Extracted text (via pymupdf)
50408 characters
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL May 19, 2026 A Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills Town Council was convened at 5:30 p.m. Members Present: Mayor Gerry M. Friedel: Vice Mayor Gayle Earle; Councilmember Rick Watts; Councilmember Peggy McMahon; Councilmember Brenda J. Kalivianakis; Councilmember Allen Skillicorn Councilmember Hannah Larrabee attended by telephone conference call. Staff Present: Town Manager Rachael Goodwin; Town Jennifer J. Wright; Town Clerk Bevelyn J. Bender TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 1 of 27 Post-Production File Town of Fountain Hills Regular Council Meeting Minutes May 19, 2026 Transcription Provided By: eScribers, LLC * * * * * Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. * * * * * TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 2 of 27 ALL: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. MAYOR FRIEDEL: And if you choose to remain standing, we have the invocation by Pastor Keith Pavia from Christ Church. PAVIA: Mayor, Council, thank you so much. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you. We ask you to come to this meeting today and help this meeting be positive. Help this meeting show unity, help this meeting direct this town the right way. We thank you for everything. We love you and we ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. Town clerk, can I get a roll call, please? BENDER: Mayor Friedel. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Present. BENDER: Vice Mayor Earle. EARLE: Present. BENDER: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Here. BENDER: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Here. BENDER: Councilmember Watts. WATTS: Here. BENDER: Councilmember Larrabee. LARRABEE: Present. BENDER: And Councilmember McMahon. MCMAHON: Here. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. We'll move on to our summary of current events by our Town Manager, Rachel. GOODWIN: Thank you, Mayor. I just have a -- three brief community updates this evening that I wanted to share. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 3 of 27 First, was to recognize if you didn't have a chance to attend. We had the second annual summer kickoff this past Saturday. It was a tremendous success. The evening brought families together for the foam cannon, a thirty foot water slide, as well as a movie in the park. But one of the true highlights was the main stage. Local youth performers showcased their talents through high school garage bands, dance performances, and theater acts. It was a fun and energetic evening and a great way to celebrate our talented youth that help make Fountain Hills so special. The -- I would be remiss if I didn't also extend a special thank you to Mr. Z and Ms. Wilson from the high school, as well as Ms. Allison from the theater, for their help coordinating the youth performances. I hope you guys made it out. I think -- I think a number of you guys did -- got to see it. The weather was perfect, so it was a great night. Second, as we recognize Public Works week, I also want to share some exciting news about our own town engineer, David Janover. David was notified this week that he is being honored as -- with the prestigious 2026 engineer of the Year Award from the Arizona Society of Professional Engineers. This is a -- yes. It's a tremendous professional recognition and a fitting opportunity to acknowledge the important work of our public works team. So congrats to Dave on this well-deserved honor. So -- and if you don't know David Janover, he is a great guy to work with. And this is very much well deserved. Finally, as we approach Memorial Day, all three veterans service organizations in Fountain Hills are partnering to host a joint ceremony at the Veterans Memorial on Monday at 9 a.m. This year's ceremony will be led by the Marine Corps Lead Detachment 1439, in partnership with the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1707 and the Legion Post 58. So we appreciate our local veterans organizations for coming together to honor those that gave their life for service to our country, and we encourage the community to attend. With that, Mayor, those are my updates. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. We'll move on now to proclamations, awards and TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 4 of 27 recognitions. We'll start with our Mayor's Business Spotlight. So tonight's Mayor's Business Spotlight is the Sonoran lifestyle team. This month, it's my pleasure to recognize the Sonoran lifestyle team as the Mayor's Business Spotlight. Lead by longtime Fountain Hills resident and real estate professional Dori Wittrock, the Sonoran Lifestyle team has made a lasting impact on our community through both business excellence and community involvement. Dori's connection to Fountain Hills began in 1985, when she chose to pursue a career in real estate after working in HOA management. That was a good switch. Over the past 30 years, she has built a respected reputation as a skilled planner, strong communicator, and trusted leader in the real estate industry. Her impressive career includes 16 years with Fountain Hills master developer MCO Realty, as well as thirteen years as a new home sales manager, where she played an integral role of development and marketing of numerous new home communities and custom home projects. Since founding Sonoran Lifestyle Real Estate in 2001, Dori and her team have been involved with several notable luxury developments, including Bolero at Fire Rock, the Villas at Copper Wind, J.W. Marriott Residences, Torreon Golf Club and Retreat, and the Summit at Crestview. What sets Dori and the Sonoran Lifestyle team apart is their commitment to providing clients with thoughtful guidance, clear communication, and innovative marketing strategies. Their ability to adapt to changing market trends while delivering exceptional service has helped establish them as one of Fountain Hills most successful real estate agencies. Beyond their professional accomplishments, Dori and the lifestyle -- Sonoran Lifestyle team continue to make significant investments in the Fountain Hills community through sponsorships and support of local events. Over the past five years, Dori and Sonoran Lifestyle Team have contributed nearly $100,000 in community sponsorships and have been a consistent supporter of beloved events such as Irish Fest and Concerts on the Avenue. Their continued investment helps bring residents together, supports our community TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 5 of 27 programing, and enhances the vibrancy and quality of life in Fountain Hills on behalf of the Town of Fountain Hills. Congratulations to Sonoran Lifestyle Team on being recognized as this month's Mayor's Business Spotlight. Dori, come on up. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: One, two -- WITTROCK: Mayor, thank you so much. And I just want to say, it has been a privilege to serve the community in real estate, in community service, in nonprofit work, and we love doing the sponsorships, and we love seeing you all downtown. Thank you so much. On behalf of Tony, and Beth, and myself, and we are actually the REMAX Sun properties. Sonoran lifestyle team. We are REMAX, but I just wanted to point that out and I really appreciate this award. Thank you so much. MAYOR FRIEDEL: You're welcome. Thank you. And next we are going to have our Mayor's Veteran of the month, Captain Joseph Winters. Let me read a little bit about Joseph B. Winters. He's US Army retired. Captain Joseph B. Winters entered the US Army at 18 years old in 1958. He completed BCT, which is basic combat training, at Fort Leonard Wood. He completed AIT at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Joe was stationed at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers called SHAPE in Paris from 1960 to 1964 and played baseball for Shape. Joe completed OSC training -- I'm sorry -- OS -- OCS training at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1964. He was company commander at Fort Leonard Wood. Joe completed helicopter flight school in 1966 and shipped to Vietnam. Joe was wounded in 1966 and spent six months in the hospital at Fort Ord, California, and he received a Purple Heart. He was stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama from 1969 to 1970. Joe requested to return to Vietnam and was there from 1971 to '72. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 6 of 27 Joe returned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1973. Joe got his bachelor's degree at Park College in Parkville, Missouri in 1974 and retired from the service in 1975. Joe received his master's degree from UMKC in 1977. Please help me recognize Joseph B. Winters. Joe, come on up. WINTERS: (Indiscernible). UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. One. Two. Three. WINTERS: Well, this is an honor. I have nothing -- nothing -- something that I really didn't expect. The one thing I do miss is flying helicopters. That was fun. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. MAYOR FRIEDEL: And next we will have the proclamation recognizing the achievements of our Fountain Hills High School boys and girls basketball teams and wrestling teams. And I think we have a few of them in attendance here tonight. So whereas the town of Fountain Hills -- High -- Fountain Hills High School boys and girls basketball teams and wrestling teams represented the town of Fountain Hills with excellence, dedication, sportsmanship throughout the 2025 through 2026 athletic season, and whereas is the girls basketball team earned the 2026 Aiea two, a state championship runner up title, the boys basketball team advanced to the State tournament, and student athletes Tyler Trapani and Ava Bourne earned state wrestling honors. And now, therefore, the Town of Fountain Hills properly recognizes and congratulates these students, coaches, and athletes, and their families for their outstanding achievements and commitment to their school and our community. So come on up and I'll have maybe somebody say a few words about your -- your accomplishment. Come on up. [CROSS TALK] UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Kind of squeeze in a little bit if we can. We'll try to make it work. All right. On three. One. Two. Three. That is a tight fit. Cool. All right. Congrats. Thanks, guys. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 7 of 27 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 2: Wait! Hold on. Don't move. Can I take a picture really quick? Yeah. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: One more? We've got one more. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 2: Thank you. FARRINGTON: Gotcha. Thank you. Hello, my name is Thomas Farrington. I am the girls high school varsity basketball head coach. And my first year as head coach, we were able to make it to the state championship. Unfortunately, we didn't win, but great experience overall, and it gives us something to build on for the future. So thank you so much. SALZMAN: Hello, I'm Luke Salzman, the wrestling coach. These two are our only seniors this year, and they did an excellent job. He was a state runner up this year, and Ava here was third place. So she's also going to wrestle in college next year. So very proud of them. Thank you. [CROSS TALK] MAYOR FRIEDEL: Vice Mayor, you will do the next -- EARLE: Yes. MAYOR FRIEDEL: -- proclamation, please? EARLE: Thank you. Tonight, we have the privilege of presenting a proclamation for the national sorority of Phi -- Phi Delta Kappa. Whereas the national sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. has served communities through education, leadership, mentorship, and service for more than one 10 years. And Whereas the Zeta Theta chapter continues this legacy through community outreach and support of local educators and students. Now, therefore, the Town of Fountain Hills proudly proclaims May 23rd, 2026, the national sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. day. And I believe we have Kimberly Hill here to accept this. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 8 of 27 [LAUGHTER] HILL: Thank you so much, Mayor and Council, for this honor. We are so appreciative. As stated before, we are a professional organization of educators who have been serving the community nationally since 1923. And we chose Fountain Hills, this lovely community, to commemorate our Founder's Day celebration. So if you see a bunch of ladies in red and gold strolling around this weekend, that's us. And if you have any questions or want more information, feel free to stop us. But once again, thank you so much. MAYOR FRIEDEL: And next, we have a presentation. Rachel? GOODWIN: Thank you, Mayor. Our CFO, Paul Soldinger, is going to give us the rundown of our quarter three revenue updates. SOLDINGER: All right. Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council, thanks for the opportunity. Tonight, I will be going over our quarter three revenues. And I'll just say it was a really good quarter for us, one of the best that we've had since I've been here, well exceeding most of our projections. And so it's a positive report. Please let me know if you have any questions. So we're covering January through March of this year, and the total net taxable activity was $204 million, an increase of about 12 million, or about 5.8 percent compared to last year. So that's a good sign. We've been seeing a lot more fluctuating activity up and down. This one's a positive in the right direction. We brought in 5.7 million in total TPT collections, an increase of four percent compared to the prior year. If you look at the first two quarters, you'll see that those were negative compared to the prior year. So we are seeing some positive correlation going up compared to the prior year. And also 17 percent above projections, which was very, very strong for the quarter. And so for the year so far we're about 11 to 12 percent above our sales tax projections, which is good. We're -- we're on the right track. Retail sales at $3.1 million. This -- this category has been the one that's it makes about TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 9 of 27 half of our sales tax, and it's been kind of up and down, and it's really important because it's half of it. And so just to see that this category is starting to go up at the 4.6 percent above last year, that's a really strong sign for the town. Also 11 percent above projections. So this is a really strong indicator that economic activity is picking up a bit in the Town of Fountain Hills. Looking at retail sales, when you take out the food tax, just considering what local shopping trends might be when you're not considering groceries and things like that. Still strong indicators at $2.5 million, about 5.4 percent more than the third quarter from last year. And again, you can look at the first two quarters. We were barely above last year and now we're starting to trend up. So another good sign. Remote sellers. So online sales are still picking up steam at $600,000 for the quarter, about 12.5 percent more than last year. So we're still seeing that trend. People are shopping more online, but compared to previous quarters, this one is stronger because you are seeing the total retail sales category climb higher, rather than just the remote sellers within that category. So again, very strong indicators in our data right now for the town. Construction, we've talked through the budget process this year, going into next year, how our construction sales tax does fluctuate is one of those categories that's a little bit hard to predict. But we've actually if you looked at the first three quarters, they've been relatively consistent at about 700,000 to up to 600 -- or $767,000 for this third quarter. And it was 28 percent more than the prior year in the third quarter. So again, another strong indication that construction activity has been pretty stable this year and pretty strong for the town. Also 28 percent above our projections, which again, this category and our tourism services category, those are the ones that fluctuate the most, that are the most up and down and harder to predict. But we are seeing very strong and stable collections, actually, in this category. And you'll see an uptick in our other category that we'll get into in a minute. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 10 of 27 Utilities still seeing a little bit of a downward trend at $353,000 for the third quarter, about three percent less than last year. Again, it's just -- this is where it's trending right now. We'll see, as the year ends and going into next year with certain rate increases, we'll see how that plays out. But not a huge impact to the town's finances is one of our smaller categories. Just a little bit interesting that it continues to trend downwards. Also 6.7 percent below projections, which is a little bit of a concern too. So we'll continue to monitor. Real estate. This looks bad when you look at it. But I've -- I have to put an asterisk every time and kind of explain. Last January was the -- the time period when the State eliminated the long term residential rental tax. So January, we still received that -- that long term tax. And so it kind of skews the numbers a little bit. Yes, we're 26 percent below last year's third quarter. But in the fourth quarter, you'll start seeing more comparable data where it's just focused on the commercial portion of that real estate tax that still exists. Also 9.7 percent below projections. That kind of goes back to the budget conversations going to next year, where we look back at the data and we -- that was actually the one category that we revised downwards based on the data that we probably over projected a little bit for this year. And that's kind of why you're seeing that downward trend there. Restaurants and bars, actually another strong category for us, two consecutive quarters of increasing revenues at $448,000. That's four percent more than last year. So we are -- I know last year we're talking a lot about how restaurants were struggling, at least from the sales tax perspective. Now we're starting to see an upward trend with our restaurants. And you can see compared to our projections, very strong at 26 percent above our projections for the quarter. Services. This is the other one that really fluctuates up and down, but this is a good representation of tourism in the town, people staying in hotels, going golfing, short- term rentals. Very, very strong quarter at about $800,000 for the quarter, four percent TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 11 of 27 more than last year. And just really way over our projections at 65 percent above projections. This is one of the categories where we've been, I would say, overly conservative because of the fluctuations, but the data is showing a more stable environment where we are bringing in stronger revenues compared to our projections. And that's it for sales tax. For state shared revenues, coming in above projections for our general fund, for state shared sales taxes, the State is outperforming a bit from a sales tax perspective. As a reminder, we receive a portion of the State sales taxes that they charge. We get these revenues based on our population, part of the State shared revenue pie for all the municipalities. We brought $950,000 in that revenue category, above projections of 931,000. State shared revenue for income taxes or urban revenue sharing, just right below our projections at 1.15 million for the quarter. And in our streets fund for these two revenue sources, vehicle license, taxes, we brought in $358,000, a bit over our projections and for our HERF revenues, we brought in 477,000 for the quarter, also a bit above our projections. So all in all, a very strong revenue report, one of the better ones or best reports I've provided to the Council since I've been here the past two and a half years. So I -- and I'll say April was very, very strong as well. So looks like we're ending the fiscal year strong and going into next year in a good position. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. All right. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you Paul. Great report. SOLDINGER: Thank you. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Next we have our consent agenda. KALIVIANAKIS: Motion to approve consent agenda. EARLE: Second. MAYOR FRIEDEL: We have a motion and a second. Can I get a roll call, please, Town Clerk? TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 12 of 27 BENDER: Councilmember Larrabee. LARRABEE: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember McMahon. MCMAHON: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Watts. WATTS: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Yes. BENDER: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. BENDER: Vice Mayor Earle. EARLE: Aye. BENDER: And Mayor Friedel. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Aye. BENDER: Mayor, six-zero. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. Six or seven? Town Clerk, did you say six or seven? BENDER: Seven. I can't count today, I guess. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. All right. We'll move on to our regular agenda, then. I'm going to open a public hearing here. Public hearing with consideration, possible action relating to ordinance 2603, amending the zoning ordinance, section 5.13. Rachel. GOODWIN: Thank you, Mayor. Director Wesley is going to walk us through this. But essentially, tonight's item is sort of the second half of a two-parter that we tackled the first part in March, and then tonight is sort of bringing that full circle. So with that, Don, I'll let you take it from there. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 13 of 27 WESLEY: Thank you, Town Manager, Mayor, Council. As Town Manager said, if you recall, back in March, we came to you with a text amendment creating section 8-8 of the Town Code with regard to community residences. Just most of the things in that, we were pulling from a zoning ordinance, section 5.13, dealing with community residences, but added a few things. They're dealing with inspections and insurance. We felt it was better for these business-related items to actually be part of the business section of the Town Code, rather than over in the zoning ordinance. So this part tonight is house cleaning on the zoning ordinance and taking those things that we put into town to 8.8 and taking them out of 5.3. So there's the only change other than that to 5.3 is adding a reference in 5.3 in the zoning ordinance over to 8.8 or eight dash eight of the town code. So otherwise it's just a house cleaning of moving those items over. Any questions you have? SKILLICORN: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Much better. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Director, just refresh our memories on the inspection criteria and also the insurance requirement? MCMAHON: I object. That's not on the agenda. The open discussion about the ordinance is not my understanding -- that's what's on the agenda. What's on the agenda is whether or not to move, to do away with duplicate provisions and add a reference. And that's it. That hasn't been noticed. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Did you want to call a point of order? MCMAHON: Yeah. Point of order. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Okay. Thank you. So there's a point of order that this is not on the agenda, so we'll -- we'll have to take a vote on the point of order. Oh. MCMAHON: The only thing on it is to remove the duplicate provisions and to make a reference. That's it. The ordinance is not open for discussion. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Yeah. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 14 of 27 MCMAHON: Otherwise I would have prepared for it. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Yeah. So we recognize the point of order. MCMAHON: So that question was out of order. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Yeah. So the question was asked is out of order. So we'll proceed. Are there any other comments? Are there any comment cards, Town Clerk? BENDER: Yes, Mayor. We have one, Crystal Cavanaugh. CAVANAUGH: Since there wasn't much discussion on this, there's not a lot I have to say about it, except that I fully support the provisions that were changed and obviously to clean up the procedures and the ordinance. I agree with that. Thanks. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Having nothing else, I'm going to close the public hearing. Is there any further council discussion? KALIVIANAKIS: No, I'd just like to move to recommend adoption of ordinance 26-03. EARLE: Second. MAYOR FRIEDEL: We have a motion and a second. Can we get a roll call, please? BENDER: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Yes. BENDER: Councilmember Larrabee. LARRABEE: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember McMahon. MCMAHON: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Watts. WATTS: Aye. BENDER: Vice Mayor Earle. EARLE: Aye. BENDER: And Mayor Friedel. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 15 of 27 MAYOR FRIEDEL: Aye. BENDER: Mayor, seven-zero. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. Moving on to item B, which was consideration, possible action for amending the town code related to handbills. I'm going to move to postpone this item indefinitely, to allow our town staff additional time to further evaluate this matter. So I'll request a second for that motion. WATTS: Second. KALIVIANAKIS: Second. MAYOR FRIEDEL: We have a motion and a second. Can we get a roll call, please? BENDER: Councilmember McMahon. MCMAHON: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Larrabee. LARRABEE: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Watts. WATTS: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: Yes. BENDER: Vice Mayor Earle. EARLE: Aye. BENDER: And Mayor Friedel. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Aye. BENDER: Mayor, seven-zero. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. Moving on to item C, consideration of possible action regarding the resolution 2026-08, TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 16 of 27 intergovernmental agreement to renew the Regional Public Transportation Authority. Rachel. GOODWIN: Thank you, Mayor. Our deputy town manager David Trimble, serves as our primary point of contact with Valley Metro. Each year we do an IGA to reaffirm our services with them and our partnership with that program. Dave is going to walk us through that tonight and answer any questions you might have. With that, I'll turn it over to you. TRIMBLE: Thank you. And as the town manager said, typically Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council, this is usually a routine item. We could have put it on the consent agenda, but with some of the changes and things like that, we thought we'd go ahead and bring this to light tonight and just review some of the things. I don't think you'll find much, if any, if any new items on here that we haven't talked about. But again, we just thought it would be good to bring this to light as -- tonight. So again, all we're really doing is approving the intergovernmental agreement with Valley Metro. Routine item. We do this from year to year. But tonight we'll go over it a little bit more. And we did make some changes to Ride Choice recently that we were in the middle of implementing. So -- and those changes will be effective July 1st. So we'll go over some of that as well. Recently, we made some changes to the overall transit portfolio for the town. You may recall April of 2025, the final 550 express bus service was discontinued. And that's really due to budgetary constraints. And you see on this slide too, we -- we want just reiterate, no general fund monies are currently spent on transit. That was the sentiment and consensus of the Council, so we want to keep it that way. And some of the changes that we're making are to do just that. So as you see, we are working towards that goal. Really on this slide, just reiteration of what we've said. We really want to continue the Ride Choice program. The IGA tonight with Valley Metro continues that. And again, some of the changes are on the next slide here. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 17 of 27 The two major things to Ride Choice that we were directed at the November 12th work session. Number one, change the eligibility, and number two, change the fare structure. And those were done really to try to -- try to get those costs in line with the monies that we have coming in, which is about that $60,000 per year that we get coming in from the region, from the -- mainly from the Arizona Lottery funds. So again, the goal is just to simply preserve the program. Number one there, residents will no longer automatically be qualified if they're over age 65. They do have to qualify with a with a disability, go through the process with Valley Metro. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in the next slide. And then a change to the fare structure to just again save the cost there. So we've been in the middle of implementing this, and kudos to community center staff here who've really hosted several events, taken a lot of phone calls on this. They've hosted two events so far with the help of Valley Metro, who really runs it. And we've had these events in order to assess whether or not those folks would qualify under those ADA qualifications that are now in place -- that are going to be in place July 1st. And we had 20 people. We had ten at each event and all 20 did in fact qualify. We didn't know how that would go. But they're all pretty much qualifying, as you can see there. We have one more event tomorrow, in fact, at the community center from eight to four p.m. and then July 1st our changes will begin. And if residents missed all of those opportunities and ongoing, they will go through the regular process with Valley Metro, so they'll be able to qualify them at an ongoing basis throughout -- throughout the year. So just a little bit more about how the trips are trending, versus our costs. The red line represents the funding coming in, so the town can pay for about 1500 rides. You can see the number of rides or the actuals are the vertical blue lines going up and down. So fiscal year 2026 that we're in now, we do project that we're going to spend about twice what we have coming in. But I want to make sure that everybody understands we're okay. We have the balance to do that from previous years. So for this year -- and then you see fiscal year 2027 that we're approving hopefully TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 18 of 27 tonight, we have the money, again, in balances built up to go ahead and pay for those as well. And then hopefully on an ongoing basis, the idea is to level those together. So -- so that our money coming in matches the cost going out. So really that's kind of it. Just again, to summarize, we do recommend approval tonight. We do have some changes coming in place for July. And we have existing fund balances that we think will pay for the upcoming agreement. So if you have any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them. KALIVIANAKIS: Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah. Thank you for your presentation. And also thank you for not putting this on consent agenda so that people can have an idea of what we're doing up here. It's a popular program for those who use it, and I know we've got comment cards mailed to us today, recommending that we do this. For the budget hawks that are out there, just a question to you, and I know this is redundant, but just so people know, the funds do come out of state funds and the impact to our budget is zero. Is that correct? TRIMBLE: That is correct. KALIVIANAKIS: Yeah. So the Fountain Hills taxpayers won't be taxed. It's coming out of this, like you said, the lottery and state funds? TRIMBLE: Correct. KALIVIANAKIS: Okay. Thank you. EARLE: Thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. As you know, I serve on the board of Valley Metro, and I spoke with Jessica Bedford Miller about this, the CEO, and she's working really hard to continue this program. So not just for Fountain Hills, but for other towns as well, because it's such a necessary service. And we have, what -- over what -- 1600 or 2000 rides and we have over 78 people utilizing it. There's not many choices out here. I know our volunteer -- people who volunteer to take people to the doctor and other places is hard pressed for volunteers right now. So I really appreciate this program, and I'm really glad that it's in Fountain Hills and we can TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 19 of 27 offer it to our residents. Thank you. SKILLICORN: Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Deputy Manager. Where else could these funds be utilized in our budget? TRIMBLE: They are restricted to transit in one way, shape or form. So the Arizona Lottery funds that we get from the region do have to be used towards some sort of transit. SKILLICORN: And Mr. Mayor, Deputy Manager, I mean, it could also be like an internal trolley that would be able to give people rides from, say, the Dark Sky Center to our restaurants or something like that? TRIMBLE: Mr. Mayor, Councilmember Skillicorn, I don't believe that is a use that would qualify for the regional funds. I think there has to be a regional nexus to that. SKILLICORN: Okay. It might be something worth exploring. EARLE: Thank you. I think we did explore that, along with some other choices that you guys did look at and explore, and it was much more -- it was cost prohibitive to bring anything like that into the town. So for this to be available, and the town did not have to use its own funds for it. I mean, it's a win-win situation. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. Are there any - Town Clerk, are there any comment cards? BENDER: Yes, Mayor. We had three that were submitted. They did not wish to speak, but they wanted the Council to know they were for this. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. And with that, I will request a motion. EARLE: Motion to approve. KALIVIANAKIS: I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution 20-2608 [sic]. EARLE: Second. MAYOR FRIEDEL: We have a motion and a second. Can we get a roll call, please? BENDER: Councilmember McMahon. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 20 of 27 MCMAHON: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Kalivianakis. KALIVIANAKIS: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Larrabee. LARRABEE: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Watts. WATTS: Aye. BENDER: Councilmember Skillicorn. SKILLICORN: No. BENDER: Vice Mayor Earle. EARLE: Aye. MAYOR FRIEDEL: And Mayor Friedel. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Aye. BENDER: Mayor, six-one. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. And moving on to item D is consideration and possible action related to any legislative bulletin updates or anything. Does anybody have anything they want to bring up? It's been pretty quiet, actually. GOODWIN: I was going to say, it's been pretty quiet. I know they had a meeting this past Monday. It really had to do with funding for statewide 911 services and -- MAYOR FRIEDEL: Yep. GOODWIN: -- other things. Really, I think they're just kind of sitting tight until we know what's happening with the budget. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Correct. Thank you. And then we'll move on to call to the public. Town Clerk, do we have any speaker cards? BENDER: Yes, Mayor, we have six speakers. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Okay. BENDER: First speaker is Larry Myers, followed by Linda Sommo, and then Gene TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 21 of 27 Schlenker. MYERS: Mayor, Council. Larry Myers, nearing 45 years here in Fountain Hills. So I just wanted -- first, I want to let you know how stressed and how much sleep I lost because of the public is last. Sarcasm, in case you didn't get it. So what I wanted to bring to your attention, and I've already spoken to John about it, is we have a sign ordinance that we've all learned, had a meeting about, and are trying to follow. It's easier now, but town's more cluttered. However, the outsiders, they don't know the sign ordinance. So they come in and they break the sign ordinance. Now we have two and one half code enforcement guys who probably have more important things to do than to run around taking signs down. So I know the insiders of which I'm one, we haven't had any trouble. But the outsiders who are Julie Gable, Jonathan Trimble, and Rick Pargo. And I hate to say this because I'll probably get crucified. All Democrats putting their signs wherever they damn well feel, and probably not their fault, because they have people putting them up and they don't know what the sign ordinance is. So I told John, my suggestion is we have two clubs in this town. We have the Republican Club, and we have Democrat Club, and both of those clubs should be responsible for telling their candidates what the sign ordinance is, so that they can comply without John and his guys having to do a bunch of extra stupid work to keep the inside of the town where we all agreed we didn't want the signs, clean. Jonathan Trimble is definitely the biggest offender, followed by Rick Pargo, who's newly arrived. Rick also is a -- he's a violator of ARS16-1019, which is a class two misdemeanor for blocking, removing, defacing. He's a blocker, so somebody should tell him about that, which is now MCSO's responsibility, I'm told. But I think it might be a good idea for the clubs, and I think we have a board member of one of the clubs sitting on the dais, and I'm sure we have another member of one of the other clubs sitting on the dais. It might be a good idea to save our staff a bunch of crap TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 22 of 27 and let these people know where they can't put the signs. Thank you. I appreciate it. And John does too. SOMMO: Thank you. Mayor, Council. My name is Linda Sommo, and I've been a resident here in Fountain Hills for the past 8 years now. Sign season has definitely arrived. We see them everywhere, and it's only going to get worse before it gets better. But -- and I understand freedom of speech. I'm not trying to condemn anyone's ability for freedom of speech, but there are some particularly obnoxious signs that have appeared, and I think you all know what I'm talking about. They come from rot. Especially the ones attacking Councilmember Kalivianakis, which, instead of focusing on the issues, instead -- instead are using personal attacks that have absolutely nothing -- nothing to do with the job for which Ms. Kalivianakis is running, such as her abilities, her accomplishments, her ethics, her honesty, her leadership skills, her decision making skills, her past decisions. All of these things would be open to interpretation and could be argued by the opponents, but instead they tend they want to ignore those things because they can't find weaknesses there. Instead, they focus on gender identity, which has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to do the job. And I, for one, condemn those types of signs. At the beginning of the meeting, Pastor Pavia urged the Council to be positive and have kindness. In keeping with that, I would like to call on Mayor Friedel to condemn and disavow such signs in our community, because it embarrasses the entire community. No response. Thank you. SCHLENKER: Mayor, thank you. Council. I've watched many Council meetings over the years. This community is getting short changed these days from this administration. Our community is worse off today than two or three years ago. The two greatest issues we have today are, one, what do we do about the roads? And TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 23 of 27 two, what are we doing to bring business to our town? Most of you up there promised to fix both. Well let's see. Let's look at the results. We had an estimated $50 million roads problem. Today we have, still a $50 million road problem. Road maintenance, admirably handled by staff, continues to try to keep up with the natural degradation for the life cycle of the roads. So this Council has nothing to celebrate. Our roads have lived way beyond the expected life, and roads will get worse with this administration. We need a change. And our town economy is not solid. In fact, the town revenue grew faster under the previous administration. Tonight's charts by Mr. Soldinger showed that, in fact, since the last few years show a basic flat revenue that indicates a reduction in revenue, when you factor in the inflation. I can argue that your policies are damaging our business community. And here's why. You tried to destroy a plan to revitalize the Target Shea Corridor, you declared English the town's official language, thus taking a shot at immigrants. You changed the sign ordinance, as we heard about tonight, to allow for an explosion of political and business signs, thus threatening the beauty that is our allure to visitors. You required that any contracts with the town must not have DEI, showing against -- again, a desire to discriminate and maybe loss of business. So what are the accomplishments of this Council? Well, you took away the newspaper table. You implemented an invocation. You're attempting -- name a community center for someone that never even lived here. And then you made the call to public so difficult for all of us. And you made the lives of two or three homeless people miserable. And you banned TikTok for town government for national security concerns. Yet the councilman that pushed it, uses it almost every day. I'm sure developers are looking at the image this town is putting forth. I'm sure young professionals and families are also looking at the negative image this Council has spread throughout the valley. We don't need the Sun City East that you're selling. We need change. Start working for TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 24 of 27 all of us, not the special interests that some of you are serving. There's alternative choices to lead and serve. Thank you. BENDER: The next three speakers are Crystal Cavanaugh, Kim Bartman, and Catherine Myrick. CAVANAUGH: Well, actually, I -- oh, well, Crystal Cavanaugh, Fountain Hills resident. I actually turned in my call to public card simply to actually praise this administration because my significant other owns a pool building company, and he actually had stopped building in Fountain Hills for many, many years because of the difficulty with the permitting process. But over the past year and a half or so, I'd like to commend this administration and John Wesley and his group for streamlining that process. But now, moving on to the next topic that was brought up. I don't like having words put in my mouth. I know exactly what it says on that sign, and it doesn't say anything that Linda Sommo referenced. It says Reelect Friedel. No need to transition to a new mayor. Play on words, no doubt, Brenda, but we never say anything else. And then it says the best man for the job is Gerry Friedel. There is no need to switch, to change, to transition. And that's the message. And then there's a little Ghostbuster on the opposition's face. That's really all the sign says. Everybody's reading into it a little more for their own political purposes, but I just wanted to go on the record and say, we know exactly what it says. And if you read the sign, that is exactly what it says. But go ahead and try to keep bringing it up, because it only brings more attention to it. It's not a boring sign. It got the attention we needed, and there it is. Thanks for your participation in that. BARTMAN: Kim Bartmann, Fountain Hills resident since 2001. I am going to speak to those rot Reclaim our Town signs, and everybody can shake their head in the back all you want, but it is really appalling. And I call for all candidates and all of you up there to -- to say no to these signs, to say TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 25 of 27 that this is not Fountain Hills, this is not the ugliness. I know so many people that come to town to work, to play, and they're asking me, what the hell is going on with Fountain Hills? Why is this so ugly? This is such a beautiful town. And I -- I really ask all of you to speak up and say no to those ugly signs, and to vote for people who are going to bring us together and stop dividing. Thank you. MYRICK: Hi. Good evening. I'm Catherine Myrick, Fountain Hills resident, and as many of you know, currently running for Town Council. Running for office is an interesting job. You guys have all done it. Meeting folks, talking to them about my platform, listening to find out what matters to them. I'm working really hard to make sure that people understand my background, my experience, and why I believe I'm one of the best candidates for the job. What I'm not doing is denigrating my opponents or interfering with their campaigns. I understand that the proliferation of negative orange signs throughout town is perfectly legal, but I would hope that campaign supporters have positive attributes to share with the town, rather than just bringing negative energy and national politics into what should be a nonpartizan campaign. Additionally, over the last week, Susan Digennaro, Jeff Tate, and I have each had two of our large street signs stolen. Total value of almost $300. That is obviously not legal, and it's very disappointing that some think stealing signs is a good way to participate in the election season. There are eight people currently running for office in Fountain Hills, and most of us are in the room tonight. I would ask that all eight of us trust enough in our qualifications to campaign cleanly, and to ask our supporters to do the same. Those of us that are truly the right people for the job should be able to stand on our own merits without tearing down our opponents, either literally or figuratively. Thank you. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. We'll move on now to Council discussion and direction to the Town Manager. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 26 of 27 Does anybody have anything? Just direction to Town manager. Having nothing there, we'll move on to future agenda items. MCMAHON: Yes. I would like to propose that we reexamine our Rules of Procedure number 64B4. We're limiting our discussion to agenda items to two minutes. We're answerable to our constituents, and in essence, we're an open forum of government. And limiting Councilmembers to two minutes per agenda item prevents meaningful, thoughtful deliberation. And really, it interferes with our ability to perform our duties that we were elected to carry out. So I feel like this is suppressing our -- SKILLICORN: Point of order. This is not a motion. This is a debate. MCMAHON: I would like to move -- I would like to ask -- SKILLICORN: Point of order. MCMAHON: I would be put on the agenda. Thank you. SKILLICORN: Yeah. That -- that -- that's -- that was a debate, not a motion. MCMAHON: It's not a -- SKILLICORN: And -- and it's repeated. MCMAHON: It's the same thing. SKILLICORN: I'd like to request sanctions against this Councilmember. It's an opening question. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Councilwoman McMahon, you have something you wanted to add to the agenda? MCMAHON: Yes, I wanted to -- I said -- as I said, I would like to relook at our Rule of Civil Procedure 64B4. That's what I want. Thank you. KALIVIANAKIS: And second that. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Does anybody have anything else for -- for future agenda? Okay. Can I get a motion to adjourn? KALIVIANAKIS: Motion to adjourn. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Second. TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MAY 19, 2026 REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 27 of 27 MCMAHON: Second. MAYOR FRIEDEL: Second. All in favor? ALL: Aye MAYOR FRIEDEL: Thank you. Having no further business, Mayor Gerry M. Friedel adjourned the Regular Session of the Fountain Hills Town Council held on May 19, 2026, at 6:27 p.m. APPROVED: TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS _______________________ Gerry M. Friedel, Mayor ATTEST: __________________________ Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills on the 19th day of May 2026. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. _____________________________ Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk