All right. Hate to break up a lively crowd, but we're going to go ahead and call this meeting uh February 24th, 2026. City Council regular meeting and work study session to order. City clerk Ben Lane. May I please have a roll call?
>> Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Lisa Browski, >> present. Vice Mayor Adam Quasman, >> Council Members Jan Devosquez >> here, >> Barry Graham >> here, >> Kathy Littlefield >> here, >> Maryann McAllen >> present, >> and Solange Whitehead >> here, >> city manager Greg Kaitton >> here, >> interim city attorney Louis Santa
>> here, >> city treasurer Sonia Andrews >> here, >> acting city auditor >> here, >> and the clerk is present. Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you very much. Tonight we have police officers Sergeant Eric BS and officers Kyle Scholac and Ryan Loing as
well as Scottsdale firefighters Brent Wheeler and David Gonzalez. If anyone requires uh the assistance of any of those members of our public safety team, please let a member of our staff know. For the pledge of allegiance, I'd like to call upon Councilwoman Maryanne
Mckllen to lead us in that. To the flag of the United States of America to the stands nation, indivisible for all.
>> Thank you so much. And for the invocation, I'll turn it over to Vice Mayor Adams. >> Thank you, Madame Mayor. Uh for tonight's invocation, uh I humbly would like to call up Jake Bennett. Uh Jake is the Arizona regional director for Stand
with Us. That's a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated uh uh to Israel education and combating anti-semitism. Uh Jake is a former director of policy and legislative affairs for the Israeli American Coalition and uh Coalition for
Action, the Israeli American Coalition for Action, and he is an IDF combat veteran. Uh he's lived in the valley for 15 years and I'm proud to call Jake a dear friend. >> Thank you. Honorable mayor, members of
the council, and dear neighbors of our Scottsdale community, we stand together this evening in a moment of prayer, reflection, and shared responsibility. Ribono Shelam, master of the universe. We thank you for the blessings of this city, for its leaders who seek wisdom,
for its diverse residents who seek peace, and for the freedom we enjoy to gather, to speak, and to worship without fear. We thank you for guiding our community, for its commitment to cleanliness, law, and order, and for its respect for our police who safeguard those blessings. We thank you for our
school systems teachers and administrators who we entrust to help our children understand the blessings of the US constitutional system we live under and their own civic duty to maintain and protect it. Tonight we lift our voices against hatred in all its forms. In particular, let us call out
the evil of anti-semitism, Jew hatred, the scourge of false conspiracy theories and scapegoating which has gotten so much press in our country of late. for those who attempt to blame a tiny minority for the failings of others or for the crimes of individuals. Let us also especially call out anti-ionism, an
anti-Jewish movement that denies Jewish identity and history, denies the Bible and the covenant and the right of the people of Israel to defend themselves from murder and genocide. Jewish people are called into covenant with you, commanded to pursue justice, to love the stranger, and to walk humbly
with our God. We've walked a long road from the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 40 centuries ago, to redemption from bondage in Egypt through your servant, our teacher Moses, to unity under King David, and the establishment of your house, our holy temple, by his son, King Solomon, on Mount Zion,
Jerusalem. It is from Mount Zion that we derive the modern term Zionism, a word which stands for the restoration of Jewish independence in the land of Israel and the fulfillment of our ancient and biblical covenant. Anti-Zionism denies that covenant and
that right. It's an anti-Bible movement opposing your will and promise, opposing self-determination for the Jewish people in our ancestral land, and opposing dignity for Jewish people anywhere and everywhere. God of justice and compassion, help this council and all who dwell in Scottsdale to be vigilant
against such hatred. Grant our leaders clarity to recognize anti-semitism in every form and courage to speak out not only when it is easy, but when it is hard. Bless this city that it may be a place where every resident can live openly, safely, and proudly. Where our children learn to honor each other, and
where every person is treated with equal dignity and respect as people created Elohim in the image of God. May the decisions made in this chamber tonight and on every night reflect your call to seek peace and pursue it, to love your neighbor as yourself, and to uphold the
dignity of every resident of Scottsdale. And let us all say, "Amen." Thank you very much. All right, for this evening's mayor's report, well, we are cruising right along. It's high tide in tourism season here in Scottsdale. And this past week,
actually uh two weeks, we saw the Arabian horse show uh Scottsdale horse Arabian show, which was another huge success um drawing 175,000 uh attendees, over 11 days, uh with over
1,600 horses visiting our community, some of which are from here, and uh 250 vendors were there. their media media audience was over 10 million views. So, uh what a great broadcast and success
for our show. I have here a picture on the screen which is uh a friend of mine actually Eddie McCain and his gorgeous horse um Nat King Cole who uh was the fourth fourth fourth year in a row the
winner of the Arabian costume class which is which is quite the feat. Uh I I think that's probably a record. I'll have to double check that. So, lots going on. And then, of course, uh we had the kickoff for uh Scottsdale spring training right here in Scottsdale at the
Scottsdale Stadium. So, the Giants opener, spring train opener, spring training opener was this past Sunday. So, that was exciting. Encourage all of you to go out and check out a baseball game if you have the time and the interest. What a great day it was out
there. Um, in in addition for uh to those reports more locally, the I'd like to take special note of the US men's hockey team who won the Olympic gold medal this weekend in Milan, defeating
Canada 2 to1 in a thrilling overtime finish. And the game winner came from Jack Hughes, who delivered the decisive goal just 1 minute and 41 seconds into overtime. Uh, >> yes indeed. But, but wait, wait, wait
for it. Listen to this. And I am very proud. We are very proud to recognize Austin Matthews who grew up right here in the city of Scottsdale. And he's become Yes. Yes. Did you know that? Did we know that he has become one of the most accomplished hockey players in the
world? and uh Scottdale still celebrates him and the rest of his team for being part of the historic US win on the Olympic stage and so very inspiring. We our youth sports programs are just unparalleled and he's he's won uh he's
evidence of that for sure for our city and a big congratulations to all the winners uh that we've seen over the last including I think the Giants won, right? >> Oh yeah. >> Yeah, they won. I was at the game. I need that. All right. Such a baseball
fan. Um, I'm kidding. All right. For pres moving right along. Presentations tonight include the experience Scottsdale update and uh Rachel Sako um one of my personal faves uh will give us that. And of course, she's the
experience Scottsdale president and CEO. Good evening, Rachel. Thank you for joining us. >> Thank you so much. Good evening, Mayor Bowski, members of the council. Thank you so much for giving me a few minutes of your time on this very very busy agenda, but I think it's important that you hear some of the highlights of what
we've been doing with our recent programs and promotions on behalf of our community and on behalf of our residents. So, you have tasked us with 17 performance standards on behalf of the city. And I just sent you our second quarter report. And if you had a chance
to look at it, you saw that we are on target to not just meet but possibly exceed every single one of those standards. We're also beginning our work on the next fiscal year program of work for 26 and 27 and that will be our
strategic business plan. I'd love to invite you to an open session to meet with my team who can bring that program of life program to life for you. Also at that meeting, I would like for you to hear from some of our select resort
Scottsdale resort general managers who can tell you what are the challenges they see ahead, how can experience Scottsdale in the city help them and what are the opportunities that experience Scottsdale can assist them with to make sure that next year is really productive. So I hope that you
will be on the lookout for that invitation. So you have also charged experience Scottsdale with branding the branding of this incredible community Scottsdale as a luxury destination. Our focus for our marketing is to generate awareness of
this destination that also drives overnight business to support our communities quality of life as well as our economy. I think we all know that $3.7 billion dollars annually is generated from the tourism efforts with
experienced Scottsdale and our industry that really helps our residents, helps our city, keeps our taxes low and also helps our amenities stay high because tourism is alive and well in Scottsdale. So what we are targeting is actually
based on economic return visitation data and we're targeting those particular personas. Those are some of the personas that we have um actually created so that we have a better feel for which one of those um has attributes that we can
market to because they're also in our luxury category. So those are part of our effective target marketing. We currently have about 18 primary markets throughout the United States that we have u marketing and advertising to. We
have an additional 22 more. So we have about 40 of our markets that we're marketing to on a year round basis. And that is really really important because it also allows us to not only have a saturated audience throughout our target
markets domestically, but we also have key international target markets that we're also marketing and advertising to as well as a year-round approach to our seasonal uh visitors, those who can come during summer and offseason as well. But equally important is how we tell
Scottdale story. We are a luxury destination and everything we do comes from that marketing perspective. Every campaign that we have is layering on household income, travel, age, behavior, and alignment with those personas. As an
example, how this works is that we have a connected TV program. And what it does, it's not just about geographics, it's about throughout the United States locating those highinccome, high value visitors. And that is who we target. And then once they've seen our ad, we can
send them a retargeting ad. Once they've seen that retargeting ad, we can actually track whether they've actually visited Scottsdale and whether our ads are working and whether they're actually converting them. Right now, those personas are the wellness wear warriors,
luxury travelers, sports goers, i.e. golf, foodies, the indulgent individuals, and also the family units. So when I'm telling you that what we can do is say we feel like we for sure are in the right place at the right time
with the right message and we're reaching the right audience. I feel that that is something that is really important. So we also are looking at how we reach our target market in three phases. So we have different messages that we send out to those who we are
advertising to depending on whether they are in the beginning dreaming phase, whether they are in the planning phase or whether they are in the booking phase. And that is how we know that we can actually entice them to actually go to that booking phase. Here are some of
the ways that we're reaching some of these audience. As an example, in January, we just wrapped up the annual fall and holiday campaign that's driving visitation to here during that need time period, the fall shoulder season as well
as holiday. And that is targeted to the luxury as well as family. This time we partnered with two different companies, Expedia and Capital One. As part of that campaign, we actually generated $7 million in room revenue to Scottsdale
area hotels and resorts. We know it was definitely se seven million because Expedia and Capital One actually uh did the bookings and they gave us the report on that. So that was a very successful program over that need time period. We also are trying to get niche stories
across the country by working with media. As an example, Scottsdale's art and culture was just in the Southwest Contemporary. We've just highlighted our golf courses in Colorado Avid Golfer. We talk about western events and attractions in the Cowboys and Indian
magazine. And we talked about the important spring break to a very affluent audience and wherever family. So, the mayor mentioned it is spring. We are working with our MLB partners. As a matter of fact, this the Giants, we have a um a meeting that they are producing
with me uh the first week of March. And one of the things that we did with them this year was host their VIP early access uh ballpark brunch. This was for 350 ticket holders, season ticket holders. Our research tells us these are the ones that will definitely come here,
spend more, and stay longer per trip. Um, so what happens once our ads have actually gone out there throughout the country, throughout international markets, filling up the season, we have to get to work because what we need to do is our high value visitors most
likely are going to be working with a travel advisor or a travel agent. You may you may know them by that name. Very few have brickandmortar buildings anymore. They're hard to find, but they definitely are working with our targeted clientele. If a targeted clientele is
calling their travel advisor and they don't know anything about Scottsdale, that travel advisor is going to send them somewhere easier that they know about. Our job is to go out and find them and to train them one on-one. One of the ways that we've been doing that is working with luxury consortium that
only deal with the luxury agents that work with those high-value visitors. Here's an example of what we what we've been able to do. We were just invited as experienced Scottsdale to exhibit at a show called creme de la creme. It's an
invitationonly exclusive trade show that targets those high-end travel agencies that are getting to our targeted customer and that was in French-speaking Europe. Our team was one was only two of the US suppliers that were invited and
in attendance and most importantly we were the only destination marketing organization that was there at that show from the entire United States of America. Because of efforts like this and were recognized as a luxury product, if you will, we were also able to
generate 729 leads and services for our Scottsdalebased businesses. And now each of those leads represents the potential for hundreds of future Scottsdale vacations coming from those agents. Um, I want to also talk a little bit
about the meetings market. The meetings market is so important to us. It is the backbone of just about everything that we do. And year to date, our bookings and our leads are up over 7% year-over-year from this time last year.
I also want to let you know that it's over 27% of all of the leads that we've sent out this fiscal year are for new business. That means that that particular company has never been in our database at Experience Scottsdale or they've never actually been or held a
meeting in Scottsdale. What's important about that is that we're fishing where our hotel partners are not fishing and they appreciate that a lead from us is truly a new piece of business for them. And then lastly, about 45% of all the room nights that we're generating are
for neartime business. That is our focus and our mission is really to make Scottsdale a yearround luxury destination. So I'd like to basically thank you for all of the time that you've given me. I have one more thing I wanted to mention. I wanted to make sure I'm looking at the
clock here because I know you've got a busy night. We just came back from a trade show and it's called IMEX America. It is the largest meeting planning trade show in the country that anyone can attend. It's in Las Vegas. And we just got back there and we had the
opportunity to have one-on-one appointments with professional travel um agents, if you will, and meeting planners, excuse me. And we also took over a western theme. So, we in addition to our appointments, we want to make
sure that we can bring people to our booth. So, we had a one, let me see if I can come back to find that. There's that western theme, if you will, with the the Oldtown Cowboy and the saloon. We had a thousand extra um convention meeting planners that came through there to see
and hear a little bit more about the West. Excuse me for one second. And to actually build a custom cowboy hat as well. So, that was another example of how we're able to actually go to a show and bring back a lot of
business. That particular meeting will bring back so much business to Scottsdale, not just this year, but for years to come. I know I overcommunicate with you. I send you bi-weekly emails. I hope maybe you glance at one of them or two. I know some of you do. I also send
you quarterly reports. I send you annual reports. And now I'm asking you to attend an important invitation uh to just come and meet with your hotel general managers and my team and get a chance to see what we're doing for next year, what's in store for Scottsdale's
tourism, which is an important part of what our residents depend on for their quality of life and for our entire community. So be on the lookout for that. And I just want to close by saying thank you for all the support that you give the tourism industry. happy to
answer now or later any questions that you might have. Thank you for your time tonight. >> Thank you so much, Rachel. Councilwoman Mckllen has Mayor to say. >> Uh yeah, uh Rachel and your staff who are here in the audience, I just want to applaud you for all your efforts and
that to comment. Not only do you publicize Scottsdale and people come from all over the world to be here because of your efforts, uh you guys are everywhere. I I go to events. I feel like I attend a lot of events, but I go to an event and I see you. I see Rachel.
I see Deb, I see all these people. I see your the people you work with on the TDC. I'm just grateful um that you're here in Scottsdale and that you're for us. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Mckllen. And I should also recognize Councilwoman
Mckllen's efforts in this regard because she is the the council liaison to your board of directors. So, thank you for that, Councilwoman McCallen. Councilman Graham, >> Miss Sacko, thank you for the presentation, keeping us updated. Your reports are always uh appreciated and
I'm sure uh my colleagues and I um well, we read read them and we appreciate them and I'm sure my colleagues comb through them uh punctiliously. Um I appreciate the uh pivot that Experience Scottdale is making. um less of the late night party vibe, moving
towards more of the family unit and the luxury traveler. I got a kick out of the indulgent traveler. I haven't heard that term, but I think Adam and I uh uh >> I think they spend a lot of money at Fashion Square is perhaps what they do. >> Oh, no. It uh message received. So, I
wanted to uh congratulate you on kind of the pivot. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much, Council Member Graham. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you very much, Rachel. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. All right, moving on to uh this evening, the council may make a motion to recess
into executive session in the event we require legal advice on any applicable item on the agenda. If so authorized, the council uh would um recess into executive session, which would be held immediately and would not
be open to the public. and we would uh once that concluded we would be back uh in this general general session meeting. So, uh, moving right along to meeting minute approvals. We have the approval of minutes, uh, for special meeting
minutes December 1st, 2025. Regular meeting and work study session meeting minutes of December 1st, 2025, and regular uh, meeting minutes of December 2nd, 2025. >> Can I have a motion?
>> Second. all those uh please register your vote. Excellent. Okay, moving on to consent agenda uh items. We have items consent agenda items 1 through 13. And I know there's been a request to pull uh item
number 12. Is that right, >> Madame Mayor? I saw item number 12 is is um not a my understanding is that it is not the actual um uh uh rate conversation but
rather a a vote. It is merely in order to schedule the rate conversation. So to that end, I'm not going to uh request to pull number 12 at this time. >> Okay. Uh, can I get confirmation of that from Luis or our city manager, city
attorney or city manager? >> Madame Mayor, that is correct. It is just uh notice uh this evening before you for consideration. >> So, we're not taking any action on that item except for to schedule it in the future. >> That is correct, Madame Mayor. >> Okay. All right. Uh, was there anyone
else? I think I see Councilwoman McCallen. >> Yes. I would like to pull item number three and actually ask for continuance on it. So, we're >> second, but Kathy Littlefield seconds. >> Yeah, we're going to pull that and then
we'll talk about that in a minute. Okay. About the motion. You can make that motion. And I also have Councilwoman Graham. >> I didn't want to pull it, but I just wanted to ask u the city treasur on number six real quick.
Uh Miss Andrews, if I could just ask very briefly about that. Okay. So, it's the investment management services contract. Estimated amount of4 million to $400,000 depending on portfolio size for the initial three-year term with the option to extend for two additional
one-year periods with US Bank Cororb. Um, just for the public's edification, is this what kind of price increase is this for our investment services? And um is this this how long have we been with this um this I don't know if you would call him a TPA or an adviser or a
custodian and just kind of your general impressions? >> Um Mayor Bowski, members of the council, thank you for the question. I don't have the exact number with me but that is actually a price decrease. Uh we were um
we have been using US Bank and um PFM actually is the investment uh branch of US Bank for our investment advisory services for quite some time years under a um uh contract with um I think city of
Mesa and now we've uh negotiated our own contract with them and it is actually a decrease and I believe it's quite a substantial decrease. How did you negotiate that decrease? >> Um, we um >> awesomeness. >> We did an RFP.
We we did a formal proposal uh formal request for proposal process. >> This might be worth a news release or something some saxpayer savings >> if you want to. >> Um since since I have you on the phone here, I will ask you also about um mayor
if you if you don't mind. There is um an item related to outsourced accounting services uh interim accounting and consultant services item number five on the um on the consent um one-year term with the option to
extend for four additional one-year periods with Osuch Consulting. Can you just is this is this just a accounting labor market issue? Can you just for the public's uh edification, can you say just a little bit a little bit about that?
>> Um, Mayor Barowski, members of the council, happy to. Yes, we had some um retirements and promotions and turnover in the accounting department. So with that attrition, we lost our accounting manager and our accounting director,
both of both of which were heavily involved in putting the annual financial report together and also interpreting Gatsby guidance, implementation, all the very technical requirements needed for that Gatsby report. And so last year we
um contracted with Osuch Consulting. O uh Dennis Ouch who owns the consulting practice was a previous partner of Clifton Larson audit firm and so he is highly um uh he has expert knowledge in Gazsby's and government accounting
requirements. We have upcoming accounting uh Gazsby implementation needs and we are in actively recruiting our accounting manager currently. We have just recruited our accounting director who actually started on Monday.
So um hopefully after this year we may not need Ouch consulting after this year. But >> that was kind of the kind of the question is whether you saw this as kind of a permanent basis or just sort of a stop gap. Um >> some of those higher skilled you know white collar labor markets are pretty
tight aren't they? Thank you Sonia. Thank you mayor. >> Thank you. So uh I don't see any more requests to speak on consent agenda items. So I will entertain a motion to uh proceed with the approval of consent
agenda items one through one and two and number 4 through 13. >> So moved. Second. Please indicate your vote. Those consent agenda items do pass. and
we'll go ahead and talk about item number three. Item number three. You want to >> Madam Mayor, I have a conflict of interest, so I'll recuse myself. >> Oh, thank you. >> Of course. Uh, I have a question for the city attorney. Um, does there need to be
any announcement about the basis for that? I forget the rule on that. >> Mayor and members of the city council, no, I don't think that's necessary. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. So, item number three, uh, I see we have, let me get to you,
>> please. >> Well, Mayor Bowski, >> Chris Zimmer, there we go. >> Mayor Bowski, Vice Mayor Quasman. I'm Chris Zimmer from the current planning department here to present to you LPOS's at Trun, uh, the event center, the barcup.
>> Thank you, Chris. >> Yeah, of course. Um, here's the general site. Here's a context area. It is uh generally located just west of the intersection of East Joeax and North Alma School Road. Uh detailed aerial kind of just shows
the overall development. It consists of six buildings um with some open space. Uh the existing site is zoned C2 ESL which is central business which would require any bar that comes in to uh seek a conditional
use permit um for this uh operation. Um, some key items of consideration. The planning commission did recommend approval 5 to one uh back in January 28th. Uh, there are no physical improvements proposed with this request. There's no live entertainment uh
requested with this uh request and is stipulated as such. There is no noise or exterior noise proposed with this request. Special events are separate applications to this uh barcup. And then there is sufficient parking provided on
site. Uh currently there's about 29 surplus spaces provided. Uh the action in front of you today is to adopt resolution 13594 for a conditional use permit bar on a 3925
square foot site zone central business environmentally sensitive lands overlay C2ESL located at 10452 East Joeax Road. That completes staff's presentation. Happy to answer any questions. The
applicant is also here as well to chat about her operations. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chris. And uh Councilwoman McCallen. >> Thank you, Mayor Chris. Don't go anywhere. Uh you said there are no stipulations on this.
Would there be stipulations if there was a special event? Uh so the special event, sorry, Councilwoman McAllen, Vice Mayor, Vice Mayor Quasman, Mayor Barowski. Uh there are stipulations associated to the barcup and are specific to that operation. Special
events are completely separate and are judged by our special events department and uh reviewed and approved separately. >> Thank you for the clarification. >> Sure. >> Were you going to make a motion to continue because otherwise I'm going to call on the speakers, but I don't want to do that if there's going to be >> Let's have the speakers. Do you think?
Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Oh, you're going to wait on that. Okay. >> Councilman Graham. >> Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate the presentation. I want to hear the speakers tonight. I support the
continuence, the possible continuence. I want to I do want to have a chance though just to let you know I want to have a chance to discuss my my reservations with the application so that when we continue it and they come back perhaps they can make the improvements that we
desire make the changes that we desire but I am looking forward to the speakers. >> Yes. Okay. Good. Um, >> Mayor Baroski and Vice uh, Mayor Quasman, if you don't mind, if you guys are going to request a continuence, I would suggest we allow the applicant to
speak towards it so they can get some direction as to what we should work on. >> Thank you. >> So, let's take the speakers first and then we can go from there. And of course, I'll let the applicant speak. Thank you. uh Doug Dosta, followed by
David Dery, Dave Looney, and then Howard Howard Lean. And if you just step up to this podium over here, Doug, thank you very much. Good evening, Mayor Barowski and member
of the city council. My name is Doug Dosta. I reside at 970 East Gary Road. I'm the original developer of the villages of Pinnacle Peak and I stand in opposition to CUP7 UP 2025.
This application be should be denied for three fundamental reasons. authority, legality. >> Sorry. Point of privilege. Sir, can you just speak a little closer to the microphone? >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> I just want to be able to hear you. >> Sure. Um, this application should be denied
for three fundamental reasons. Authority, legality, and parking impact. First, authority. The applicant did not obtain approval uh from the villages at Pinnacle Peak, a property owners association before bringing this proposal to the city. The recorded CCNRs
require association approval for a change of use, parking reallocation, rough use plans, and any material increase in intensity. That approval has not been granted. The applicant is asking for the city to approve a use they're contractually prohibited from
implementing. Second, legality direct. The recorded CCNRs expressly prohibit a cocktail lounge, bar, or tavern except as incidental to a restaurant. This proposal is for an approximately
5,000 square foot, not 3,900 square foot, standalone bar, and event venue, not a restaurant. Arizona law is clear that zoning approval does not override binding deed restrictions. Granting a cup here would create a city approval
that cannot be legally exercised and would immediately invite litigation. That is not a sound public policy. Third, parking and intensity. An approximately 5,000 square foot bar generates significant occupancy. Even
conservatively, that equates to well over 300 occupants. Under Scottsdale's tavern parking ratio of roughly one space per three occupants, the required parking approaches 100 spaces or more. Yet, the application's ownership interest entitles them to roughly 22
spaces within the common area. They effectively are seeking to use three to four times their allocated parking, burdening neighboring owners and pushing the center into a parking deficit. With approximately 199 total spaces serving
existing restaurants and a fitness center, this would use this use would create immediate parking pressure and spill over into adjacent uh residential streets. This proposal violates recorded restrictions, exceeds parking allocations, and fundamentally alters
the intensity of the center. For these reasons, I respectfully request that you deny this conditional use permit. >> Thank you very much, Doug. Uh, David Dery. >> Uh, I'm David Dery. I'm a homeowner in the uh adjacent subdivision to this
area. Uh, I wrote a uh an email to the members of the uh council about a week ago, so I'm not going to repeat that. I've got two main issues. First, the whole bar issue. A couple of days ago, I emailed back and forth a few times with Terry, the Al Alpo's manager. Terry made
it crystal clear to me in back and forth in the in our emails, and I can show you the the emails if you need to, that Alpios has quote no intentions of opening up a bar or nightclub, end quote. And that they simply want the ability for quote a host to bring in
alcohol as an accessory to their private party end quote. That's what she told me told me. Okay. So, unless Terry was not telling me the truth, why wouldn't it pre work perfectly well to limit the conditional use permit to something like quote, as an example, permit or cause
alcoholic beverages to be brought to private parties or gatherings, but not made available to the general public. End quote. That's my suggestion. that would seem to be exactly what Alpios uh says they want and need and would significantly lessen the bar concerns of
my homeowner neighbors. My second issue is the dark sky issue. It's my understanding that years ago this next door business area was required andor agreed to keep evening lights very low. That constraint is quickly eroding. I have seen a recent photo that I think
maybe get still gets shown tonight uh showing the current Alpio's version of dark sky. It's lights, lights, lights all over. I have been assured that if Alpio's is allowed to and continues to light up its building Las Vegas style like they're doing now, that literally
every building owner in this area will follow suit. So much for dark sky right beside my home. Uh, and by the way, in the February 24 city council report under impact analysis sector or section 6.7, it says
noise and lighting will be mitigated through dot dot dot existing downward directed exterior lighting. And I'm sorry, that's not true. If you look right now at the existing exterior lighting in is most certainly not
downward directed. The whole building is lit up. Thank you. Thank you very much, David. Dave Looney. >> Thank you, Mayor Barowski and city council. Um, I'm going to focus in on
the parking issue also. Um the we are I object also to this uh application and I want to provide a little bit more information in terms of the actual uh parking report that was that was done. Um can I use this?
You can't see it. Shoot. Okay. Um it's not big enough. Pardon me. >> Yeah, it was up there. >> But it's so small. I'm not sure if everybody can see it. >> That's okay. I'll >> Yeah, you can zoom.
>> Okay. Um the there were four for starters, there were four flaws in the parking calculation that was done that uh the staff did. First, the was the incorrect number of parking spaces that
they started with. Instead of 2001, it's actually 195. They used the wrong square footage for the applicant's building, which was 4,900 instead of 4,220. They took the word of the applicant in
terms of actually saying that one of the buildings was going to be changed to a restaurant when or to retail when it was currently a restaurant, which made a difference. And then the fourth one is the big one where they used a rate of
one per 300 which makes absolutely no sense based on the fact that 62% of the site there's two restaurants and there's a fitness center. And so the parking that was done or the parking
study that was done, if you did it based on use in terms of one per 120 for a restaurant and for the fitness facility, the difference is 100 spaces. So they're 73 spaces short.
And so it's again, it's not even close. So what was done is not reality in terms of what would happen up there from from a parking standpoint. And we've run all the numbers and I'm happy to share it. We tried to actually share it with people and we didn't really get much of
a of a response in terms of but we would love to basically be able to share that with with you guys. Um so the end again the end result here is is that um Alpio's that from a CCR standpoint his building
only represents 11% of the space and the C and the CCRs allocate him only 22 spaces. He used six of those for a loading dock. So right now he has 14 spaces and and basically according to
this it's 62 okay of what what that would needed. However with 244 people 62 spaces isn't going to go very far. Again it's complete it's it's it is not connected to reality at all in terms of
the of the actual parking. >> Thank you Dave. Uh, next I have Howard Lean and then followed by Larry Bennell, Robin Frell, Lori Cordova, and we'll stop right there.
Thank you, Mayor Baroski and city council. Uh, my name is Howard Lean. I'm a resident of Scottsdale for the last 38 years, an active business person in the community for the last 35 years. Uh Doug
Dasa and I funded the the construction of this center uh approximately 15 16 years ago and um did it with great thought. We u put a lot of thought into the parking issues in the very
beginning. We planned the building usage from the very beginning and uh there's been an evolution of use, but the fact of the matter is parking is the nemesis of the of the of the project. It always will be. And I know as city council, if
you didn't have bars and parking to talk about at each session, most of your meetings would probably be cut short by an hour or two. So, we're here again to talk about bars and parking. So you might wonder why the ownership group is
so absolute passionate about what affects them on a long-term and a short-term basis up here. And I think that I'm going to share a picture and it's going to have something to do with trust.
Now, if you can see this again, I'm not here to argue about dark light community at all. What I'm here to argue about is trust and adher adherence
to well-known existing regulations. So, one of the things that came to mind is uh many of you or some of you were at a meeting at this center on the 16th of this month. This is the building you
walked into. It was clearly in violation of dark sky. Now, is that a big deal? only because about five years ago, we went through as owners, we went through and we had lighting put on all of the
buildings at our expense through the through the HOA. By the way, they were ordered by Elpio. We asked Elpio, "How do we get around why would we be able to put lighting on a building with a dark sky regulation?"
He said, "Don't worry about it. We're going to do it anyway." Well, obviously we got caught. We were forced to take off the lighting. The point to be made is that was established at least five years ago. All of a sudden, for no apparent reason, I don't think the dark
sky community has changed any regulations. But when you see that building, it's lit up like a Vegas casino. Now, this has to do not with the regulation. It has to do
with the attitude of the devel the the the principles of the project. Is that my bell to quit? Okay. Um there's a violation. There's several violations that have occurred at that site that have been left up to the
owners of the other buildings. Not one of the owners in the entire complex are in favor of this license being being granted. Not one. We've got 18 businesses that operate in the complex that deserve to have the respect of
parking and regulations being followed. I would like you to vote for your conscience. I would like to vote for what is being done being right. And I appreciate your time very much. Thank you. >> Thank you, Howard. Next we have Larry
Bennell. >> Good afternoon. I'm Larry Banell. I own two of the buildings in the complex and I've owned them for 10 years. And the lighting situation that Howard was talking about is true. We put the lights up. City made us take them down. Cost
money to put them up. Cost money to take them down. And the trust issue is a real problem. And it come to my attention that uh Terry indicated that my restaurant was not going to be a restaurant, that it
was going to be a uh retail. There's nothing no truth to that whatsoever. It's still a restaurant and it's in escrow right now. And this is a good possibility the people are going to back out if this goes through.
Uh, it violates all the CCNRs and I would love to see the city vote against it. Okay. >> Thank you very much. Next, we have uh Robin Frell.
Thank you, mayor and council members. My name is Robin Frell and I'm a Scottsdale voter and resident. I'm here to ask you to oppose the case that we're talking about. The proposed bar use is in incompatible with the surrounding
residential area, an environmentally sensitive area. The property sits within environmentally sensitive land overlay, which is intended to protect the natural desert, limit intensity, and reduce impacts on nearby neighborhoods. A late
night bar is fundamentally inconsistent with the purpose of the ESL designation. The site is also bordered by a natural area open spaces. Increased nighttime activity, amplified sound, and late night alcohol service are incompatible with the preservation
goals of ESL and NAOS. The applicant claims that it is not anticipated to adversely impact residences negatively. Yet, the site is within 500 feet of multiple residential communities. Noise impacts will be
unavoidable and unacceptable. The applicant states that all activities are indoors. There is an outdoor patio. There is a commercialsized garage door. I've been at parties where that's opened and people flow outside.
Um, a bar that's running or allowed to run state allowed liquor hours would mean up until 2:00 a.m., which is absolutely disruptive to the neighborhood in the quiet surrounding of the ESL. Um, I'm going to play for you
um some noise that happened Saturday night. This is just off my phone. It might not sound like much, but when you're in your enclosed patio and you can't talk to your neighbor, it was very loud. This was a party that was held on
the other side of Alpos. Um, the noise reverberates. It echoes because we are located between Pinnacle Peak and between Trun. So, everything is amplified and very loud. The other thing, the parking, I'm not going to go into the numbers don't add up. It's
required to have 53 spaces. There's a total of 211 which leaves a deficit of 23. Um we have farmers markets on Saturdays and we love them. Um but the parking condition over is overwhelming.
It goes to um the businesses that are not wanting to provide parking there. Um basically in order for you to approve this you have to show you have to prove that it will not be detrimental detrimental to the public health safety
and welfare that the use is compatible with the surrounding areas that the use will not adversely impact nearby residential districts and the use will not disrupt the balance of daytime and nighttime uses and that adequate parking is provided.
I support this shopping center. I'm a member of the gym. I get my nails done there. My insurance ages is there. I bought my gun there and I eat at Pinnacle Grill. So, I like the shopping center, but I am strongly opposed to this. So, I ask you for the reasons of
noise, late night alcohol services, insufficient parking, existing congestion, proximity to homes, and protection to this environmentally sensitive area. Please vote against this. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you, Robin. Next we have Lori
Cordova followed by is it Don Postol? Dan Postol. I think that's Dan back there, isn't it? That's Dan. Yeah. Uh and then Tim Timothy Loda. So we'll talk to hear from uh Lori Cordova. Thanks. >> Okay. Well, you can donate a little time
if you need. >> Okay. I'll make it really quick because kind of like Lori, I think everybody's already hit on everything. So, not to be redundant. Um but big picture what I would say is that um what's most concerning is that the CCNRs right now
do not allow the use and seeing um kind of this this this group here and the fact that the applicant has not worked with the other property owners and the association the board of directors to actually get approval and we're in a situation where all the tenants in the complex and all the other property
owners oppose the use. It would be disheartening to see the city then go ahead and approve the use and put, you know, it the neighbors in conflict with this one property within the complex. Thank you. >> Thanks, Dan. Appreciate it. Uh, Timothy Lod.
>> Uh, thank you, Mayor and Council. I'm here on behalf of Remax Properties, which uh has a an office and owns one of the six buildings at the retail center. And uh I too would urge you to oppose this. I do think it's unfortunate that um this matter actually proceeded
tonight because I know at least uh one member of council um suggested a continuence, a suggestion that was rebuffed by the applicant and unfortunately I think that um sort of um that's emblematic of the applicant's attitude in this process. Um, I would
like to I know it's in your packet, but you probably can't read it if you're like me, but um could I have the uh the Elmo? I guess this isn't a ver. I mean, this is the application. It says things like, well, you know, don't worry about traffic. Um, don't worry about parking.
Don't worry about anything. It's largely a trust us document. And you say, well, you're talking about CCNRs, that's private contract. That's true, but that is a matter of trust. When you have someone who doesn't care what the CCNRs
think, um, that goes into the trust factor. Um, the presentation was very brief tonight because we know very little about what what is actually this applicant would be bound to. And I know when the applicant's representative, Miss Treebasser, gets up here, she's
going to say all kinds of things about what they don't plan on doing. Well, I mean, that doesn't matter. it matters what they can do. Uh this is the applicant's own um architecture firm and you'll see right there what's our
occupancy limit 182 bottom and 62 on the mezzanine. That's where we get the 244 potential occupants of this building. That's a huge number of people for this center. Um when they had the open house, one of the comments that most struck me
was and I think it was echoed by one of the residents is uh so one of the this was another resident and they said, "Look, we don't have much retail up here. We would we would love to have more options. We would love to have more retail, but this this huge event center
with a bar license uh is going to it's going to kill off the retail what we have." That's not an attitude of of we just don't want things. That's an attitude of those are the limitations of this neighborhood. I live here. I know what it's like. I know the parking. I
know there was a lot of talk about um Oldtown Tavern dur but right before the planning commission meeting and that's got its own issues, but if you look at that on a map, I mean, there's all kinds of different things. You know, that's right smack dab in the middle of a commercial area. This is not. This has
nothing but desert and residences and streets that don't allow parking around it. there is nowhere to go from here. I would also um say that um you know in terms of the use permit I don't think the applicants even come close to
meeting the applicant's burden. It is supposed to be the applicant's burden to address all these things. They barely even brush on them in their application. Uh I think you should turn this down outright and send the applicant back to the drawing board completely. Thanks mayor and counsel.
Thanks, Tim. Appreciate it. So, now I would like to Councilman Graham. I want to hear from the applicant. Did you wanna >> Oh, that's fine. >> Okay. Uh, let's bring up Lori. No, >> Terry. Excuse me. Hi, Terry. Uh, and please introduce yourself at the podium.
You're representing the applicant, right? LPS. Okay. >> Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. My name is Terry Burgatry Bosser and I'm the event coordinator and the manager of alpios at Shrim.
So tonight I'm respectfully requesting of a conditional use permit for bar use, not open to the public bar not to operate a nightclub and not to introduce live entertainment, but simply to ensure proper zoning classification
for incidental alcohol service at private indoor events. Excuse me, my eyes are blurry. Alpios is a limited use private event center. We host approximately two to four events per month. Most conclude at
8:00 PM with occasional events ending at 10 p.m. Cars and coffee is held on Sunday mornings from 7 to 10:00 a.m. We're not requesting expanded hours outdoor ampli amplication and daily bar operations.
There's been some misinformation suggesting we are opening a traditional bar with live entertainment. This is not accurate. This application was filed based on staff direction to ensure we are fully compliant with city code. Parking has been raised as a major
concern. I want to address that clearly. City planning staff reviewed and recalculated parking based strictly on the square footage and code requirements applicable to my building. The city determined that the parking is adequate under Scottsdale standards. My events
occur only a few times per month indoors under a voluntary occupancy at 120 guests on average. There is not been a documented pattern or reoccurring safety or emergency access violations ever
filed with our operations. I respectfully ask for consistency and how parking is evaluated. I am being calculated strictly under the code for my building allocation within the complex. At this at the same time, other
uses within the complex, including the weekly farmers market, generate significantly higher attendance and parking demand on a weekly basis. That activity is separate from my private indoor events and is not calculated against my allocation. I have made
consistent good faith efforts to work cooperatively with the HOA president and neighboring owners, including voluntarily relocating Cars and Coffee to Sunday mornings to reduce the traffic impact, agreeing to cap
the 120 guests commonly as my parties are much smaller than that on average, and committing to operate under the same liquor compliance standards and city regulations. ations applicable to the existing restaurants and bar establishments within the complex. My
request tonight is to simply be evaluated under objective city standards based on actual operational frequency and measurable impact. This application is about compliance and clarity, not expansion. I respectfully
ask for your support. Thank you. >> Thank you. And Councilman Graham. Mayor, thank you. I was had some questions for city staff, actually. >> Who do you want to talk to? Tim Curtis? Is he available? >> Um,
no. I mean, wasn't Chris here? >> Oh, Chris, there you are. There he is. Sorry. >> Wow, he's fast. Thanks Chris. So um one of the things that strikes me about this application is that it's using all of the parking spots available in
the entire facility but um it's to serve one building. Do you know off top of your head if if if Alps just had existed on its own what would the number of uh required parking spots be? I think this was covered, but I just kind of wanted it.
>> Yes. Uh, Mayor Barowski Barowski and Councilman Graham, I believe that equation comes out to 52 spaces. >> Yeah, that's what I was thinking. And are there 52 spaces? How many spaces are in the direct vicinity of Alpio, so they wouldn't have to use any neighbors whatsoever?
>> If you don't mind pulling up my presentation. Oops. So again, the site is uh covered in red um right now and there are 196 spaces included in the common area which is designated for all of the building owners.
>> Yeah, I I understand that. But I just don't like have you counted the spaces that like that are just around that just circumvent the uh more speed fresh off your social media debut. I saw
that. >> So, as an exercise, >> you're Yeah, the microphone. You get it, >> Councilman Graham. As an exercise, a part of this, I printed out an aerial and I went through and individually counted every sparking space that was available currently and that equated to 196.
There's about eight per uh length in there. So, there' be about four. So, >> okay. So it necessarily if you just if Alpios just relied on the parking spots that abuted it that were adjacent that were next to it would not have it would not meet the the parking requirement the
53 space or 52 space allocation for the bar use calculated um does it account for what's the peak attendance um it's for that would allow by the fire code 200 250 people >> if you don't mind going back to my
presentation really quick. This is a little bit of a detailed breakdown of that parking and the square footage associated to it. So essentially you take the square footage of the overall development um and park it at a mixeduse uh ratio which would be that
300 to one. And now in this case uh LPOS's would be uh increasing that parking demand. So we essentially take the square footage out of that 300 to one and put it in the 80 to1 and essentially add it to that requirement to find out what the difference.
>> Okay. So that's how that's how you calculate it. But but this this event then you can with you know when this it's basically be a full open you know bar and it could host 250 people. Is that right? >> Councilman Graham. I don't believe
there's a limit. There's a fire limit because it all has to be indoors >> outside of the occupancy. >> Yeah, >> correct. >> Okay. Do you know the fire limit off top of your head? >> I'm sure it's written somewhere. >> I do not. >> Um what? Okay. In the b the businesses that surround it,
how late do they uh how late do they operate? Because you know, you could think about well we could we could just allow this after 5:00 p.m. But these are these aren't all like, you know, insurance companies. There's some businesses in the area like a gym and and a restaurant. Are what how late do
the other surrounding businesses operate till? >> Yeah. So, the businesses are just small shops, nail shops. Um, of course, there is the gym. They are 24hour, but it's a come and go. Sometimes I see maybe three
or four cars out there. >> Yeah. >> Usually evening people are not there. Most of my events are Fridays and Saturdays. >> Um, okay. And then back to Chris, the for staff, the application says the proposed use is not an after hours establishment. Is that right,
>> Councilman Graham? That is correct. >> What is the definition of after hours uh establishment? I believe it's it doesn't operate between 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Does that sound correct to you? >> Yes. Tim is shaking his head. Yes. >> Okay. So, does that mean that events
here could go until 1:00 a.m.? Terry might be able to answer what her hours of operation would be, >> but I'm saying I'm not well, I'm not saying what she plans. I'm asking you what can she do? >> Ultimately, it would be governed by her liquor license for serving alcohol. So,
if the series 6 is ultimately granted by the state, then it would be 2 2 a.m. >> So, I don't understand that. If it's if if the application says it's not an after hours establishment, but she can legally go until 2 a.m., is the application wrong?
Uh, so different liquor license application types. So this would be for a bar which goes until 2:00 a.m. >> But why does the application say not an not an after hours establishment? >> In our code, there's a specific use for after hours in addition to a bar use.
>> So can we supersede can we can does that trump the the liquor license? Does that supersede that? I I think your question is if you ultimately stipulated hours of operation, yes, it would. >> Okay. Um we see there's no overflow
space for customers to park. Um have any measures been made to um what measures have been put in place to ensure the surrounding businesses have enough parking for their customers? Have any let me ask you, have any have any uh
steps been taken? Councilman Graham, I guess we would use again the general code to understand what the parking demand would be. >> Have there been any um efforts for to to secure off-site parking agreements or other types? I know there's like a
storage place across the street. Has there been any efforts to secure additional parking? >> Yes, I did talk to a couple of the businesses out there. One complex is completely empty. Uh they said that um the owner does not allow parking. And
then another was um at the um other business next door that they have had issues with the farmers market and because of that they they declined too. >> So you don't have any you you didn't have anything secured in writing to this point. >> What?
>> You don't have any you don't have any off-site expanded parking secured? >> No, because of other issues. Um, and then my last question, if parking complaints were to arise post approval, um, what what triggers a review or
revocation of the CUP? I mean, what what what options do we have at our disposal? >> Councilman Graham. Yeah. Ultimately, if there would be a violation associated with the the conditional use, then it could come back to the city council for ultimate revocation. >> Okay. I guess one more last question. Do
we could we add stipulations? I I like the idea of at least a continuence, but could we add stipulations that like they can't that we can limit the hours that they can operate? Is that something that's legally possible? >> I'll turn to my attorney, but I believe
so. >> Mayor, members of the council, yeah, potentially there could be um hours stipulated on the cup. potentially. >> Yes. >> Thank you, mayor. Thank you, the
applicant to city staff. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Whitehead. >> Um, just a quick question probably for Louise and good questions for my colleague here. Um, so a CP regardless of what the use is by the applicant, the
current applicant, a barcup can then be transferred to a different uh a different user, a different uh lease for the same facility and have different uh and not comply with uh or
be quite different from the current use. Is that correct, >> mayor and members of the city council? That's correct. the the cup runs with the land, so it's not unique to um the particular applicant. Um one thing that the council could do and has done with
medical marijuana dispensaries is set a time limit, for example, that they're good for five years. Uh and um you could do so in this particular case where they're they're required to renew it. >> Okay. Thank you. But I do I have found that to be difficult. I find it
difficult to revoke a CU or change it. >> Yes, it would require um violations. It would require a hearing um at the city council level. There are lesser options where if you violate the stipulations of a conditional use permit, you can be
issued a civil citation. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Vice Mayor Clausman. >> Thank you, Madame Mayor. I just have a and if if this was already stated and I missed it, I apologize, but I just want to know how what percentage or how many
first of all, how many total businesses are on that pro on that full pad and then what percentage of them close or how many of them close prior to 5:00 or at 5:00 and are no longer and are no longer occupied after five o'clock?
>> That was your question. >> Yeah. So, there is the the grill. That's one building. Then the restaurant that just sold Larry's um place. Um that's the other building. Building two.
Building three is a gym. And then in >> Sorry, just just real fast. Can we see that with the just with the map just Yeah. So we could see what we're looking at. And just so that just the reasoning here so everybody knows at home who's
following along uh in the audience and at home. I just we just want to know there's just a an reasonleness facleness factor here. If people aren't around, right? If they're not around like my office my office closes at a certain time, my parking spot is empty, right?
But if there are businesses that are that are going on at that time, then the parking spot would not be empty. Right. So, >> okay. So, >> I'm asking I'm asking the applicant. >> So, we went over the grill and then the
new restaurant that's going to be opening. And then next to that, and these are all across from Alpitrun, the gym. And then directly across on the north side is about two about
about four four businesses in there. Half the time they're not open or they close at least by five. Um they're just small businesses, nail shop, um small little gym that she kind of takes
customers as they come and go. and then a a spa facial place that maybe has one card there and then the other is more of a um they do um
what do I want to say um the sprayers misters around your house and they're more of a warehouse so one or two employees there so there's never a parking issue there >> so I guess I guess just to be a little bit more clear for when if there is a
continuation ai um a continuence. If we can have that broken down by parking spot allocation, I think that'd be that'd give a lot of clarity to um to the council. >> Okay.
>> Thank you. And Terry, sorry I got your name wrong. I know you from Alpia. >> Yeah. >> Sorry about that. Uh so there's seems to be a lot of confusion here and we're at least I'm hearing two very different stories from the parties.
>> So uh I have a question um for you first. Are you willing to put a cap on if we were to do a continuence? Would you what I've been to events at your at your place at LPOS's. They're very intimate. They're very quiet. They're
very not at all like what's being described. Are you going to have a bar that's open to people just walking down the street? Is that what you're planning to do? >> No. The only reason I am doing this, I was asked to do this to be in compliance
with the city. I have special events. They're indoor events. And because I do serve alcohol, I was asked by the city, well, you know, to be in compliance, we have to have you do this application. So, it all started with that. And then
um I said, "Well, I you know," I argued, "I don't want to be a bar. I have no liquor license. I don't have an intention of having a liquor license. Even if I wanted to purchase a liquor license, Siri 6, Siri,
I would be violating CCNRs because it has to go with the restaurant. I am not opening up a restaurant. I do catering for my events, but I have no means, no facility for a restaurant. The new owner, Dwayne Smith, he does not want to
do restaurants. I'm just doing the events, Cars and Coffee, just to, you know, do this for the new owner. >> So, you're not getting a liquor license? >> No. >> Okay. So, you're going to Are you Because it seems to me you're gonna you're doing exactly what you've been doing and you're
>> eight years. I didn't realize that the city had told you you needed to >> Yeah. And and that's for, you know, being compliance. Um I've done a lot of research on it. And even though I've I've got my contractors uh special event
contractors for uh Arizona liquor department, I carry uh BI Bob, that's for private event centers. I have my uh food handlers for catering. So, I'm trying to cover all areas, but it just wasn't enough. I also have uh liquor
liabilities, so I'm protecting myself. I have it on the entire building. Uh and and the entire complex is on my as a writer on my liquor liability. >> Okay. Uh and then is there any thought to putting a cap on the occupancy?
Because I don't think you have you ever had 244 people or whatever? >> No. No. No. and and that was all based on assembly when um the city came out first and he ran the numbers. He gave me
actually 180 and I can't remember what it was upstairs and then all of a sudden things stopped. I contacted the city marshall and him and he says, "Well, she's not comfortable because you're starting this
application." I didn't get my placards, so they told me to hire an architect. So I hire an architect and they gave me 182 60 and the mezzanine is upstairs. That's all assembly. So assembly is where you have movable tables, chairs.
I've got a couple of exotic cars in there that I can take out. So that many people would be very crowded. I rarely ever once in a while somebody says, "Well, we have 200." Absolutely not. I I don't want to handle that many people.
So, at the most I get maybe 125 and 40, 50, 70 people is the average party that I have. >> Okay. And what's the There's been some uh counter contradictions about your square footage. What is the square feet
now that you've had? >> Just shy of 5,000 square feet. >> Okay. So, the 4995 number is closer to the real number. >> Um All right. Well, I don't have any more questions. Uh, you know, hearing
that it's just a you're c cottifying, if you will, your ability to do what you've been doing for eight years. Yeah. >> I I just think there's a breakdown in communication, honestly. And I think that uh maybe it would be helpful to get together and I was not going to support
a continuous but I see an opportunity to have some safeguards in in the application so that all your neighbors aren't you know upset about this and it is a small community so I understand what's going on here. Um have you ever had complaints about the events that
you've been doing for eight years? >> Absolutely not. I keep everything indoors. If we have a DJ playing, typically our doors are shut. I do have the rollup doors, small little patio. I have a a fire pit out there that people can go and get fresh air.
They can sit and play a little game that's there. But when I had my two open houses, I had all the neighbors come. I even had the city officials come on the second one. I asked them, "Have you ever heard any noise coming from Malpios?"
Nobody spoke up. I had several neighbors around that neighborhood. Um, if there was noise on the 14th, that was a huge party, two-day wedding, and we got calls saying, you know, what's all this noise coming from your place? It wasn't us. If
I do have an outdoor event like Cards and Coffee, we're required to get the um special event. And so, I have to have that. I have a solo guitarist outside. I keep the noise low. Um, nobody goes outside my building, especially if I'm
serving alcohol. I'm kind of a watchdog on that because that's on me. Um, alcohol does not belong outside. I have placards on my gates. If they want to sit out on the patio, then they can do that. >> Okay. I'm going to uh Councilwoman
Whitehead has a couple more questions here. >> Well, I just I guess I want to stress that this is about the cup itself. So, it's not about your operation, it's about what we're approving. And I think um staff can perhaps come back. Uh I I'm going to support a continuence because
I'm concerned about uh you know, a C for a bar. I mean, that's what it is. And it's I I guess I need more information. I'm sure I'll get it from staff on how the how we can um is uh approve a CUP for a bar and get that bar. you may not
be getting a liquor license, but I think that does open the door for the next operator. >> And okay, and I have one final question and it's for our city attorney, interim city attorney Luis. There's been some commentary and I heard from some people
that were, you know, interested in the outcome here about the POA, uh, the CCNRs for the POA there. Um, does the city doesn't make these approvals based on private agreements on deed
restrictions? Is that right, >> mayor and members of the council? Yes, mayor, you're correct. We don't take into account CNRs when we are approving things. >> And so that is a private action that would have to acrue. >> Mayor, that's correct. >> Okay. Uh, I don't have anything further.
And Councilwoman McCallen, >> thank you, Mayor. I am going to move that we continue this so they have the time to answer the questions that all of us have had about occupancy, the difference between time, size of event,
noise, lighting, etc. >> I'll second that. >> All right. Uh please indicate your vote about the continuance. All right. Well, that passes and I encourage you all to get together and I think there's a comp, you know, some
sort of an agreement that can take place that sees you provides for your success on this hopefully. All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, council. Okay, moving right along to the regular agenda. Uh we have item number 14, state
legislative update, uh including bills of interest to the city of Scottsdale. And the presentation uh will be provided by Sarah Sparman, government relations manager, and Dr. Mark Osborne of Qout
Rock. Thank you. Welcome. Good evening, Mayor Barowski and members of the council. Um, we are halfway through almost to halfway through the legislative session if they stick to the 100 day requirement. Mr. Clausman, I
probably laugh that one. Um, today we have Mark Osborne. As you might recall, we did a presentation earlier this year, just kind of opening day, what we were expecting for the legislative session. In the last 44 days, we've had a lot of progress, a lot of opportunity to see um
different issues introduced at the legislature. And so I'll let Mark kind of take the realm and offer you um some insights. >> Sarah, if you'll stay close in case there's there's questions. Um, it it's
it's been a good uh productive session so far and I think uh Sarah, Dan, and I have kind of gotten our uh training wheels off now and didn't have much time, but uh jumped right into it. So, I'll just kind of what I'm going to try
to do here is kind of give you a sense, highlight a few bills. I encourage a lot of questions or a few questions, whatever you would like, and we can kind of go from there. Um, so to give you a sense, Sarah said, uh, you know, we're on the 44th day. I think we're going
into May or June most likely. I'm not as optimistic. The one thing that I will note is I think the legislature has taken the idea of uh quantity over quality fairly uh
sizably. Um, and to give you a sense, and I'll get to the next uh slide, but um, in my 30 years of lobbying, you'll notice the bill number 4,000, they ran out of numbers for House bills.
And you have a picture here of Jeff Wendinger. Um, now the 401 bill is a really good bill because it's my wife's, but um um I've never seen that kind of volume. I mean, it's just amazing. And
what we're seeing is a lot of duplicate introductions. I mean, just the volume is and it's been a huge challenge, I think, for the whole team just sifting through what's real, what's not. uh the agendas have been packed and long. So
this is the busiest session in terms of volume, not necessarily intensity of issues, but in sheer volume. Uh and it was kind of funny like they no one knew when the 4,000th bill was and then they gave him a little surprise uh when he
did his bill. Uh as Sarah mentioned early on, here are some of the key deadlines. Um we are through what we call crossover week. So, all of the major uh bills have gotten either out of
committee uh and now literally today uh and all this week, each house is going to be voting as a whole body on about a hundred bills a day and then they're going to swap. To say that there is a
detailed review of 100 bills a day is um not accurate. Um, and I think what normally happens is they're going to pass all these bills and they hope the other house tends to clean them up. So, there's a lot of works in progress, a lot of things being negotiated. Uh, and
then a lot of bills where they say, "Well, we'll just pass it and hopefully someone over there will take care of it." So, we're dealing with a lot of that. And one of the strategies that the team and I have been working on is where some of these bills can be either amended, fixed, stopped. Sometimes it's
in the primary house, sometimes it's in the secretary house. Um, and so that's a lot of the strategies that we're deploying. A lot of the bills we'll talk about are kind of works in progress where there's ongoing negotiations as well. Um, so when I came to you uh prior
to the session, I said tax conformity is going to be a big issue. Uh the Republicans put together two different tax conformity packages, sent them up in quick haste. This was going to have big fiscal impacts around $450 million. The
governor, under no surprise, vetoed both of them. She wants to address this in the governor uh in the budget. And so that's kind of where we stand. We're at kind of a the Republicans wanted to have conformity done and then talk about the budget. uh the governor wants to talk it
about that in a more holistic way. I think most of us who've been out at the capital knew that's was going to happen anyway, but there's some political gamesmanship on both sides going on. Um so key legislative issues. Um when I
talked to you beginning, I think one of the the I think kind of key positive things that we had this session is we're starting to get a lot of momentum in the short-term rental space. there is growing concern and I listed all unfortunately all the bills in red have
died. Um but I I mention and show those bills to you because we're seeing a lot more volume and we're seeing a lot more interest. Um and uh Scottsdale along with a number of other municipalities uh worked in a stakeholder process
through Representative Bliss who represents Sedona who is probably the city that is most impacted in the entire state by short-term rentals. Um and the bill basically strengthens a lot of the tools that we
have on the enforcement side. So things like making sure that in the event that we have a short-term rental who hasn't paid fines and fees, we can discontinue their license. Some tools that we did not have before. Um we were able to
reach agreement with the Airbnb lobbyists on these things. The bigger challenge that we're facing, and I know one of the big issues for the council is how do we restrict the volume and number of short-term rentals? The biggest challenge there that we found in the
discussions is proposition 207, the regulatory takings law. And the the concern or the challenge is if you restrict people the the kind of density of it, you're taking away someone's property right and they may be subject
to compensation. And so that's going to be an issue that's going to be a challenge to work through. But I think the trend line is good. I think we have some measured reforms. Um, we still need to get them past the rules. Uh, chairman
who is a little grumpy about doing anything regulatory wise and that was my project today and I'm still working on it. Um, but good news is I think we're in the right direction. Um, water is a huge focus of the
legislature. The biggest challenge that the legislature has is with the the federal discussions being dragged out, no one knows what to do. Uh the president of the Senate in a bipartisan
fashion with uh the minority leader have retained counsel to provide comments and letters along with the governor. So, there's a lot of collaboration between the legislature trying to make sure that we protect uh our Colorado River
allocation. Uh you'll see HCR 2030. Um this is basically a bipartisan effort to say, "Hey, as a legislature, we support some of the strategies that the governor is arguing for in uh the Colorado River
discussion." Um, the one bill that I will flag as being particularly problematic specifically for Scottsdale and also the town of Queen Creek is uh the folks in Le Paz County want to put a tax on Hark Halo water transfers. So
they want Scottdale and Queen Creek uh to pay a tax to Le Paz County so they can build their water. Um, we've been pretty successful at working with our delegation and also the Panal County delegation uh to get opposition to this.
I don't see this as a long-term risk. I think the bill hopefully will kill it in the House. If not, we have some great places to stop it in the Senate. And we've gotten, as I said, some very good uh interactions with our delegation on
this. um one of our representatives, the sponsor of the bill is trying to say that oh this is just a clarification and um Mr. Calin for some reason thinks otherwise and he's going to be very vocal about that. So I think that's very good news. Um
no surprise zoning and local authority are it's still a huge challenge and I will flag some of the the really problematic bills. Um the the one that is probably the most problematic that we were able to along with some of our
municipal partners 2588 this was the one that basically would take away our design review process. You know it's still that theme of hey if we just uh get rid of zoning we get rid of review that's going to make housing more
affordable. The home builders are harping on that. As I said in the in the presentation earlier, I think the legislature is getting weary of some of those requests because they're just never ending. And so that's why you see 2588 did not have uh enough votes to get
out of committee. There's a similar >> Yeah. And 1431 is a mirror bill that may pass out of the Senate, but they're going to have the exact same vote problems in the House. Um, so these bills are having a lot of challenges getting through. The other bill that I
will flag for your attention that uh has us uh up at night, so to speak, is 1241 municipalities, counties, private permitting providers. What they want to be able to do is allow ar different kinds of architects and other vendors to
be able to say, I certify that you meet all the permitting and requirements to that. Um there's some huge concerns that the cities have raised in that. We are at the table working on that along with uh the league. Um and this is I think
one of the biggest focuses in terms of threats to our ability to manage the city of Scottsdale's uh permitting process. So um and there's some other bills in there. 1473 flag mainly it's more targeted at
Paradise Valley where they recently passed an ordinance limiting uh assisted living homes and so the legislature tried to step in and say they can't do that. The last bill 1787 extractions. Um, this is one that we're actively
engaged on because it creates a number of challenges that um, and if you ask me the details of all those, I may defer to Sarah on those, but that's another one. This one's concerning because it is the president's bill. Sometimes, surprise, surprise, the president's bill tends to
get a little bit more momentum than other bills. um public safety very interesting amount of work uh on uh and I'll I'll first start about with what what's going on in photo enforcement. Um we did an
assessment about uh banning photo radar was a majority program issue for the Republicans. Um through the work of Senator Warner, Representative Grass in particular, um they were able to negotiate
what we call now is a vote on the vote. And what it what the bill basically says is they're going to refer something to the ballot that says if we need if we want to continue photo radar,
uh we have to have a election. Uh now if you think about this the vote to have the vote will be this election cycle and then we'll have two years of to to kind of address that issue and then at the
next general election if you desire you can then go to the ballot and craft and and and the reason why I think that's a better approach is because it retains local control while you have to rely on the voters in this context. it protected
local control and it wasn't the state telling us what to do. Um, one of the other challenges that you gave us early on is to make sure that uh we have some flexibility and protect uh the automated license plate reader. We were very
active early on. The Senator Payne bill 1111 is going to be the operative bill. Um, we work with both Senator Payne and Mr. Fincham. Uh, We don't have the Finchum bill on here. Uh both collaboratively
uh and with the chief's association to get a uh amendments that we found supportive. There's still a little bit more work to do on that. Uh but that bill is in a very good place uh from where we started. And so I think we'll
have a law enforcement supported license plate reader that provides reasonable protections. um um and system protections that make some sense. Um and then you can see a series of the uh the other kind of
public safety bills. Um some of the other bills of concern um TW uh 2118 would take away city's right to regulate food trucks fundamentally and make it just a county uh issue. There's a lot of
issues of about background checks for those individuals. That's been a real focus. Um, you know, I think it's too far reaching. Um, I think we've already been down this road numerous years in terms of food truck. Um, 2400, which is,
I think, a well-intentioned bill, would basically create a motor fuel tax holiday. I think everyone while it sounds good on paper and it has a nice populist appeal, you know, we still have a lot of unmet demand in terms of um uh
transportation needs. And you know, my concern would be that trucking companies and a lot of big commercial uh purchasers would be smart and basically use that holiday to really uh make large purchases. Uh a couple other things that
I I want to raise in terms of and if you look at 2926 and 299 the other theme that we are seeing is this idea of allowing developers to
finance their development fees uh either through a special district and in essenti what what I see they're trying to do is basically pass all those development fees on to the homeowner
through uh a um a system. And then in 2926, it also, this one's kind of interesting as it's emerging, it just uh passed out a cow today, but it allows kind of a sales tax recapture. So some of the
infrastructure costs that the taxes that the city would pay to build that infrastructure to the state would be used to offset the construction costs uh uh of the project. So um we've been engaged on those bills along with the
league trying to make sure they're workable. Um but you're seeing the kind of the next generation of affordability approaches. Some of them are well-intentioned, some of them have a lot of challenges. Uh, and we've been working quite a bit on those. Um, fiscal
stability and revenue. Let me flag probably the the one bill that keeps us up at night. Um, is 4030 and HCR 202. This would prohibit cities from
increasing any tax fee or assessment for four years. Now, if you think about that in the context of we're going to go into a water shortage, you're going to have to go and acquire more water. They just
won't let you pay for it. So, uh we do believe and I mean Dan's not watching the Suns game. he's actually watching the floor of the house. Um, we do think there's going to be an amendment uh that will exempt utilities from that. But the
idea that we can force forecast four years into the future uh in a high inflation environment um the concern here is we're pretty confident that a 430 and you can notice some politics here where the Republicans are going to
put up 430 hope the governor vetos it and then try to do a ballot initiative that will be voter protected. It's that ballot initiative that I think we are most concerned about. Um and so uh this has been a big focus of a lot of the
municipalities. Um the other one that was uh in terms of cost drivers SB504. This is a PSRS increasing pension responsibilities that the cities would have to pay. That bill
uh did not pass in committee. Uh it it crashed and burned I think on a three to 10 vote. I mean it was um and I think there is an appreciation mainly because of DPS uh that the cost
of that would be um uh too much. Um and so those are some of the key things. That's a very high level. There's thousands of bills and we could be here all night and I know uh my contract would not be renewed if I went through all of them. So, um, I'd be happy to
take any questions on, uh, the legislative activity. >> Thank you for the comprehensive overview. It's appreciated. And city manager has something to say there. >> Thank you, Madame Mayor. I thought it might also be helpful for city council to recap our revamped program as we're
about maybe a third way through this session. uh as we took the feedback from city council a year ago and and entirely re uh rehauled our efforts. And so let me describe we have the front of the house here but a little bit of the behind thescenes uh support that we uh
provide to Sarah and our external partners. So it's really iterative between um Mark and Dan and Sarah and then the department. So just using the example if it's a public safety bill or a finance bill we'll we'll work with those respective departments water bill
to to get a technical review of those and provide our feedback. So it's really iterative between uh Sarah and team and then the departments and getting that and then recognizing which ones are more significant or maybe less significant impact to our operations. And then of
course uh through our partnership with Arizona League of Cities and Towns uh they're monitoring on behalf of the broader perspective. Sometimes that covers our interests and sometimes that doesn't but uh that's another group and then water groups so on and so forth. And then how are we communicating that
to you? Uh just as a recap, Sarah and I get together on a weekly basis. I talk about uh the highlighted ones that we need to convey to you. So you see those reports. Some of my reports uh on other topics go out to to you at the end of the week. This one's more at the
beginning of the week uh as some of those group meetings really uh reside on Friday into the Monday. And so now we've also introduced kind of a call to action as we're getting in that stage. And so uh that's what you can see as we uh move forward with the next two periods uh or
the remainder of the session. Uh that weekly report as now we're really getting into it. and then the items we have concern over and and prioritizing and that. So, I just thought it would be uh helpful to recap uh that for a city council and recognize that we're
supporting our external uh resources here and Sarah's doing an amazing job in her new role and uh I'm engaged with this with my uh colleagues throughout the organization on a on a regular basis. Thank you, Madam Mayor. >> Thank you and thanks for that uh pointing that out. It does seem to be a
significant improvement. So we appreciate uh the partnership there too. >> And just to speak from the contractor side, I am getting timely relevant feedback. And so as you know, when you have a fast
session, you know, if you had to wait sometimes weeks and we've I've been very happy about the amount of input that I get uh especially given the volume of bills um and it's been intensive. Just
so you guys know, Sarah, Dan and I meet every week and I probably talk to Sarah um as much as I talk to my wife this time of year. Um and although my wife and I talk a lot because she represents the city of Phoenix and then we complain
about how bad the legislaturator is treating us. But outside of that, um but it it I think it's gone well. Um the last thing I'll mention is we had our first kind of proactive outreach event at Barrett Jackson. We put it together rather quickly, but the reviews I got
were super supportive. People were excited. Um, they all posted about it. Uh, Councilman Debowskis was a great host and like the pride that all the the just as someone who's new to Scottsdale,
the pride that all the staff and the councilman showed about the event and the you it created a nice vibe and the legislators noticed that. Um, and so we got a lot of interest. Uh, and I think when we get a little more runway, we're really going to be able to build on a
program and so that the first time you guys meet with legislators, it's going to be something positive where we can highlight the wonderful things of Scottsdale. >> Great. Thank you very much, Councilwoman Dascus. >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to ask for a quick update. There were a
couple of bills that I saw floating around relating to um school closures and then um the I guess immediate right to to put affordable housing in there. Um, another one's on churches and uh
senior living, something like that. Are are those on your radar? >> Go ahead. >> They are on our radar. Those are Senator Kavanaaugh bills I believe you're referring to, and I will get the bill numbers, but I believe both of them didn't make it out of their chamber of order. >> Okay, great.
>> Um, but I can confirm, but I believe >> Please. Thank you. Yeah, the um Senate Senate government chair is somewhat miserly with a number of bills that he likes to let out of committee. That's my nice way of saying it.
>> With um with some potentially pending school closures with Scott Unified School District, those are bills that certainly would have had potentially an impact on Scottsdale. So, appreciate the update. >> Uh and Mayor, Councilman Debos, I know Mr. progress is very active in that area
because Scottsdale is not immune to that. You see Peoria, Mesa, um and so there's a lot of discussion about what to do with schools, what to do with the declining enrollment and those type of kind of unrelated to the municipal
impact. We've also used that idea of school closures to kind of highlight one of the downsides of having intense Airbnb activity is it hollows out communities. Uh and that's not the sole factor, but it's definitely a
contributing factor uh and how it's impacting access to other public resources. >> Thank you very much. I don't see any other questions. Uh thanks for the update. Thank you, uh, mayor and council, and I look forward to coming
back in a couple weeks. So, thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Next, we have item number 15, and that is the Scottsdale Arts Management Services Agreement. We have a presentation
uh by Judy Doyle, deputy city manager, uh about resolution 13577, which is the contract with Scottsdale Arts. So, I'll let you talk more about that. >> Great. Thank you, Mayor and Council.
Yeah. So, tonight I'm going to present the new five-year management services agreement and the annual financial participation agreement for the Scottsdale Arts. Also here this evening is Dr. Gird Vonman who is the president
and CEO of Scottsdale Arts. So, should you have any questions specific to Gird or want to hear any comments from him, he is available. So before I walk through the proposed agreement, I want to take just a moment
to provide a little context about Scottsdale Arts and its longstanding partnership with the city. Arts and culture have been a part of Scottsdale's identity for nearly, excuse me, more than 50 years. Uh since 1987,
the city has operated under a public private partnership model, working with a nonprofit organization now known as Scottsdale Arts to manage and program our arts and cultural facilities. For four decades, Scottsdale Arts has been
the city's primary partner in operating our cultural venues, overseeing our public art program, delivering destination and community events, and supporting arts education and local arts organizations.
That work has been structured through multi-year service agreements and annual financial participation agreements. This model allows the city to leverage that nonprofit expertise and flexibility
while still maintaining that public oversight and accountability. This photo, by the way, is from 50 years ago. So, so to help frame uh the agreements before you tonight, I want to briefly
revisit the June 24th city council discussion that really set the direction for this work. At that meeting, staff had initially requested a six-month extension of the existing agreement. The goal was to give the new city leadership
some time to fully review the audit findings and negotiate a clear, more transparent long-term contract. During that discussion, council expressed a preference for a full 12month uh
extension instead. And that emphasis was on ensuring operational stability while also making it clear that the next agreement needed to reflect three key expectations. First, a direct response to the November 24 city auditor
findings. Second, clear objectives and measurable outcomes. and third, a stronger focus on fiscal responsibility and long-term sustainability. So, the five-year agreement and the annual financial participation agreement before
you tonight are the result of that direction and are structured specifically uh to address those expectations. So, with that context in mind, I'm going to walk you through a high-level overview of the key components of the
proposed agreement. So, here's a snapshot of what I'm going to be covering tonight. I'm going to start with the overall term of the contract and then how it directly responds to the audit findings along with a summary of the scope of services that Scottsdale
Arts is responsible for delivering. And then from there, I'm going to walk through the funding structure including how the general fund and tourism related funding are structured over time. And then I'm going to cover key performance indicators and then reporting
requirements that strengthen accountability and oversight. I'm going to keep it at a high level uh while just pointing out the most significant changes from that uh from the current agreement. So, as I mentioned, the agreement with Scottsdale Arts has two parts. It's a
five-year management services agreement and an annual financial participation agreement. The term of the proposed management services agreement is five years and that runs from July 1 of 26 through June 30th of 21. The July date
assigns with uh excuse me aligns with that city's fiscal year. A five-year term provides operational stability for both the city and Scottsdale Arts by allowing thoughtful programming and contracting and planning at the same
time. annual oversight is then preserved for that financial participation agreement, the budget process and then performance reporting. And that balance was intentional. Uh it provides predictability where it's needing while still maintaining that accountability
each year. I'll also mention that unlike previous uh five-year agreements, this one does not include an automatic renewal. At the end of the term, council will have the opportunity to review performance and determine how the
partnership should move forward based on results and priorities at that time. So, the financial participation agreement, again, it's a one-year. It runs July 1 of 26 through June 30th of 27. And again, this is intentional. It
preserves council's annual authority to review funding levels, confirm alignment with adopted priorities, and then make adjustments as part of that regular budget process. The financial participation agreement ensures that funding decisions remain
firmly in council's hands each year. So before I walk through the specific changes uh to the new agreement, I wanted to briefly anchor us in why this work was necessary. In November of 24,
the city auditor completed a performance audit of the Scottsdale Arts agreement. The audit confirmed that Scottsdale Arts is financially stable, but it also identified several areas where the agreement and how it's administered
could be strengthened. Specifically, the audit called for clear contract expectations, more consistent and transparent financial reporting, clearer performance objectives for the city-owned facilities, and then a stronger
framework for city oversight. So those findings uh directly informed how tonight's proposed agreement is structured. So with out of findings in mind, uh this slide shows how that new agreement
directly responds by tightening both what the city is paying for and how the performance is reviewed. So at a high level, uh here are the key differences in the new five-year agreement. On the left, the agreement clarifies the what.
The objectives and scope of work have been rewritten and organized into five uh distinct tracks of work. We've added KPIs that tie directly to those objectives along with then an annual a
consistent annual cadence in reporting. And I'll walk through those in more detail on the next slides. And then on the right, the agreement strengthens the how. It improves financial transparency, provides clear accounting for those restricted funds. It simplifies
provisions that had proven ambiguous in uh practice, and it adds a more explicit oversight through stronger reporting and deliverable monitoring. It also includes a governance enhancement provision. Over the term of
the agreement, the city and Scottsdale Arts will explore potential changes to strengthen the alignment and accountability. For example, adding a city council member to the Scottsdale Arts Board of Trustees, which is the
case with uh some of our other city partnerships. Taken together, these changes move that agreement from what was largely a narrative contract to one that is more measurable, more transparent, and more enforcable.
So, now that I've outlined how the agreement's been clarified and strengthened, I want to briefly walk through what Scottsdale Arts is responsible for delivering under the proposed scope of services. The scope of services, as I mentioned, are now clearly defined into five distinct
tracks of work. First, managing and programming the city-owned cultural venues, including our performances, exhibitions, rentals, and just overall facility operations. Second, the agreement defines responsibilities related to event
destinations that support tourism. Third, it outlines management of the city's public art programs, so community exhibits, including uh the handling of both the permanent and portable collections. Fourth, the scope includes
arts education and lifelong learning, serving residents of all ages through school-based and community programs. And then finally, Scottsdale Arts fulfills local arts agency functions, administering grants, providing advisory
services, and supporting the broader network of local arts organizations. So by clearly organizing the work into these five areas, the agreement creates a shared understanding, measurable expectations, and then just a stronger
uh foundation for accountability. So this slide summarizes the funding structure for the first year of the new agreement and then it highlights three key policy shifts. So first beginning in year two the agreement establishes an
annual increase in cost of business planning assumption to acknowledge typical operating cost pressures. This provides structure for long-term planning, but any application of that 3% is subject to annual council
appropriation. There is no increase that's included for fiscal year 2627. Again, that 3% begins in year two. Historically, any cost of business increase have been applied only to those key operating categories. the
management and administration fee, community arts, excuse me, arts education, public art conservation administration, and then specialty equipment. It's because those are the areas that are directly impacted by things such as raising wages, uh,
professional services, etc., rather than those program or event funding. Again, and importantly, any application of that 3% adjustment remains fully subject to the annual council appropriation through
that financial participation agreement. Second, the agreement also includes a planned reduction in general fund reliance. Specifically, the general fund portion of the management services fee is reduced by 250,000
per year, reaching a $1 million annual reduction by year four and then holding at that $1 million year five. So this approach balances that fiscal responsibility with operational stability and it provides time for
Scottsdale Arts to adjust their earned and non city revenue. You'll see that the general fund support is clearly separated between unrestricted funding and restricted funding that's dedicated to specific purposes. The separation improves
transparency and it ensures that the funds are used for their intended purpose. And then third, the non-general fund side. The agreement continues the $750,000 tourism development fund uh contribution
for the Canal Convergence and then for the first time includes an additional $250,000 in tourism development funds for the Dreamy Draw Music Festival or a second destination event. And this aligns those driving those tourism
driving events with the appropriate funding source rather than the general fund. So overall for fiscal year 2627 the agreement remains flat to fiscal year 2526 at approximately 6.3 million while
reducing that general fund exposure over time and offsetting it with the uh destination event funding. In short, the new structure creates clear distinction between funding sources, a defined step
down in that general fund use over time, and a targeted investment in our destination events. It's um so building on that funding uh framework, this slide outlines how
performance will be measured under the new agreement. So we've added a dedicated KPI exhibit to the agreement that clearly defines what is measured, how it's measured, and then how it's reported. And these KPIs are management
and oversight tools. They are not automatic enforcement triggers. They're designed to give council clear visibility into performance and inform future funding and policy decisions. The measures are tied directly to the
defined scope of services and again focus on outcomes. For the city-owned venues, we'll track utilization, attendance, and earned revenue ratios. For destination events, we will evaluate based on events delivered, attendance,
and visitor draw and non- city funding. Public art, we'll focus on inventory accuracy and conservation. For arts education, we're going to track programs delivered and students served. For local arts agency functions, we will measure
progress on the arts and cultural action plan, partner engagement, and grant administration. The idea is that the first year is going to establish a baseline of audited data. And the agreement allows the city to revise our
metrics and targets uh over those subsequent years. And it's worth noting that uh the KPIs will be evaluated in context. So recognizing maybe a one-time event, capacity limits, economic conditions, etc. Most measures will be
reported annually uh with select event related metrics reported per event. And if performance consistently falls short, the agreement does allow for corrective action and informs then future financial participation agreements and council
decisions. So the overall goal is simple, clearer expectations, measurable results, and stronger oversight. In addition to measuring performance through the KPIs, we also added another exhibit to the agreement that clearly
outlines the core deliverables and submissions that the city will receive under this agreement. Here are those key deliverables, and they're organized into three categories. Um first the administrative deliverables and these
include uh strategic and annual operational plans, annual reports, independent audits, budgets, etc. Second are deliverables that are related to public art and collections including written policies and procedures,
long-term conservation planning and regular reporting on both the museum and the portable collections. And then third, the facilities management deliverables covering operating procedures, rental and fee information,
uh event administration, and then the return of any city-owned assets in the event the agreement were ever terminated. So, taking these together, uh these requirements create a clear and predictable flow of
information to the city. They strengthen contract administration and directly respond to the audits recommendations for clearer documentation and stronger accountability. So this evening we are requesting the
adoption of the management services agreement uh resolution and the financial participation agreement resolution shown here. Um together these actions establish a clear long-term framework for the partnership while
preserving council's annual oversight and authority over the funding. So that concludes the formal presentation and with that I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you Judy. Let me see. I don't think there's any speakers on this. Uh
so I'm going to take some council questions and comments. Councilwoman McCallen. Thank you, mayor. Uh, with that, I would move that we adopt resolution number 13577, authorizing agreement number 2026-012,
city of Scottsdale with Arts, Scottsdale Arts Management Services agreement for advisory and management services regarding the city's arts and cultural programs for the period from July 1st through 2026, June 30th through 2027.
and number 13578 authorizing agreement for number 26 202603 C uh COOS with Scottsdale Arts for FY 202627 in the amount of 6,297,114
to be allocated for the activities consistent with management services agreement 2026 COOS for the period of July 1st through 2020 26 to June 30th, 2027. >> I'll second that. And may I speak to my
second? >> Of course. >> Yeah. I just being as a audit committee member, I'm I'm very pleased with the changes. It's it's our audit uh is our audit department is a collaborative effort and this is demonstrating that.
So, thank you. >> Uh council me councilwoman Dasquez. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, congratulations to Scottdale Arts on 50 years. It's very exciting. It's been fun to celebrate this. You're looking forward to the celebration in April. Um,
it's really going to show right now that I have spent a lot of years working as a contracts lawyer. >> So, let's look a little bit more closely at the contract. I'd like to look at what is exhibit F um on my computer. That's page 42. We have um item number
one uh KPI A's, B and C. The first KPI is facility utilization rate. The percentage of available facility days programmed or rented and we have a target of at least 65% annually. Um KPI
number two or B attendance by venue. Total annual attendance by facility. The attendance is equal to or greater than the attendance of the prior fiscal year. Um, in my view, the goal of the contract was to increase our attendance
year-over-year. So, um, in it seems uh in it seems like it would be more appropriately worded to say to um, attendance is greater than the attendance of the prior year. If 2026 2027 is the baseline year, then each year we need attendance to go up. But we
also need to think about what is this attendance? um if it's if we're busing school children in and it's free, then maybe that's not um the attendance that we're looking for. So, what we might want to put in here is paid attendance is greater than the attendance of the
prior fiscal year. Um C, earned revenue ratio. Right now, we have maintain or exceed the prior fiscal year baseline. Um again, this is suggesting that we're going to go going along with how we are today is okay. I think our goal here is
to increase our success and so um we should read to exceed the prior year um fiscal year baseline. So, um I'm going to make an alternate motion and that would be to um it's going to be a couple of things, but first one is going to be this um management and programming of
cultural events KPIB paid attendance is greater than the attendance of the prior fiscal year and C exceed the prior fiscal year baseline. >> Second. Uh I'll have an alternate motion
also related to um the uh item for um the council uh participation. Since this is a different type of agreement that we've had in the past, I do think that it's quite important that we have a council member
that participates on the board. So under section 9.2 governance enhancement, um we talk about the opportunity to consider um a a council member on the Scottsdale Board of Trustees. As you mentioned, Judy, we have several boards
where we have um either council members or members of the uh city staff who participate on the boards. So, with these KPIs and um the financial uh conditions, I think it's important that we do that. So, I'm going to make the alternate motion that this section read
um that it shall include the addition of a member of Scottsdale City Council to the Scottsdale Board of Trustees. the member will be selected by a majority of the Scottsdale City Council. >> Second. >> Second. >> And then my third item is related to the
term. And so I noticed and and you mentioned that we do have a five-year term on this contract. Um, with all of these new changes, I think it's important that we take a look at this contract a little bit more frequently um, than what we
have in the past to make sure that we're all just staying on track. So, um, I'm going to make the alternate motion that instead of a five-year term that we look for a three-year term with two one-year extensions, meaning that at the end of
three years, we'll come back, we'll talk through how is this going, is it going well? is this what we're looking for? Um, and if we're pleased with it, which I hope we very much are, especially if we have someone on the board, we're checking in regularly, then we will be happy to extend it for another year and
then up to another year. So, it could be a total of five years. Um, so a three-year term with two possible one-year additions. >> Second. >> That's my alternate motion. Uh, first I'm going to take city
attorney >> mayor and members of the council if I could request counciloman Debbasquez if you add to your motion that um you authorize the uh city manager and city attorney to um make any necessary
conforming changes to the contracts consistent with your motion. >> Absolutely. Yes. Thank you, >> Councilwoman Whitehead. >> Thank you, Mayor. So while I support some of these ideas, I strongly oppose
uh three of them. Uh when uh Scussell Arts isn't just a financial operation, it's an arts operation and arts is uh about education, about immersion, about
public welfare. So, I don't value a paid customer any different than I value a child who's getting to go to the museum for free. So, I strongly oppose that change because what we're trying to
build is lifelong learners, lifelong appreciation of art. So, strongly oppose that. I have a question for city manager, city attorney. Traditionally, every single committee that uh we have
uh that the members of this council serve on is appointed by the mayor. So, this seems like a huge departure from what has worked well for uh as long as we've had a mayor, as far as I know. Is is it correct? Are there any committees that the city council majority appoints
a member versus the mayor? mayor, members of the city council. I'm not sure. I mean, the the the charter talks about the mayor appointing um the a member of the council to intergovernmental organizations, but it is silent when it comes to a private or
a nonprofit. So, I I I don't know. >> Yeah, it just seems like not really getting us anywhere to do that. I would encourage my colleague to take that out. Again, let's stick with some tradition. Scottsdale's a 75 year success story.
Why make arbitrary changes? Um five-year term for the contract. Listen, I was on the audit committee. I've been working with Skird and Scottsdale Arts for um eight years uh in the arts world
planning events. Uh five years is almost like tomorrow. So, I would also encourage that just leave the five years. We you know this is an organization that is thriving. It is delivering beyond expectations from
eight years ago and I just think we're adding bureaucracy. We're adding cost by not allowing uh this organization to operate to have that certainty for five years. Things that u perhaps could be less expensive by planning well in
advance will now be more expensive. So, we're going to make the organization less efficient. So, I would support the alternate uh motion if we could remove the paid attendance requirement. Just keep it have the mayor appoint the
person. I love the idea of having someone on Scottell Arts board and then just let's not muck around with the five-year term. We've worked hard to get this contract. I think we've all had a lot of input, so let's leave it at five years uh for the sake of less
bureaucracy, lower costs. Thanks, >> Councilman Graham. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um I'm a little bit shocked by what I just heard from my colleague because these common sense uh motions that Council Member Dowsk put
forward are extremely protransparency and extremely pro- taxpayer friendly. So if we go the path that council member Whitehead wants to go, she will deny you the taxpayer more transparency and she
will burden you the taxpayer with more with greater burden. So I am excited about these um and just the um mcking with you know who does who you know who imports this and worrying about that.
It's just a distraction from doing the people's business and respecting residents. It's just simply that. It just simply boils down to that. Um, Council Member Whitehead made a comment that you, the taxpayer, need to pay more
for Scottsdale Arts because of how important Scottsdale is or how important arts is. I will say arts is in Scottsdale's DNA. We have the arts compound on cattle
tract. We have the arts district in Oldtown Scottsdale. We have performing arts venues across the city. And yes, we have our partnership with Scottsdale Arts. All of our art does not have to be we don't have to force you, the taxpayer, to subsidize every aspect
of our arts. A lot of our arts, most of the arts in Scottsdale stands on its own. This is a supplement to the DNA to the arts that we all embrace, we enjoy, and we put forward and that adds to our culture. So I I categorically
classificatorily uh dispute that. Um don't when council member Whitehead says she doesn't she doesn't care whether the people entering the arts facilities are paid or unpaid,
taxpayers care. You care. um the taxpayer. And I want to ask uh uh Miss Andrews, if I can put you on the spot, what's what most people, many people may not know, but Museum of
the West, for example, um that is paid from tourism dollars, correct? >> Our contributions to that, >> Mayor Browski, u members of the council, I believe so. And there's also debt service on the Museum of the West. And
yes, the operation side is uh tourism dollars and I believe the debt services as well. >> And then we have enterprise for we have enterprise funds for Westworld and uh but Scottsdale Arts that we write a check out of the general fund every year for to support Scottsdale Arts operations. Is that correct?
>> Mayor Bowski, members of the council, majority of it is some of it is from tourism, but majority is from the general fund. And I'll ask Miss Doyle, what about how much are we supporting it over the past three years? How big of a check are we writing from our general fund to support Scottsdale Arts?
>> Mayor and uh council members for 2526 the general fund portion was 5.2 million. >> Okay. So it's not this is a significant investment we're making in Scottsdale Arts and that's general fund money.
general fund money that we could go towards paving our roads, strengthening our public safety teams, you name it. But we choose to make an contribution, investment into our arts because it is part of our DNA. You, the
taxpayer, are funding, you are writing a major check out of your general fund. You're sacrificing other things that you could get to fund Scottsdale Arts. And so what these common sense these
common sense taxpayer friendly um u alternate motions that council member Dowsk put on the table. These thoughtful alternate motions are bringing transparency and they are
extremely pro- taxpayer friendly while respecting our long-standing relationship with Scottsdale Arts and what it means to the DNA of our of our c of our community. So, I'm very excited about them and um I hope my colleagues join join us in
supporting these and that we look forward to a more transparent and like Judy was Judy Doyle was talking about clear benchmarks. Um we're moving away from the narrative fuzzy feel-good flowery language. Let's put some numbers. Let's put some hard
measurements to it. That way taxpayers can have a little more assurance about what they're sending us their money and putting into Scottsdale Arts. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you. I'm going to jump in here because the two on the board have already spoke. So, I thought uh the the
changes or the um recommendations were reasonable uh with respect to exceeding prior, you know, the baseline year. I think those are reasonable. I'd like to hear from Judy on that. Did you hear anything in those suggestions that were that you thought were not doable? Mayor
and members of council. No, I think those suggested changes would absolutely be doable. >> Yeah, they didn't seem that significant and and I think that GIRD is certainly capable and your organization of uh achieving those goals. Did you want to
say a few words about these? Uh yeah, let's hear from you real quick before I continue. Well, good evening, Madame Mayor, Vice Mayor Quasman, council members. Uh, thank you so much for giving me a a quick opportunity to speak. Um, first of all, I'd like to recognize I know uh
Bars and Parking have lost us, some of our uh board members, but we have a large group from our board and senior staff here with us tonight. I would like to thank them for their incredible service on behalf of the organization and thank them for really being on their feet here for the last couple hours um
uh respecting this uh process and also a huge thank you to uh city manager and uh Miss Judy Doyle um for their really incredible work on this contract. It's a significant step forward in cleaning up the contract. There is more transparency. Uh the group allowed me to
work with them on writing the new recital. top sheet of uh five buckets of areas of service and I think that is a huge improvement as well as the KPIs. With regards to your proposal um uh I want to share a few thoughts with you
with all due respect. Um first we are um in the arts business and like any business not every year uh you see the same business performance. I think the idea of writing the KPIs as a uh like or
better performance for the next year seemed reasonable to us because I don't know that you can expect a business to grow participation every year to grow revenues every year. Imagine uh let's say god forbid we head into a recession next year all of a sudden people's
buying behavior will change and uh that can change the environment in which we try to incur more business for our organizations. But it doesn't mean that the central role that art and culture plays in Scottsdale DNA is diminished. It just means that we may have softer
years than other years. Um I do feel strongly about including overall participation because Scotsel Arts is a unique organization. Um I think uh Councilman Graham mentioned Cattle Track just now. Cattle track now has become a new department. We recognize its
incredible value to the beauty and quality, creative quality of this community. That's a new step we're taking. We have a five-year master plan right now to really make that a significant piece of our organization. So, five years go by very quickly for us
and um and participation is not always measurable in ticket sales. about I estimate that about 65% of what we do on behalf of the city as defined by this contract public art with a massive impact. I think I shared with you in my last report that public arts draws 4
million people any given year within the vicinity of the 163 largecale works across the city. That is a massive amount of the appeal of of of Scottsdale. that work, our education work, a lot of the work we do with groups on this campus, we do with event support for our own community events and
others completely free to the community. About 65% of our work is 100% free. I think it's only fair that we get to take some credit for increasing those numbers year-over-year as well, not just the paid participation. So, so I do think it's worth at least having a serious
conversation about that piece. Uh, back to the five-year contract duration. I think uh as Councilwoman White had said very well, it goes by very quickly in our business. We constantly master plan. We set sights on event performance 3 to 5 years from now. We book shows
three to five years in advance. Um I don't know that there's any other significant city contract that is shorter than the 5-year duration. I think experiences contract is a five-year contract. I believe Museum of the West is as well. Um, Scots Scots Arts used to have a 10-year contract
with the city until the last contract was done. This is actually already reflective of the desire for the city to have shorter time periods of control. Um, so I would encourage you to really think about that particular disposition. Um, the last thing I want to say is uh
transparency. We love the challenge of stronger KPIs of a much more transparent contract. We love the challenge of delivering for you. We recognize that our taxpayers, our citizens, our residents work very hard for the money and we are very very um both frugal and
fiscally responsible in that expenditure. We do think we very much earn every penny of what is expended because we provide exceptional services. And if you look at our P organizations, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, all fully cityfunded through a citywide tax, we provide services for 50 cents on the
dollar. And I'm very, very proud of that with my organization. I really believe in that piece and I think that's the strength of this private public partnership. So I'd like to encourage you to think about those KPI pieces. I'd like to invite you to really think about the five-year iteration. I think it is
what makes this contract strong and is the foundation of this resp uh incredibly positive and responsible partnership. Um and I completely respect the idea of having a council member join our board. Uh we have discussed this with our board. We've asked to have the
language included that finally made its way into this contract mainly because we will have to do some significant government's changes to to our way our organization is governed currently. We have to redefine our bylaws and that takes a little while for an organization
of our size and scope to bring completely in line. So, we wanted to simply express that uh I think as the contract reads, we make a really strong goodfaith effort in negotiating this with the city over the course of this next year so that we're really prepared and ready and not overstep any boundaries or get crosswise with our
501c3 status and implementing that particular piece. Um, I can tell you that between ourselves, city manager Kaitton, who I I can't tell you how uh thankful I have been for you to really wanting to take the time to get under
the hood and redefine this contract with us and and and how much we have grown together in this process, I believe, and and and Judy's work, I think, is really defined by diligence and and a call to duty to really make sure that this uh
how should I put it? Um, nobody in my role likes to take a haircut. We take a pretty significant haircut and Lord knows I can ill afford a haircut. Um, and and we're completely amanable to that piece because we want to be responsible for our taxpayers. Uh, so
I'd like to encourage you to consider those items and I'll pause here and see if you have any other questions. >> Okay. Thank you, G. Uh, city attorney as indicated. >> Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Uh just to make sure that we
capture everything uh appropriately in this alternate v motion, I would request that we also um grant be given authority to the city manager and city attorney to make any necessary conforming resol uh changes to the two resolutions. >> Agreed.
>> Thank you, >> Councilwoman McCallen. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just want to remind everyone that I'm I'm not sure if anyone's been around maybe as long as I have with the city, but the Scottsdale Center for the Arts
was started with a government grant, a CEDA grant that my brother worked at the Center for the Arts. So, it was heavily subsidized by the government. And the reason for that being is it was new and needed and we value arts in our
community. and not everyone can afford to attend all of the programs. And so the programs that we do have that are free to school age children in our city and those in the boundaries, title one especially, we need to make sure that we
maintain that because our city, like Councilman Graham said, it's in our DNA. The art is in our DNA. People come here from all over the world. We just saw earlier how experienced Scottsdale spends our bed tax dollars to promote
Scottsdale Center for the Arts, canal conversions, all these things that Gird and his board have done a great job doing. Um, so I just want to say that as a reminder and I would urge uh our councilwoman DBascus to make it a
five-year contract to go back to that. Uh, I think micromanaging an organization that's already doing a great job is not what we need to be doing. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Littlefield. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, looking at our
agenda tonight and thinking about this, um, I would like to ask, um, to put something else on the agenda as a vote. Um, I'd like to make one change and one change only. For council members who are
interested in participating on the board for the Scottsdale Arts, I believe that they should um let the mayor know. The mayor is the one that will appoint for our consideration and approval the member who will be put on that board and
she needs to know who you are. So, I would uh suggest that we have whoever on this council is interested in being appointed to the board, let her know your name and um that you would like to
be considered. >> Good idea. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Littlefield. Councilwoman Whitehead, and was that was that accepted? I'm sorry. Did you >> okay with >> We'll accept that. I think the motion
gave the authority to the council. Am I incorrect about that? >> Councilwoman Littlefield just asked for a change at >> change. Yeah. >> And you're you're okay with that. Okay. Well, I was going to say that was the one thing that people seem not to object to, but that's fine. I prefer to be
through the mayor. Um, you know, I I I appreciate Gern. I was that was I was going to ask you to get up. You know, it's really hard when you're up here and you're on council. Everybody is looking at you as how much money you invested in a project, but the reality is that
without these investments, there would be no Scottsdale. So, I think that's the part of the equation we always forget to really celebrate and also educate on. So, I'm wondering if Ger can hop up. I don't want to put you on the spot, but
when we invest $5 million in the arts, there's there's a return on that investment, and it's pretty tremendous. And I, you know, I should have had Gird make my uh or respond to the my concerns
because of course he's uh well-versed in why I have these concerns. So, I think it's interesting he mentioned 65% of um our events are free, but believe me, if you go to Canal Convergence,
people are spending big bucks. They may not spend the money to enjoy the art on the canal, but they're staying they're they're they're coming from all over the valley, all over the state, and all over the world. So, do you have off the cuff,
you know, some kind of economic uh go ahead what some return on investments for us? >> Uh, thank you, Councilwoman White. That that's almost a soft bulb and I really very much appreciate the question because you're right. In our line of work, we try to balance fiscal
responsibility with making the arts accessible for all because the the arts is what ties this community together and I think it's what bridges a lot of things in our world. But there is a significant piece of ROI involved in this as well. And I give you just two very simple examples that I happen to
have top top of mind. Um last year's canal convergence saw 146,000 people on the waterfront. And the way we track and measure this is through an a system called place AI. It's a software that tracks individual cell phone pings. So those are genuine verified visitors in
that two during that 10day period along the canal. We estimate looking at sales tax receipts and the sales tax bump as well as hotel occupancy bump through our measured by our friends at experience Scottsdale and of uh venues like Olive and Ivy on the waterfront. We estimate
that the economic impact to our local economy from that event over the course of 10 days is somewhere around $12 million. That means to the sales tax basis Scottsdale that event in which you and the TDC invest significant money is more
than made whole back through the sales tax receipts to the city. So something to consider and be proud of is really there is a direct economic return on investment. There's the direct return to your tax base. There's the secondary return to the local economy. But the tertiary return is the most precious and
it's the one that some credit card ad calls priceless. it is that it makes if you look at an overhead video of of canal convergence in November and you live somewhere in the Pacific Northwest on the east coast, you think that's the place I want to be right now. And I know
that our friends in tourism use that shot all the time in the advertising because it really makes us a destination. We've developed a new event, Dreamy Draw. In its third year, we moved and and again, thanks for the great cooperation from the city and from the city, but the city's desire to move
into the stadium to establish our stadium now as a concert venue to increase revenue that the stadium can generate to increase participation in that stadium outside of spring training and fall. Um, we moved into the stadium. We took a big risk. It was a heavy lift.
It worked incredibly well. We saw 22,000 participants and for 42% of them because that's a ticketed event so we know where the buyers come from. 42% traveled here from around the country for this event. It generated somewhere around 16.5
million and those are traditional conservative economic development estimators and I'm and I'm sure our new director Kevin Burke will and and I will will talk about this a bit more but we try to apply conservative estimates on this um to the local economy. people that spent at least two or three nights
here that spent significant dollars in our community and our median age of visitors were 37. They were highly educated and their household income was somewhere around $140,000. It's the kind of visitor we want to attract to you. It does take seed money. We are a small nonprofit trying to do a
heavy lift and serve a lot of a year, but I hope that answers your question in terms of the actual financial value that we can also bring back to the community. >> Yeah, it does. And listen, I know that Councilwoman Dascus was very involved in uh developing this contract and I do appreciate it, but I you know, I would
ask you to consider not my opposition to two of those um to the two of the changes, but I think the well um stated reasons that they may not be good for Scottsdale that Gird was
able to um explain. um the like the five years is just it's just difficult for an organization as big as Gastel Arts and then the fact that the attendance does vary depending on the economics and also
just simply the fact that the goal is to bring tourists here and with I I didn't know that data point but 65% of the events are free so we're kind of missing out an opportunity to really
um to to really evaluate the success correctly if we exclude those. So, I don't know if there's another way to capture what you're trying to do without excluding those events. Uh Councilwoman Dascus.
>> So, I think you're done with your question, right? So, I'd like to call the question on this. There's an alternate motion on the table. Do you need any clarification about any of those changes? >> Mayor and member of the council, I think
we understand it. >> Okay, with that, let's vote on this. The >> alternate point. I have a point. I just have a point of order. Um, I don't know what motions are on the floor right now. And I know council
member I think councilwoman Littlefield requested to make a friendly um amendment to one of council member but I misunderstood it. I think I misunderstood it actually and I wanted to get clarity on what it was. >> So mayor members of the council this is
our understanding of it or my understanding it. Um I think councilwoman Dascus agreed because I thought I saw her nod her head but maybe I'm wrong. Um, Councilwoman, um, Littlefield appeared to be making a
motion to change how the board member on, uh, Scott uh, the Scottsdale Arts organization was selected, meaning the the the how the city council member was selected where the mayor would appoint the person and the council would confirm
the nomination. That's what I think I understood her motion to be. >> That is correct. And what I may not be 100% clear on was whether the it was a friendly amendment, which does not require a vote or not. If it's a friendly amendment, it doesn't require a vote. If it if it's not, then the
council would have to vote to amend the alternative motion to include that. >> I hope it's friendly. >> Friendly. >> Okay, good. It's friendly. >> Always friendly. Um Okay. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. And thank you, mayor. That's
my point of order. >> Thank you. Okay, let's go ahead and take the vote, please. >> Oh, yeah. >> Alternate. >> Okay. >> Alternate motion. >> Point of order is are are we voting on a batch of alternate motions?
>> No, that was just one alternate motion that Councilwoman Dboscus made. >> Yes, you're voting on one single alternate motion. afternoon. It's the original alternate motion made by Councilwoman Devosquez as modified through a friendly or amended through a friendly amendment by Councilwoman
Littlefield. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Just for clarity, just a point of order, she made several alternate motions. >> Okay. But she made the motion and I seconded more than one motion. So mechanically tech
>> maybe you didn't need to >> we we're we're treating it as a single motion with various um >> parts. >> Okay. So that was this is like this is the du mole of of what happened >> everything.
>> Thank you >> with that. Let's take a vote on the alternate motions. Thank you. Thank you, Gird. Thank you, Judy. Thank you, all the board members who are here today. Let's go knock it out of the park.
All right, moving right along. Now, we have public comment, uh, which is reserved for Scottsdale citizens, business owners, and our property owners to comment on non-aggendaized items that are within the council's jurisdiction. No official council action can be taken
on those items and speakers are limited to three minutes to address the council. Uh if anyone's here that hasn't already signed up and you'd like to uh speak on a non-aggendaized item, please talk to the city clerk. Otherwise, we have Steve
Sutton, Melissa Kemp, and Michael Fernandez. So, let's go in that order, please. Steve Sutton, address on record. Good evening, Honorable Lisa Barowski, Mayor of Scottsdale, and other council members. In 2015, Scottsdale conducted a
study of Oldtown parking that does not support building a garage in the souththeast quadrant of Oldtown, known as historic Oldtown. In November of 2019, voters approved bond election question two to provide infrastructure
funding that does not require building a garage in historic Oldtown. In February 2020, the city council agreed on the need for a new Oldtown parking study, but never conducted the study. In September of 2024, council members in
opposition to each other made a political deal to build a garage in Oldtown's Northeast entertainment area if a garage were built at the parking corral in historic Oldtown. The council did not conduct a parking study to determine need. In January of 2025,
after the inauguration of the current council, senior city management staff that opposed building a garage at the parking corral began to resign from their positions with the city. In May of 2025, residents began to tell the council through multiple petitions they do not want a three-story garage built
that will end the 17-year tradition of the farmers market at the parking corral, place the historic old adobe mission between two multi-story garages, and visually dominate the most historic part of Scottsdale's old town. In September of 2025, residents petitioned
for conducting a parking study before 15 to20 million dollars are spent on a new parking garage at the parking corral. The city manager refused to do so by claiming a lack of time to complete the study despite the fact that a sufficient study could be conducted before
construction of the proposed garage could begin 10 months later. With each passing week, more Scottsdale residents become aware of this information and this council's obstinate and unreasonable refusal to acknowledge what is obviously enormous opposition to the council's plan to build at the parking
corral. The numbers of residents in opposition to the council now numbers in the thousands and grows by hundreds and perhaps thousands per week. These residents are not stupid. They understand the council does not have sufficient facts supporting the decision
to build a garage. These residents are now beginning to think that the council's garage plan is motivated by political dealmaking and corruption rather than necessary need for construction. Thousands of Scottsdale residents are telling you to stop your plan to waste
our tax dollars and ruin historic Oldtown. We are not going to stop protesting this. Cartago Delinda est. >> Thank you, Steve. Uh, next we have Melissa Kemp.
Can I see if that'll work? Thank you. Uh, Melissa Kemp, address on record. >> Can I just have a point of order? I'm so sorry, Melissa. I apologize. >> Mr. Attorney, you you had you had I'm I'm sorry, but Mr. Sutton's last
words were threatening. I'm I'm asking for an inquiry because it it just you you we cannot allow in whether whatever language it is, but Carthage must be destroyed is a is an extremely scary statement to be made in
this time of political violence. It is not acceptable. And at some point we're somebody's going to get hurt. And I I I don't know what this council has to do to stop this while respecting and cherishing and preserving first amendment rights, but it's but from
language in German to that did not start until there were Jewish members on the council to Carthage must be destroyed. Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? We're Carthage. The members of this body are Carthage. And we have got to do something. and and
I don't know what it is, but we have to set up new rules to be able to protect members of this council before somebody does something extremely radical. I apologize to the new speaker, and you deserve better than that, but I had to say something.
>> You know what? We're not going to we're not going to have a debate. Um, that was a personal point of privilege and, you know, let's just we can continue that conversation. um at another time. Thank you. So, Melissa Kemp, let's continue
on, please. Maybe it's time for a breath. Okay. Uh Melissa Kemp, address on record. Last session, I talked about the resolve it takes to stand here and participate on the camera and on the record and why that alone deserves respect from our
city council members and attention. And I named a separate second function of open public comment last time that is beyond an early warning system. This narrows the power imbalance between what's happening on the day and what's happening here for your citizens. So it
is a public record that residents can point to in the future between elections. Tonight I'm going to be overt about something that's confusing to the public. All listening is not equal. When you're here on the council tonight, city
hall council meeting, public comment, that is a part of your job and that is on the public record. It's the only kind of listening that is truly accountable and available to citizens to lower that power balance so it has primacy. It's
verifiable. It's reviewable. And it's equally available to any citizen who wants to be heard and for any citizen who wants to review it in the future. Council members like to say we're listening because you know it matters. But let's talk about what kind of listening doesn't count. Here's a
current example. We have two council members, the city council majority of four have set up listening sessions that are ahead of city council and they're here I think at city council in the ka. Uh speaking of fiscal responsibility, it's in a facility city facility outside
of a council meeting but on the taxpayer time and dime. They're announced during city council meetings as if there's some sort of proof that that is listening that that's accountable. But voters watching later need to understand the difference. By law, no more than three council members can be at a session like
that or it triggers open meeting laws. No other session is equal to the listening that happens in a city council meeting. That means by design that those sessions are not equal. No one in this chamber tonight could verify what was discussed last night. who was there,
what was said or what was promised. There's no official recording. There's no transcripts. There's no shared public record. So, yes, people can speak in those kinds of off sessions or extracurricular sessions, but it is not open public comment. It's not an early
warning system for the public because the whole public the whole full council isn't there. It's not reliable data gathering because the public cannot verify what was said, by whom, when, or how it was received. And it's not accountability because voters can't compare those offrecord comments to the
votes and the actions that you take on the record. There's another negative that gets left out when you do these off session listening sessions. Citizens start to wonder when should they speak? What counts? It discourages participation here in the only form that does count. So my requests are simple.
Respect open public comment. make it primary again because if it can't be recorded, if it can't be reviewed, if it can't be compared to your vote, if it isn't available to anybody who wants to be here or viewable by anybody after the
fact who wants to view it, then it's not accountable listening. >> Thank you, Melissa. And lastly, we have Michael Fernandez. And I see that Michael, you also have a petition following this. So, we'll keep
you up at the podium. Michael Fernandez address on record. 41 days in counting since city manager Greg Kton paralyzed Mayor Bowski's office and continues to block her agenda by suspending the mayor's chief of staff, Lamar Whitmer, without explanation.
Commasar Kton has extended the suspension for another two weeks. Again, no reason given, no justification, no explanation provided to Mr. Whitmer, the mayor, and the public. This is an unprecedented breach of American due
process and a deliberate insult to her office and those who voted for her. This unprecedented breach of American due process is more like something out of the former Soviet Union. Simply put, show me the man and I'll show you the
violation. The mayor has been forced to operate with only a skeleton staff. This isn't an accident. It's a deliberate obstruction of Mayor Barowsk's agenda to involve residents and stakeholders in city affairs.
This is part of a deliberate effort Mr. Kton has repeatedly instructed city staff not to work with the mayor, making her an outcast in her own administration. The suspension of her chief of staff is simply the most brazen escalation yet.
Even more disturbing, based on restrictions in the city's January 14th letter, Mr. Whitmer has essentially been confined to his house during work hours, placed under what amounts to house arrest without being told why. Mr. Kton's broader record is equally
troubling. After barely six months of residency, Commasar Kton was appointed city manager and in a Stalinist maneuver, he purged the city's upper management with decades of institutional knowledge. He replaced expertise with fear, turning city hall into a place
where employees are too intimidated to speak up or work with their elected mayor. This isn't how America works. This isn't how Scottsdale became the envy of the Southwest. Commar Katton's actions are a clear example of Ronald Reagan's axiom. Government isn't the
solution. It's the problem. The city council must enact a policy requiring basic American due process. Anyone suspended deserves to know the charges against them, and so does the public, especially when that suspension cripples an elected official's ability to govern.
No secret accusations, no silent suspensions, no house confinement without explanation. Just transparency, accountability, and respect for the democratic process. >> Thank you, Mike. Uh, that concludes
public comment on non-aggendaized items. And so public comment is now closed and we're going to invite you back, Mike Michael Hernandez, because you you have the citizens petition, I believe. Yeah, he gets three minutes for that,
>> which I'm assuming he wants. >> Yeah, there's only one petition this time. Michael Fernandez address on record. Back in 20 back in the 2019 bond election, the voters approved three ballot questions to fund $320 million
for 168 projects. It was a special election, which according to Councilman Graham, voter turnout is always historically low. So, the decision to commit 20 million of our of our property tax dollars for an
unneeded and unwanted Oldtown garage was made by a slim margin of voters. Putting 168 projects into three ballot questions made it a take it all or leave it proposition. Buried in question two on the ballot was the Oldtown parking structure without
mentioning that it would be on a three on three stories and located across the old Adobe mission and Cavaliers blacksmith shop which were established before Arizona became a state and Scottsdale a place and later a town. Even though only 32% of the voters
actually voted, Councilman Graham has repeatedly misled the public, espousing that 70% of the voters demanded the parking garage be across from the old Adobe Mission and Cavaliers blacksmith shop. However, when the county attorney's office was investigating Councilman
Grahams, Duboscus, and Quasman's contrived bribery complaint against the mayor over the parking garage, Barry sang a different tune. He admitted that it was not the voters who chose that location across an admission, but that it was the city council, including
himself. His contra his confession contradicts the BS he's been trying to feed to the public. In voting against scheduling an early Axon referendum election when it would have made a difference, Councilman Graham consistently argued that special
elections produce low voter turnout. Could it be that delaying the Axon referendum election until November 2026 would help him and former Councilman Littlefield in the re-election bid? Obviously, when it serves his purpose, Graham and Graham claims that special
elections don't reflect the true will of the community. But when it comes to the parking garage, suddenly 32% turnout becomes an overwhelming public mandate. Since Graham keeps invoking a voter mandate and insisting the people's voices must be listened to, he should
welcome the opportunity to let them speak clearly and definitively in the November 2026 general election before historic Oldtown is scarred by Barry's three-story parking garage. That's why I'm standing before the council today demanding you put the question of the
building of three-story parking garage across from the old histo from the from the historic old adobe mission in Cavaliers's blacksmith shop on the November 2026 general election ballot where every voter can have his or her voice be heard. To oppose putting this
on the ballot is to admit that this count city council would rather hide behind a low turnout election than listen to the voters. Thank you, Mike. All right. Like all uh petitions, we have three options uh in terms of making a motion. Direct the
city manager or other responsible charter officer to agendaize the petition for further discussion. Direct city manager uh to investigate the matter and prepare a written response to the council uh or take no action. Uh,
so do I have anyone that wants to speak on this? Anyone have a motion? >> Madame Mayor, I move number three. >> Second. >> Councilwoman Whitehead. >> I have a question for um the interim
city attorney. I I don't think there's a mechanism to put this uh project on. Am I correct on a >> mayor and members of the council, we believe it's not referable to the voters, but we are in the process of researching that and and we probably
shouldn't discuss that further at this time. >> Yeah. So that's fine. So I think for the reason that you're reviewing it right now, I'm going to oppose the motion on the table since sounds like you're it sounds like um
number two would be more appropriate. That's all motion. I'll do a alternate motion u for number two. Direct the city manager or other responsible charter officer to investigate the matter and prepare a written response to the council. >> Madame Mayor, I withdraw my motion and
uh will agree with um Cong uh council member Whitehead's alternate motion. >> I'll third. >> Excellent. And uh I'd like to speak to this before we vote vote. As everyone knows, I'm in favor of uh not putting
the garage at this location. I've been on record since the get-go on that. And I I really think this is such a big community issue. No kidding. I mean, people talk to me about it in the most unusual uh settings, and I I hope we can
find a way to to get this uh on the ballot. So, look forward to that um written report. So, with that, let's let's go ahead and take a vote. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Okay, there we go. Thank you very much.
Thank you. All right, let's move on to mayor and counsel. Uh this evening I have the pleasure of appointing uh to the PSPs board. We have two appointments um for
the public safety personnel retirement system police and fire boards which is a requirement and this is about hon or about the deadline to do so. Uh tonight's request is to approve my appointees who are Hugo Morazz uh the
designate for reappointment. He's been the chair uh for two terms I believe. And so I'll make that motion and ask for a second on that. >> Second. >> Thank you very much. Let's go ahead and vote on that.
And then we have Carl Fraser. He I don't see him here, but um he was the gentleman, you might recall that came and brought to our attention that uh we were somewhat out of compliance on the board. And so um I did we did have an
interview with him and he was was very in tune to the issues and I'm I'm pleased to be making this appointment. Um, so, uh, with that, I'll make the motion to, uh, appoint Carl Fraser. >> Second.
>> Okay. Please register your vote on this. >> No, >> it wasn't necessary. It was a vacant position. Well, since we're at the deadline, city attorney, what what does this mean? Should we talk about this later? Did you have any qu first before before
you do that, did anyone have any questions about this? Because I'm um I'm curious about your no vote. Did do you oppose Carl Fraser? Do you want to know more about the process? >> I I personally don't know anything about
him, so I have a hard time voting for him because I don't know him. I don't know who the other applicants were. So, Hugo has been on the board. He's proven himself. I feel good about voting for that. But without having any information, it's just really hard to make a vote. >> Madame Mayor, I would have said exactly
the same thing. I I know I've never interacted with the person before. >> So, for what it's worth, I'd like to have the city attorney uh go through the process for this because this is a really unique situation. It's it's completely new to me too because during
my watch there were well I wasn't the mayor when I was on the council obviously but this is a unique uh board that is statutoily required that the mayor of every municipality make the appointment and
conduct the interviews. So this isn't something, you know, some outlier where we just decided to take it, you unilaterally, but can you talk to us about that before because I think it's important for the council to know this and I'm sorry we didn't have a presentation about this. I think it's a
good question. Uh, mayor, uh, the process is that the clerk's office gets applications. Uh, we forward them to your office for consideration and then the that that portion of the process is really up to you related to
interviewing the applicants. Um, and we did forge you two applicants for the citizen member position. Um and uh and my understanding is you interviewed them both and uh and then you make a recommendation to the council and then the council has approve approves or
denies that recommendation. Thank you. >> And to confirm that's state statute that process that appointment process is state statutoily required. the pro the process is state statutoily
um required in the sense that the mayor nominates someone in and the council either approves or not. So um it's different than our normal process. I I think maybe what the question is that uh either this nominee could be
reconsidered at the next council meeting or alternative nominees uh depending on on who you want to move forward again. Uh, mayor. >> So, I don't think alternative makes sense. I mean, maybe there's a procedure for those that would want to maybe maybe
I just How about this? How about we cancel the vote? I'll make a uh I'll move to continue this to the next regularly scheduled agenda and that way uh the council members that wish to connect with both of the
candidates can do so. Having voted on the winning side, I'll mo I'll move to reconsider the vote so we could properly do exactly that. I think that's a fair that's a fair compromise. So I'll move to I'll I'll move to reconsider. >> Second. >> Mayor just the our our next
>> reconsider. You have to recon because the vote has already occurred because I voted in the affirmative in the winning side. I could move to reconsider the vote. So now the vote would be up for reconsideration and therefore it can be then moved to continue on. >> Right.
>> So I will also move to continue. I I'll move to re move to reconsider. We could vote to reconsider and then we could and then I'll move to continue. >> And mayor I just want to clarify our meeting our next meeting is next week. >> Yeah that's I think that's sufficient.
It's two people. >> Are you going to do both? Uh you're you we'll schedule that or or Ben Lane can schedule that. Yeah. >> Okay. Let's vote. Yeah. >> There we go. You can do it. >> All right. And now the motion to
continue. Madame Mayor, I move to I move to continue um >> the second one. >> The >> Carl >> the vote the vote on the appointment. >> I'll second that. >> The second.
>> No, I'll second that. The motion just to confirm is to continue the appointment of Carl Fraser uh for the PSPs until uh the next council meeting which is March 3rd I believe. All right. All
those please indicate your vote actually. >> All right. Thank you. >> Mayor. >> Yeah. Yes. Councilwoman Littlefield. Could I ask that uh you send to us uh some sort of uh bio? >> Yeah.
>> So that we know who he is and what his background is and his qualifications. >> Absolutely. Uh and you know, I regret not doing that already because it's it's a curious way that we do this. >> And again, it's pursuant to state statute, so we really don't have a
choice. So, um, and candidly that isn't that isn't part of the process to have all of us interview, but I don't see any reason why that wouldn't be, you know, a good idea. So, uh, that works out great. Moving right along, let's move on to the
work study session. And I'll I'll pass around the bios and Ben can, you know, with me. All right. work study session uh provides a less formal setting for the council and the mayor to discuss
specific topics with city staff and uh the opportunity to re for staff to receive direction from the council uh in this public forum. So, the first one we have tonight is the Westworld strategic plan. And tonight we have Will Loft uh
Westworld general manager and Alex Keen with Keen Independent Research to present uh on the Westworld strategic plan priorities, policies, and implementation considerations.
Thank you. Welcome. Good evening, Mayor Bowski and the members of council. Good evening, Mayor Bowski and members of council. Thank you very much for having us this evening. I'm Will Loft, general manager of West. I'm joined with
by Alex Keane from Keen Independent. Uh we are here to present the uh the draft of the strategic plan for Westworld to you here today. Uh I've been at Westfield for almost a year and a half now and we've been in the limelight uh more often than we should have in my
opinion and not necessarily for good reasons. And I would suggest that one of the main reasons that we have been in that limelight is we haven't had a strategic plan. We haven't had a plan a direction to take us to where we want to go when we're one that is agreed to by council. One in which the staff is is
committed to to to see through. So I it is my I'm going to quote Winston Churchill here today. Um he once said in a speech in 1942, "This isn't the end. This isn't the beginning of the end, but this just might be the end of the beginning." And he was talking about
World War II, which I realize in the in in order of magnitude, this is nowhere near what that was. But but that is fitting here for if we I'm sincerely believe that if we plot a direction going forward that Westworld will be everything everybody wants it to be. I
realize I I live in a fool's paradise, but nonetheless, that's what I am. Um we we want to thank the TDC because without their support this this project would never would have happened. So they funded this and we appreciate that. Um
and we went about a fairly diligent effort to select a firm to to do this project for us because it's very important and we there was two things we were really looking for. We're looking for a firm that uh that under understood public assembly facility management. public assembly facility management is
the management of facilities that that have events and and that's what Westworld is obviously and we also wanted a firm that was local one that we could actually go and speak to that we wouldn't be talking to on the phone for an entire year and we selected Keen Independent and they've done a very good job for us and Alex will be outlining
our strategic plan here in a moment but I did want to uh thank him for all his efforts and all the efforts of his his firm. So at this point in time I'm going to hand thing what I got one one other thing I want to talk about. So back in November, we presented the our infrastructure um um manage um infra
infrastructure um >> plan master plan. Thank you. Um and the purpose of that was is to talk about the facilities of Westworld going forward. And the purpose of our strategic plan is to talk about our oper our operational
strategy, how we're going to optimize uh managing those facilities so that we support the goals and objectives of the city. So I'm going to hand things off to Alex here right now and he's going to he's going to talk about the strategic plan. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Welcome, Alex.
>> Thank you. Should I Is there a clicker up here somewhere? Did I just use the keyboard? Okay, great. Thank you so much. Uh, good evening. Um, sorry we're I think we're last on the agenda tonight, so you made it. >> Nope. >> Oh, no. Sorry. >> Unfortunately, no offense to our next
apologize. Um, I'm Alex Ke, managing principal at King Independent Research. Like Will said, um, located in Phoenix, Arizona, but our practice takes us across the country doing uh different types of arts, culture, entertainment, and sports research and uh strategic plans. Uh, and so it's been a real
honor. We've been at this project uh working on this for over a year now. So, it's been quite the process. We've gotten the opportunity to speak with uh many of the folks uh in the audience tonight as well as many of you on council. So, um just thanks for all the engagement that you all have given us. Uh we are nearing the end like I said
and um this is once the plan's complete. I think our goal here is for it to not be on a shelf. So, we've had great conversations about this process may be over, but then what starts? How do we measure our KPIs? How do we measure success? And how do we ensure that um the city of Scottsdale was happy with
what Westfield is achieving? So what is the purpose of Westworld? Westworld is a really unique complex. There are not many uh complexes like Westworld across the country. It has a significant equestrian component, significant amount of equestrian
facilities. It also has major public gathering facilities indoor and outdoor. uh you know, tons of different green space, tremendous amount of parking, and uh it's located in some pretty unique land within the city of Scottdale,
having pretty complex use agreements with federal authorities all the way down. Um but there is nothing replicated like this in the state of Arizona. This is a pretty special thing that we have in Scottsdale and I think sometimes we might mis kind of underestimate its
capability. This is a not only a convention center and equestrian space and you know major event use space but it is it is something that can do what we call mega events right so Barrett Jackson one of your uh mega events that just concluded there are very few facilities in the country that could um
support Barrett Jackson you just had your amazing Arabian horse show you do events throughout the year at these spaces and um the reason why municipalities tend to build these spaces say you were going to just do this from scratch today uh you don't generally do it because you're trying to make a bunch of net profit on it. You do
it because you're trying to generate significant economic impact. Um, and so I think that's a little bit of the message as we're talking today is economic impact generally is why we have these facilities on our inventory. That's not to say that they shouldn't have community benefit. It's not to say
that the the residents of Scottsdale shouldn't enjoy what's going on there. This is about bringing people from across the world into Scottsdale to put heads in beds to support your hotels, to support your restaurants, to support your local businesses, and ensure that
your economy is maximized. Um that also we have to remember though that they have to be fiscally responsibly managed, right? So you can have an economic impact charter and spend money poorly. And I think what you'll see tonight is generally when we're looking at the finances of Westworld, it's a pretty
lean operation. So that was something that we were pleased to see when we came in. But the goal of this strategic plan is to maximize Westworld's impact in all the categories that we just talked about and to ensure that it's being operated effectively. And so it's been kind of it's going to going a long time without
a strategic plan and I can't quote your Winston Churchill uh statement there, but I I think I'll say something close which is um you if you don't have a plan, you don't know where you're going, right? So that's the goal here. Some quick study findings. So we did significant amounts of research quantitative and qualitative over the
last year and uh we just want to quickly report that out. There'll be significant detail in the actual plan itself with appendices everything from market research to stakeholder engagement um and benchmarking but just some some brief things that we found. So, if we
look at the uh uh city of the kind of greater region inventory of events, we did a b a b bunch of mapping to look at everything from event spaces, RV campgrounds. Uh who who knew that there's RV campgrounds at West? Not everybody everybody in this room, I bet you did. Um equestrian arenas,
performance venues, because Westworld can do all of this, right? And what we also looked at is but how many are comparable to Westworld's capabilities? And the map shrinks significantly as we we focus in on event spaces. uh with capacity over a thousand. So this is a
significant um venue and has significant capacity. We did stakeholder and community engagement which included uh many of the clients that call Westworld their home. Uh council members, community members, uh community leaders,
we talked to event producers, uh city leadership, and uh we talked sign many many hours with uh Westworld staff to kind of get the history of how the the venue has operated. We conducted a a survey that was open to any resident of
Scottsdale as well as within the region. Um and we did intercept surveys at several major events at Westworld to ensure that we had got great participation with the survey. And we had 600 community participants in that as well as um some city staff. We also conducted planning workshops that included Westworld staff and event
producers uh as well as um some other action planning sessions with Westworld staff themselves. And so you'll see in this plan it starts starts big picture and then can gets pretty micro when it comes to overall kind of recommendations and tactics. Uh within the survey we asked many questions about sort of what
is the purpose of Westworld? Um how would you sort of think about its future? And some of the things the community told us they wanted to continue to serve as a as a community gathering space um an a a facility that enhances tourism in in Scottsdale and a facility that uh creates substantial
economic impact. We think those three really align with um the our thoughts of what these venues tend to be um constructed for and uh certainly really uh supports some of the information that we're providing.
We also ask what's your overall experience at Westworld? You know, there's we've heard lots of feedback, very supportive of Westworld. Every venue is going to have challenges. There are going to be things that you uh don't like about a venue. I promise you there's no venue in in the Phoenix metro area that I don't have an opinion about. Right. Um, but overall it's about what
is your guest experience? And these numbers came, many of these came directly from people that were at events. Uh, and they were overall very positive, right? This is a really good thing to see. This is a future KPIs is continuing to ask this this question. And okay, 8%'s pretty good in the negative, but maybe we want to get it to
5%. Maybe we want to get that green bar even higher. Overall though, very very positive uh feedback when it came to overall experience. We looked at total event use days. um you've had actually several great conversations tonight about venue utilization with from some
of the previous um groups that came through and from my point of view as a consultant I want maximize utilization. I want the venue to be utilized as much as possible while recognizing that there still needs to be maintenance and capital improvements. Um this is a
resource that has been generously uh supported by the the public and it they deserve to have maximum utilization. So, uh, what we're seeing here, not only in our work, but also verified through, uh, the staff at Westworld, is Westworld is pretty much at capacity, right? Uh,
there are not many more days to give, particularly in the most productive times of year, which is, of course, uh, fall and spring. I'm sure we could find some days to go give away in the summer, but that's a different problem in Arizona, right? We also looked at attendance. Has there been some decline or or significant increase in attendance
that we should be aware of? Not surprisingly, the pandemic created some real challenges with attendance, but Westworld was able to actually recover very fast out of the pandemic because of actions that were able to be taken by city staff. So, um, the attendance has has grown. It's starting to stabilize
around precoid numbers. That's a really good thing for us to see. And then we of course looked at financials. So, um, the way that cities tend to account for these types of venues is very different than how my brain works. I love profit and loss statements. Um and so we we developed what we use as sort of our
template for all of our consulting work. Uh looking at okay, what does it just cost to run this place? What is it uh what are we getting in income? And overall there's two ways to look at this. There is the net income generated before any debt service. So basically what is operations cost? Are we uh
making back the money we spent? And then uh in this case there's significant debt service that helps to support uh past and future capital uh improvements. So overall, we're pretty close to break even pre uh pre-debt service numbers.
And I know Will is going to talk a little bit more about this um after I'm I'm have concluded, but uh when we actually look at the debt service, there is significant money going that has been has been spent um and creates what we call a deficit, right? So overall
depending on the year and you know depending on exactly how you account for it um the city of Scottsdale is putting in you know $4 million 4 to5 million a year in some type of subsidy which in this case is mostly going to pay for debt service. Uh, so these are important numbers for us because now we want to
look at are you getting any value back out of that investment. And so we looked at the Arizona State University 2024 economic impact assessment. And that economic impact assessment, we we know those people. They do a great they do great work. I think they've done um I think they've done waste management as
well and some other um events. I'm not sure in Scottsdale, but statewide. They estimated that in 2024, Westville generated $163 million in statewide total economic impact, of which most stayed within Maricopa County. And I think we can assume most stayed within
Scottsdale. Um, of that economic impact, $4.8 million in city tax revenue was generated. And I just want to compare that to what we're investing, right? So, if the $4.2 million in subsidy going mostly to pay off debt, we're getting that money back in in city tax revenue.
Now, it's not coming to a fund that's just labeled Westworld. It's coming back through many different channels of sales tax um and in different types of tax structure um benefiting probably your general fund and maybe your hotel occupancy tax, but you know, money tends to come back in different ways. And we
looked at okay, so every dollar that you're putting in, how much money are you getting out back in statewide ROI? And what we saw was for every dollar that the city was putting in in 2024, you're getting about $39 of economic impact. So, you know, a significant number. We said, "Okay, well, we should
compare this to what other venues across the country are doing uh with these similar economic impact studies and their overall ROI." And we there's we were struggling to find, you know, smaller venues that we could even, you know, contemplate in the same uh
ballpark as Westworld. Westworld is really punching at the similar weight to major convention centers and other event complexes across the country. So you'll see some names on here of places you've probably gone to conventions to such as McCormack Place in Chicago. Now McCormick Place is getting 53 million and Westworld's getting four million.
But overall they're getting a similar amount of ROI for every dollar being put in. So we think this is a positive. However, this is without a strategic plan. This is without direction. This is just, you know, people doing their jobs, right? With more direction, we think
that there's potential for these numbers to increase, right? and you all as a council may make decisions to invest more or differently in Westworld to help enhance the economic impact. So this is a a critical I think a critical outcome for us in this work and uh we think that
this is very impactful when thinking about the future of Westworld but I would I would test any venue against this. You put subsidy in what are you getting back out and we think this is a really critical measure for just about any venue in the country. So, putting it all together, uh, we did a bunch of
research. We had a a lot of great conversations. We looked at benchmarks. We thought about economic impact. We did a SWAT analysis and we learned a lot more about what's going well at Westworld and what can be improved. Um, and some of the things we we learned was there's, you know, opportunities to to
do some more maintenance and there's definitely always employee training opportunities. There's Westworld struggles with its own brand identity. Um, everybody knows Barrett Jackson and I think Barrett Jackson was mentioned several times tonight, but it wasn't Barrett Jackson at Westworld, right? Westworld is is still lacking that we
drive by it on the 101 and say that's Westworld, not that's where I saw Barrett Jackson. And so we we see that there's opportunity for Westworld to strengthen its brand to be even more competitive in a national environment where people say, "Well, I want to go to Westworld. What are they doing there?" Um, there's, you know, we've heard some
things about food and beverage. We've heard uh that there's some some parking operations that can be improved. Um but overall, I mean, you saw in the the customer satisfaction scores, things are going okay. Um and where we see uh real opportunities is uh maximizing those
major multi-day events. So, the things that generate the most impact, we want to support those with um strategy, telling that story of Westworld and really streng strengthening organizational knowledge and capacity. So really turning the the Westworld team which does an amazing job continuing to
strengthen them um each as staff members. So overall what we found was an organization that was you know successful in creating economic impact but maybe lacked some direction and strategy. And so that's what this plan is really really defined to do. So if anybody's been through strategic
planning exercises, we've all been on nonprofit boards. Consultants like me love doing mission, vision, values exercises. So you're going to see something like that. But what is it as a tool that it's a tool for Westworld staff and city leadership to make decisions right and so some of those
decisions may be hey we want to maximize economic impact how are we going to modify our approach to do that and all of the work that we have done is in support of the city of Scottsdale's vision and the city of Scottsdale mi Scottsdale's mission which I will not ask anybody to quote tonight but we should all know it by heart right so
westworld's vision our draft here is to bring the modern west to Scottsdale as its premier event-driven economic engine. And if I'm circling words in this vision, the event driven economic engine are the ones that I think are most important. It's about events. It's about maximizing utilization. It's about
generating economic impact that benefits the business owners and residents of Scottsdale and helps uh offset subsidy as well. And the mission which a mission is really about guiding the staff is to deliver success to Scottsdale with our diverse high impact equestrian and
special event programming. Equestrian is circled there for a reason for me which is equestrian is part of the heritage of Westworld. A significant amount of facilities within Westworld are equestrianoriented and we cannot look away from that. Equestrian is part of the DNA of of Westworld and it's not
going away. But special events are becoming a significant portion and are a significant portion of Westworld's programming. And we need to think about both when we think about economic impact. And then values and this is what will and his team are going to be really
thinking about when they do their jobs. They're going to be accountable. They're going to be flexible. They're going to be collaborative. They're going to be serviceoriented. And I think most importantly, they are stewards of public dollars and public trust and need to ensure that as city representatives when it comes to the event world, they're
ensuring that they're doing their very best to manage all forms of risk to guests, clients, and city assets. So, you take a strategic plan, you start at the vision, you get all the way into strategic priorities, and then you get down to objectives and tactics. We're not going to show you the objectives and
tactics tonight. That'll be like probably 50 more slides. We're not going to do that. Um but you will you I I think we'll be circulating a draft plan so you'll you'll get all that. Um but if we're kind of organizing all the objectives and tactics into major buckets, we have compete for the best, strengthen and unify our organization,
engage the city and the region, and plan for the future. So some some examples from each of these bullets. So compete for the best is really about, hey, let's maximize that multi-day event utilization and expand our economic impact and reach. So evaluating new events that might be coming in based on
not just can we do it but also is it going to maximize economic impact for our community because dates are a perishable asset. We only have so many uh some examples of strengthen and unify our organization. Uh we think that there's opportunities for uh venue management training for Westworld staff.
They do a really great job. There are some amazing national resources for them to continue to enhance their skills. Engaging city in the region. I talked about the brand of Westworld. And finally, planning for the future. Wes uh Will talked about the infrastructure plan as a potential plan for the future.
We think there's lots of other plans that need to be created and and planning processes that need to be conducted to get Westworld on track when it comes to um ensuring that it's it's maximizing its value. So that's the fun stuff. Now you get KPIs. And we truly believe in a
strategic plan that KPIs are critical. And in our tactics, we every single tactic that we recommend has to be measurable and something that that Will and his team can report on either internally or externally. So you get a few previews today. Thank you, Alex. At a recent meeting, uh
we were asked to report on some specific KPIs. So that's what we're here to today to do today. Um one of the KPIs was the utilization percentage by square footage. Um, in in the convention center industry, um, the
the optimal range is 65 to 75% and in the equestrian facility industry, the optimal range is 55 to 65%. And we're kind of a hybrid between those two. Um, so we don't really have a a a perfect match, but nonetheless, this graph here,
it on on the y-axis, it shows the number of square feet in a month, and on the x axis, it shows the months. Um, the reason that there's there's different numbers in each month is not every month has the same number of days. And what we did during the summertime is we we took out the outdoor facilities because it's
really difficult to rent facilities in July and August. It's just doesn't work too well for the same reason where I came from in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. You don't do anything outside in January. So, what this shows is is that we have a, as Alex had indicated, we have a
fairly high utilization rate. But but the question that was that the I I believe the question the reason why councelor Graham asked this is you want to see where we can improve and we can improve but I would suggest it's not in the number of event days we have but in the mix of events we might want to take
a look at the events that we are currently hosting and see if maybe all of them well maybe some of those should be somewhere else and maybe we would to optimize our goals and objectives maybe we should have a different mix of events. So that's what um this exercise
is. The objective of this exercise is to find out if council has an interest in that. We also looked at square footage by by Friday and Saturday and Sunday weekends and that that's higher than than my the event industry is primarily weekends. So
uh obviously we would do better on the weekends. So that's what we do. There's very little u wiggle room in the weekends. Yes, we can probably do some Monday and Tuesday events if possible, but we're not a convention center. Convention centers are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Event
facilities are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's not that we can't do some work in those areas, but um you can't grow pineapples in Montana. So, that that we we need to try to focus on what we can do and what we're good at.
It was also asked um retention rate for events. I've never worked at a facility that has the retention rate that this facility has. We have events that have been coming back for 40 years and and that is that's something for us to be very proud of. The reason that we had
12% new events this past year is we brought on some new space, the South Hall. So, I would contend that next year that number will be dramatically smaller. The one challenge with having so many return events is that we don't have any space for new events. So that's as I mentioned earlier, that's something
that collectively we need to figure out a a a way to to identify events that we want to bring in and maybe make some room for them uh to to to just accomplish the goals that we want to accomplish. We're also asked to provide operating
loss in millions of dollars over the course of the last 10 years. And this if you take CO out of the uh out of the equation, it shows a a trend downward uh as far as a more more efficient operation of of of Westworld. Although
um I would argue that u our goal is is not to make profit. Our goal is to be is to optimize the the the uh the uh the resources that we have for public assembly facilities are not uh
They're really not profit centers. They're uh they're uh they're revenue. They're economic impact generators. We are to the city of Scottsdale with the half-pric hot dogs that Safeway sells. Our Safeway, we are the lost leader. Safeway sells halfpric hot dogs so that
people will come in and buy cauliflower, toilet paper, and light bulbs. And we are that's that's what we do here. We bring people in the community. So they they they rent hotel rooms, they rent cars, they they eat at restaurants, that sort of thing. So
the goal of reducing our our our our operational loss, I I would argue is is not necessarily a good thing. We should we should strive for having an optimal uh way of of of operating and that we're efficiently utilizing the resources that
we have that are available. We're also asked to compare direct expenses and indirect expenses. Direct expenses being things like labor and utilities. Indirect expenses being uh the costs that are incurred through our human resources department, information, technology, and accounting.
Approximately 95% of our expenses annually are direct expenses. Approximately 5% of our our expenses are indirect expenses. We were asked to talk about the square footage and uh and uh of each of our
facilities and the rental rate for each of those facilities. Uh and this this chart right here shows the what we what we charge. These charges are all approved by council. Um we also operate in a competitive world too. So, some of these may vary and they
may raise questions, but the reason that they that some of some of the facilities might be less expensive than others is is they're not as attractive to our clients and and we have to reduce rental in some cases than than where we might we might not want to do. Um, and I'd be
happy to answer any questions if anybody has with regard to this chart. We're also asked to asked to compare revenues by event type. And equestrian events and non- equestrian events, they pretty much split our calendar. They're about half and half. They they each
bring in about approximately 40 events a year. Um uh economic impact though is dramatically different. uh our economic impact from special events is much more than than that of of our equestrian events. Although the average daily revenue for each is about the same. So
um depending upon how uh council wants us to to to progress in the future whether it's a it's a optimally uh um efficient uh venue from the standpoint of of profit and loss or economic impact
and the balance thereof that would then drive how we go forward. This shows that there is an imbalance as far as what's brought in by economic impact. And we were also asked to take a look at our events and see which ones are actually money makers and which ones
aren't. Uh in the past we we haven't we haven't done that comparison. So it's a it's a timeconsuming comparison, but we're we're we're going to get all of our events compared, but it's it's we haven't got them all all calculated yet. But this gives you kind of a of a rundown of various types of events. For
example, our Fourth of July event that returns 213% of uh of our of our expenses in revenues. Um the La Mesa RV show, they contribute 232% in revenue compared to our expenses. So certainly we make money on that. Other events like
uh the Arabian Horse Association Breeders Cup doesn't the what we receive from them doesn't uh meet with with what the revenues are. However, they're are a long-standing event and an important event and it it certainly contributes to the city of Scottsdale and the Best of
the West reigning, for example, they they they the revenues exceed the expenses by 128%. Be happy to answer any questions that anybody might have. >> Thank you, Will. That's all very exciting. Uh, Councilman Graham,
>> very good presentation. Mr. Loft, you uh you have a sense of humor, don't you? >> Uh yeah, my wife might not say that, but I >> um uh I thought those KPIs were illustrative,
very helpful, >> and if you have more that you want, we'd be happy to get them for you. I think these are no I think this is this is a good start because I was like you know I was kind of sitting here and I was like well you know the first question I have is
utilization weighted utilization you know if there's you know say there's a million square feet whatever it is you know and if you've got you're renting out half a million square feet that's a half a day you kind of answered that you kind of
answered that question you kind of looked at that didn't you >> and it's actually was pretty favorable. Pretty impressive, isn't it? >> Can I give you an example? Like today, for example, today we have one horse show moving out and one moving in at the same time. We've got a horse show for 1,800 that's moving out and we're 3,000
that's moving in. So, >> we're pretty busy today. And then when we had the Phoenix open, we had >> Oh, yeah. >> Although our our our our indoor facilities and our and our stables weren't being used, but we had 12,000 cars there. We had a million dollars of revenue.
>> I know. >> And you can't rent the indoor facilities if you've got all of your parking lots filled with cars for the Phoenix Open. But that still for the city of Scottsdale is a very good investment. >> Yeah, you cannot overstate the complexities of of managing. I mean, we
have we're not like a spe we do all types of events and we have all types of clients or or tenants, I should call them. It's amazing the renewal rate that we have. Everybody wants to come back, don't they? almost makes almost concerned that they're not charging them enough.
>> The the what we what we have to be mindful of is that competing equestrian facilities, they provide monetary incentives to these shows. Yeah. And we can't. >> Yeah. >> So, the only wiggle room that we have is to maybe give them a discount on rent
and that sort of thing. That's the only wiggle room that we've got. If we had more time and we were we were kind of, you know, brainstorming and all that, I would I would ask you questions like, "What would you do as if if if you had that field that that that space for
Westworld and it was nothing there and you could reimagine it, how would it what would you do with it?" You know, because we obviously have problems because everything's a legacy built on and then you know, you know, jackhammer to it and you know, so that's for another time. Don't don't answer that
question, please. Um, >> sorry. One one quick >> Mr. Keane. >> Yes. So the economic impact part of the evaluation for new events coming in I think helps with the rent question actually because maybe we're a little inexpensive on rent uh as compared to
some of our competitors. And maybe that creates a little bit of an advantage for us in negotiating. But evaluating what the potential economic impact of that event coming in is creates not necessarily rent but more economic value for the city and direct tax coming back.
So that's one way that I can kind of reconcile in my head. Okay, maybe we're a little cheap, but >> um yeah, there's there's some value there. >> So we nobody nobody expects this to be a money maker. These event venues aren't for that. Like you said, these are
economic engines. Um, I still I I wish that we had something that said, "Okay, we expect a loss. That's fine." Like taxpayers are going to bear a loss. What should that loss be? We don't know.
Should it be x percentage of direct expenses? Should it be I I don't But we're the but the taxpayers are writing a check from the general fund every year and we're getting economic activity in return. So just because we're getting economic activity, we still expect a
loss. It's a healthy tension between celebrating what it does, what it brings to our community and being that self-imposed disciplinarian to say what is success because we do expect a loss, but we don't know what
that loss is. Um I'd be curious, you know, what are we what's our average rent per foot compared to other similar venues? Um, and I think, you know, I think overall we're we're comfortable up here that this facility is probably in the top quartortile of event venues as
far as performance in the country. Maybe more than that, maybe the top decisle. Um but we you know I just think that maybe getting a little more definition about not today but down the road what what is what is the accept
what's the what's the what's the Goldilocks amount of loss that our taxpayers should bear for the success that we enjoy from it. Um and I think I had one other question. Oh, I just wanted to not to get not to I don't want to
pontificate on this too much, but I still don't agree with you on the way you calculate your P&L. And we've talked about this in private and last time. I think that a true and it's a little bit important to me because I I want to show the taxpayer how much what the cost
they're bearing. you're excluding depreciation from your expenses and I think you're excluding indirect costs that the city supports services. Um, and I see the treasurer putting on her glasses. She might want to step in intervene but she doesn't have to
because I'm not asking a question. I'm just making a statement that this direct P&L that you put together first of all I mean it direct direct revenue direct expenses add back debt service it's fine it's one way to look
at it I don't think it's the most I don't think it's the most perfect way to look at it but I understand why you're doing it so I just want to register my my sentiment on that and then we can move on so you don't have to answer that Mr. Keane or Mr. soft, but appreciate your conversation. >> I just want to add we did add capital
sort of long-range capital plan to the plan for the future objective and direct response to some of that feedback because I think it's important too to have that sense of what is it going to cost to maintain, >> right? I mean, I don't even I don't even want to rat hole into that, but it's like what should your cap X be as a
percentage of your revenue or as a percentage of your net fixed assets or your gross fixed assets, whatever the metric, you know, that you know people want to use for these event venues. So, um I'm just sharing sentiments with you. I'm impressed with this Westworld uh
plan and we're putting a plan together and I'm impressed with Mr. Loftile's um management and his and his wit and his sense of humor equally. So, thank you for bringing some levity to tonight and uh thank you for being here. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Job well done. Uh I should have mentioned this earlier. The uh GCAT, the Global Champions Arabian Tour was just really impressive this year. It was the second year they came here and good job on that. I thought the tent looked better than it, you know, it's
ever looked. The tail looked really good, didn't it? It >> It really did. It really It was a good event and good job everyone that worked on that project. Um, and a huge success they were getting. I mean, talk about return on investment. I don't know who got this money. $30,000 a table they
were uh selling those tables for. So, if you were in the first, you know, the front level and then 10,000 and then 5,000 on the other tiers. So, really impressive work. Um, and just as a reminder for those, I've talked about this before, but they fly in, you know,
159 horses from, uh, you know, the Emirates or, um, yeah, Saudi Arabia, all over international. So, the d the impact of that on the presence and the reputation of Scottsdale uh, cannot be
overstated. I mean, it really is. They want to do business with us. I mean, the director of commerce of UAE wants to do business with us. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Um, and give us business. Give us business is a better way to say that. And, and that's
a lot of revenue. That's a clientele that can afford a lot of nice things in Scottsdale, Arizona. So, um, excellent job on that. Uh, the Scottsdale show was was really impressive. again. Um, of course, you know, the impact, you heard
the numbers I spewed out earlier. They're still coming in. Uh, it's, you know, it's the biggest horse show in the world. You know, it's it's great. It's amazing. Irreplaceable. So, excellent work. I don't know when you're going to want I know it's approaching 9:00 here,
so we probably aren't the most creative geniuses uh that we started as. Um, but you you said you want input from us about what events you want to attract. I uh I don't know when the right time or the place is for that. Uh creative
juices not being maybe flowing right now. I do have one major suggestion. Um a country music festival uh two to three day festival I think would be a perfect fit out there and I know exactly the date we could put it because I've done a
little research on it. So um and I'd leave that to you. You know I think you were part of those discussions actually uh when we were talking. >> I agree with you. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Good. Well, that's good. Um, and you know, I support thinking outside the box and I think there's probably some events that we
could look closer at. Agree with you there. So, looking forward to what the next steps are on this. Thank you. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. And good job, uh, Mr. Keane on on helping us with this as well.
Appreciate your your help. Uh I am going to now that it's approaching our five five hour mark. Uh I'd like to make a motion to continue uh the next presentation which was Scott. I'm really sorry I
should have sent you a text or someone that knew how to get to you. Um and I'm hopeful my council will approve rescheduling this to the next uh meeting which is next on March 3rd. And that's a pretty short meeting so far and hopefully it stays that way so your
addition won't be um overwhelming. So motion to continue. >> I'll second it. I wonder if we can put him in the front or if if that's maybe that's not possible. >> Okay, let's do that. >> So we can be sharp >> so we get you in and out. Yeah.
>> Yeah. So I'll second that. >> Okay. Uh all those well please register your vote on this idea. All right. Well, that concludes our business. Oh, council member reports. Uh,
can we can we have some nothing? >> Okay, we have one. >> Okay. Uh, I just want to give a shout out. >> You only have 10 minutes. >> Shout out to uh the Dumas family. They just opened Soulfire Tacos in North
Scottsdale. Myself and uh Councilwoman Debbascus went and the food was excellent. The uh so if you're in the air park, Soulfire Tacos, new business, welcome to Scottsdale. >> Awesome. >> Indeed. Very nice. All right. Uh move to
adjourn. >> All right. I