding Source:
ATTACHMENTS
None

Page 98 of 99

ITEM 7.e.

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date:
Meeting Type:

Submitting Department:
Prepared by:
Staff Contact Information:

8/27/2025
Strategic Planning Advisory Commission Regular Meeting
Administration / Town Clerk
Angela Espiritu, Executive Assistant/Deputy Town Clerk
Phone: 480-816-5107
Email: [email protected]

Request to Town Council Regular Meeting (Agenda Language)
UPDATE: Next Regular Meeting is Scheduled for September 24, 2025.
Staff Summary (background)
The next regular meeting of the Commission is scheduled for September 24, 2025. This
announcement is provided to confirm the meeting date for Commissioners and the public.
No discussion or action is required.
Related Ordinance, Policy or Guiding Principle
N/A
Risk Analysis
N/A
Recommendation(s) by Board(s) or Commission(s)
N/A
Staff Recommendation(s)
N/A
Suggested Motion
N/A
FISCAL IMPACT
Fiscal Impact:
Budget Reference:
Funding Source:
ATTACHMENTS
None

Page 99 of 99