HCAC_2026_0204_Minutes

TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS 
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING 
OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS HISTORY AND CULTURE ADVISORY COMMISSION 
February 4, 2026 
 
 
 
 
A Regular Meeting of the Fountain Hills History and Culture Advisory Commission was 
convened at 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains in open and public session at 4:00 p.m. 
 
Members Present: Chairperson Bob Burns; Commissioner Tim Yoder; 
Commissioner Peter Gallagher; Commissioner Chandler Harper; 
Commissioner Bonnie Kline; Commissioner Tiffany Titus 
Members Absent: Vice Chairperson Toni LePoer 
 
Staff Present: Community Services Recreation Manager Ryan Preston; 
Administrative Assistant Stormy Mazeikis

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Post-Production File 
 
 
 
 
Town of Fountain Hills 
History and Culture Advisory Commission Meeting 
February 4, 2026 
 
 
 
Transcription Provided By: 
eScribers, LLC 
 
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Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not 
be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.  
 
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CHAIR BURNS:  Calling the February 4th meeting of the Fountain Hills History and 
Cultural Advisory Commission together to order.   
And we'll have a roll call, Stormy.  
MAZEIKIS:  Yes, sir.   
Chair Bob Burns.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Here.  
MAZEIKIS:  Vice Chair Toni LePoer.   
Commissioner Tim Yoder. 
YODER:  Here. 
MAZEIKIS:  Commissioner Bonnie Kline. 
KLINE:  Here. 
MAZEIKIS:  Commissioner Peter Gallagher.  
GALLAGHER:  Here.  
MAZEIKIS:  Commissioner Chandler Harper. 
HARPER:  Here.   
MAZEIKIS:  Commissioner Tiffany Titus. 
TITUS:  Here.   
MAZEIKIS:  We have a quorum.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  And any presentations here today?  No.  Okay.  Do you know 
where the minutes go?  I don't see them.  Oh, there they are.  Consideration and 
possible action for approval of the meeting minutes from January 7th.  Do I have a 
motion on that? 
GALLAGHER:  I move to approve the meeting minutes as written.  
KLINE:  I second that.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  Motion and second.  All those in favor?  
ALL:  Aye.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Any opposed?  All right.  Okay.  Discussion regarding the historic registry 
for the fountain.  Ryan, you believe you might have something on that for us?  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  I'll jump in real quick, and I'll turn it over to everybody here.  So I

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believe at least last week, a couple of weeks ago, we were able to, upon request, to 
send out our original submission, which again, was heavily influenced by the State 
Historic Preservation Office, and then the final submission that they turned in.  I'd like to 
note that the one we turned in was exactly like the template.   
And then he told me it was a bad format, and I reminded him it was his template from 
like 1975.  But anyway, so he altered it fit the template, turned it in.  And you should 
have received both of those.  Again, that was upon request to look at.  This does have a 
possible action we are looking at possibly -- we would love a recommendation from this 
advisory board on whether or not you advise the town to push through and resubmit, 
and then we can talk steps from there.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  
PRESTON:  Because I believe we've also provided the notes, both from the State Historic 
Preservation Office on their recommendations.  I think we've also provided both 
Commissioner Burns and Commissioner Yoder's notes on the meeting as well.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Any discussion on about moving forward?  We're going to hear with 
Tiffany answer me. 
TITUS:  In that, you have a working group for that committee.  I recommend they get 
together and present their findings and report next month, if that's okay with you, Ryan, 
in terms of your timeline to support moving forward or not moving forward on that 
process?  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  At this point, the timeline is, I don't want to say irrelevant, but it is at 
the moment, and so that's up -- that's we could do that.  I don't know if the workgroup 
has had a chance to look at it or not.  So yeah, that's open for discussion.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Chandler, do you have a comment there?  
HARPER:  Yeah, I would be open to getting together with some folks and kind of hashing 
through that just generally high level, though.  I reviewed the application and the 
comments and I want to say, I do tend to agree with a lot of the comments.  I think the 
application, if we were to move forward, either needs to be narrowed quite a bit, I 
think.

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And that's one thing that I think we can either discuss here through the working group is 
sort of the scope of what do we want out of it.  Is it that we want the entire park to be a 
historic site, or do we want the fountain to be a historic landmark?  Because one would 
be a lot more tailored and a lot easier to, I say, easier, potentially easier to make happen 
than, for instance, the park, which has a lot a significant amount of noncontributing 
items.  So just something for us to maybe work through in a working group and come 
back to the table.  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  I mean, that's a higher view question as well.  So it's okay to if anybody 
here wants to discuss that, that way, the whole Commission does have the ability to put 
in their two cents on that as well.  So that's something that could be discussed here 
instead of just reported on.  And yeah, so originally, the application was just for the 
fountain.  We were advised again to the State Historic Preservation Office that it'd be 
best to include the park as well.   
We were kind of on the fence about that.  And if it is a direction you want to go, we're 
just pushing the fountain forward as well.  That would be a direction that would be 
acceptable as well.  So that's definitely a good thing to consider and a good point to 
make.  They mentioned, yeah, narrowing the scope.  We did a lot of -- we're 50 years 
old right.  It's a little different than a lot of many of the other cities, you know, putting 
forward something within the State of Arizona.   
It's not a -- it's not as long of a history.  In fact, it's a benchmark for certain things to 
have to be 50 years old.  So that being said, narrowing our scope, we had a lot of things 
from like the 2000, a lot of events written in there that probably didn't really pertain to 
the application in the end.  So I think the direction, Chandler, you're talking about, it 
makes sense.  And I think that's probably where we would be okay with going as well.  
And again, it's open for discussion how you guys want to do that.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Bonnie.  
KLINE:  Well, I was just trying to think what is important in the history of the town and 
the fountain is the attraction, but the park has also been used for events that really 
made it a community, I think, so I feel it should be include the park.

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CHANDLER:  The only caveat to that is that particularly for national register listing, there 
is that 50-year benchmark.  So even if there were major events that happened, you 
know, in 2015 or 2000 even, you know, it's just -- it doesn't get you to that quote 
unquote "historic threshold" generally.  So that would be the only -- and I think that's 
part of -- based on the comments that they provided, I think that was kind of what they 
were trying to convey is, hey, we realize it's an important area as a whole, but it doesn't 
necessarily make it historic yet.  
GALLAGHER:  Yeah.  I would just like to pile on and -- no offense to anyone, but I think 
the park itself is irrelevant.  It's the fountain that we're talking about.  That's the real 
thing.  It was the world's largest fountain for many years, certainly when it was built.  
And that's what has attracted people to come to Fountain Hills and make it a town.  So I 
think we really should focus on that even though the park is an important place, it's not 
what I would consider a landmark.  The fountain is.  
YODER:  I see the positives for both sides, more or less, but I'm certainly willing to just 
move forward on the fountain.  In a way, I think it's kind of silly because in a way, the 
conversation -- well, let's put it this way.  They were both built together as one.  It 
wasn't like the fountain was put in there.  And then like two or three years later, they 
decided to grade all the area around and plant grass.  It was all conceived as one thing, 
but if that makes it difficult, then, you know, let's leave the grassy area out.  I mean, 
grassy knolls have been trouble for a long time, since the early 60's, I think.  
KLINE:  So is that something that can be done at a future time, maybe another project?  
PRESTON:  Do you mean adding the park? 
KLINE:  Adding the park at a later time?  
PRESTON:  I mean, yes.  I mean, it's -- you can do anything at a later time.  If you -- if we 
were to do it, we'd do it as a package, I think.  I think if it's a node now, it'll probably be 
a node down the road.  I don't think it would make sense doing it separately.  I think 
that's where you -- you wouldn't get the park on its own.  I don't think the pass through.  
It's the fountain, like you said, it's the draw.   
So if you're going to attach one to the other, it would need to be the park with the

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fountain or the fountain by itself.  I don't think you would ever get the park by itself as a 
historic on the historic registry.  And just again, looking at the feedback from the council 
who was looking at and what they provided is, a lot of it was they wanted to know more 
about the impact in Arizona.   
They wanted to know about -- and it's funny because it's what we had originally focused 
on is the developers, the C.V. Wood, the McCulloch, what was their background, what 
made them want to do this, which, ironically, is what we had originally focused on in our 
narrative, and we were actually encouraged to switch that, if you remember in kind of 
backpedal from that a little bit.  And you can kind of tell too, that the people there 
obviously know what they do.   
They know their history, and they also hit the main historical points right there like 
Orme dam needs to be mentioned.  You know, and then the native land needs to be 
mentioned.  That's what they want.  Whether it's a mention of basically it had nothing 
to do with the fountain, if that's what it comes up, at least it's still mentioned within the 
report.  I think they were looking for that, as well as did it have an effect of the native 
relations as well.  
So if it's no, throw it in there but make it a no.  I think they're looking more on that side 
of everything.  I think that's where we missed on our original submission.  And it's where 
we started kind of where we got away from as well.  
KLINE:  I have to tell you back in 1988, I was on a trip to Europe, and I saw a poster of 
the fountain in Switzerland.  So I thought that was pretty impressive.  
PRESTON:  They were.  They were very proud of their work because they made the 
nozzle so, yeah. 
KLINE:  Great.  
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  You know, basically just, you know, my thoughts in general about 
including the park, it's -- I'm kind of with Peter.  I'm not sure how relevant it is, but I 
think an important aspect to potentially going forward with this is -- since they seem to 
make a point of the water, I think an important point to make going forward is the -- you

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know, virtually no water is wasted from the park, the fountain.   
And I mean, that's -- and that kind of brings me to another thing here that, you know, a 
lot of that is, you know, not part of the lake.  It's under the park.  And you know, it's kind 
of -- the Fountain Hills, a little different in my mind from a lot of planned communities is 
because it's been more of an evolution than, you know, because the developer was not 
a builder.  And it kind of they came in and put in the infrastructure and it kind of build 
out from there with, you know, like the odors and those people like that, which, you 
know, obviously doesn't play into this.   
But I guess I would support sitting down with myself and Chandler and Tim in going over 
that and going over the thing.  And I know you're busy, but I -- you know, I would kind of 
like to have you there, too, Ryan.  But I don't know if you can work that into your 
schedule, but I think that might be where I'd go from this point, because I would agree.  
I don't think it's time sensitive right now.  So if we can take another month or two to go 
through this and then make our recommendation to the -- I mean, the council isn't 
going to be interested in hearing our recommendation for a few months, I would say, 
getting through planning and budgets and all that stuff right now.   
So I think let's start by see if Tim and Chandler and I and possibly you, Ryan, can get 
together and go through this and come up with some ideas we can present to the 
Commission as a whole and get some additional feedback and then maybe make a 
recommendation. 
CHANDLER:  Yeah, I agree.  And I think as far as the timeline is concerned, I think we 
don't need to be too worried about that.  I think we need to, like you're saying, get 
together, make sure that it's done in a way that will make it happen -- 
CHAIR BURNS:  yeah. 
CHANDLER:  -- and reflect well.  And because once it's on there, it's on there forever.  So 
we we've got nothing but time.  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  And the only, the only reason we pushed kind of faster than we 
probably should have at the end was in hopes for our 250th unveiling.  And that window 
is gone.  And so that's what that's what I meant by the timeline is sort of irrelevant at

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this point.  Um-hum. 
YODER:  So maybe we three slash four can get together, maybe towards the end of this 
month or something on a -- I don't know, on a Saturday or Sunday or something for an 
hour.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah.  Basically, I'm open any day.   
YODER:  Okay.   
CHAIR BURNS:  I think Ryan would probably prefer a weekday since he's here.  If he's 
going to be here on a Saturday or Sunday, he's going to be doing something else.  
YODER:  Yeah. 
CHAIR BURNS:  So -- 
PRESTON:  We could do about 1 o'clock on March 14th.  I'll be at the park anyway, so -- 
Irish Fest, in case anybody is going.  
CHAIR BURNS:  So yeah, we can -- 
YODER:  So we can arrange that by email or something. 
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah.  We can discuss that -- 
YODER:  Okay. 
CHAIR BURNS:  -- and come up with a time and date.  I'm fairly open, so I can probably 
bend to you guys' schedule.  I've got a few meetings coming up, but they're -- I can work 
around pretty good, I think.  
PRESTON:  Perfect.  Yeah, I think that's a good direction, get offline and get together, 
and -- 
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah. 
PRESTON:  -- we can figure out some presentation moving forward, and then we can 
vote on it ideally next time we meet.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Anybody else?  Any input on that, or -- 
KLINE:  Maybe you could talk about how it changed from being pure water to recycled 
water and -- 
CHAIR BURNS:  Oh. 
KLINE:  -- maybe that would --

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CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah, I mean -- 
KLINE:  -- interest him.   
CHAIR BURNS:  -- that would be part of the water thing, which I think is -- would be 
important, so -- okay.  So we'll go on from there.  Historic art and essay contest.  I guess 
that's kind of -- 
PRESTON:  I think we're on B, so I think -- oh, no, sorry, C, 250th anniversary.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Oh, I'm sorry.  I got ahead of myself there.  Yeah.  250th anniversary of 
the USA.  Like I said, the banners are up and they look good and -- um-hum. 
PRESTON:  Yeah, I can throw out a couple updates.  And so I know the town put out a 
press release.  I don't know if it was printed or seen yet, but a couple of things we have 
going.  There's a website, a landing page that's as discussed by this group here.  So we 
have created a landing page that kind of talks about what the town has planned.  As far 
as the 250th, it also has a link to a form that any group or anybody can fill out with 
anything that they're doing for the 250th and submit.   
I don't believe we've gotten any submittals for that yet.  But if you plan on doing 
something or, you know, a group that's doing something submitting it to the town.  We 
can get it up on our websites and then the town may have to be selective, but they'll be 
able to push certain things out as well through their channels.  So I'd highly encourage 
anybody, any group who's doing anything.  If you know anyone, have them fill out that 
form so we can push it out through our channels as well.   
We've got -- the banners are up on the avenue, trying to think what else is going on 
recently.  We did put some money behind a different act for 4th of July.  We can't really 
announce it yet, but 4th of July celebration.  We're expecting to be a little bigger this 
year.  It's going to be some giveaways and things going out.  So we have the essay 
contest.  I did push that out to both the superintendent and his assistant, talked to them 
a little bit about that, trying to get the school to put a little more emphasis behind it has 
been a challenge.   
Right now, they just have it out in their general what they call their peach jar, their flier 
system are trying to get a little more active involvement in this one.  So if anybody

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wants to reach out and try to help with that, otherwise, I'll keep kind of pushing the 
school, but historically, I haven't had a lot of success in that realm, but that is out.   
And we actually did add in a little bit of verbiage just to incorporate it with the 250 as 
well.  So we put the 250 logo, the town has on it, and then just kind of tied in without 
changing any of the actual prompts.  Just the idea of our focus on history this year, given 
the 250th anniversary of America.  
 So yeah, that's kind of -- and then we're also -- we just now, we will be getting a -- we 
are working towards a monument-type sign in the park that says 250 on it.  So for it's 
basically a picture spot for people in the park to take a photo with a big 250th sign.  So 
that's kind of the updates I have right now.  If anybody has anything to add or any 
questions or discussion, go for it.  
KLINE:  Is there any deadline for submitting something on that link?  I did look at the 
link, and there's a couple groups I would like to mention it to. 
PRESTON:  Yeah.  I mean, ideally before your event, we want to run up -- 
KLINE:  Yeah. 
PRESTON:  -- to be able to promote it.   
KLINE:  Yeah, they wouldn't be good. 
PRESTON:  So the more time before your event, the better, but otherwise, no.  No real 
timeline.  
KLINE:  Okay.  
PRESTON:  And now we know these events are going to be going on throughout the 
year, so -- 
KLINE:  And are there any -- does it need to be a open to the public kind of event to be 
on there?  
PRESTON:  We'll look at that through submittals.  Yes, if it's a private group function, we 
probably wouldn't push it out because what we would push out would be an interest to 
the entire town.  
KLINE:  Um-hum. 
PRESTON:  It's one of my people not just to a particular group.  So yeah, it would have to

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be inclusive.   
KLINE:  Okay. 
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
KLINE:  On the shirts, I did see that on the website too.   
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
KLINE:  Are they going to be available in just at the community center, say, or at 
different shops around town?  
PRESTON:  So we're working on that right now.  They will be available at Town Hall, 
second floor.  Most likely, they'll be available at the visitor center at the Chamber of 
Commerce as well.  And we'll also have them for sale at events.  And it's most likely we'll 
have a couple pop ups at the farmers market for sales of those shirts as well.  
KLINE:  Okay.   
PRESTON:  We have about -- we're expecting those in about a week and a half, two 
weeks to arrive and be available for sale.  
KLINE:  If a store wanted to sell them, is there a way to do that, or -- 
PRESTON:  I can connect them with our economic development department.  They're 
handling that.  And it could be the same type of thing that we do at the chamber.  They 
just have to pre-purchase the shirts for a certain cost.  Um-hum. 
KLINE:  Okay. 
PRESTON:  Yep.  And then on that, I believe they're making the logo minus the town's 
logo, free to use on the website as well.  If anybody wants to add the logo that was 
developed for this to their material, they could do that as well.  And I believe that's on 
the landing page website as well. 
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  Anybody else got anything on that?  Comment on.  Okay.  Now, 
the art essay contest.  I guess that's just kind of in process.  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  So I touch base on it already, but yeah, it's been submitted.  I was 
working with our current superintendent on that.  I'm going to work with some of the 
principals directly as my next goal is to reach out to them.  Everything is due by March 
19th, which is -- it's close.

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You know, it's a month, a little over a month away.  So we're going to do what we can to 
get participation.  With these, 90 percent of our participation has been from either kids 
at the school, actually, that live in town or the Inspiration Academy.  We, historically, 
don't get a whole lot from the school district, and we're really hoping to work with them 
and change that for this one.  But the material is out.  We'll be doing a harder push here 
on our end, on our socials and in our press release --  
CHAIR BURNS:  I guess -- 
PRESTON:  -- as well.  
CHAIR BURNS:  -- you know, kind of be up to the school to, you know, like prompt 
English teachers or something like that to -- 
PRESTON:  Yeah. 
CHAIR BURNS:  -- some kind of an assignment or whatever.  
PRESTON:  And Tim mentioned it, I believe, when we were first starting this.  You're 
not -- you're never going to work it into the curriculum, teachers, I mean, it's -- 
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah. 
PRESTON:  -- you're not going to get to that point.  It's too regulated.  And you know, 
teachers are busy.   
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah.   
PRESTON:  It's not like we're paying them extra to try to weave this in.   
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah.   
PRESTON:  And so it'll kind of be up to their discretion.  Just more trying on my end to 
make sure the teachers are actually hearing about it.   
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah. 
PRESTON:  Make sure that information is at least making it to the teachers is the goal.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah.  Um-hum. 
PRESTON:  And that's what I've struggled with in the past.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Um-hum.   
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  Anything else?

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PRESTON:  And on that, so everything is due by March 19th.  We're still -- we're most 
likely not going to be able to get it in a council meeting.  Instead we will most likely hold 
an event at the community center.  We've worked with the community center to get 
space for the art and everything to be on display, so people can come see it.  And then 
we'll hold a small gathering where we will announce winners.  Everybody participating 
can come out and we'll announce winners at the community center.  We'll have 
refreshments and things like that as well.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay. 
KLINE:  And what about judging the entries?  
YODER:  Exactly.  That was my question.  Are you going to need you're going to need us 
to help with the judging -- unless there's -- 
PRESTON:  It'll most likely be the work group.  The issue we ran in with the poetry 
contest last year is, you can remember, is discussing, you know, kids and their work on 
the record, was not probably best practice at the time as I learned.  We didn't use their 
names or anything, but discussing their work on the record is something we probably 
want to avoid this time.   
And the only way to do that is to get a work group together, so it has to be three or less, 
so we can do it outside of a quorum and judge.  And that can be the same work group or 
we can work into -- if there's a different work group that wants to help judge that.  We 
may be able to do it in two small pockets of three.  So we're still kind of working that 
out.  And in fact, the Mayor's Youth Council is going to help with this as well.  They're 
taking this on as an assistance as well.  So they're going to have a vote in it as well, and 
it'll be everybody together.   
And that's how it's advertised, I believe, on the flier, both the History & Culture Advisory 
Commission with the help of the Mayor's Youth Council.  And it turns out they had 
planned a project almost exactly like this, an art project to do and display at the 
community center.  So when the coordinators learned, I kind of stepped on their toes, 
they were asking to be part of it.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.

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TITUS:  I'm going to volunteer immediately to be a part of that project.  If you need a 
small working group to be a part of the judges, I'd love to be a part of it.  
PRESTON:  There's a chance we could just do independent judging when everything's 
out.  And so like I said, I haven't had to figure that out before, so we'll work through 
that.  We'll get that figured out.  We'll make sure everybody has a say.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Well, we've got another meeting before that deadline, so you can fill us 
in if you got more information on that.  Okay.  Let's see, public art information.  Toni's 
not here.  I don't know if you got any --  
PRESTON:  I actually have a quick presentation.  So we have an item that kind of falls 
under this.  So unless anybody has anything on the public art, real quick update.  I'm still 
getting our new websites set up with all the QR codes and everything.  Centennial Circle 
is completely done as far as QR codes.  They haven't gotten on the pieces yet, but they 
have been assigned.  Everything's up on the web and looking good.  Currently, I'm about 
halfway through the avenue right now on getting that updated as well.  And then we 
have plans to do Fountain Park.   
As you see, it's going to tie in actually to what -- I'm going to take a second.  I'm going to 
move and kind of present this to you.  I don't know if anybody is still on the Commission 
from when we started this project.  This is the Fountain Park signage update.  Anybody 
has walked around Fountain Park may have seen some very faded signs, some very old 
signs.   
And so one of the first points of order for this Commission was to work on those signs, 
work on the verbiage for those signs and try to get those updated.  So we've had the 
verbiage for a little while, and we finally had time to get with the designer and really try 
to dial in what we want.  And so that's kind of what I'm going to present to you real 
quick here.  All right.  So you can see it there.  And I think the presentation -- I don't 
think you have it in your packet.  So you have to either look here or turn around behind 
you.  I apologize.    
Is this working perfect.  Much louder.  All right.  So we're going to have one, two, three, 
four, five.  There's six of these signs going up around the park.  And again, these are the

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big signs that you see with the information.  You are here.  Here's some information 
about Fountain Park, so that's what each of these are going to be.  And as you could see, 
the star here indicates the location.  So this is up top on Saguaro kind of near where one 
of those the disc golf pads are.   
And again, there's already a sign there and we're replacing it.  The old signs were 
printed in a way that was not ideal.  These are all printed on polymetal full color, and 
they have a lot longer lifespan and also easier to reprint if we end up needing to.  So we 
have signs out in the park that have been there for years now that that look fantastic 
still.  So step one, they're going to look good.  And so you can kind of see -- it's going to 
be something different on every park.  There's going to be some did you know on there, 
it's going to point out different landmarks.  So you can see around the park.  So you can 
see the "you are here" sign.   
If you look from this point facing east, the great lawn, host events.  Facing south, it's the 
Superstition Mountains facing west.  West, you can see downtown, enjoy shopping, 
dining.  So there'll be a lot of that.  It's talking a lot about the different park features.  
And also just giving you the history of the fountain as you go through each one.  So I'm 
not going to read every single thing on here, but I just want to let you know, a lot of this 
copy was written by this Commission early on.   
We did have to tweak some of it just to kind of fit the overall theme and idea that we 
ended up going with, but a lot of this work was done by this Commission.  So we wanted 
to thank everybody.  Again, a lot of them aren't here, but you guys are doing the same 
work now and would have done this as well, so we'd like to thank.  This is part of the 
things you're actually doing you can actually see come to fruition.   
Here's another one.  So this one is down.  Where is that?  That's down just near where 
the pump house is, it looks like, down on the lake side of that.  It's a really fun picture of 
the lily.  We always like this photo.  It's an angle you don't see often of the lily.  And 
again, it's going to point out, what can you see, where are you facing northeast.  You 
could see Four Peaks.   
Right there, there's the pride of Switzerland right there, Bonnie, where you would have

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seen that.  That's the nozzle being lowered in.  So a lot of really fun historical photos.  
And then you're going to see these QR codes.  So these QR codes are obviously going to 
be scannable.  This one goes to the EarthCam.  But you also see some later that'll direct 
you to a landing page that has all of our art tours on it and art walks.  And that's going to 
be with the updated ones that we're working on now.  So the updated version of those 
art walks.   
So this one is -- actually on the east side, where the east side parking lot is kind of across 
the parking lot on that sidewalk, there's another monument sign.  And that's where this 
one's located.  And so it's talking again about events.  The car shows there's another QR 
code that leads directly to the town's main events page.  And again, it just talks about 
some of the history of Fountain Park as well.   
Let me keep going.  So this one's over.  All of you probably recognize this art piece here.  
So it's right down there by that art piece at the amphitheater side.  You can see here, it's 
right next to the art piece.  So this QR code does talk about the self-guided art walk.  
And so that's really -- it's a really good system.  We've purchased to get those art walks 
in and everything.  So it's going to be it's going to be seamless.  It's going to be all be cell 
phone friendly, which really none of our stuff is currently.  So it's going to be all very 
mobile friendly.  And like I said, the Centennial Pavilion one is already done, and the rest 
of these are in the works.   
All right.  Couple more.  So this one is down on the Great lawn right -- kind of near 
where those new swings are.  If you know those new bench swings, that's kind of where 
this one's located.  You can see here the posed picture of laying out the town, again, 
connects to the EarthCam and it connects to some -- it's actually a YouTube video 
talking about the 50th anniversary of the part of the town.  And again, more fun facts.  
And again, all these facts were given to us by this Commission and approved by this 
Commission and recommend it to the town.   
All right.  I think this might be the last one.  This is right there,, this is in the main area, 
part of the business area, the splash pad.  We're patting ourselves on the back a little 
bit, reminding everybody that we are gold medal award winning Parks and Recreation

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Department, which is the highest recognition you can receive nationally for parks and 
recreation.  So we had to throw that in there and we had to put it in the busiest part of 
the park.   
And again, just more -- more, did you knows.  We got some of our bird friends that you 
can see all the time out there.  And again, talks about the water that we talked about 
here, what it's irrigated with and kind of the early days.  Talks about Nessie, which, you 
know, leading up to Fountain to Irish Fest.  Nessie is going to become a thing again, 
possibly.  You guys might be the first to know we're trying to bring Nessie back, not in 
the lake because it is not 1978 anymore, but -- and as we mentioned in the copy, 
actually, I just wrote, the sheriff's department is much closer now of what you can and 
can't do.   
But anyway, so we're kind of bringing a lot of that back.  You might be seeing footprints 
a week leading up, coming back into town and everything.  Although, again, we can't 
paint them anymore because they don't come off.  We learned.  If you look behind the 
community center, you'll see a few of my test spots and some giant green footprints.  So 
it's fun.  We're bringing Nessie back, and you know, it's not the Loch Ness Monster.  
Apparently, it's his Irish cousin, is what they had decided back in 19 -- I don't know when 
Nessie exactly first appeared.   
We've been trying to figure that out, but I think it was earlier in the 80's.  It took them a 
few years before they brought Nessie out.  But anyway, just wanted to give you the 
presentation, show you where the hard work has gone, let you know that what we do.  
What you do submit to us, you may not see right away.  We are the government.  It's 
not -- we're not going to be quick with anything, but it was used.  We were able to put it 
in and we were -- you will be seeing these go up in the parks not too long from now as 
well.  Any questions kind of about that process, or -- 
KLINE:  If you need a picture of Nessie, I have one in the family photo album.  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  I should give you -- I don't even know if I can find it.  Never mind.  So 
no, we actually have a lot of historical photos.  I'm sharing more than I'm supposed to 
probably be allowed.  We did -- most people know we got the we got the Shamrock

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Society back together last year, and with the help of Debbie Clausen, we did a video 
series on it, which is going to be released around Irish Fest in The Greening this year.  
And so they brought a lot of photos.  So we have a lot of historical photos of Nessie.  Did 
you know it actually ferried kids across the fountain?  
KLINE:  Yeah, my daughter was in that. 
PRESTON:  There you go.  She might be one of the photos.  We got a photo of it ferrying 
some kids.  I had no idea people actually -- kids actually went in there and went across 
the fountain, so I learned a lot because I had to write kind of the oral history down for 
something we're doing right now for some viral marketing, but -- 
YODER:  Martin Dawson hooked up the pro -- his propane -- 
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
YODER:  -- fire breathing apparatus to it.  That was the -- 
PRESTON:  Of course.  Yeah, yeah.  And which is mentioned -- I'll see if I can share the 
landing page we got.  So basically, the footprints around town are going to have a QR 
code at the bottom, really small.  It's kind of a -- if you notice it, scan it and it's going to 
kind of tell.  What I hope is a humorous story retelling of the Shamrock Society.  I wrote 
it, so if it's terrible, don't tell me and it'll show the photos.  And the fire breathing is 
definitely mentioned, of course, because why wouldn't Nessie's Irish cousin breathe fire.  
Makes sense.  Anything else?  
KLINE:  Do you have any mention of the pavilions and the benches that were made out 
of the recycled turbine materials?  
PRESTON:  Those are one of our directors.  Kevin's favorite things.  I don't know, off the 
top of my head, but I am sure they were mentioned, yes.  Um-hum.  Yeah.  He's very 
proud of those as he should be.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah.  I'm glad you did this.  I was getting real close to bringing that up 
and asking you for an update on where that was, because I've been walking around the 
fountain and seeing those things, and it's like -- 
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
CHAIR BURNS:  -- yeah, I'm getting it replaced.

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PRESTON:  Yep. 
CHAIR BURNS:  And so I'm glad to see that.  I like the QR code on the one with the 
camera, because you just kind of bring it up and turn around and wave.  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  And there is one where it basically says, yeah, it's -- the EarthCam is 
right behind you.  You can scan it and basically see yourself on camera.  Yeah.  So 
perfect.  All right.  Well again, thank you, guys, for your hard work on that.  Again, your 
work does mean something, even though you may not see it right away.  Again, we're 
slow.  Okay.  Not by design, but that's not our fault.  We're bureaucrats.  But work does 
eventually get done.  This, for example, went through nine iterations before we got a 
final product, so there's a lot of back and forth on it.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  Public art applications.  Nothing right now or -- 
PRESTON:  There are no applications at this time. 
CHAIR BURNS:  All right.  
PRESTON:  Kind of a quick note on that.  There will be some most likely coming in here 
soon.  A lot of people on this Commission haven't really seen those yet.  Those, we will 
get you ahead of time.  It is really important on those public art applications that we get 
you ahead of time, that you read through those, you look through those.  It is -- your 
vote's going to matter heavily on those applications.   
So knowing which -- not looking the day of a meeting is going to be ideal anytime you 
get those packets.  And we'll kind of reiterate that as well, because that's something 
that's going to be permanent in town for a very long time.  There have been times 
where art has not been approved.  So it's important to take a close look.  You do not 
have to approve anything that comes across the desk, so just take a just making sure 
you take a critical view of it.  And if it's something you want to see in town for the next 
50 years.  
TITUS:  I have a question related to that, Ryan. 
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
TITUS:  Are we in a position or is it appropriate for us, we're totally not appropriate for 
us to create.  There are several artists that would be amazing and appropriate and

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wonderful to have in our town -- 
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
TITUS:  -- whether their selves starters or otherwise, that are draws, economic 
development draws tourist draws.  Are we allowed to recommend or create a list of 
those potential artists and or pieces of art for companies to consider, or your 
consideration for public art, or should we really just pull back and let the others?  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  As a Commission, it wouldn't be our purview.  The town does not 
commission art.  So this art that we review is developers are required to submit public 
art.  Either they can submit a monetary fee in lieu of the public art.  But we don't 
actually commission the artists.  So if it's something you wanted to put together and 
share with developers, but as far as is this Commission's purview, probably be outside of 
our scope.  
TITUS:  As a private citizen, appropriate, then, is what I'm hearing -- 
PRESTON:  Absolutely.  Yep. 
TITUS:  -- not as a part of the Commission? 
PRESTON:  Yep.  Exactly.  
TITUS:  Thank you very much.  
PRESTON:  Yep.  
YODER:  I'm just feeling good.   
PRESTON:  Okay.  Yeah. 
CHAIR BURNS:  Anything else on that?  Okay. 
KLINE:  I guess I have a question.  Is there a group still operating that selects or 
recommends art that they discover at different art shows.  Like a lot of the pieces in 
Centennial Circle were selected by the art, and I'm forgetting the name of the group, but 
is there still some a group like that operating? 
CHAIR BURNS:  Like the public art committee, I think -- 
PRESTON:  Correct.  The public art committee is no longer around.  And so the public art 
applications used to be under their purview as well, and that moved over to this 
Commission, so no.  There isn't a group that will see art and then recommend it to the

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town again, because the town's never purchased art. 
KLINE:  Right.  I knew that.   
PRESTON:  Um-hum. 
KLINE:  So I just want to float an idea, and we can talk about it more another time 
maybe.  But in Mesa, they would have artists submit their artwork to be on display for a 
year, and people would vote on it and vote the one that they most wanted to keep.  And 
then the rest of them would go back to the artist after that year's period and they'd 
select new ones or get new artists with their artwork in.  But that was kind of to get the 
public input on what would be the best art piece for the community.  
PRESTON:  And would that include the town purchasing or the City of Mesa purchasing 
the art piece?  
KLINE:  I wasn't clear on whether the City of Mesa purchased it or if it was a donation 
from the artist.  
PRESTON:  I can talk to our community center manager.  They do a lot of different art 
displays and art programs where artists come and display their art.  There's some going 
on almost all the time over at the community center.  A lot of it is paintings, but there 
are sculptures and there are some other pieces of art that they get on display there.  So 
I'll bring it up and see if it's something she's ever encountered.  
KLINE:  Yeah.  The ones I was thinking about where sculptures and the center, very 
center of Mesa, so -- 
CHAIR BURNS:  City of Mesa has got a lot more room than Fountain Hills does.  
KLINE:  Yeah, a lot more people I know.  I had another question on the 250th 
anniversary.  Are you planning on doing one of those booklets about upcoming events 
that includes the centennial events, or you need a few more submissions? 
YODER:  Do you mean like the community guide booklets that come out every couple 
few months, or -- 
KLINE:  Like -- 
PRESTON:  I'm trying to tie that into the current agenda item, and I can't find a way to 
do it.  So we probably can't talk about it now, but if you want to talk to me later off

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record, I can talk to you about that.   
KLINE:  Okay. 
PRESTON:  Yes.  Otherwise, I can't figure out a way to talk about it currently.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  Next meeting date is March 4th, so mark that down.  And has 
anybody got any thoughts for future agenda items? 
TITUS:  I have something for consideration.  Oh, do you want to go first, Bonnie?  
KLINE:  No.  Go ahead.  
TITUS:  Okay.  Specifically in consideration of the Museum of Time being 50 years old 
and the town in the past has provided them a below market rate lease in exchange for 
the services that they provide the town, that is coming to an end this August.  I would -- 
it's been brought to my attention that they're going to be requesting the town extend 
the lease in exchange for the services that they provide the town.   
And they've -- they're going to be asking and presenting to our Commission likely next 
month.  So prior to them asking and us considering supporting an effort where they 
continue their relationship with the town, I think it would be wonderful to hear from 
Amanda Jacobs with Economic Development to hear what her position is on her 
continued support of this museum.  And that it's our only museum in town, I'd like for 
us to be aware of what's happening and whether we need to be supporting it or not 
supporting it in whatever capacity is appropriate.  And I think as an agenda item, might 
be nice to discuss.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah.  I've been trying to get a one on one with Amanda to discuss her 
the town's potential future public art program there, and I'm having a hard time doing 
that.  So I don't know, Ryan, whether you can kind of twist our arm or kind of sweet 
talker to try and get her in here for a presentation.   
Because like I said, I like -- I know the council is -- and I realize it's probably a ways out, 
so it's not urgent, but is working on a policy for mural art and stuff like that, and I'd like 
to hear from her on that.  You know, with Tiffany brought up, you know, if somebody's 
going to come and ask us for support, I guess we can talk about it.  But other than that, 
I'm not sure it's within our purview, but maybe you can think about that, too, Ryan, so --

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PRESTON:  Yeah, I mean, that's the question, and I'd have to go back on that.  I don't 
know that that is -- that's a little high level.  And whether we would tackle it, that's 
probably straight to council question -- 
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah. 
PRESTON:  And in fact, it probably will come up at some point.  So let me get back on 
that.  And Tiffany, I'll reach out to you based on that agenda item and what I hear back 
as well in town.  And I'll reach out to Amanda and see if there's a time that she has 
available and try to try to book her.  She is an incredibly busy.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Well, I think I think all you guys are -- 
PRESTON:  Yeah. 
CHAIR BURNS:  -- but it's a -- you know, it's kind of hard when we think of something or 
something we want to try and get some information on to, to try and pin you down, and 
it's not easy, you know.  Sometimes email works and sometimes -- 
PRESTON:  Right.   
CHAIR BURNS:  And I appreciate all the work you guys are doing, so, but yeah, that is 
something I want to hear from her on for this group.  And like I said, it's probably not 
something the council will even get to until a fall, so -- 
PRESTON:  And that's the thing with a lot of these things, they're kind of might be in 
limbo at the moment.  She can present probably to where -- 
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah. 
PRESTON:  -- she currently is.   
CHAIR BURNS:  Yeah.  
PRESTON:  Yeah, yeah.  Um-hum.  Yep.  And we'll reach out to her, see if she's available.  
CHAIR BURNS:  All right.  Appreciate that.   
PRESTON:  Yep.   
CHAIR BURNS:  Anything else for future ideas?  
KLINE:  Well, I was just wondering if there was a chance of having the Parks and 
Recreation Department do a presentation on the parks and plans for parks around town 
because I saw mention of the -- what's it called Pleasantville Park and --

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PRESTON:  Skyview Park.  
KLINE:  Oh, that's much better. 
CHAIR BURNS:  Oh, you come up with a new name.  Great. 
PRESTON:  I don't know.  
KLINE:  I was going to mention that --  
PRESTON:  I was making -- 
KLINE:  -- pleasant view was in some kind of -- it was a movie, and it was, like, retro 
1950s.  
PRESTON:  Tobey Maguire is a fantastic movie.  
KLINE:  It wasn't really a great name.  
PRESTON:  Yeah.  I could reach out to Kyle, our new park superintendent, or possibly 
Kevin for an update.  I don't know if there's a ton right now, but I could see what they 
have for an update.  
KLINE:  Is there any -- are there any plans for artwork in that park like sculpture?  
PRESTON:  I'm not sure.  Yeah, that'll be something we -- yeah, we can -- yeah, I'm not 
100 percent sure about that.  Um-hum. 
CHAIR BURNS:  I would think that would be up to someone who might want to consider 
a donation.  You know, ask the town.  Hey, would you be willing to take this for this site 
and then go from there.  All right.  Anything else?  I thought not being anything else, I'll 
ask for a motion to adjourn.  
TITUS:  I so move to adjourn.  
GALLAGHER:  Second.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Okay.  A motion and a second.  All in favor?  
ALL:  Aye.  
CHAIR BURNS:  Opposed?   
Okay.  It's about 4:46, and we're done.

Having no further business, Chairperson Burns adjourned the Regular Meeting of the 
History and Culture Advisory Commission meeting held on February 4, 2026, at 4:46 p.m. 
 
 
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS  
 
 
________________________ 
Bob Burns, Chairperson 
 
 
ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: 
 
 
_________________________________ 
Stormy Mazeikis, Administrative Assistant 
 
 
 
CERTIFICATION 
 
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the 
minutes of the Regular Meeting held by the History and Culture Advisory 
Commission of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 4th of 
February 2026. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a 
quorum was present. 
 
DATED this 4th Day of March 2026. 
 
 
_________________________________ 
Stormy Mazeikis, Administrative Assistant