Council Study Session - 4/6/2017

Kevin Thompson gets active for a change .... what's up with that?
City Manager Chris Brady chimes in about city-owned facilities Mesa Convention Center
Published on Apr 10, 2017
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Duration: 1:15:30


This is the agenda taken from an earlier post on this site 05 April 2017

Meeting Agenda - Final
Mesa Council Chambers 57 East First Street07:30 am Lower Level Council Chambers Any citizen wishing to speak on an agenda item should complete and turn in a blue card to the City Clerk before that item is presented.
Capital Improvement Program FY2018/22
1 Parks/Recreation/Community Facilities
2 Public Safety
3 Transportation
+ Executive Session [Closed to Public]

Source: Research Center for Council, Board and Committee Meetings
The Council may vote to hold an executive session for the purposes of obtaining legal advice from the City Attorney (A.R.S. §38-431.03A(3)) or to discuss and instruct the City Attorney regarding the City’s position regarding contracts that are the subject of negotiations, in pending or contemplated litigation or in settlement discussions conducted in order to avoid or resolve litigation. (A.R.S. §38-431.03A(4)).

How much time did the Council have for this?
ACTION ITEM 3
3 Acknowledge receipt of minutes of various boards and committees.
17-0434 Audit, Finance and Enterprise Committee meeting held on March 6, 2017.

THIS IS AN 82-PAGE REPORT > Council, Board and Committee Research Center
3-a
AUDIT, FINANCE & ENTERPRISE COMMITTEE  March 6, 2017  
The Audit, Finance & Enterprise Committee of the City of Mesa met in the lower level meeting room of the Council Chambers, 57 East 1st Street, on March 6, 2017, at 2:33 p.m.  
COMMITTEE ABSENT  Christopher Brady, Ex Officio
COMMITTEE PRESENT  Mark Freeman, Christopher Glover, David Luna  
STAFF PRESENT  Jim Smith, DeeAnn Mickelson, Michael Kennington

Why Back In The Public Eye? Newsmaker Sunday: Matt Salmon

Sporting a beard now and raving about 'people making change'? That old "Spending-time-with-family" excuse to leave office is getting real tired real fast. 
His hand-selected successor to Congress Andy Biggs barely squawked by with 27 votes in a first forced recount in the November 2016 election.
Salmon can't seem to get over - like many Mesa politicians - that he lost out to Janet Napolitano for the governor's 5 years ago.

Published on Apr 7, 2017

FOX 10's John Hook talks to Matt Salmon, who is retiring after serving 10 years in Congress as Arizona's representative for the 5th District.

Border-Lines of the United States: 200 Years of Change

Published on Dec 14, 2016

Views: 17,886

It didn't take long for the US to begin expanding westward after winning independence from British rule.

By the mid-1800s, the country had pushed its territorial bounds across North America to the Pacific Ocean, and began dividing up territory into its present-day 50 states.

Million$$$ Spent on IT Here in Mesa > Increasing Transparency & Citizen Engagement???

2016 Digital Cities:

Winners Focus on Transparency, Security, Infrastructure

Source: http://www.govtech.com/dc/digital-cities/

Looking Back: Last year’s top digital cities know data demands are only going to grow, and they want to be prepared >

The City of Mesa Fell off the 2016 List.

 

 

Digital Cities Survey 2016 – Winners Announced

Open to all U.S. cities, the survey recognizes leading examples of cities using technology to improve services, boost efficiencies, and increase government transparency and citizen engagement.

by Janet Grenslitt / November 9, 2016

Digital Cities Survey Winners Employ Technology to Improve Citizen Services, Encourage Engagement and Enhance Transparency
Nov. 10, 2016 – The Center for Digital Government (CDG) today announced the winners of the 2016 Digital Cities Survey. Now in its 15th anniversary year, the annual survey recognizes cities using technology to improve citizen services, enhance transparency and encourage citizen engagement.
“This year’s top digital cities are using technology to ensure citizens can meaningfully interact with city government more easily than any other time in history,” said Todd Sander, executive director of the Center for Digital Government. “From open data portals to enhanced connectivity and mobile platforms, this year’s top-ranked cities are actively promoting transparency, encouraging citizen participation and making it easier for people to do business with government. Congratulations to the winners!"
The survey honors cities in five population classifications this year - see the complete list of winners on this website > http://www.govtech.com/dc/digital-cities/Digital-Cities-Survey-2016-Winners-Announced.html 

Readers of this blog might find it interesting go note that NO COUNTY HERE IN ARIZONA is on this list: http://www.govtech.com/dc/digital-counties/Digital-Counties-Survey-2016-Winners-Announced.html

            
 

 

2016: The Year in Data (Infographic)

While the data from the previous year represents a look back at major trends of the year, it also paints a picture of where public-sector IT teams will be focused in the future.

by Editorial Staff / December 2016

For Government Technology, 2016 was the year of data.

The Center for Digital Government, the research arm of e.Republic, conducted nationwide surveys to determine which state and local governments use technology the most efficiently and effectively, and also examined which websites are at the forefront of innovation and user-centric design.

 

While the data represents a look back at major trends of the year, it also paints a picture of where public-sector IT teams will be focused in the future.

Click the infographic on the left to enlarge or go to this link for more details >

http://www.govtech.com/data/2016-The-Year-in-Data-Infographic.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016 DIGITAL CITIES WINNERS

500,000 or more population category:
1st Los Angeles
2nd Philadelphia
3rd Phoenix, Ariz.
4th Charlotte, N.C.
4th Seattle
5th Austin, Texas
6th Albuquerque, N.M.
7th Denver, Colo.
8th San Francisco
9th Louisville, Ky.
10th El Paso, Texas

 

On January 1, 2014 Mesa ranked #10 on 2014 Digital Cities Survey Winners:

Phoenix has moved up to #3

Mesa is not on the list for 2016

2014 DIGITAL CITIES WINNERS

250,000 or more population:
1st City of Los Angeles, CA
2nd City of Kansas City, MO
2nd City of Seattle, WA
3rd City of Jacksonville, FL
3rd Louisville Metro Government, KY
4th City of Philadelphia, PA
5th City of Raleigh, NC
5th City of Riverside, CA
6th City of Long Beach, CA
6th City of Phoenix, AZ
7th City and County of Denver, CO
8th City of Oakland, CA
9th City of Albuquerque, NM
9th City of Sacramento, CA
10th City of Mesa, AZ   

 

2016 DIGITAL CITIES WINNERS

250,000 – 499,999 population category: 1st Virginia Beach, Va.
2nd Kansas City, Mo.
3rd Pittsburgh, Pa.
4th Greensboro, N.C.
5th Riverside, Calif.
6th Long Beach, Calif.
7th Sacramento, Calif.
8th Cincinnati, Ohio
9th Henderson, Nev.
10th Omaha, Neb.

 

 

 

Smart Cities/ Digital Transformation: The Hype Cycle?

Published on Mar 24, 2017

Views: 420

Aniruddha Dheodar, ARM IoT Solutions Lead, and Lee Simpson, Technology analyst at Stifel, discuss how Smart City technology can create billions of dollars of value for companies and public sector organisations. They also explore the structural and technical hurdles that organisations must overcome in order to achieve the full potential of digital transformation through IoT

Penzone Picks A Fight with The City of Mesa

Penzone warns of private prisons' threat to county jails
By Brahm Resnik, KPNX 4:14 PM. MST April 09, 2017
Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone is warning that private prisons pose a financial threat to county jails, by leaving the jails with inmates who cost the most money to house.
Penzone's comments on this weekend's "Sunday Square Off" come as the City of Mesa weighs whether to become the first city in the state to hire a private prison operator.
Link to article and video here

Until now, the debate over the cost of private prisons versus taxpayer-owned prisons had been going on only at the Capitol.
Mesa would send misdemeanor offenders to a private prison, while more serious offenders would still go to Penzone's jails.
Penzone said he's working with Mesa on a deal to reduce jail costs. He warned that the county would be a net loser by being stuck with higher-cost inmates.
Private prisons are "going to be taking those that are least expensive to themselves - they don't have medical expenses or mental illness, they're not highly violent," Penzone said.
"The ones that cost the most to house are still going to be our burden, where they reap the benefit of taking those that are least expensive."
Two-thirds of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office budget is dedicated to jail operations

 

How Wrong Can The Mesa City Council Think Re: Private Prisons???

Back on March 22, 2017 shortly after a presentation in front of the Mesa City Council by Interim Police Chief Mike Dvorak, your MesaZona blogger immediately uploaded this post.
If you have not taken the time to read it - or viewed the YouTube video of the presentation - feel free to do that now that ...yours truly is thrilled to see other journalists like Benjamin Steele report on this questionable stunt.

Make Maricopa dangerous again: Mesa bets against crime reduction

A private prison contract is a lose-lose bet against Mesa residents

by Benjamin Steele | 14 hours ago

The City of Mesa is considering collaborating with CoreCivic, previously known as Corrections Corporation of America, to begin sending persons convicted of a misdemeanor to private prison facilities in Eloy and Florence. 

This would mark the first time an Arizona municipality has used private prisons in place of county jail facilities for misdemeanor offenders. Students at Polytechnic campus and residing in Mesa are directly endangered by worse incarceration conditions.

Image from this report five years ago

Private Prisons Not Good for Arizona

sedona times / May 27, 2012

A year later - and this important for who we have now as Arizona General and what his background is

A Case Study on CCA’s Web of Influence in Arizona: Mark Brnovich

Submitted by Beau Hodai on September 23, 2013

DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy launched an investigation of the influence of the private prison industry on state policies. A review of public records this revealed a surprising connection between Arizona Department of Gaming Director Mark Brnovich and the Corrections Corporation of America. In the midst of this story being written, Brnovich announced he would be leaving his post in state gaming regulation, which paves the way for him to seek the post of state Attorney General.

A former Corrections Corporation of America "senior director of business development" and lobbyist is planning to run for the office of Arizona's top law enforcement officer, Attorney General.

Mesa is angry with Maricopa County, after prices per booking rose by 60 percent at the County’s Fourth Avenue Jail. In return, they are further empowering a corporation that has cut corners and endangered prisoner lives, abdicating core tenants of moral use of state power.

Steve Kilner of the American Civil Liberties Union said that the private prisons, rather than embracing rehabilitation, have profit motives in creating an endless cycle of incarceration, release and re-arrest.

“They are perfectly happy to have people reentering the prison system, because the more bodies they have, the more money they are making, and that is completely counter to what a prison system should be,” Kilner said.

This particularly impacts those living within Mesa. Rather than improving police-community relations, this directly drives a wedge between the two, as police patrols now have the duty to protect and serve city investments rather than city residents.

Private prisons contractually charge some localities that do not fill their quotas, meaning that if Mesa experiences a reduction in crime, it may be a drawback for the city budget. CoreCivic and other private prison corporations keep profits up through the use of inoccupancy fines.

According to In the Public Interest, three Arizona contracts require 100 percent occupancy, without which there are inoccupancy fines.

A contractual occupancy quota — something which would be negotiated between now and a final decision — could mean increased patrols around Mesa, looking to improve arrest quotas to avoid sizable fines.

Already, the county is dealing with a declining inmate population, which is part of the problem surrounding the costs of incarceration for the county. In a written statement on March 22, 2017, Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said that this was the principle reason for the increase in costs. 

“Hard costs of staffing and facilities is unchanged,” the statement said.

If there is a lack of crime around Maricopa County, it seems odd that a Maricopa County municipality would be the first to look toward having a capacity minimum in prisons. But the crime drop reported into 2014 appears to be holding across the county.

Arrest rates for violent crime in 2014 remained at 31,936, dropping to 29,859 in 2015, the last year for which Arizona Department of Public Safety data is available. Total arrests have fallen by 15 percent from 2013 to 2015.

If Mesa fails to take this into account, they could wind up with an occupancy requirement clause in the contract that would cost the city more money for having less crime. This extends beyond the social costs of a system that ties financial incentives to keeping higher numbers of residents incarcerated.

That means more unnecessary enforcement for highly watched neighborhoods like those around the university, but will also strain relations further between the City of Mesa and communities of color.

Maricopa County is reworking its incarceration system, particularly with the staff changes being reflected in this week’s announced closing of the infamous Tent City.
While it remains to be seen how this closure will affect the cost of the system overall, it would be wise for the City of Mesa to wait and see, rather than getting into a high-risk contract with CoreCivic.

If the ethical quandaries of private prisons aren’t enough, then the price tag of a safer Mesa should be enough to end Mesa’s foray into a CoreCivic contract.

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Reach the columnist at benjamin.steele@asu.edu or follow @blsteele17 on Twitter.

Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.

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