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ZOOM VIRTUAL PLATFORM [Meeting ID 5301232921] Mesa City Council Study Session Mon 10.05.2020 at 5:15 p.m.

The Final Agenda (inserted farther down) was printed on Thu 10.01 preceded on page one with the now not-unusual Notice using a safeguard to decrease exposure to the air-borne COVID-19 contagion to close-down City Council Chambers to the public - and the elected seven members - at the same time allowing salaried city officials like the city manager and city attorney to sit closely side-by-side almost next to each other plus three other city officials on the other side of the tables seated together in close proximity. In addition if there are presentations to be made (or back-up people who might be needed to answer potential questions) they are permitted in-person inside The Lower Chambers rather than from a remote location at home or at a work station.

For an example, you can watch all that in the VOD from Mesa Channel 11 http://mesa11.com/vod/?show=1945&Mode2=Video or

streaming on YouTube > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x87cTTfoVV8 

BLOGGER NOTE: It's all very confusing with Hizzoner wondering what items are being discussed or talked about + a whole parade of people - with or without masks - called on to talk.

Here's the agenda for last Thursday's study session if you want to try to follow along:

Agenda
1 Review and discuss items on the agenda for the October 5, 2020 regular Council meeting.
2-a Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on the proposed opening of the Arizona Museum of Natural History and the i.d.e.a. Museum.
2-b Hear a presentation and discuss proposed text amendments to Chapters 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 31, 33, 86, and 87 of Title 11 of the Mesa Zoning Ordinance including: 1) modifying certain development standards for assisted living facilities, including distance separation from major roadway intersections; 2) refining text-related development standards for residential uses in commercial districts to remove ambiguity; and 3) adding definitions for mixed-use developments, and boat and recreational vehicle storage.
2-c Approval of minutes from previous executive sessions
3 Acknowledge receipt of minutes of various boards and committees
4 Current events summary including meetings and conferences attended ____________________________________________________________________________________

Council Study Session Notice: To decrease COVID-19 exposure, the City Council Chambers is closed, but public viewing and input on the items are available electronically.   Members of the City Council will appear electronically for this meeting, via a video conferencing platform, and the live meeting will be accessible via broadcast and telephonically.  Because of the current public health emergency, the City Council Chambers is closed for Council study sessions. However, the live meeting may be watched on local cable Mesa channel 11, online at Mesa11.com/live, www.youtube.com/user/cityofmesa11/live, or https://www.facebook.com/CityofMesa,  or listened to by calling 888-788-0099 or 877-853-5247 (toll free) using meeting ID 5301232921 and following the prompts.   

For any difficulties accessing this meeting, please call 480-644-2099

5:15 Virtual Platform Monday, October 5, 2020

NEW APPOINTMENTS? Appointments are usually made and approved in June

APPROVED MINUTES MORE THAN A MONTH AFTER A BOARD MEETING?
Roll Call
1 Review and discuss items on the agenda for the October 5, 2020 regular Council meeting.

2 Take action on the following appointments:

20-1008 Appointments to the Building Board of Appeals, Personnel Appeals Board, and Transportation Advisory Board. 2-a

File #:

20-1008

Type:

Appointment

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

10/5/2020

Title:

Appointments to the Building Board of Appeals, Personnel Appeals Board, and Transportation Advisory Board.

Attachments:

1. Appointment Memo

HERE ARE THE APPOINTMENTS CONTROLLED AND NOMINATED BY MAYOR GILES

October 5, 2020  

TO:  CITY COUNCILMEMBERS  

FROM: MAYOR JOHN GILES  

SUBJECT: Appointments to Boards and Committees  

The following are my recommendations for appointments to City of Mesa Advisory Boards and Committees.  
Building Board of Appeals – Nine-member board including new appointments. 

Chris Thompkins, District 2.

Mr. Thompkins is the owner and managing member of Synergy Plumbing LLC and has more than 15 years’ experience in the plumbing industry. He holds certifications in commercial plumbing inspection, medical gas inspection, technical rescue and various fire and rescue trainings. He is a licensed journeyman and certified EMT.

His term expires June 30, 2023. 

Personnel Appeals Board – Five-member board including new appointments.   

James Hill. District 1.

Mr. Hill is a Principal at Rephill, LLC, a technical product sales company with customers in the private and public sector. Mr. Hill has nearly 20 years’ experience in the sale and delivery of hardware, software, subscriptions and services. He was also an elected official at the state and local level in Oregon. 

His term expires June 30, 2023. 

Transportation Advisory Board – Eleven-member board including new appointments. 

Michelle McCroskey, District 1.

Ms. McCroskey works in Human Resources at State Farm and has been with the company for more than 40 years. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Arizona State University and has served on several local and regional transportation and trail projects.

She is also a member of the Lehi Community Improvement Association.

Her term expires June 30, 2023.  

3 Acknowledge receipt of minutes of various boards and committees.

20-1018 Human Relations Advisory Board meeting held on August 26, 2020.3-a

File #:

20-1018

Type:

Minutes

Status:

Agenda Ready

In control:

City Council Study Session

On agenda:

10/5/2020

Title:

Human Relations Advisory Board meeting held on August 26, 2020.

Attachments:

1. Human Relations Advisory Board Minutes Aug 26, 2020

4 Current events summary including meetings and conferences attended.
5 Scheduling of meetings.

_________________________________________________________________________

Rights-To-Water Run With The Land . . . There was a long history of cultures and peoples who got displaced

Some history

The Gila River People, Victims of Modernity

Common Science Space

The river people

“Centuries ago the Hohokam Indians lived in the fertile valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers.” So begins a collection of the legends of the Pima Indians written by Anna Moore Shaw (3). Shaw was herself a Pima Indian, or, as they called themselves in earlier times, the Akimel O’odham, the River People. The Pima Indians of today live in an area south of Phoenix, Arizona, along the Gila River (Figure 2). Their location overlies what we know about the Hohokam lands.

Figure 2. The home of the Gila River Indian Community The Salt and Gila Rivers flow east to west. Present day dams that divert the Salt River into a series of canals are indicated. Roosevelt Dam was completed in 1911, creating Theodore Roosevelt Lake, and Coolidge Dam was completed in 1930. Important locations include the Casa Grande structure, an artifact of the Hohokam times, and the city of Florence, site of the Florence Canal, which is described in the text. The Gila Indians today live on the Reserve shown, with headquarters at Sacaton. The related Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indians live on a separate reserve on the Salt. . .

A tale of two countries

The Pima Indians living along the Gila River in Arizona are closely related to another Pima group who live in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora, in the Sierra Madre Mountains (Figure 6). They belong to the same linguistic group, and share almost all of their genetic identity (5). But their medical conditions are very different, and starkly illustrate the importance of living conditions and circumstances on health.

Figure 6. The location of the Mexican Pima at Maycoba.

What became an existential threat was the taking of the water, a threat that was almost inevitable . . . once Americans began to settle the land east of the Pimas. Those farmers needed water, and they took it. A series of diversion dams was built on the Salt River (Figure 2) and on the upstream Gila River. As early as 1859, an American Indian agent warned that diversion of the water would cause irreparable damage to the Pima people, and their community would become uninhabitable. This was in response to an investigation by the Department of the Interior to a proposal from The Florence Canal Company to build a waterway to irrigate the farms of white settlers, in 1886 (the city of Florence is indicated on the map). Nevertheless, the diversion dam and canals were built. In the words of Russell, “A thrifty, industrious, and peaceful people that had been in effect a friendly nation rendering succor and assistance to emigrants and troops for many years when they sorely needed it was deprived of the rights inhering from centuries of residence. The marvel is that the starvation, despair, and dissipation that resulted did not overwhelm the tribe.”

Despite a promise by the Florence Canal Company to not diminish the water supply to the Pima, that is exactly what happened. By 1880 the Gila was insufficient to sustain the Pima agricultural economy, and domestic water was lacking for many. The Pima, reluctant to give up, dug wells for water to maintain their livestock, but even this was stymied as the water table began to fall due to wells on the many farms upstream. The Pima became woodcutters, harvesting mesquite and selling it, until it was gone. The historian DeJong has concluded, “Handicapped by federal land and resource policies, the once-prosperous Pima descended into poverty. . . Convenient scholarly assumptions that American Indians were inherently unfit for, or overwhelmed by, unfamiliar western economies, however, are specious. In the case of the Pima, it was not a matter of the triumph of western civilization that displaced their economy as much as it was federal and territorial laws that prevented them from building on their economic success.” (4)

Actor Jeff Daniels: "The Country Is Broken" | Amanpour and Company

New mini-series: 
"The Comey Rule" on Showtime

'Green Zone' Breached: Iraq Falling Apart?

The 300th episode for this program - they say it's "the real news"
"Over the weekend a militia supporting Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr breached the "Green Zone" protecting the Iraqi government and foreign embassies in Baghdad. 
They are protesting ongoing corruption among Iraq's US-backed leaders. 
Lawmakers fled and a state of emergency was declared. 
Is this the beginning of the end for post-"liberation" Iraq?"

Charlie Kirk/Turning Point USA Leftists Are Testing Totalitarianism

The group got a rebuke from FB for dis-infomation, but they do have this
Script on YouTube : GREAT Advice, Charlie Kirk! 
This Is What It Takes To Make It In Politics! #iHeartAmerica #ThinkForYourself Subscribe to the channel ►https://bit.ly/3gi53YK 

5,445 views

•Sep 30, 2020

World in disarray: Angry exchanges at top UN meeting on COVID-19

Tone of conflict got started by Trump with an attack on China
The UN secretary-general told world leaders they have failed to fight the coronavirus - preferring to trade words rather than unite in the face of the pandemic. Antonio Guterres was speaking as representatives from the United States and China were involved in angry exchanges at a session of the Security Council over who was responsible. Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports from New York, US.

77,573 views

•Sep 25, 2020

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