Chandler, AZ

In a surprise reversal, General Motors said it will close its Arizona technology center and lay off 936 workers — roughly 18 months after it planned to hire several hundred more employees at the Chandler facility.

The automaker made the layoff announcement by filing a WARN, or Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, on Aug. 23 with the state. GM opened the facility in 2014.

The notice caught Chandler officials, who earlier had touted the facility's expansion, off guard.

The announcement "came as a complete surprise," said Micah Miranda, Chandler's economic development director.

"We’ve recently been working with their local team about higher-education partnerships, mentoring and a promotional video highlighting Chandler’s Price Corridor," he said in a statement. "With this unfortunate news, we plan to work closely with our workforce-development partners to assist with employment opportunities for those impacted.“

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Shifting IT needs

GM employed 1,139 people in Arizona as of midyear, most of those at the 170,000 square-foot Arizona Information Technology Innovation Center at 2900 W. Geronimo Place. The complex is one of four GM technology hubs nationally, along with locations in Michigan, Texas and Georgia.

The Chandler center will close later this year as GM adjusts its IT resources in the United States. “Employees working in our software-defined vehicle teams will remain in Arizona,” the company said in a statement. Employees affected by the layoffs “will have an opportunity to apply for open positions.”

The Chandler facility has been focused on services and solutions for GM cars and trucks as the company transitions to an all-electric vehicle future. Open positions in Chandler as of the company's expansion announcement in February 2022 included software developers, data analysts, business analysts, product managers and software architects.

After years of heady growth spurred in part by federal tax credits, electric vehicle sales are starting to soften, with affordability and rising auto-loan interest rates among the obstacles.

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Automaker's presence in Arizona

GM operates four other facilities in Arizona including a 2,400-acre proving ground for hot-weather driving in Yuma, which opened in 2009. The company also has a financial customer-service center in Chandler, whose employees were not included in the midyear count of 1,139.

The Detroit-based automaker has 47 dealers in Arizona and delivered 43,700 vehicles here. It paid $145 million in taxable wages to its Arizona employees in 2022.

At the time of last year’s expansion announcement, Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke described the jobs at the innovation center as high-wage, high-skill positions that provided tremendous employment opportunities.

At the start of 2023, GM employed 104,000 people in the U.S. and 167,000 globally. It sold 2.27 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, for a 16% market share, and 5.94 million globally, for a 7.6% share.

Reach the writer at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com.

PHOENIX - Butters and Chaco are officially free from April McLaughlin, also known as Sydney McKinley.

"It's a huge day for us," said Dr. Steve Hansen, president and CEO of the Arizona Human Society.

Today, AHS released Butters to his original rescue who saved him after he was found tied up in a front yard with a gunshot wound.

"If it wasn’t for this dog, this wouldn’t be happening," said Sonia Venecia of Yaqui Animal Rescue. "Because of Butters, we started this investigation, and really he’s the hero in all this. If it wasn’t for him, all of these dogs would be dead right now."

The two rescues who are now looking after Butters say their first stop is to a vet in Gilbert. Then, he'll get his wheels that'll allow him to walk.

"I cannot relate to what it's like to receive an animal like him or 50 more and not feel called to provide for them, so for me, I'm so overcome with emotion knowing that very dog will soon be getting that compassion," said Kimberly Elliot, of the Be Like Josh Foundation.

Venecia says the lack of communication with McLaughlin and one picture of Butters looking malnourished was enough for her to intervene.

"After we found out, we started getting suspicious," she said. "It was like we felt guilty, too. You know, it was like how could this happen? How could we be fooled like this? But we took action right away."

That action has so far led to the courts giving AHS permission to release 34 of the dogs to safer homes.

Related

We're getting a look inside the Chandler home where dozens of dogs were said to have been abused by April McLaughlin. A report details "biohazards" inside the home as first responders rescued the dogs and her elderly mother from the "house of horrors."

"These dogs came in very poor condition," said Hansen. "They still have a long ways to go, but they're clean, they're starting to gain some weight. They're on the road to recovery."

McLaughlin has 14 days to appeal after a judge on Wednesday denied her request for 13 dogs to be returned to her custody. If she appeals and is denied, those dogs will also be reunited with their previous rescues or put up for adoption.

CHANDLER, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Neighbors in Chandler want to know why it took so long to rescue dozens of dogs after repeated complaints of foul smells and excessive barking. Police said 55 special needs dogs are now with the Arizona Humane Society and many will likely need to be euthanized.

Antonia Martinez lives next door to where April McLaughlin has lived for the last two years. “It was living in hell, we lived in hell,” Martinez said.

Flowers along the fenced-off home serve as a reminder of the horrific conditions these animals were living in. Each one of the photos is of a special needs dog rescued from inside this home. “There was always a lot of barking, the smell, and flies. But the past two years, it was escalating and getting worse,” she said.

Martinez says she tried to report everything she had been experiencing several times. “Basically, they got the run-around and there was nobody to help and until the laws change, you live with it,” she said.

According to the Arizona Humane Society, Chandler doesn’t have an animal hoarding or animal cruelty ordinance. And unlike the city of Phoenix, there is no ordinance against an animal disturbing the peace, comfort or health of a neighbor within the city. “That’s what made this case particularly challenging for us because we could not seize under a hoarding ordinance or request seizure for a hoarding ordinance or for lack of medical care,” said Tracey Miiller, director of field operations for AHS.

Martinez believes the law has to change. “There was nothing anybody could do,” she said.

McLaughlin was finally arrested Friday and charged with animal abuse and cruelty. “We just keep trying to process, 50 plus. How?” McLaughlin said. “It wasn’t fair to the animals, it wasn’t fair to the animals, it wasn’t fair to neighbors, it’s not fair to anybody.”

The city of Chandler says staff can review and propose modifications to ordinances against animal abuse and neglect. The City Council would then review and vote on the proposed ordinance at two different meetings open to the public. If it passes, a city spokesperson said it would take effect 30 days after the final vote.

Local animal rescues also believe there are other dogs in the homeowner’s care who are unaccounted for. Koko Garcia runs the rescue Handover Rover. She said through credible sources she came across McLaughlin, who agreed to take in a blind dog named Marbles, needing a foster home. Garcia said she had no idea McLaughlin was an alleged abuser.

In June, Garcia went to Mississippi to help rescue nearly 100 animals and said Marbles was one of them. Garcia agreed to temporarily allow McLaughlin to care for Marbles because she had said there was a foster home available. Eventually, Garcia lost contact with McLaughlin.

Friday, Garcia says she watched as McLaughlin’s Chandler home was raided. “I was there. I was watching all the dogs being pulled out. Eyeballing, we had a list of 57 dogs that we knew were in her care from January had been there. So I was eyeballing, seeing who is who. Of course, looking for my dog. I never saw him throughout the entirety of that,” said Garcia. “There is a possibility that there is a couple dogs hidden away somewhere that we don’t know about.”

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CHANDLER, Ariz. – Chandler City Council voted unanimously to increase the residential grass removal rebate to $2/sq. ft. and approved two new water conservation rebates for large landscape (commercial, multi-family, HOA) customers. Chandler’s water conservation rebates are designed to reimburse approximately 25% to 35% of the total costs. These rebates will go into effect on Oct. 1.

Chandler has offered grass removal incentives and xeriscape landscape education for more than three decades, but this year, the city will significantly increase the grass removal rebate for both residential and commercial customers. The city applied for several water conservation grants from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona to support these programs. Active utility account holders can apply online to take advantage of these new water saving programs.

The Single-Family Grass Removal Rebate, for residential customers, is increasing from 20 cents per sq. ft. to $2 per sq. ft. of grass removed. The minimum to qualify is decreasing from 1,000 sq. ft. to 500 sq. ft. Chandler residents with a utility account can save up to $3,000 on a landscape conversion by removing grass and converting to low-water-use plants.

The new Large Landscape Grass Removal Rebate offers savings up to $75,000. This new program will assist commercial customers (including industrial, multi-family complexes and neighborhood HOAs) with large landscape grass removal projects when converting the landscape to a low-water-use landscape. This program will also benefit HOAs or multi-family customers with grass in common areas. The new program will reimburse up to 25% of the total landscape costs, plus an additional incentive of $3/sq. ft. removed for certain types of non-functional turf which yields a higher water savings. The minimum requirement to qualify for the Large Landscape Grass Removal Rebate is 5,000 sq. ft.

The Water Efficient Technology Rebate is a new program designed to improve water efficiency for commercial water customers (including industrial, multi-family and HOAs). This program incentivizes the installation of new water efficiency technologies that utilize high-resolution data (or “real time”) monitoring and system operation alerts/notifications designed to reduce water use (i.e., irrigation systems and cooling towers). The rebate is for 50% of the cost of the technology with a $10,000 maximum.

For more information about Chandler’s water conservation rebates and incentive programs, please visit Water Conservation Rebates or call 480-782-3580.

Media Contact: Toni Smith Marketing and Communications Manager 480-782-2701

CHANDLER (3TV/CBS 5) - General Motors says about 940 employees at the Arizona IT Innovation Center in Chandler will be impacted when the facility closes on Oct. 31. Erik Gronseth said he received a notification Tuesday evening about a 9 a.m. staff meeting on Wednesday. “There wasn’t too much of any forewarning of what to expect. Some of us jokingly thought maybe this was going to be along the lines of ‘meet some new coworkers,’ but it’s unfortunate that it turned out the way it did,” said Gronseth.

During the 30-minute meeting, he learned hundreds of coworkers will be let go, but he is not one of them. “That was a bit of relief, bittersweet relief, as we knew a lot of people,” said Gronseth.

Arizona’s Family received a statement regarding the layoffs.

We’re told severance packages and outplacement services will be offered to employees based on how long they’ve been with the company. In February 2022, the City of Chandler touted the hundreds of job opportunities offered by GM. On Wednesday, Arizona’s Family received a statement from the city.

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