Check the Town's website frequently for COVID-19 response updates. Visit PV COVID-19 Website

December 31, 2020 20/20 Hindsight on 2020: A Disrupter of a Year

How the Pandemic Challenged Us to Succeed

As we celebrate its passing, our 20/20 hindsight on 2020 reveals that it has be a ‘disrupter’ of a year. A disrupter in the sense that while it started off like most other years in setting goals and agendas, we realized just two and a half months into it that everything we thought was normal wouldn’t be. Even things like getting up in the morning and commuting to work changed dramatically as we learned more about the pandemic and how it would impact us individually, as part of a community, and as Americans. For the first time in recent history (outside of the Civil War) we have had to deal with the side effects of a war on our own soil fighting the insurgence of this virus. This Pandemic. Previous wars, while tragic and costly, did not have a daily impact on citizens on US soil, but this one has impacted every citizen like nothing we have experienced in our lifetime. It limited our freedom to travel, work together, and enjoy others, and even impacted our ability to receive a smile from a friend or a frown from a resident. Our ability to restore, gather, and celebrate with each other in Town was also impacted, from the annual car and art shows to our annual holiday thank you to our volunteers and staff. As a local government organization, the Town had to be resilient and flexible. We had no option but to figure out how best to continue critical and essential Town services. We also had the ethical duty to protect our staff from getting sick… and protect our residents and businesses not only from the spread of the virus, but the economic impacts associated with the lockdown. This year of disruption led to almost daily changes to regulations from the federal, state and county government levels, health departments, the CDC, and so many organizations in-between.

We needed to keep our virtual doors open so permits and businesses that were in full swing at the beginning of March could continue without having to close or slow down because of the Town’s decisions. It required creating new ways of doing things without a roadmap. It required resiliency and flexibility in all directions. And, although our carefully crafted 2020 resolutions, goals, and agendas were set aside, our work increased dramatically. Everything was important, critical, and imminent. This disrupter of a year challenged us to succeed. What follows are some highlights of what the Town of Paradise Valley, together with the Town Council, appointed officials, and our volunteers, accomplished in the remaining nine and a half months in 2020 while we, and the world, battled this pandemic.

When the Town’s primary revenue source, tourism, dropped 54% literally overnight, the Town Finance Department with the assistance of all Town Departments pivoted to reframe the budget and immediately reduce expenditures. The effort has enabled the Town to remain financially stable and strong.

Mayor Bien-Willner issued a proclamation on March 17, 2020 corresponding with the declarations of emergency by the President of the United States and the Governor of the State of Arizona. The Proclamation was to ensure that public health and safety would be preserved and that the best practices from health experts would be being followed until we emerge together from this current situation.

The Town, by a unanimous resolution of the Town Council at a March 17, 2020 special meeting called by the Mayor, implemented an action plan to protect the health and safety of citizens and employees, effective immediately.

The Mayor and Town Manager participated individually and together in daily calls with the Governor’s office starting the week of March 16th, a daily call with each other (and occasionally the Chief of Police), and later, weekly calls with the County Department of Health and monthly calls with our federal legislators to ensure Paradise Valley residents and business owners had the most recent and critical information available. The Mayor shared critical and relevant information with resort managers, houses of worship and PV schools through Zoom meetings, email updates, videos, and social media.

The Town Manager and Executive Assistant expanded the Weekly Update email to a new Constant Contact format starting March 21, 2020. This allowed us to share information as it became available and to highlight changing operations in our organization, the resorts, and houses of worship. This has led to 1,222 visits specifically from this new media channel to our COVID landing page on the Town website.

An early “Closure Plan to Protect the Health and Safety of Employees and Public” was developed which included: Responding to employees that tested positive in the early stages of pandemic Backup plans to isolate first responders from their families  Temporarily closed our beloved Post Office to protect staff and public The Building Department working with developers to accept electronic applications Moving to scheduled appointments for one-on-one meetings  Buildings fogged with COVID specific sanitation equipment after positive tests Free testing June 4 for all employees, officials and their families Making the website into a portal for virtual services.

The Town created internal, cross-functional task forces comprised of Paradise Valley employees to create a new Communications Plan, Reopening Plan, and Continuity Plan. The Communications Plan was created by mid-April. The Reopening Plan was unveiled on May 29, 2020, and the Continuity Plan for future ‘waves’ or other disasters was completed in August.

The Public Works team came together to take on new responsibilities and challenges including:  Securing essential cleaning and sanitizing supplies when products were scarce Installing informational and safety signs throughout the buildings and Town campus Installing additional safety features throughout the Town including sneeze guards, touchless restroom fixtures, and sanitizing stations Conducting stringent COVID-19 cleaning procedures Creatively working with departments to safely handle and deliver mail and packages when the virus transfer was unknown Collaborating with the Police Department on new methods and procedures to safely transport prisoners and clean Police vehicle Showing support for our first responders by installing blue lights at the Goldwater Memorial and the Town Hall building Participating in the Town’s various strategic COVID-19 task forces

The Municipal Court remained open and accessible to the public by implementing safety measures to reduce the risk of exposure and encouraging telephonic or video appearances to minimize in-person proceedings.

All Town public meetings immediately went virtual thanks to both IT and the Town Clerk, including the Planning Commission meeting the day after the closure on March 18th and all subsequent Town Council meetings. The Town Clerk was recognized for this extraordinary effort that enabled public input and transparency to continue far ahead of larger city efforts to accomplish the same.

On April 9th, the Council approved the Town’s inclusion into the Arizona Mutual Aid Compact to allow for a longer-term share of resources and a funding mechanism in the event we are short-staffed due to COVID-19. The Council passed Resolution 2020-15 for COVID-related relief on banner signs and other temporary structures to assist SUP property owners of our resorts, houses of worship, medical facilities, and other businesses

The Town Manager and CFO pursued federal reimbursements to cover all additional operational costs associated with COVID, including PD officer overtime for social unrest in June/July, and capital and staff time to install no touch facilities throughout the campus, enhanced sanitation, onsite testing for elected and appointed officials, staff and their families, and other items.  The Town has received $1.8M to date for COVID-related Police Department expenses. Other reimbursements were successfully submitted to the federal government and are pending reimbursement.

The annual budget was prepared then revised, and has been continuously monitored; monthly presentations on actual revenue received are provided in order to gauge possible reinstatement of prioritized services  A three tier, completely new format budget was completed that provides financial transparency and full disclosure in the Annual Budget, Annual Expenditure Limitation, Comprehensive Annual Financial Reported (Audited Statements), and the Popular Annual Financial Reported (Citizens Report).

The PV Court became a participant of the Arizona Protective Order Initiation and Notification Tool Project (AZPOINT) to share real time protective order data between local courts and public safety agencies to streamline the process for victims The Police Department received three grants totaling $75,000 to be applied towards personal protective equipment, safety equipment, and personnel costs

The Town heavily promoted participation in the 2020 Census through social media, onsite monitors, and the Weekly Update in order to ensure that Paradise Valley receives an accurate amount of government allocations. A hiring freeze was set in March and when funding became available, hired high quality individuals to fill vacant positions including two officers and photo enforcement technician in public safety, a public works technician, a General Plan coordinator, and the Community Development Director position.

A new "Hillside and Non-Hillside Review Guide” was created to help staff and residents identify major differences between Hillside and Non-Hillside development processes. The guide is available electronically on our website.

In August, the Town hosted an early voting polling place for the Presidential Primary and municipal elections In October and November, the Town served as an early voting and Election Day ballot box site experiencing unprecedented turnout. The Court’s surveillance and monitoring system was replaced to enhance courthouse security

In April. 2020, Maintenance Districts 7 and 8 received a crack seal and application of a Polymer Modified MasterSeal (PMM), on the selected 14.2 linear miles of streets, even with the cut back of CIP project funding. The selected streets had an average Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of 72 to 74 which required a crack seal and a PMM surface seal per the current pavement management program.

The Lincoln Median improvements and Lincoln & Invergordon intersection improvements were completed, even with the reduction in CIP projects and funding. The 2022 General Plan update process was begun through a competitively bid process with high-level consultants expert in the field. The Town’s procurement processes were professionally upgraded to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely on competitively bid items and services, such as the General Plan consultants, License Plate Recognition vendors, ambulance contracts, legal services, and public works and construction contracts.

Continued focus on improving the impacts of Short-Term Rentals (STRs) in our neighborhoods. High-level Town staff met with Airbnb and VRBO to ‘delist’ the most egregious hosts from their platforms. Although some were ‘delisted’ by their platforms, the impact to neighbors and the number of party houses did not stop. The Mayor authored a letter and partnered with 32 other Arizona mayors to send it to the CEOs of Airbnb and VRBO requesting they stop impeding efforts to restore local control consistent with authority granted in all other states. PVPD created a video using body-worn camera footage and dispatch audio to highlight during the 2021 legislative session the impacts STRs have on the entire state.

Continued without any delay a series of accelerated Planning Commission public meetings on the SmokeTree Major SUP, a couple Minor SUPs, lot splits, booster pump station near Camelback Inn, a plat approval, marijuana and other code/ordinance changes and many virtual study sessions.

In October, Paradise Valley transitioned to the new FBI crime reporting system, National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR). This was three months ahead of the National deadline of January 1, 2021.  Also in October, after an on-site review of policies, practices and processes, the Paradise Valley Police Department was recommended for accreditation through the Arizona Law Enforcement Accreditation Program. The final accreditation hearing will take place on January 29, 2021.

The Board of Adjustment joined the Council and Planning Commission by transitioning to being fully electronic with iPads GIS mapping of storm drains, culverts and irrigation was completed. Public Works identified the locations of all the irrigation valves, irrigation controllers, storm drains, culverts, and backflow devices in the Town which IT then input in to a GIS map. Having this information available digitally creates efficiency and facilitates easily finding the locations for inspections, documenting maintenance history, and creating effective maintenance schedules.

In record time and under a short deadline, the Town Clerk and Legal completed the required documents for the Paradise Valley Mountain Preserve Trust to accept a 5-acre conservation easement donation on the upper slope of Camelback Mountain adjoining land owned by the City of Phoenix. The PVMPT met on December 9th to consider the donation and recognized that the easement area has significant natural and scenic beauty worthy of protecting in perpetuity. The easement was recorded on December 21.

With continued resiliency and flexibility, we can and were extremely productive in 2020. The processes and efficiencies we created will go into the New Year and beyond. With the closing of the books in 2020, however, 2021 isn’t likely to be better, at least not initially. We will still have to continue the good fight against the virus by wearing masks, receiving a vaccine, and doing what we can to stem its spread but, even then, the data indicates it will likely get worse before it gets better. So, we wholeheartedly wish you the safest and healthiest of New Years. Please take care of yourself and others. We are in this fight back toward ‘normal’ together!

Upcoming Town Meetings and Events

January 1st - Town Holiday, Offices Closed January 5th - Planning Commission, Canceled January 6th - Coffee with a Cop, 7:30 am via Zoom January 6th - Board of Adjustment, 5:30 pm via Zoom

Remember to check the Town's website for meeting updates, changes, and agendas.

Town of Paradise Valley | paradisevalleyaz.gov

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