One concerned citizen showed up at the first of Gilbert’s series of three open-house meetings, held Wednesday night at South Valley Junior High School. The meetings are intended to gauge public opinion on which services should take priority as officials prepare to make cuts for the upcoming fiscal year.
Resie Aubuchon, who moved to Gilbert in 2006 and whose sister serves on the town’s Human Relations, Culture and Arts Promotion Board, emerged from the session with a ream of papers with budget information about various town departments, said she was glad she went but didn’t have her answers yet on how the town’s budget should be trimmed. “I have some homework to do,” she said.
An information box containing the dates, times and locations of the meeting were inadvertently left out of the Tribune’s Wednesday print edition. The next tow meetings will be:
• 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Barn at Power Ranch, 3685 S. Autumn Drive (near Gemann Road).
• 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the southeast Regional Library, 775 S. Greenfield Rd.
Archive for the 'Government' CategoryThe concerned citizenFebruary 19th, 2009, 11:07 am by Blake HerzogBerman accidentally bashes truckJanuary 12th, 2009, 4:11 pm by Blake HerzogDuring last week’s discussion which ultimately led to the Gilbert Town Council dropping the town’s policy of providing the mayor with a truck, a staff report outlined how much it’s cost the town to maintain the Ford F-150 truck donated by San Tan Ford in May 2007 for Mayor Steve Berman’s use. The costs listed in the report included $1.901.64 for “claim settlement,” without providing any details on what kind of claim was settled. Town spokesman Garin Groff told the Tribune that figure represented the cost of repairing both vehicles after Berman backed the truck into another car. In an interview today, Berman said the crash happened when he was backing out of his driveway at home and hit an illegally parked vehicle parked directly across the street, but “it’s hard to say it’s not your fault when you back into somebody.” The report highlights that the town’s “free truck” hasn’t been free. During the fiscal year which ended June 30. the town spent $3,740.99 for fuel, $2,013.49 for external maintenance and repair, $682.50 for internal maintenance and repair, $523.98 for supplies, $49.44 for parts, $558.18 for licensing and $380 for insurance, along with the claim settlement. The town is self-insured. Recycling Christmas treesDecember 22nd, 2008, 4:24 pm by Blake HerzogGilbert’s annual Chrismas tree recycling program, which typically yields about 11,000 pounds of mulch for town landscaping projects, will gear up again the day after Christmas. A majority of residents recycle their trees, rather than place them on the curb for refuse pickup. Trees can be dropped off from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 at:
Catholic church, school approved by councilDecember 3rd, 2008, 12:59 pm by Blake HerzogThe Gilbert Town Council gave unanimous approval Tuesday night to all three phases planned for St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, planned for the northeast corner of Williams Field Road and Parkcrest Drive. Last month the town’s planning commission approved the first two planned phases of the church, which required a conditional use permit to proceed. The parish would have had to return for an additional hearing before building a K-8 school, something church officials expect will happen about seven to 10 years down the road. Neighbors already contending with traffic from a nearby Mormon church said at both hearings they did not oppose the church building there but were concerned about the additional vehicles that St Mary Magdelene’s would bring to Parkcrest, the street most of them use to get in and out of their homes. Town Councilwoman Linda Abbott triggered the council hearing by appealing the commission’s decision on the permit, explaining she wasn’t opposed to the church building there but wanted the council to take more responsibility for how traffic circulation in the area had changed since its acccess to Greenfield Road had been closed off, after the Loop 202 freeway was built through. Council members expressed particular concern over how the opening of a school would affect traffic in the area, but in the end concluded the church and town were taking the right measures to handle traffic, and the local officials who helped create the situation in the first place would be taking the calls in any case, rather than church leaders. Free foreclosure advice Dec. 13November 30th, 2008, 12:00 pm by Blake Herzog
The Arizona Foreclosure Prevention Task Force has scheduled two “foreclosure survival” events for the East Valley, including one 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 13 at Gilbert Town Hall, 50 E. Civic Center Drive. Topics to be covered and include: the options to foreclosure and the foreclosure process, how to create a “crisis budget,” and how neighborhoods can work through the issues they face due to foreclosures. One-on-one counseling will be available for families facing a foreclosure, as well as information on where to get help when facing economic challenges and how to get help when someone has lost a job. The Leadership Centre is co-sponsoring the event in partnership with the municipalities of Mesa, Chandler, Fountain Hills, Gilbert, Queen Creek and Apache Junction. For more information visit www.theleadershipcentre.org.
Crowded Town Council agendaNovember 28th, 2008, 6:26 pm by Blake Herzog
The Gilbert Town Council has two controversial zoning issues for its 7 p.m. Tuesday meeting: • The Pecos-Mercy general plan amendment, involving 98 acres near Pecos and Greenfield roads, just east of Mercy Gilbert Medical Center. The property owners are seeking a change to office and commercial classifications which would allow research centers and medical offices to be built. Some nearby residents have objected to building heights and overall densities proposed on the site, though the developers have made some concessions which appeased some of their concerns. Others are objecting to the idea of an 8-acre shopping center on the corner of Pecos and Greenfield roads, arguing the town already has too much commercial space and that it isn’t compatible with other planned buildings at the intersection, which include a Mormon temple. • A minor general plan amendment for the Bridges planned development at Higley and Ocotillo roads. The developer is seeking permission to increase the density for two areas set aside for apartments or condominiums. One reason the developer wants to proceed is that there are no immediate neighbors around to object to the idea, but Town Council members and other residents concerned about the number of apartments already built and approved in Gilbert have raised objection. The Planning Commission has recommended approval of the change on one of the parcels involved and denial on the second.
Also, the council will accept the resignation of Gilbert Planning Commission member and Highland Justice of the Peace-elect Dan Dodge, who is stepping down after 17 years, in accordance with state laws which prohibit justices of the peace from holding positions on other boards. The Town Council is scheduled to accept his letter of resignation at its Tuesday meeting. He officially steps down Jan. 1 and his current term ends June 1. The council will fill the vacancy next year as it interviews and selects applicants for numerous board openings. Any Gilbert resident interested in serving on a town board can fill out an interest form on the town Web site. Other topics on the agenda include a report on the possibility of a four-day workweek for some town employees, a conditional use permit for a Catholic church that wants to build in a neighborhood already unhappy with traffic levels from another church, a hearing on an ordinance which would allow for alcohol consumption in the Polar Ice rink located in Crossroads Park, an intergovernmental agreement with Mesa for fire dispatch services and the reallocation of $95,000 from a little-used rehabilitation program for landowners in the Sonora Town neighborhood. Skousen submits signaturesNovember 26th, 2008, 7:16 pm by Blake HerzogGilbert Town Councilman Don Skousen said Wednesday he has turned nominating petitions with 466 signatures in to the Town Clerk’s office to lock in his run for mayor, setting the stage for a much-anticipated three-way race between sitting or former council members in the March primary. Mayor Steve Berman and former Councilman Dave Petersen turned in around 600 signatures each last week in order to get onto the ballot. It takes 240 valid signatures to qualify. Both Skousen and Berman are finishing up their second terms in their current offices, with Skousen deciding this summer to challenge Berman for the job after previously saying he would retire from politics. Petersen served one term on the council, before he was defeated by Councilwoman Joan Krueger in 2005. At least three more men have formed political committees to support a mayoral candidacy and could make the ballot if they turn enough signatures in by the Dec. 10 deadline: Eric Hurley, a GoDaddy service representative and college student; Adam Turner, senior manager of business development with the Arizona Cardinals; and recent entrant John Lewis, director of information technology for the Apollo Group. No potential candidates for the two available Town Council seats had turned signatures in as of late Wednesday afternoon. Berman, Petersen file petitionsNovember 11th, 2008, 11:04 am by Blake HerzogGilbert Mayor Steve Berman and former Councilman Dave Petersen filed nominating petitions with the Town Clerk’s office Monday to run for mayor in next spring’s town elections. Candidates wanting to run for mayor or the two open council seats have a one-month window, which began Monday, to turn in at least 240 valid signatures to qualify them for the ballot. Town Clerk Cathy Templeton said both men turned in more than the minimum number of required signatures, but did not know their exact totals. At least 13 Gilbert residents have formed political committees backing a run for mayor or Town Council, but Templeton said we shouldn’t expect additional candidates to come flooding in just yet: “Most of them will come in the last week.” Petersen, who served one term on the council before being defeated by Councilwoman Joan Krueger four years ago, said he turned in more than 600 signatures, collected by about 15 volunteer circulators. “People were lining up to sign them,” he said. A fiscal conservative and member of the John Birch Society, Petersen said he thinks he’s gotten support from a fairly broad cross-section of petition signers. “I’d say about half the people I talked know me and are familiar with what I’m about, and 40 percent want Berman out and 10 percent were oblivious to what’s going on in town,” he said. Berman could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday morning. Mayoral and council races which are not decided by a majority of the vote in the March 10 primary will go on to the May 19 general election for a runoff. According to a town report, Gilbert now has 96,629 registered voters, including 15,000 who have signed up since November 2007 and 30,000 who are on the permanent early voting list. These factors are expected to boost the cost of the election beyond the $240,000 that has been budgeted, the report said. Not so fast, sign walkers…October 29th, 2008, 1:20 pm by Blake HerzogThe Gilbert Town Council decided at Tuesday’s meeting to put off a vote on the proposed “sign walker” ordinance, required by state law by Dec. 31 to regulate businesses who pay people to stand on the side of the road, holding signs to advertise their business. This practice is currently banned in Gilbert. The council is asking for clarification in the language of the new ordinance that town attorney Susan Goodwin said she could have ready by the next council meeting. Just after that decision, Mayor Steve Berman and Councilman Don Skousen both said they favored compiling the number of calls for service generated for the town’s fire department by the Gilbert County Island Fire District. The district was formed under a new state law after a protracted battle between county residents seeking protection after Rural/Metro halted service to the area and town officials who raised cost and safety concerns. Skousen asked if fire district residents, some of whom said they didn’t expect more than one or two calls a month to come in from their areas, were being notified of how many calls were actually coming in.” The number of times is much more than they thought it was going to be when they were negotiating this,” Skousen said. Berman, who will face Skousen in this spring’s upcoming mayoral election, agreed with him. “I think we owe it to our citizens to let them know the amount of services people really are requiring, to show them we really weren’t trying to be unreasonable,” he said. Town Councilman Les Presmyk said he didn’t think publicizing the numbers would help anybody without providing additional context on the issue. The issue of whether to compile and publicize these figures could come up at a future meeting. Night of the sign walkersOctober 28th, 2008, 12:26 am by Blake HerzogGilbert’s Town Council is set to approve new guidelines for “sign walkers,” or people who hold or wear signs on the side of the road for motorists to view, at tonight’s meeting. Town ordinances had previously banned the practice, with officials citing safety and aesthetic concerns, but this year the Legislature passed a law requiring all Arizona cities and towns to allow roving sign bearers by the end of this year. The Gilbert Planning Commission has already signed off on the proposed ordinance, which permits business owners to use sign walkers to advertise their businesses during their normal operating hours if they stay five feet away from the street and 30 feet away from intersections and driveways, among other restrictions. Here is a town staff report and the full text of the proposed regulations. Tonight’s meeting will begin at 7 p.m., but the council likely won’t get to any town business until around 8 p.m., following this year’s first “student of the month” awards. Beth Lucas and Jason Massad have previously written about this topic for the Trib, and Tony D’Astoli shot this video about a subcategory of sign walker a while back. |