Chandler OKs bond questions; charter can wait

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Even though work sessions aren’t where the Chandler City Council makes official decisions, discussions lead to opinions and consensus that indicate where and how the council will go on specific paths of action.

Council’s April 10 work session affirmed and refined one decision and verbally agreed to postpone another.

After council weighed in on the wording of various aspects of bond questions, it appeared Chandler will still ask voters to approve $475 million in bonds this November.

But when Mayor Kevin Hartke polled council on whether to proceed with three charter amendments, council members generally thought that waiting a year would be best.

“We, and a committee, just spent months putting together a bond proposition for voters,” Council member Matt Orlando said. “Voters trust us because we slow down and do things the right way. Passing the bond is really important. Let’s maybe take a step back, get a citizens’ (charter) review committee involved, maybe add a few other charter items, then go back to voters, say in August or November of next year.”

City Manager Josh Wright said there is likely no additional election cost to the city either way, as Chandler’s planning a Nov. 4 bond election this year and Arizona will hold Aug. 4 and Nov. 3 elections in 2026. Charter-change questions could be included on any of those ballots.

Council mostly agreed with Orlando waiting on the charter amendments, though Vice Mayor Christine Ellis disagreed. She said extensive discussions have taken place and the right time to ask voters is 2025.

The three proposed charter amendments staff presented at the work session are:

• Publication and adoption of leases at one meeting. Council would be able to approve leases and publish them once after approval.

• Publication and adoption of ordinances. Council would only need to approve planning, zoning and other business-related ordinances once instead of twice.

• Residency requirements for city manager and all department heads. The consideration would be to remove the requirement for “department directors” to reside within the city.

Council is expected to formally call for a Nov. 4 bond election at its Thursday, April 24 regular meeting.

One of the few tweaks to the wording of one of the four bond questions at the April 10 work session was recommended by Hartke, the mayor who chairs a key committee at the Maricopa Association of Governments, which championed Proposition 479’s successful passage in 2024. He said he wanted similar wording in the first bullet point that addresses “flow of traffic.”

The four bond questions, as presented before the April 10 work session, can be read here.

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.   Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.