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NEWS
THE MESA TRIBUNE | SEPTEMBER 26, 2021
Mesa streetlight spending system boosted by $500k
BY RENEE ROMO Tribune Contributor
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n 2019, Mesa City Council approved $81,225 for a streetlight monitoring system. In August 2020, City Council approved the second year of the Philips City Touch lighting management system at a cost of $1.7 million. The third year of the program, approved by City Council in June, cost just over $2 million. At its Sept. 20 meeting, City Council added $510,000 to “install and upgrade streetlights in speci�ic, qualifying areas,” according to a report, adding: “This project was not identi�ied when the contract was established.”
According to a presentation at an earlier study session, the city will replace about 7,000 lights a year. “The light bulb just went on in my head,” Councilman Mark Freeman cracked before clarifying the money will only purchase the lights, which will be installed by city staff. A presentation explained the system: “Philips City Touch is a lighting management system for public lighting in support of Mesa’s Smart Cities Initiative. It offers simple web applications to analyze, schedule dimming, plan and maintain work�low management, while monitoring, managing, and measuring connected lighting through the applications. “The system can alert the City to pending failures and the general health of the
streetlight inventory.” Director of Transportation RJ Zeder said his department was approached a few months ago asking if there were any “viable projects within the low moderate income areas for the use of CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds.” He praised the system. “Smart nodes are the technology that allows us to manage how the streetlights are working, allowing us the ability to dim the lights,” Zeder said. In response to a question from Vice Mayor Jenn Duff, Zeder said, “We’re accelerating, we have a seven-year program to upgrade all the lights, but this will allow us to speed up.” “I do like that it helps us get into our climate action plan and achieve those goals a
little quicker,” Duff said. The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is intended to support communities in every aspect, building them up through projects or activities that “address needs such as infrastructure, economic development projects,” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The lighting system increase and 15 other agenda items were approved as part of the consent agenda Sept. 20. There was little discussion at the meeting and not public comment in a meeting that lasted less than 10 minutes. “Well this will go down as one of the shortest meetings we’ve had, at least during my tenure as mayor,” Mayor John Giles said. ■
factors and does the department notify AZPost if the of�icer was not �ired. Two agencies did not respond to any of the questions. The agencies were of different sizes and included municipal, state, county and tribal law enforcement. Of the 12 agencies that had employees involved in an off-duty DUI since 2015, 11 indicated a range of one to �ive occurrences while one agency reported over 10 DUIs for a total of 19, the report stated, adding 47 agencies reported they had no such cases. When it came to disciplinary actions for an off-duty extreme DUI and one with a BAC of .08-.149, 39 agencies stated they do not have a policy that speci�ically addresses off-duty DUI and instead evaluates on a case-by-case basis.
Twenty-one departments indicated they used standard discipline for both with 12 stating they would terminate employment, eight relied on a range of actions from suspension to termination and one used written reprimand to termination. Also, “most agencies do not increase discipline in response to BAC levels alone but 16 agencies indicated aggravating circumstances would likely result in increased discipline,” the report stated. The agencies shared what they considered aggravating factors, which included lack of cooperation with arresting agency, prior alcohol-related misconduct, hit-and-run and presence of a child in the vehicle. Also, 15 agencies indicated they would notify AZPost of an off-duty DUI even if the of�icer was not �ired. Agencies are re-
quired to report all of�icer terminations to AZPost. Another seven agencies said reporting would be dictated by the totality of the circumstances and 13 stated they would not report the incident unless the of�icer was �ired. Over the past �ive years Gilbert Police has not had any of�icers arrested for a DUI, said department spokesman Paul Alaniz. He said if a Gilbert of�icer is caught with a DUI in town, a criminal investigation is conducted by the of�icer or supervisor who initiated the traf�ic stop. “An administrative Internal Affairs investigation will also be initiated regardless of the BAC level,” he said in an email. “Subsequent discipline is then determined through a chain of command review of facts and circumstances.” ■
Survey looks at handling of drunk cops
BY CECILIA CHAN Tribune Staff Writer
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n an effort to understand how often off-duty DUIs occurred and what sort of disciplinary action if any was meted out, Arizona Peace Of�icer Standards and Training Board staff reached out to 63 law enforcement agencies in the state. The report, recently given to the board’s DUI subcommittee, does not name the agencies. AZPost provides services to 159 law enforcement agencies in the state. The agencies were asked �ive questions: how many off-duty DUIs since 2015; standard discipline action for an off-duty DUI with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08-.149, standard discipline for an offduty DUI with a BAC over .15; if any additional discipline was given for aggravating
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provided it by law. Kelly said a DUI could be an of�icer’s cry for assistance and support. “They know we are not the parents of our of�icers,” she said. “But sometimes I wish we could step in and say, ‘hey, we
know you are struggling, here are some other resources and help.’” Williams said .15 thresholds works for the board because it creates some consistency around the state. And if spikes were to occur in the future, the board can rehear the issue. “It’s not as clean and as easy as I was
hoping it was going to be,” Williams said. “I was thinking, ‘OK we can have this one standard for the entire state and it’s going to work.’ “But we are so diverse agency-wise – truth be told trying to get staf�ing and keeping staf�ing in place when quite frankly if someone gets involves in one
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of these collisions, maybe that’s a cry for help and they need to get help and you �ix them and then bring them back they become this productive person. So a little bit of grace I think is something we need to put in place, too.” The board then dissolved the subcommittee. ■
Contact Paul Maryniak at 480-898-5647 or pmaryniak@timespublications.com
