Recap of Chandler City Council Meeting on June 9, 2022

CHANDLER, Ariz. – The Chandler City Council met at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 9, taking action on a total of 21 agenda items. Meeting highlights included:

• Approved as presented the 25 one-time budget amendments totaling $340,500 and three ongoing budget amendments totaling $37,000 for a total of $377,500 using Council Contingency funds.
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the City Clerk Department for a study on records retention and document authentication using blockchain technology. (Councilmember Stewart)
  • Provide one-time funding of $2,000 to the City Clerk Department for American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation services (as needed). (Councilmember Harris)
  • Provide one-time funding of $20,000 to the Community Services Department for tree removal/replacement at Hoopes Park. (Mayor Hartke and Councilmember Orlando)
  • Provide one-time funding of $28,000 to the Community Services Department for a Folley Park Interim Study, which will serve as a preliminary study to gauge residents’ interests on the upcoming remodel of Folley Park. (Councilmember Orlando)
  • Provide one-time funding of $20,000 to the Community Services Department for a For Our Parks Clean-Up Day where volunteers and staff focus on cleaning up City parks and ball fields. (Councilmember Stewart)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the Community Services Department for veterans’ activities to recognize Chandler veterans on holidays and throughout the year. (Councilmembers Harris, Ellis, Orlando and Stewart)
  • Provide one-time funding of $15,000 to the Cultural Development Department for Museum Wayfinding Signage to easily direct guests to their various destinations throughout the Museum campus. (Mayor Hartke, Councilmembers Harris, Ellis, and Orlando)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the Cultural Development Department for Jazz Appreciation Month Expansion for the creation of two new programs to serve downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. (Councilmembers Harris and Ellis)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the Cultural Development Department for downtown benches that will serve as decorative and functional seating in the Courtyard, a parklet at the corner of San Marcos Place and Commonwealth Avenue in Downtown Chandler. (Councilmembers Harris and Ellis)
  • Provide one-time funding of $15,000 to the Cultural Development Department in partnership with local schools for a kids’ art project to engage local children and students. (Councilmember Orlando)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the Cultural Development Department for additional funding for the End Zone Experience to further enhance attendee experience. (Councilmember Harris)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the City Manager Department, DEI Division, for DEI Mini-Grant funding which allows the City to fund up to 20 programs that provide diversity education to K-12 Chandler students. (Mayor Hartke, Councilmembers Harris, Ellis and Orlando)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the City Manager Department, DEI Division, for additional funding for Chandler Contigo. (Mayor Hartke, Councilmembers Ellis and Orlando)
  • Provide one-time funding of $12,000 to the City Manager Department, DEI Division, for Sister Cities. This initial funding would kick-start the program and fundraising efforts, with the goal of the newly established board to create ongoing fundraising opportunities in future years. (Mayor Hartke and Councilmember Lopez)
  • Provide ongoing funding of $10,000 to the City Manager Department, DEI Division, for a First Ladies of Chandler event to recognize women’s contributions to Chandler’s successes in coordination with International Women’s Day. (Councilmembers Ellis and Harris)
  • Provide one-time funding of $5,000 to the City Manager Department, DEI Division, to support the International Film Festival to enhance the attendee experience and link Sister Cities international efforts to the event. (Councilmembers Ellis and Harris)
  • Provide ongoing funding of $7,000 to the City Manager Department, DEI Division, for the Chandler Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (MLK), Jr. event to highlight the contributions of the African American community to Chandler. (Councilmembers Harris and Ellis)
  • Provide one-time funding of $5,000 to the City Manager Department, DEI Division, for Mental Health Resources to support community-wide programs and events geared to help children and adults who are struggling with mental health issues of depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and self-harm. (Councilmember Harris)
  • Provide one-time funding of $5,000 to the City Manager Department, DEI Division, to support activities for the Juneteenth holiday. (Councilmembers Harris and Ellis)
  • Provide one-time funding of $7,500 to the City Manager’s Department, Economic Development Division, to support the Start-Up Weekend event. (Councilmember Stewart)
  • Provide one-time funding of $1,000 to the City Manager’s Department, Economic Development Division, for Business Roundtables focusing on African American, Women and Hispanic owned businesses. (Councilmember Harris)
  • Provide $74,000 to the City Manager’s Department, Facilities and Fleet Division, for a Solar Car Charging Station Pilot Program. Funds will be used to acquire a solar car charging station to be used to charge the City’s increasing electric vehicle fleet. (Mayor Hartke, Councilmembers Ellis and Orlando)
  • Provide one-time funding of $30,000 to the Fire Department for the rehabilitation of a Fire Support vehicle to be used as an incident cooling station (Mayor Hartke, Councilmembers Ellis and Orlando)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the Neighborhood Resources Department for a special event at Hoopes Park as a follow up to the Envision Amberwood event. (Mayor Hartke and Councilmember Lopez)
  • Provide one-time funding of $1,000 to the Neighborhood Resources Department for Public Housing senior holiday events. The Housing and Redevelopment Division hosts annual holiday programs that serve approximately 50 Public Housing seniors from Kingston and Chandler’s family housing sites. This request is for items not covered by donations or by the Division’s budget. (Mayor Hartke, Vice Mayor Roe, and Councilmembers Orlando, Ellis, Stewart, Lopez and Harris)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the Neighborhood Resources Department for supplies for Chandler back-to-school events. (Councilmembers Ellis and Harris)
  • Provide one-time funding of $10,000 to the Police Department for the purchase of Human Trafficking Surveillance equipment. (Mayor Hartke, Councilmembers Orlando, Ellis, Stewart, Lopez and Harris)
  • Provide ongoing funding of $20,000 to the Police Department for Human Trafficking Officer Training. (Councilmembers Lopez and Stewart)
• Approved a resolution authorizing the Enhanced Municipal Services District (EMSD) agreement for fiscal year 2022-23 between the City and the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership, and authorized the City’s voluntary contribution to the EMSD in the amount of $118,804.
• Approved the sole source purchase of two Beam Global EV ARC 2020 solar powered EV charging stations in an amount not to exceed $145,350. The vehicle charging station will be installed at the City Fleet Division building at the Armstrong Yard, located near McQueen Road and Armstrong Way. There is currently no charging station at this building.
• Approved an agreement with Accela, Inc., for annual maintenance, in an amount not to exceed $674,686, for a three-year period, beginning July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025. The Accela application is the system that manages the City’s permitting and inspection services, new installations for water meters, impact fees, and online plan submittal and review. This application is vital to City revenues and operations and must be kept fully maintained and supported.
• Approved an agreement with Parsus Solutions, LLC, for business license portal applications managed support services, in the amount of $222,000, for the period of June 15, 2022, through June 14, 2023. This online portal allows customers to register their business, initiate a liquor license or special event liquor license, and apply for specialty licenses (e.g. massage, peddler, second hand dealer, etc.), as well as renew, pay, and print business registrations without the need to visit City Hall.
• Approved the purchase of data backup and recovery capacity expansion, from vCore Technology Partners, in the amount of $628,769. Chandler relies on data protection services to ensure critical data and services are backed up on a regular basis, with the ability to restore/recover in support of business continuity in accordance with local and state guidelines.
• Approved the purchase of network infrastructure equipment, from Sentinel Technologies, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $1,196,037. Chandler’s budgeted equipment lifecycle for network infrastructure equipment is evaluated annually to determine reliability, supportability and viability for continued use.  This review identified that the network equipment used to provide network connectivity at various locations in the City has reached the end of useful life.
• Approved the sole source purchase of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system annual support and maintenance, from CentralSquare Technologies, LLC, in the amount of $101,474, for the term of July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. Lucity is the EAM system that manages the City’s service and work requests, coordinates preventative maintenance programs, and tracks City asset maintenance throughout the asset’s life cycle. This system also handles resident service requests.
• Approved the purchase of Oracle annual support and maintenance, from Mythics, Inc., in the amount of $300,171, for the term of Aug. 1, 2022, through July 31, 2023. The City utilizes Oracle database products to store data for the following major systems: Permits and Inspections, Utility Billing, Geographic Information Systems, Tax & License Application and numerous other departmental systems.
• Adopted a resolution authorizing acceptance of the award of the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission FY22 Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Program in the amount of $60,545.25. The award provides funding to assist eligible state, local, and tribal units of government responding to the novel coronavirus. The Police Department applied for the funds to purchase AVON gas masks for police officers, laptops for officer recruits and software licenses for the awarded laptops.
• Approved the purchase of Police Property & Evidence walk-in freezer and installation services, increasing the spending limit by $16,500.00, for a revised amount not to exceed $72,538.12. The Police Property & Evidence Unit receives, stores, and disposes of items of evidence impounded by officers as allowed by law. The current evidence freezer is nearing capacity and an additional freezer is needed.
• Approved the purchase of silo platform installation services, from SDB, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $250,000. This purchase will fund both the construction and installation of the new safety platform at the Ocotillo Water Reclamation Facility (OWRF), located at 3333 S. Old Price Road. The facility treats up to 18 million gallons per day of wastewater from the businesses and residents of Chandler.
• Approved an agreement with Simpleview, LLC, for search engine optimization and pay per click services on VisitChandler.com, in an amount not to exceed $75,200, for the period of one year, beginning July 1, through June 30, 2023. Funding for this agreement comes from the Proposition 302 Maricopa County Grant program available to destination marketing organizations in the County and is administered by the Arizona Office of Tourism.
• Approved the purchase of EditShare equipment, from EAR Professional Audio Video, in the amount of $71,987. The purchase is for a video production storage system that enables video footage to be uploaded, stored and shared among staff as they edit and produce video packages featuring City programs and services.
• Appointed Beatriz Ramirez to the City’s Human Relations Commission.

In addition, a public hearing was held to allow taxpayers to comment and provide input on the budget, capital improvement program and property tax levies. The staff presentation can be viewed online: bit.ly/3xtaiyD.

The Regular City Council meeting adjourned at 6:08 p.m.

In addition to the Regular Meeting on June 9, the City Council also had a Special Meeting where they approved a resolution to adopt the Annual Budget in the amount of $ 1,352,658,536; setting forth the receipts and expenditures, and the amounts proposed to be raised by direct property taxation for the various purposes for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-23, and adopted the 2023-2032 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) in the amount of $1,664,735,200.

During a Study Session held on Monday, June 6, Mayor Harkte and the Council recognized Warren White from the City’s Public Works and Utilities Department for 20 years of dedicated service.

The next meeting of the Chandler City Council will be at 6 p.m. Monday, June 20. Council meetings are aired live, as well as replayed on the Chandler Channel – Cable Channel 11, streamed online at chandleraz.gov/video and on YouTube at youtube.com/cityofchandler.

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Note: These are not official meeting minutes of the City Council but rather a brief recap of the Council’s actions provided as a courtesy of the Chandler Communications and Public Affairs Department.

Media contact:          
Jennifer Honea
Public Information Officer
480-782-2228