Mesa Channel 11 receives Telly Awards for "Mesa Arts Center Live" production
The 28th Annual Telly Awards recognized Mesa Channel 11 and Mesa Arts Center for outstanding cable programming, with two Bronze awards. It was the eighth time Channel 11 has been recognized by the organization. The competition, founded in 1976, is considered the premier award to honor outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as film and video productions. "Mesa Arts Center Live", the City of Mesa’s Arts and Entertainment show, which highlights performances, programs and arts and cultural activities at Mesa Arts Center and City of Mesa museums, was recognized for the April 2006 and February 2007 submissions.

The April 2006 show featured live interviews at the Governor's Art Award ceremony when former Director of Mesa Art Center, Gerry Fathauer, was recognized for her leadership and contribution to the arts in Arizona. The February 2007 show featured hosts Heather Gray and Walter Morlock in a format that allows for an entertaining and playful exchange while discussing the upcoming cultural events in the City of Mesa.

April 2006 Show
Producer: Lily King-Cisneros
Director/Editor: Mark Ahn
Camera: Steve Schmidt
Writers/Talent: Lily King-Cisneros & Walter Morlock

February 2007 Show
Producer/Director/Editor: Lily King-Cisneros
Camera: Chris Beasley
Talent: Walter Morlock & Heather Gray
Writer: Mark Bork

The programs were selected from more than 13,000 national and international entries and were judged on a 10-point scale. Judges for the Telly Awards are comprised of a group of professionals from the advertising, creative and production industry that have been awarded Telly Awards in past years. "Mesa Arts Center Live" is produced by Mesa Channel 11 under the direction of Glen Stephens.

Revised Aircraft Storage Agreement
The revised Aircraft Storage Agreement has been placed on Falcon Field’s website. Tenant meetings have been scheduled for early June to allow the tenants and users to ask questions and comment again on the proposed agreement before it is implemented.

Runway Safety/Incursion Prevention Program
The FAA Runway Safety Action Team made its annual visit to the airport on May 8. The status of various runway safety projects was discussed prior to a tour of the airport. The FAA stated that Falcon Field is used as the FAA’s ‘poster child’ because after several years of discussion about the possibility of constructing an $11 million underpass, the decision was made and followed through quickly to construct the cul-de-sac and to fence off Falcon Drive from Taxiway ‘B’. The cost of the cul-de-sac/fence was approximately 1/10 of the original price tag for the underpass.

GIS Services
Planning-GIS staff is preparing for beginning stages of the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) Project to be used in the 2010 Decennial Census. Planning-GIS is analyzing USPS Delivery Point Files to match against current GIS addresses for verification, additions, and areas for further review. This will better prepare the city for the census and aim to mitigate address and housing unit discrepancies such as those that occurred with the recent 2005 special census. The LUCA process will begin later this summer when the Census Bureau contacts the city to discuss address file submission options that the Census Bureau will use for enumeration purposes.

Mesa Included in List of Top Develop Review Processes
The Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina is conducting a research project that focuses on the development review process in local governments. They asked a panel of 95 experts to identify communities across the country that have the best development review processes in their opinion. Mesa was mentioned by some of these experts. As a result of that recognition, we have been asked to help further this national study by providing them with some details on our development review process.

Public Safety and MPS participating on Task Force
Fire and Police Emergency Management Divisions are participating on a Task Force with Mesa Public Schools to provide risk assessment information for all 84 Mesa Public School sites. The Task Force is meeting with each Principal and school security staff to populate software identifying critical areas in and around each school. This task force will continue until August 24th.

Top Off 4 planning is escalating.
The State is offering seminars and workshops to prepare officials for the Top Off 4 event scheduled in the fall 2007. Additionally, Emergency Management Committee members will be discussing Top Off 4 at individual department/division staff meetings. Please contact Fire Department Emergency Management office for details at 644-2631.

Municipalities and others participate in flooding exercise
City of Mesa partnered with Mesa Public Schools, Maricopa County Emergency Management, Maricopa County Flood Control District, Town of Gilbert, Town of Queen Creek, National Weather Service and Pinal County Emergency Management in a flooding exercise on May 15^th, 2007.

City of Mesa Fleet earns Blue Seal of Excellence Certification
The Fleet Services Department's East Mesa Service Center has been awarded the prestigious Blue Seal of Excellence certification by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). The certification is earned primarily by private sector automotive repair shops that exhibit high quality work and training standards. The City of Mesa is the largest municipal fleet to receive the award in Arizona and one of only 44 professional shops in State that have met the stringent criteria. ASE recognizes this outstanding accomplishment by presenting the shop with a customized plaque to display at the facility.

Volunteers make a difference
On May 5, Neighborhood Services volunteers helped spruce up the playground at Highland Arts Elementary School. Twenty-five youth came together to paint basketball goals, tetherball poles, and give a new look to a map of the United States that was painted on the grounds. In addition, 11 Sun Valley High School students helped paint wooden barricades along the canal between Center & Mesa Drive on May 11 as part of a service project for their honor society.

Carson Pool Opens
The Carson/Westwood Aquatic Complex opened to the public May 26 after a dedication ceremony. The kick-off event included Mayor Keno Hawker racing Mesa Public School Board President, Lynn Burnham down the slide.

Reed Skate Park draws BMXer’s for shot at next X Games team
Reed Skate Park recently was home to over 550 BMX bike enthusiasts for the Local Exposure Tour. The BMXer’s provided the crowd with bold tricks and thrilling maneuvers while riding the bowls at the skate park. Additionally, 250 community members enjoyed carnival games and rides provided by Mesa Parks and Recreation during the afternoon of daring competition. The Local Exposure Tour is made up of X Games winners who taped programming for ESPN while recruiting for up and coming team members. One winner from the competition will compete nationally to be on the next X Games team!

MASD holds Annual Awards Banquet
Mesa Association of Sports for the Disabled held its annual awards banquet at the Mesa Senior Center. Two hundred seventy-six athletes with both cognitive disabilities and physical disabilities were present to accept their awards.

MPD Youth Services Coordinator Honored by Service Club
Mary Sennett, PD Youth Services Coordinator, was recently honored by the Noon Optimist Club for her work with at-risk youth, juvenile gang members and their families. Sennett, a 24-year PD employee, currently represents PD working within Mesa Public Schools to respond to requests by numerous counselors, teachers and administrators to provide intervention and mediation services. Sennett makes over 150 educational presentations to youth and adults per year and had contacts with over 1,500 youth and families this school year. She is also a founding member of the East Valley Gang Task Force that meets monthly to share information on gang activity.

PD Forensic Services Analyst Selected for Prestigious ATF Academy Training
Ashely Northcutt, a Forensic Chemist in the Forensic Services Section, has been selected to attend the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' National Firearms Examiners Academy (NFEA) to receive extensive firearm and toolmark-related training. Northcutt is one of only 12 examiners selected from throughout the country to be accepted into the program this year. Her training, which will take about one year to complete, is the only training of its kind in the United States. Mesa PD is fortunate to have someone selected for this remarkable program. Northcutt holds a Bachelors of Science degree in General Biology and a Masters of Forensic Science degree. She has been with the Mesa Police Department for three and a half years.

Report on PD Crime Prevention’s Efforts to Prevent Vehicle Theft
The MPD Community Relations Unit sponsored the Help Eliminate Automobile Theft (HEAT) program during the fiscal year 2006-2007 year and etched VIN numbers on 475 vehicles at nine HEAT events. The HEAT program’s primary focus is to help Mesa residents keep their cars from being stolen. Since this program’s inception and the implementation of other PD preventative programs, Mesa has seen a significant decline in automobile thefts. At HEAT events, members of the PD’s Community Relations and Auto Theft Units were available to etch vehicle identification numbers on car windows, free of charge. In addition, over 300 participants signed up for the statewide Watch Your Car program and received information on auto theft prevention. Participation in the Watch Your Car program enables officers to pull over enrolled vehicles if they are spotted driving during the peak theft hours of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Free steering wheel locks were also passed out during the events.

eBay turns obsolete items into $$
The City of Mesa eBay store, "citymesastuff" has generated $11,140 through the sale of 98 outdated two-way radios since Jan 1^st. These obsolete radios had been removed from City use after being replaced by the 800Mhz radio system.

City yard sale nets revenue
Materials & Supply held a yard sale on May 12^th, to dispose of unneeded City property and items received from the Police Department. More than 170 buyers attended and revenues totaled nearly $5,700.

TRANSPORTATION

High Capacity Transit Alternatives Analysis
On May 4, 2007 a planning workshop was held for the Mesa High Capacity Transit (HCT) Alternatives Analysis. The design consultant team led by Marc Soronson of HDRç SRBA presented an introduction of the two-year planning effort to define the technology and alignment of the HCT extension from the Sycamore light rail transit (LRT) station to the corridor terminus at Superstition Springs Mall. The project is envisioned to encompass dual technologies, with LRT extending to Horne (in 2015) and BRT continuing from Horne to Superstition Springs Mall. This 100 percent regionally funded study will define Mesa’s HCT corridor identified in the Regional Transportation Plan.

Get your career flowing: Work in Water
Dave Emon, Water Reclamation Supervisor, Stacy Damp, Utilities Public Information Officer, and Linda White, Senior Human Resources Analyst, are representing Mesa on a valley-wide team that will address the shortage of qualified workers to fill positions at water treatment and reclamation plants and in other water-related careers. GateWay Community College is spearheading the effort. The goals of the team are three-fold: to increase awareness of the water treatment and related water technologies industry as a viable career path; to increase enrollment in GateWay’s water treatment program; and to increase applications for water-related job opportunities from qualified workers industry-wide. Other team members include the cities of Chandler, Glendale, Goodyear, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe, the Arizona Water Institute, and the Central Arizona Project. The team is currently developing a Web site, www.workinwater.org, to provide information about careers in water in one easy-to-access location.

Annual report submitted to Arizona Department of Water Resources
The Utilities Department has completed its annual water withdrawal and use report, as required by ADWR. In 2006, the City of Mesa provided nearly 100,000 acre-feet of water to our customers. Ninety percent of the water used came from renewable surface water supplies (SRP, CAP). In addition, the City pumped 10,000 acre-feet less groundwater than the previous year. This was possible because Mesa had access to an additional supply of surface water from the New Conservation Space in Roosevelt Lake, which filled during the heavy rain in 2005.

Utilities launches "Chill your Bill" campaign
On May 1, the Utilities Department kicked off "Chill Your Bill," the demand-side management program that targets City residential electric customers. In an effort to reduce peak demand, thereby reducing the need to purchase the most costly energy supplies, the City now offers rebates to those customers who replace their older, inefficient heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems with newer units. Program requirements include replacing the unit with one that has a seasonal energy efficiency rating (SEER) of 14 or higher. The department has launched a Web site, www.cityofmesa.org/utilities/chillyourbill.aspx, to promote the program as well as provide program details and rebate amounts. The demand-side management program was a component of the recently approved Integrated Resources Plan. Customers wanting more information may call (480) 644-3306.

Utilities Department scores big at AWPCA awards ceremony
The City of Mesa was honored with several awards at the annual Arizona Water and Pollution Control Association (AWPCA) conference held May 2 – 4 at Mesa Convention Center. The awards recognized staff excellence, as well as plant construction and overall management. The awards were:

Learn about converting from grass to Xeriscape
Residents who are considering converting their landscape to Xeriscape are invited to attend a free landscape workshop on June 14, 6:30 to 9 p.m. The class will focus on the basics of lawn removal and tips for replanting with water-thrifty plants. Residents can register by calling (480) 644-4400 or via e-mail to conservation.info@cityofmesa.org.

Mesa to send effluent to GRUSP
Beginning on June 1, Mesa will commence deliveries of reclaimed water from the Northwest Water Reclamation Plant to the Granite Reef Underground Storage Project (GRUSP). GRUSP is one of the premier recharge facilities in Arizona, at which water is recharged back into the aquifer underlying Mesa. Mesa will receive long-term storage credits for deliveries of reclaimed water to GRUSP. These long-term storage credits represent water that Mesa has "banked" underground and can be used to meet Mesa's future water demands. The deliveries to GRUSP will increase Mesa's annual accrual of reclaimed water long-term storage credits from direct recharge from 2,000 acre-feet per year to more than 10,000 acre-feet per year.