September 2025 Meeting Minutes
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Page 1 MINUTES OF THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD OF THE CITY OF CHANDLER, ARIZONA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2025, HELD IN-PERSON HELD IN-PERSON AT CHANDLER CITY HALL, 175 S. ARIZONA AVE., CHANDLER, ARIZONA. Board Present: Julie Graham, Chair Jennifer Hewitt, Vice Chair Micah Miranda, Secretary Lana Berry, Board Member Neil Calfee, Board Member Raj Chakraborty, Board Member Ron Hardin, Board Member Jacob Knudsen, Board Member Mike Mobley, Board Member Rommie Mojahed, Board Member Ryan Smith, Board Member Kari Zurn, Board Member Terri Kimble, Ex-Officio John Pombier, Ex-Officio Board Absent: Anthony Deard, Board Member Chris Dobson, Board Member Marc Valenzuela, Board Member Others Present: Kevin Hartke, Mayor Dawn Lang, Deputy City Manager/Chief Financial Officer Syliva Dlott, Budget & Research Administrator Joe Abeita, Economic Development Chandler Escalante, Economic Development Chelsey Faggiano, Economic Development Kimberly Janes, Economic Development Odette Moore, Economic Development Caly Strickler, Economic Development Michael Winer, Economic Development 1. Call to Order/Roll Call Ms. Julie Graham called the meeting to order at 8:34 a.m. 2. Approval of Minutes Ms. Jennifer Hewitt made a motion to approve the minutes from Wednesday, June 11, 2025. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ron Hardin. Minutes approved unanimously. 3. Action Items None 4. Briefing Items Page 2 A. City of Chandler Bond/Charter Election Update Ms. Dawn Lang, Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer for City of Chandler, provided the board with an overview of the upcoming Bond and Charter Election. She began by outlining the purpose of a bond election and its importance as a financing tool for municipalities. She noted that Chandler’s capital and infrastructure needs exceed the remaining bond authorization required to fund the city’s 10-year Capital Improvement Plan since the last bond election was held in 2021 prior to unpreceded inflation. Ms. Lang then discussed how the bond request was formed and role of the Citizen Bond Exploratory Committee, which provided recommendations to City Council on bond authorization needed to support important capital improvement/public infrastructure projects. She then went over the bond election timeline and shared that a central source for voter information is online at chandleraz.gov/bondelection. She concluded with information on the Special Charter Election, proposed city council term limits, city manager term and severance policies. She said more information can be found at chandleraz.gov/charteramendment. B. Tourism Marketing Update Kimberly Janes, Senior Tourism Program Manager, provided an overview of the city’s tourism strategic plan. She began by saying the city’s Economic Development Division is the state- recognized Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) and operates a multi- layered tourism marketing program through the Visit Chandler brand. She discussed how Visit Chandler promotes the city to meeting professionals, group coordinators, event planners, and directly to business and individual leisure travelers to keep Chandler top-of-mind for travel. Ms. Janes continued by outlining community attractions and special events that Visit Chandler supports throughout the year, seasonal travel trends, strategies to land group meetings, and how staff leverages relationships to assist corporate travelers and Chandler’s recreational assets to attract leisure travelers. She then focused on Visit Chandler’s branding and how they use a dedicated website, social media, monthly e-newsletter, printed visitors guide and paid media campaign to engage and inform the community on things to do, upcoming events, places to eat and ideas for family-friendly/business travel. Page 3 Ms. Janes continued by sharing current initiatives, including: • A partnered Expedia digital marketing campaign which has seen over 8,000 room nights booked at Chandler hotels so far in 2025. • A Choose Chandler Pass program, which consists of three live passes, over 40 participating businesses and more than 1,000 pass holders who participate by visiting local businesses for check-ins and prize redemptions. Mr. Janes concluded her presentation with a year-over-year look at tourism performance measures and market data, including: • Group leads and services • Website visits • Information requests • Social Media reach • Tourism industry measures • Hotel supply and demand • Transient lodging revenues 5. Advisory Boardmember Comments None 6. Next Meeting Ms. Graham announced the next Economic Development Advisory Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. A calendar invite will be sent to all board members in advance. 7. Adjournment Ms. Graham adjourned the meeting at 9:48 a.m. Respectfully Submitted, ________________________________ Julie Graham, Chairwoman ________________________________ Micah Miranda, Board Secretary