Streaming 2-Hour Video Mesa City Council Study Session 11 April 2019

This study session is almost two hours long. When uploaded to this blog at 08:00 this morning there were 40 views on YouTube. The screengrab provided by Mesa Channel 11 that you see in the insert is from Item 2 on the session's agenda.
The first item is TO REVIEW AND DISCUSS ITEMS on the agenda items for Monday's Regular City Council Meeting on April 15th at 5:45 p.m.
Please watch how the mayor makes the points of order at this study session instead of just saying "various" this and that . . .

 A number of small-dollar grants, added to the agenda made public the day before the meeting, are the first thing to get mentioned. The revenues come from a mandated city-share of gambling incomes from two tribes, one from Homeland Security. There's also an item for more money for the city's Facade Improvement Project that's required due to the fact that the consultant hired by the city only did a casual job estimating, while other required details were found by the construction company doing the work.

There are other agenda items with big-dollar amounts attached to them, especially with job contract awards.
There are major multi-residential and industrial developments in District 6, some "opt-ins" by City Manager Chris Brady that need to get approved at the Elliot Road Technology Corridor, the creation of some more water irrigation districts, and action the city wants to take by using eminent domain to seize an 18.6-acre privately-owned land parcel next to city-owned land by Lehi Road when a low-ball offered got turned down.

The fact that all these items and the review of the Mesa Police Department budget are both included in this one study session would test anyone's power of concentration.
Perhaps that is done for a reason, when the Mesa PD budget might deserve closer attention in itself - it's puzzling that the police have been enlisted in "mental health" when there are so few, in any, professional qualified mental health experts on-staff. But let's not get too-detailed too early.  
Mayor John Giles notes that D5 David Luna is absent, then goes right to asking if the entire Consent Agenda is still intact - those are action items that all get approved at the same time, but any councilmember or member of the public can ask for an item to be removed for individual consideration - D6 Kevin Thompson requests that Item 4-t be removed within the first few minutes

Yes, there are consequences: The input that the mayor and the six city councilmembers do receive will then originate from other sources than the public without you . Not everything is fair in politics as you probably realize when there are other competing priorities that will set and determine the policies here in the City of Mesa. With that in mind, here's what on the agenda for today's study session.
At first glance the list on Agenda Items might look easy-and-simple. FAIR WARNING > It is not just 1, 2, . . . 3
_________________________________________________________________________
1 Review and discuss items on the agenda for the April 15, 2019 regular Council meeting.
  
2 Presentations/Action Items:

• 19-0405 Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on the Police Department budget. (Item 2-a)
• 19-0471 Appointments to the 2020 Census Task Force (Item 2-b)

3 Acknowledge receipt of minutes of various boards and committees.

• 19-0460 Housing and Community Development Advisory Board meetings held on February 26 and February 27, 2019 (Item 3-a)
• 19-0473 Economic Development Advisory Board meeting held on March 5, 2019 (Item 3-b )

_________________________________________________________________________  Here are meeting details and links for Item 2 and Item  3 Attachments: Meeting Items (4) 4 records Group Clear sorting Clear grouping Group by Type Group by Result Export Export to Excel Export to PDF Export to Word Show: Legislation only Legislation only All agenda items File # Agenda # Type Title Action Result Action Details 19-0405 2-a Presentation Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on the Police Department budget.     Not available 19-0471 2-b Appointment Appointments to the 2020 Census Task Force.     Not available 19-0460 3-a Minutes Housing and Community Development Advisory Board meetings held on February 26 and February 27, 2019.     Not available 19-0473 3-b Minutes Economic Development Advisory Board meeting held on March 5, 2019.     Not available                                  _________________________________________________________________________ Here's just one item. Note that members previously on the Task Force have resigned to get replaced by four new persons who are faith-based related. Likewise, unless you are curious who the other 20 members are, their names and affiliations are not included. WHAT IS THE CITY'S 2020 CENSUS TASK FORCE? The purpose and work of the Taskforce is to increase response rates from individuals that would otherwise not be counted, thereby increasing population-driven revenues to the City over the next decade.  Here is the Council Report The Bottom-Line: The city needs you to count because every person - man, woman, and child - is worth $3,195 every year. ________________________________________________________________________ First note the Fiscal Impact Fiscal Impact  The City of Mesa receives approximately $330 per person in state-shared revenue annually for each resident counted. According to the George Washington University report, Counting for Dollars 2020, it is estimated that each person counted directs $2,865 of federal funding to education, transportation, healthcare, housing and other needs in Mesa each year.