Facing mounting complaints about rising water and utility bills, Gilbert Town Council signaled Tuesday that relief for some agricultural water users could be forthcoming.
The comment from Councilmember Jim Torgeson came near the end of an often-contentious public comment session dominated by resident frustration over water policy, infrastructure spending, rate-setting authority and, later, allegations involving public records and council conduct.
Council candidate Bill Spence, himself a former council member, urged the council to adopt an ordinance allowing certain agricultural properties, which he described as “home farms,” to pay business water rates while retaining residential rates for other utilities. He argued the change would be easy to implement and provide immediate financial relief to a small number of affected properties.
“I propose that this council adopt an ordinance that allows for home farms that are operating as a business to be eligible for business water rates while maintaining residential rates for all other utilities,” Spence said.
Spence said the number of qualifying properties would be low, and the overall impact on town revenue negligible, while the benefit to local farmers would be significant.
“The resulting financial relief for those home farms would literally save the homes and lives of the very people who made Gilbert Gilbert,” he said.
In response, Torgeson said the concept was moving forward, signaling that agricultural rate relief may come before the council.
“You will see something come forward about ag rates,” Torgeson said.
Water affordability concerns extended well beyond agriculture, with multiple residents criticizing the scale and timing of recent water, sewer, trash and recycling rate increases.
A resident who only identified herself as Anna F. questioned past leadership decisions and accused the town of prioritizing discretionary projects over core infrastructure.
“I’m compelled to ask what precisely was laudable about (former Town Manager Patrick Banger’s) mismanagement of the town’s water infrastructure, his repeated deferral of necessary action, and the resulting financial burden now imposed on residents,” she said, referencing recognition the council gave Banger during the previous meeting, which was his last before he took the Glendale city manager job.
Anna also urged council to halt further rate increases.
Barbara Colvin challenged the council’s authority to raise utility rates, arguing residents lack meaningful oversight or protection.
“You have unregulated power to increase the rates, and you are misusing this power,” Colvin said.
Colvin also criticized long-term planning, saying prolonged drought conditions were well known while development approvals continued.
“Arizona being in a drought is no surprise to any of you, yet you, the council, and the town manager saw fit to keep approving more construction,” she said.
Darrell Grossen framed water funding as a matter of survival and called on the council to reprioritize spending.
“If water is life, why isn’t it all hands on deck?” Grossen said.
Grossen also objected to residents bearing the brunt of rising costs.
“Instead, you are financially drowning us,” he said.
Public comment also included allegations involving public records practices and council conduct, raised by residents Maureen Hoppe and Charisia Arnold.
Hoppe accused council members of harassment and cyberbullying and said claims related to public records had not been supported with evidence.
“To date, not a single piece of evidence has been provided, just a lot of hot air and no actual facts,” Hoppe said.
Hoppe also questioned whether council members were connected to anonymous social media activity.
“Do any of you realize how many laws would be violated if a member of council were involved in using fake social media accounts to harass residents and influence upcoming elections?” she said.
Arnold criticized proposed spending on email and records management systems, arguing the purchases would undermine transparency rather than improve it. The proposals were approved during the consent agenda portion of the meeting.
“These expenditures are not intended to provide greater transparency,” Arnold said. “Rather they appear to be tools to facilitate the faster deletion of records.”
Arnold further alleged the timing of the proposals was tied to ongoing complaints against town officials.
“There is simply no valid reason to approve these items unless the intention is to perpetuate a criminal conspiracy to cover up misconduct,” she said.
Council members, limited by state law in how much they can respond, did not engage in extended debate during public comment, though Torgeson and Chuck Bongiovanni later denied any involvement with a fake social media account referenced by Hoppe.
Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
Gilbert Town Council,
water rates,
utility rates,
agricultural water rates,
public comment,
Jim Torgeson,
Bill Spence,
public records,
Barbara Colvin,
Darrell Grossen,
Maureen Hoppe,
Charisia Arnold
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here