City Council Regular Meeting on 2025-02-04 6:00 PM — Maricopa, AZ
Date: 2025-02-04

City Hall
 City of Maricopa 39700 W. Civic Center
 Plaza
 Maricopa, AZ 85138
 Meeting Agenda Ph: (520) 568-9098
 Fx: (520) 568-9120
 City Council Regular Meeting www.maricopa-az.gov


 Mayor Nancy Smith
 Vice-Mayor Henry Wade
 Councilmember Eric Goettl
 Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr
 Councilmember Amber Liermann
 Councilmember Vincent Manfredi
 Councilmember Bob Marsh

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 6:00 PM Council Chambers



 Procedure for Addressing the City Council


The Maricopa City Council values citizen comments and input. If you wish to speak on a matter
concerning Maricopa city government that is on the agenda, please fill out a speaker card and give it to
the City Clerk before the meeting starts. The Mayor will call your name when that portion of the agenda
is reached.

The Call to the Public portion on the agenda provides citizens an opportunity to identify for the City
Council matters of interest or concern related to city government that are not on the printed agenda.
Under the provisions of the Arizona Open Meeting Law, the City Council is prohibited from responding
to issues that have not been properly noticed. Therefore, the City Council may only listen to citizens
who wish to address them on non-agenda items. We regret that the City Council cannot respond
beyond thanking you for your comments. City staff will follow-up on your questions via telephone or
email, whichever is preferred. A speaker card is not required for this portion of the meeting but it is
appreciated.

Whenever any group of persons wishes to address the City Council on the same subject matter, it
shall be proper for the Mayor to request that a spokesperson be chosen.

The City asks that, when your name is called, you come forward to the podium, state your name and
then begin speaking. All speakers are expected to observe common standards of decorum and
courtesy. Personal attacks, political speeches, or threats of political action are inappropriate in this
forum and will be grounds, at the discretion of the Mayor, for ending a speaker's time at the podium.

In the event that the meeting is disrupted in any way that the City in its sole discretion deems
inappropriate, the City reserves the right to immediately remove the individual(s) from the meeting.
Reasons for removing an individual include but are not limited to making offensive remarks or
statements, disrespectful statements or actions, and any other action deemed appropriate.

All remarks shall be addressed to the City Council as a body and not to staff or the public. No person
other than a member of the City Council, the City Manager or the City Attorney and the person having
the floor, shall be permitted to enter into any discussion without the permission of the Mayor.
Depending on the number of items on the Council agenda and the number of speaker cards submitted,
the Mayor may establish shorter time limits for speakers.



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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Agenda February 4, 2025



1. Call to Order

 Invocation
 Pledge of Allegiance

2. Roll Call


3. Proclamations, Acknowledgements, Awards and Presentations


 3.1 PROC 25-03 Black History Month Proclamation


4. Report from the Mayor

 The Mayor, members of Council or other designee, may present information related to
 the operation of the city.

5. Report from the City Manager


6. Call to the Public

 The procedures to follow if you address the Council are: Council requests that you
 express your ideas in three minutes or less and refrain from any personal attacks or
 derogatory statements about any City employee, a fellow citizen, or anyone else, whether
 in the audience or not. The Mayor will limit discussion whenever they deem such an
 action appropriate to the proper conduct of the meeting. At the conclusion of an open call
 to the public, individual members of the Council may respond to criticism made by those
 who have addressed the Council, may ask Staff to review a matter, or may ask that a
 matter be put on a future agenda. However, members of the Council shall not discuss or
 take legal action on any matters during an open call to the public unless the matters are
 properly noticed for discussion and legal action. Finally, a word on decorum at our
 meetings. Periodically, we may want to applaud a success or show our approval of a
 comment and occasionally, we may personally disagree with something that is said.
 However, when we’re hearing input from our City Council and our residents, whether we
 support their comments or disagree with their comments, please do not applaud or
 negatively respond to a speaker unless invited to do so by the presiding authority. It is
 important that every person who addresses the City Council has a right to speak and not
 be intimidated.

7. Consent Agenda

 All items on the Consent Agenda are considered to be routine matters and will be
 enacted by one motion of the Council. There will be no separate discussion of these
 items unless a Councilmember or member of the public so requests, in which event the
 item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered in its normal sequence on
 the agenda.




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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Agenda February 4, 2025



 7.1 LIQ 25-02 The Mayor and City Council shall discuss and take action on recommending approval to
 the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control regarding an application for a liquor
 license submitted by applicant Kenneth James Barro on behalf of Barro's Pizza located
 at 21101 N. John Wayne Parkway, Suite E106, Maricopa, Arizona 85139. Discussion
 and Action.


 7.2 SUB24-09 The Mayor and City Council shall discuss and take action to approve Subdivision Case #
 SUB24-09, Red Valley Ranch, Phase 1, a request for final plat approval to subdivide +/-
 72.35 gross acres of land into 287 single-family residential lots and thirty-four tracts of
 land, for a residential subdivision. Discussion and Action.


 7.3 MIN 25-07 Approval of Minutes for the January 21, 2025 City Council Regular Meeting. Discussion
 and Action.


8. Regular Agenda and/or Public Hearings

 Items on the agenda are open for citizen input. Please fill out a card and present it to
 the City Clerk before the meeting begins. The Mayor will call upon you for your
 comments.


 8.1 PRES 25-02 The Mayor and City Council shall hear a presentation and community update from Global
 Water Resources.


9. Executive Session

 The Maricopa City Council may go into executive session, which is not open to the
 public, for purpose of obtaining legal advice from the City’s attorney on any of the above
 agenda items pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03 (A)(3).

10. Adjournment

 Note: This meeting is open to the public. All interested persons are welcome to
 attend. Council members of the City of Maricopa City Council will attend either in person
 or by telephonic conference or video communication. Supporting documents and staff
 reports, which were furnished to the City Council with this agenda, are available for review
 on our website, www.maricopa-az.gov.

 Physical access to the meeting room will be available 15 minutes prior to the meeting
 start time.

 Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation, such as a sign
 language interpreter, by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at 520-316-6970. Requests
 should be made as early as possible to allow time to arrange the accommodation.

 NOTICE TO PARENTS: Parents and legal guardians have the right to consent before
 the City of Maricopa makes a video or voice recording of a minor child A.R.S.
 §1-602.A.9. Maricopa City Council meetings are recorded and may be viewed on Channel
 20 and the Maricopa website. If you permit your child to participate in the Council
 meeting, a recording will be made. If your child is seated in the audience, your child may
 be recorded, but you may request that your child be seated in a designated area to avoid
 recording. Please submit your request to the City Clerk at (520) 316-6970.


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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Agenda February 4, 2025




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City Hall
 City of Maricopa 39700 W. Civic Center
 Plaza
 Maricopa, AZ 85138
 Ph: (520) 568-9098
 Meeting Minutes - Final Fx: (520) 568-9120
 www.maricopa-az.gov
 City Council Regular Meeting
 Mayor Nancy Smith
 Vice-Mayor Henry Wade
 Councilmember Eric Goettl
 Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr
 Councilmember Amber Liermann
 Councilmember Vincent Manfredi
 Councilmember Bob Marsh

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 6:00 PM Council Chambers



 1. Call to Order
 The meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m. Be Community Church Pastor, David
 Anderson gave an invocation and Councilmember Goettl led the Pledge of
 Allegiance.


 2. Roll Call
 Present: 7 - Councilmember AnnaMarie Knorr, Councilmember Vincent Manfredi,
 Mayor Nancy Smith, Councilmember Bob Marsh, Councilmember Amber
 Liermann, Councilmember Eric Goettl and Vice Mayor Henry Wade


 3. Proclamations, Acknowledgements, Awards and Presentations

 3.1 PROC 25-03 Black History Month Proclamation

 The mayor read the proclamation and proclaimed the month of February, 2025 as
 Black History Month. Vice-Mayor Wade dedicated the proclamation to Joann Cooper
 Vanderbilt's family in honor of the work she did for the community.
 Read


 4. Report from the Mayor
 Councilmember Marsh gave an update on the Pinal County general code update. He
 stated the proposed amendments were rejected by the board due to the negative
 feedback and were back at the drawing board. He reported participating in the Pinal
 County Board of Adjustments meeting on January 23rd in Florence were they
 approved a blanket variance for 274 undersized lots in the general rural zone. He
 reported attending the Chamber of Commerce awards dinner along with the mayor
 and council members on the 25th and commended the business community. He
 reported attending the Pinal Partnership Water Resources Committee meeting on the
 27th, the Pinal Partnership Government Relations Committee, and the General Plan
 Update Committee both on the 28th. He reported on the Mayor’s State of the City
 Address on the 29th at the new high school and the unveiling of the new sculpture at
 City Hall on the 30th. Next, he reported participating on an East-West Corridor zoom
 meeting and elaborated on his input. He reported attending the county’s 150th
 anniversary celebration at the old courthouse on February 2nd along with
 Councilmember Goettl and Pinal Supervisor Vitiello. Lastly, he reported attending a
 briefing from lobbyists from Nexus Consulting.
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 Councilmember Knorr congratulated Mayor Smith on the State of the City Address.
 She commended the event and encouraged the attendance the next year’s address.
 She commended the tree sculpture at City Hall and reported attending the unveiling.

 Councilmember Liermann reported on the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce's annual
 award banquet. She stated it was NFL tailgate themed and Councilmember Marsh
 dressed-up as an NFL team owner and commended the event. She thanked staff for
 finishing the intersection at John Wayne Parkway and Smith-Enke Road and thanked
 the community for their patience. She noted it was inconvenient but added it was an
 amazing project that finished a month early.

 Councilmember Manfredi commended the work on the intersection as well and
 warned that there would be more construction coming the next couple of years to
 improve State Route (SR) 347. He shared that Gila River Indian Community (GRIC)
 announced that there was a final draft plan for the design for the overpass at Riggs
 Road and SR 347 and noted he would address the lack of funding. He reiterated that,
 over the next five to ten years, improvements would be immense and asked
 everyone for patience in advance. Next, he discussed the Senate Bill (SB) 1617
 introduced by Senator T.J. Shope to bring back funding for the improvements on SR
 347 and elaborated that the funding was pushed to 2028 and the bill would bring it
 back to 2026. He emphasized that work was constantly being done to address the
 issues on SR 347. He reported attending the Regional Transportation Advisory
 Committee on legislative day at the capitol and talked to legislators about SR 347. He
 emphasized the importance of advocating, sending letters, and attending all the
 meetings. He reported also attending the Central Arizona Governments (CAG)
 legislative day and encouraged residents to go to 347facts.com and submit stories
 that would go out to all representatives. He reported attending a Pinal Regional
 Transportation Authority (PRTA), noted it was now the Regional Transportation
 Authority (RTA), and elaborated on their discussion on how to the money from
 Propositions 416 and 417 were collected in Pinal County and would be refunded to
 businesses in the county. He stated the goal was to find out what to do with the
 leftover money because not every business would get a refund and elaborated that it
 could potentially go anywhere in the state and encouraged people to go to the PRT to
 advocate for the funds to go Pinal County and the City of Maricopa. He thanked Brett
 Roberts, Representative Teresa Martinez and every one of the representatives that
 have worked hard for the funding of the Riggs Road improvements. He expressed
 excitement that the news was shared by many in social media including Mayor Smith,
 ADOT, and most importantly GRIC because it shows they support the improvements.
 He elaborated on all the future roadwork and the future of SR 347.

 Vice Mayor Wade commended the Youth Council and their participation in the State
 of the City Address and all their volunteer work. He stated on Friday they would go
 over to the legislature to learn how it operates, and they would get a chance to
 network and have fun. He stated he looked forward to spending time with the group
 and commended the members.

 Mayor Smith reported having the opportunity to present graduate certificates to the
 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members and added that they were
 a vital part of the community entirely as volunteers. She reported attending the
 Maricopa Chamber of Commerce awards banquet and noted the Maricopa Police
 Foundation won for non-profit of the year and asked for a round of applause. Next,
 she reported on the State of the City Address and thanked the council for their
 participation. She thanked staff and directed those interested in watching it to the
 city’s YouTube channel and website. She elaborated on the topics of the address.
 Next, she reported on the unveiling of the pecan tree sculpture and the online


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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025

 East-West Corridor feedback opportunity. She stated Planning and Zoning (PZ)
 Commissioner Bill Robertson, other councilmembers and she attended and
 emphasized it was important for the extension of the Sonoran Desert Parkway and
 provided some background. She stated the corridor would provide access to the
 industrial business park when the additional 36,000 jobs when they start operating,
 additional emergency access and for economic development. She stated there were
 still opportunities for feedback and directed those interested to the Pinal County
 website. She reported attending the Creative Mind series and the Maricopa Historical
 Society’s Trails and Tales Dinner and elaborated on the events. She commended
 Councilmember Manfredi’s information on SR 347 and stated she was thrilled when
 she saw ADOT announced the solution for the overpass on Riggs Road. She
 discussed SB 1617 and expressed excitement things were beginning to happen.


 5. Report from the City Manager
 City Manager Bitter announced ADOT would host their first online virtual meeting on
 Thursday (February 6) to talk about transportation statewide. He encouraged
 participation. Next, he stated the Citizens Leadership Academy would start back
 again in April and the application process would open soon. He elaborated on the
 tops and benefits of the academy.

 Mayor Smith added that since it is a virtual meeting the community could simply listen
 by clicking the connect button, but they could also submit speaker cards to talk about
 SR 347 and how important it is to add it to the five-year plan. She recommended
 347facts.com for those who were too shy or did not want to speak during the virtual
 meeting. She elaborated that the letters go out to over 100 elected officials including
 ADOT and recommended emphasizing to put SR 347 on the 5-year plan.


 6. Call to the Public
 Peg Chapados, Secretary for the Friends of the Arts, congratulated Mayor Smith for
 the State of the City Address and commended staff. She complimented the sculpture
 at the front. She stated they were hosting their third annual fundraising event Taste of
 the Arts on Saturday, March 1st. She stated they would debut Parodybille Playhouwz
 and elaborated on the games and prizes. She listed all the organization they had
 reached out to that would be the facilitators of the games and added that at the end
 of the evening the proceeds would be divided evenly amongst the participating
 groups. She listed the current twelve groups that have confirmed participation and
 added they were waiting for confirmation from other organizations. She stated tickets
 were $75 and were available for purchase at MaricopaFriendsOfTheArts.com. She
 stated MFOTA members would get a 15% discount and elaborated. She encouraged
 those interested to go to the website. Next, she congratulated the Mayor and Council
 on the direction they were taking on the facility rentals and encouraged them to seek
 out the statistics that were not presented on the library and community center. She
 stated those 3 facilities had different demographics and different needs. She stated
 she would also like to see continued discussion on the possibility of the rentals with
 zero fees, but also establish a range based on the needs of staff.

 Andrew Coonts with the Maricopa Community Theatre (MCT) expressed concerns
 with the hourly rates for community rooms. He asked that they reject the current fees
 and work with nonprofits to make them more accessible.

 Cherish Forbes, Vice President of MCT, commended the council for reassessing the
 rates for community room rentals. She discussed what goes into the production of
 theatre and the costs of productions. She expressed concerns that the facility rental
 fees were still too high for organizations like MCT.

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 Susan Bonsonte stated she saw Global Water would be presented and asked about
 the letter that went out to residents regarding the high level of fluoride in the water.
 She stated many municipalities were doing away with adding fluoride due to it being a
 dangerous neurotoxin. Her concerns were addressed during their presentation.


 7. Consent Agenda


 Approval of the Consent Agenda
 After a brief presentation on Consent Agenda Item 7.2. summarized below, a
 motion was made by Councilmember Amber Liermann, seconded by
 Councilmember Vincent Manfredi, to Adopt the Consent Agenda.The motion
 carried by unanimous vote.

 7.2 SUB24-09 The Mayor and City Council shall discuss and take action to approve Subdivision
 Case # SUB24-09, Red Valley Ranch, Phase 1, a request for final plat approval to
 subdivide +/- 72.35 gross acres of land into 287 single-family residential lots and
 thirty-four tracts of land, for a residential subdivision. Discussion and Action.
 Councilmember Manfredi stated he had some question on 7.2 before it gets approved
 in consent.

 Planning and Zoning Manager, Rick Williams gave a brief presentation. He stated the
 request for the Red Valley Ranch, phase, was made by Crescent Bay Land Funds
 LLC to subdivide approximately 72.35 acres into 287 residential lots. He stated the
 density for phase one of the development was proposed at 3.97 dwelling units per
 acre. He explained that this was approved by the county years ago, but in 2021 there
 was a minor Planned Area Development (PAD) amendment, along with a preliminary
 plan which had since been extended in 2021. He stated 3 different lot sizes were
 proposed on the 42-foot-wide product and detailed the lot sizes. He provided a visual
 exhibit with larger lots on the northern portion of phase one, and smaller lots on to the
 southern part. He stated it also indicated roadways but also the open tracks for the
 retention basin, open space, and drainage easements on the east side and the north
 side adjacent to Farrell Road. He discussed the access and circulation explaining the
 main access for this phase of development would be via Farrell Rd and elaborated.
 He pointed out the direct access to the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway provided via
 Murphy Road, which was half a mile to the west. He detailed the on-site and off-site
 improvements associated with the development. He provided a color-coded exhibit
 with Red Valley Ranch, Phase one to the right and the Elena Trails development. He
 stated the project would be responsible for Farrell Road improvements from the
 northwest corner of the development to West Saddleback and they would construct
 the northwest collector from Farrell Road to Jarrett Road. He stated they would also
 construct a secondary access road east of the Red Valley Ranch property and a
 drainage corridor. He stated there was a coalition of stakeholders in the area for the
 off-site improvements in the area including the city’s CIP project, VW Volkswagen,
 Elena Trails, the Leonard development with Anderson Farm. He stated the off-site
 improvements included Farrell Road just north of the Elena Trails and explained the
 CIP project was involved with that area, and there was a timing component that City
 Manager Bitter can elaborated on. He explained if the CIP project came in first, then
 the city would develop that portion of Farrell Rd. and the drainage easement to the
 north to its ultimate capacities, and then take the contributions that Elena Trails and
 Red Valley Ranch agreed to and add them to the coffer. He added that Flood Plain
 Administrator, Dan Frank was working on potential federal funding that may be
 associated with that as well, if the CIP project came first. He elaborated that if the
 Red Valley Ranch project came first, then they would construct half a mile of a

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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025

 two-lane paved road from north Murphy to that edge of the Farrell development until
 the CIP project comes in and at that point the city would then construct Farrell Road
 and complete the drainage easement to the north. He emphasized that the coalition
 was working together on this as it was a large major project. He stated the request
 was in conformance with the General Plan an met the outline of the Red Valley
 Ranch PAD. He recommended approval of the Red Valley Ranch, Phase 1 final plat
 SUB24-09. He opened the floor for questions and noted the applicant was present as
 well.

 Councilmember Manfredi explained he asked that this item be discussed before
 consent because residents asked him what was going to happen with the
 infrastructure there, and he wanted the community to know that this was in the works
 since 2015, with a change in 2021 and elaborated on the infrastructure needs that
 would be put in place. He asked what the status was on the culvert on Murphy Road
 west of Farrell Road. City Manager Bitter explained that it was part of this project and
 that a federal earmark (congressionally designated spending) was received two years
 ago, and the city was moving forward with that project as part of the CIP project listed
 on here. He reiterated that stakeholders were working together on getting the proper
 easements together, and it was in next years CIP plan. Councilmember Manfredi
 elaborated on the community’s concerns that people should be able to get out of
 there and on to the main roads.

 Mayor Smith thanked Councilmember Manfredi for bringing the concerns forward
 because it was important for residents to understand this was not a new project and
 had been in existence on the books and counted in terms of housing. She reiterated it
 was important that residents and specially the media to get the information right.
 This Subdivision was Approved.


 7.1 LIQ 25-02 The Mayor and City Council shall discuss and take action on recommending approval
 to the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control regarding an application for
 a liquor license submitted by applicant Kenneth James Barro on behalf of Barro's
 Pizza located at 21101 N. John Wayne Parkway, Suite E106, Maricopa, Arizona
 85139. Discussion and Action.
 This Liquor License was Approved.


 7.3 MIN 25-07 Approval of Minutes for the January 21, 2025 City Council Regular Meeting.
 Discussion and Action.
 These Minutes were Approved.


 8. Regular Agenda and/or Public Hearings

 8.1 PRES 25-02 The Mayor and City Council shall hear a presentation and community update from
 Global Water Resources.
 Global Water Chief Operating Officer (CO) Christopher (Chris) Krygier introduced
 colleagues Senior Vice President Jake Lenderking, Vice President and General
 Manager Jon Corwin, Beth Huerta and Andrew Miller. He thanked the Mayor and
 Council for the opportunity to present and stated the presentation format would be in
 two parts with Jake presenting on water and legislation and Jon would provide an
 update on the proposed rate case filing and a response to the question on fluoride.
 He turned the presentation over to Jake.

 Mr. Lenderking provided a presentation overview explaining he would provide
 background on water resources with the Colorado River and groundwater, give a

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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025

 legislative update and discuss water augmentation. He explained that in the last 20
 years there has been drought on the Colorado River and to address it, agreements
 had been put in place to reduced runoff. He stated the interim guidelines passed in
 2007 and the DCP passed in 2019 both to address lower runoff times. He provided a
 technical graph of snow water equivalent or the amount of water in the snowpack in
 the upper Colorado River watershed. He stated the left access depicted the inches of
 water and the bottom depicted the time. He explained the black line was currently
 where we were, just a little bit below the green which was normal average. He stated
 the agreements would expire in 2026 and new guidelines needed to be put in place
 which involved the 7 Basin States, Federal Government and Mexico. He stated the
 seven basin states have always come to an agreement amongst themselves instead
 of litigation, because litigation offered unforeseen consequences and expressed
 confidence that they were working towards an agreement and foresaw something in
 the news soon for an agreement along the lines of 2027 through 2037 or 2047. He
 noted it was important to mention that Global Water does not directly use Colorado
 River water, and these issues did not directly impact us here. Next, stated
 groundwater issues were important across the state and the two major ones were
 over pumping in rural areas (which the governor just announced an initiative to try to
 tackle), and a projected unmet demand inside active management areas. He
 explained unmet demand was determined by sophisticated computer models that
 demand over the next 100-years in Assured Water Supply (AWS). He stated that
 resulted in many regulation changes. He stated Global Water had a designation of
 AWS that transcends that issue. He listed all the regulatory changes. He discussed
 State Bill 1274 and its success that protected Global Waters DAWS, allowed for
 reconfiguring plats and protected water stored underground. He reviewed 2024
 legislative session statistics including that they tracked 80 of the bills and only 3
 water bills were signed into law. He reviewed statistics for 2025 and noted they’re
 currently tracking 90 bills. He elaborated one of the bills was on Assured Water
 Supply called “Agriculture to Urban” which provided an incentive to convert
 agriculture lands to municipal uses. He noted Senator Shope introduced the bill.
 Next, he moved away from legislation to talk about Water Augmentation and the
 aquifer recharge station. He explained the recharging process through several
 methods but stated they chose percolation basins. He stated that thanks to
 Congressman Stanton and Maricopa, they received a grant for $8 million and
 elaborated. He discussed the Water Augmentation through Barlett Dam and the
 Verde Reservoirs Sediment Mitigation Study. He elaborated on the construction of a
 new dam to mitigate sediment buildup and stated they were working with Pinal
 County Water Augmentation Authority (PCWAA) on the project. He stated it was a
 long and expensive project and elaborated on SB 1616 that would help with funding.
 Lastly, he discussed other augmentation such as water leases. He gave a summary
 and concluded his presentation.

 Mayor Smith stated she appreciated that Global Water was constantly looking ahead
 and not just meeting the status quo. She reported she had the opportunity to do a fly
 over of Bartlett Dam and was excited to learn Global Water was in the picture. She
 stated that she, Councilmember Knorr and Councilmember Manfredi were headed to
 Washington D.C. and asked if there were other projects that would qualify for grants
 at the federal level that they could help move forward, in partnership, so that
 additional costs were not included in either the current rate case or future rate cases.
 She stated it was important to offset any costs for residents and directed him to think
 it through and get back to her by the third week of February. Mr. Lenderking
 responded he was working with Flood Administrator Dan Frank, as well as the Army
 Corps of Engineers on one of the three projects put forth when the recharge funding
 came about. He stated he would be happy to circle that back through Mr. Frank as
 well on other projects. Mayor Smith asked him to meet with Mr. Frank,
 Intergovernmental Affairs Director Katy Proctor and City Manager Bitter.


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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025


 Councilmember Liermann stated that oftentimes the Council was asked about how
 Maricopa can handle the growth, specifically related to water supply, and asked Mr.
 Lenderking to elaborate on the uniqueness that Maricopa has compared to other
 areas in the region and why we specifically could handle the anticipated growth. Mr.
 Lenderking responded that it was complex, but simply we had a very plentiful aquifer
 beneath us. He elaborated on the water levels in the areas of town and the
 hydrogeologic characteristics that helped attain the designation of assured water
 supply. He stated that there were 22,914-acre feet per year that we were allowed to
 use, and we were using about 9,000-acre feet a year, so there was a long runway in
 that water supply. He reiterated that Maricopa was geographically situated in a good
 place. Mayor Smith added that there were also always looking for more water
 sources. Mr. Lenderking concurred that due to regulations always changing they
 were always looking for more. Councilmember Liermann stated she was proud that
 Maricopa recycled 30% of their water. Mr. Lenderking elaborated on water
 conservation programs.


 Councilmember Marsh thanked Mr. for their participation in PCWAA and the Pinal
 Partnership Water Resources Committee and commended their contributions.

 Vice Mayor Wade asked Mr. Lenderking to elaborate for the residents what recharge
 and wet and dry cycling means. Mr. Lenderking explained wet and dry cycling has to
 do with the ability for the basins to work, but when you get a lot of water in the basin
 for many days in a row it tends to clog it up, and get silting, or vegetation growth and
 both were hindrances to getting water in the ground. He stated they would dry up a
 basin, till it, or rip it so the suspended solids break up. He further stated that they
 enhanced rechargeability to rotate the basins to have higher recharge rates.

 Jon Corwin thanked the Mayor and Council for the opportunity to present. He
 addressed the question from the call to the public about whether Global Water added
 fluoride to the water and responded they did not. He explained that fluoride was a
 naturally occurring element in groundwater and they added another well to their
 lineup to address the issue. He stated they blended all their water sources into one
 and that allowed things like fluoride to dilute to lower the levels. He reported the
 notice that they sent out last summer was for the secondary maximum contaminant
 level (MCL), he explained an MCL above 4 milligrams per liter would be considered
 out of compliance, and the secondary MCL was not necessarily out of compliance but
 does require notifications be sent out to customers. He reported that since the
 notifications went out, they made adjustments like adding a well to the lineup and
 have stayed consistently below the secondary MCL around 1.7 kilograms per liter. He
 stated that as they continue to add water sources to capacity, they would continue to
 push that down and look at centralized treatment options down the road. He moved
 to the presentation on the pending rate case. He stated the process started over a
 year ago and clarified that changes would not be implemented until mid-2026. He
 discussed why the rate case was needed including inflation, to continue to invest in
 the community to keep up with growth, and for the Southwest Plant. He elaborated on
 the inflation stating the construction costs were significant and impacted their
 construction costs to develop new infrastructure. He stated they were building
 infrastructure to support growth and provided a chart depicting the growth that they
 have experienced both on the water side and the wastewater side. He elaborated on
 peak demand for water deliveries in the suburb for the past four years and stated the
 peak reached about 10 million gallons per day this past summer, a 37% increase as
 compared to 2021. He noted that they were also seen an increase of 21% on the
 wastewater side as compared to 2021. He reiterated they met the demand we would
 continue to meet the demand in a sustainable way the designation of assured water


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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025

 supply, recharge, and other things. He stated they would continue to plan both from
 an infrastructure and water perspective. He provided a list of community investment
 projects completed over the past four or five years to stay in front of the growth
 including well rehabilitations, new water distribution centers, adding capacity to the
 wastewater treatment plant, and a whole gamut of projects. He detailed the
 Southwest plant that represents the wastewater plant, a water distribution center, well
 collection lines, and water distribution lines that was constructed in 2006 to 2007
 when the market was booming, and home developers were moving to the southwest
 area of Maricopa around Papago Road and SR 347. He stated then the recession hit,
 and those homes did come to fruition and the facilities never went into service and
 they have sat on those assets for almost 20 years. He reported it represented
 represent about $60 million of investment plus recommissioning and provided context
 of the last rate case. He stated it would include resolution for pre-mature revenue
 collection issue that would offset the overall rate increase. He stated the goal was to
 resolve the issue for all stakeholders in a way that would bring it to a conclusion. He
 summarized the timeline of the rate case as of today, February 4th then file a notice
 of intent followed by the case rate filing in March. He stated it would to the Arizona
 Corporation Commission (ACC) and their staff would do an in-depth audit and review
 of all the information including the financials and investments that were made, and
 then the ACC would issue a report of findings. He stated, ultimately it would go to a
 hearing before the administrative law judge who would then issue a recommended
 opinion. He stated the five elected ACC members would vote and decide to approve
 it or modify it. He stated whatever the decision, nothing would change until the middle
 of 2026. He stated until then they would continue to provide updates, educate the
 community and provide information. He detailed bill impact estimates and highlighted
 the median water customer who used about 5000 gallons per month, would see the
 proposed increase on the water at about $4.00 per month in phase one, and then
 another $3 in phase two. He stated that would total to $7 by 2027 and on the
 wastewater, it would increase $2 per phase for a total of $4. He stated overall it
 equated to an 11% increase. He stated that when looking at inflation from 2019 to
 2024 the proposed rate just a little over a 2% increase per year in that that five-year
 window, so the 11% overall, compared to overall inflation of 26% was significantly
 less. He stated wastewater fees proposed increases less than the water to address
 the premature revenue collection issue and elaborated. He stated the ACC
 recognized that the current rate case filing process needed improvement and passed
 a policy framework for utilities to propose future rate cases for prospective rate cases
 or formula rates. He stated it would essentially allow utilities to implement their
 investments into new rates on a yearly basis for it to be smaller incremental rate
 increases as opposed to one larger rate increase. He stated approximately every five
 years it would still requires the utility to go to the ACC through a rate case and get
 that plan approved. He opened the floor for questions.

 Councilmember Marsh stated he was pleased to see the rates were below the
 inflation.

 Councilmember Manfredi discussed development in the city and stated it happened
 thanks to the hard work of Global Water and elaborated. He addressed the
 community’s concern with the water supply. He elaborated on the importance of
 investing in infrastructure for additional stores and development. He gave
 background of when the city had multiple water companies and stated Global Water
 rescued the city. He thanked them for their presentation.
 The Presentation was heard.


 9. Executive Session


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City Council Regular Meeting Meeting Minutes - Final February 4, 2025


 There was no executive session held.



 10. Adjournment
 This meeting was Adjourned at 7:28 p.m.


 Certification of Minutes
 I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the
 minutes of the regular meeting of the City Council of Maricopa, Arizona, held
 on the 4th day of February, 2024. I further certify that the meeting was duly
 called and held and that a quorum was present.

 Dated this 18th day of February, 2024.




 __________________________
 Vanessa Bueras
 City Clerk




City of Maricopa Page 9