I'd like to call to order the regular city council meeting of September 22nd, 2025.

Would you all please rise and join me with the Pledge of Allegiance and a Moment of Silence?

Congratulations to the United States of America for which one nation under Godismo with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Marcella, can we have roll call, please?

Councilmember Conde.

Here.

Councilmember Garcia.

Here.

Councilmember Solario.

Councilmember Weiss.

Here.

Councilmember White.

Present.

Vice Mayor Nielsen.

Here.

Mayor Pineda.

Here.

Thank you so much.

Ron.

Expires Mayor and Council.

Up first, uh, we have our employee announcements, and I believe Jody, our director of development services, is going to start us off.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm happy to introduce sorry.

Three um newer employees with our development services department.

Um, first I'd like to introduce Martin Moreno.

Martin is one of our new planners, and he joins us from being a recent graduate from Arizona State University, and he was also a Marvin Andrews fellow.

He worked at City of Tempe, and he also had worked at Phoenix Impure during various internships, including public works and capital improvement projects.

He has a passion for local government and also planning and development.

He received his master's degree in public administration and a uh bachelor's degree in government from Georgetown.

Um he enjoys pickleball in his spare time and exploring new parks.

You have a new best friend starting today.

Um he enjoys pickleball exploring new parks and restaurants and riding his motorcycle little adventure.

Uh secondarily, we have Zachary Jones.

Zach just joined us last week.

Um he is also a new planner in our planning division.

He most recently was working in Nevada and doing some environmental planning, such as soil conservation.

Um he also was a planner for Missoula County in Montana.

He came here to the desert into the heat, and he's uh he's loving it.

Um he has a master's degree in geography, and he went to the University of Montana and has a bachelor's degree in natural resources planning from the University of Wisconsin.

And he enjoys also being outdoors and playing and watching professional disc golf, and um actually went towards the northeastern part of our state in surprise this past weekend to play um in a disc golf um event there.

So another outdoor adventurous.

And then Gilbert Garcia, you've might have seen him around.

Um he worked in our finance and budget department for many years.

Um he took an opportunity to become our new building permit technician too, uh which is in our building services division working with our permitting center.

Um he has great skills in his utility billing division, where he worked in uh managing revenue with the supervisor, and his skills and his ability to be very detailed oriented, uh, manage intake and be a project manager is what we're looking for, and he's going through training and working with his supervisor Don right now.

Um, and we have no doubt he's gonna be super successful helping our team and our department.

And in his spare time, he enjoys cookouts, game nights, and holidays together with his family, and on occasion he golfs, and he is a local Avondale resident.

So, congratulations from joining development services.

Thank you all.

But just wanted to thank each and every one of you for being here joining the team or internally uh making the switch to development services and utilizing your talents that way.

So, again, if there's anything that we can do, uh reach out.

But in the uh in the meantime, uh welcome aboard and thanks for joining the Avondale team.

Appreciate you being here.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

I'm excited to welcome Carter Wright to our economic development team.

He will be serving as economic development manager, and he comes to us from the state of Arizona's economic development arm, Arizona Commerce Authority, known as ACA.

And even more impressive than that, he served in the Army for 22 years.

Ending his long career as director of operations.

So we're really, really lucky to have Carter.

He will be responsible and work his magic in our business attraction team and expansion efforts in the semiconductor, tech consumer, electronics, advanced manufacturing, aerospace and defense, and EV industries.

And he also is a blacksmith and does woodwork.

So get your orders in.

So anyways, I'm just welcome, Carter.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

So as I mentioned earlier, Carter, thanks for uh well, Jen, thank you for the information.

And Carter, welcome to Avondale, and we look forward to you bringing your talents here as there's plenty going on, as I'm sure you're well aware of, and uh all the attraction that we can get of all these businesses, specifically tech related.

Uh we so welcome.

So thank you again for joining the team.

Thank you.

All right, next up is Kim Moon, your uh engineering director, introducing one of her new employees.

Hi, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of the council.

It is my pleasure to introduce a new member of the engineering department team.

Please join me in welcoming Mr.

Joshua Piquet, who joined the City of Avondale as an associate engineer on Tuesday, uh September 2nd.

Joshua earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology and agricultural engineering from the University of Idaho.

He brings with him a strong background in civil engineering, utility design, construction inspection, and permitting.

His professional career includes valuable experience with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, the Idaho Transportation Department, and the Maricopa County Department of Transportation.

We are excited to have Joshua on board, and we know that his skills, expertise, and perspective will serve our community well as we continue to grow and improve Avondale's infrastructure.

So please join me in giving him a warm welcome.

Thank you so much, uh Joshua, for our welcome to Avondale.

And uh we appreciate you being on our team and bringing all of the valuable experience from even another state here to the city of Avondale, and we appreciate you being here.

Thank you.

Mayor and Council up next is Renee, your finance and budget director.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

I have the pleasure tonight of introducing Jamie Allen.

She's our new accounting specialist.

She works in our accounts payable and payroll division, making sure our vendors and employees are paid timely and accurately.

Jamie has a background in accounting and payroll, having worked three years in the construction industry and eight years in the grocery industry.

Jamie's been a West Valley resident for 15 years and spends a lot of her time with her two teenage sons who both play club baseball.

When she isn't traveling to games, she enjoys hiking, long-distance obstacle course races like the Spartan Run and Mud Run, and seems to be quite the handywoman around the house.

Welcome to Avondale, and again, thank you for joining the team, and we too look to your talents and the business or sorry, the finance department, and uh I'm sure many of us will have questions and your participation in the budget coming up in a few months.

I will be very valuable.

So thank you.

We appreciate you being here.

Thank you.

Mayor Council up next is we have a Lieutenant Lopez who will be introducing a new employee for the Office of Public Safety.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council.

Thank you for allowing us to introduce our new employees to you guys.

I do have Sergeant Paul Wilson to do the who will do the introduction of our new employee.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council members.

My name is Paul Wilson.

I'm the sergeant that oversees municipal security officers.

I am privileged to be introducing our newest security officer, Carolyn.

Aguilar.

Carolyn comes to us after finishing a successful 20-year career with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, where she served 20 years as a detention officer.

Carolyn is happily married, and she has two adult children.

When she's not at work, she enjoys traveling, hiking, attending concerts, and doing some crafts such as painting.

Here's a fun fact for you.

Carolyn is the older sister to one of Avondale's finest.

Sergeant Chris Beckett with our police department.

Avondale is one big family, and we are very happy to have Carolyn join.

So I'm sure many of us up here have seen Carolyn and her smiling face as we come into the into the main lobby there.

And it's a pleasure to have you aboard.

And more importantly, uh, you know, it's a family affair, apparently here in Avondale.

And so we appreciate that, and thank you for joining the Avondale team.

Thank you.

Mayor and Council.

Up next, you have your Parks Recreation and Libraries Director, uh, Corey, to introduce some of his new employees.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council members.

It is my pleasure to introduce one new employee, Ashley Yingling, uh, joining our special events division as a recreation programmer, as well as highlight two internal promotions in our libraries, Myra Felix and Christina Armarillas.

Uh, I'm gonna pass the mic and allow them to share about their positions and a fun fact about themselves.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ashley Yangling.

I am the new recreation programmer for special events.

I've been here for two months as of today.

And a fun fact about me is that I came here from City of Goodyear.

Um I used to work in aquatics for 10 years.

And what I love about Avondale is definitely the people.

Right.

Hello, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

My name is Christina Amarias, and I'm a librarian too.

I was promoted from a librarian one.

Um I've been with Avondale for two years.

Um fact about me is I enjoy quilting in my spare time, which I may not look like it, but I love it.

I also ride motorcycles.

Um I chose Avondale because I want to work with people who are passionate about their jobs, and I see that all around me, and that's why I also chose me and my wife chose to buy our first time here.

Oh, that's nice.

Hello, good evening.

My name is Mayra Fedelix, and I have been with the City of Avondale for about six months, and now serving as librarian one at Sam Garcia Western Library.

Uh, fun fact uh is that I come from a family of proud graduates from Agua Fria High School.

And yes, and something I love about Avendal is the public art that's displayed around the city.

My personal favorite Samural entre las memorias at the um Goodyear Farms Historic Cemetery.

Corey, was that a lead-in for tonight's conversation or kudos to you?

Well played.

No, thank you all for being here.

Congrats on the promotions and welcome aboard, and thank you so much for joining the Avondale team.

We appreciate you.

Thank you.

And again, with all of the new employees here, I apologize uh that we didn't really engage with all of you individually as uh we like to um but uh just for time purposes.

Uh unscheduled public appearances, Marcella.

Do we have any cards or comments from the public?

Thank you, Mayor.

We have not received any requests to speak.

Okay, thank you so much.

Moving on.

We have the consent agenda.

Are there any council members who wish to remove an item for separate consideration?

If not, can I get a motion?

Got a motion from Vice Mayor Nielsen and a second from Councilmember Condi.

All please vote.

Okay, item passes.

Thank you so much.

Ron.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Uh again, let me introduce Corey, your Parks, Recreation, and Libraries Director, to introduce some folks to talk about our art program.

Yes.

Uh good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

I'm excited to introduce Marissa Daly, our arts, culture, and libraries manager to provide an update on our public art program and the municipal and the work the municipal art community has been doing for our community.

With that, Marissa.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Uh my name is Marcia Daly.

I am the Arts, Culture, and Library Manager in Parks Beck and Libraries.

Today I'm here to present on public art projects completed in fiscal year 2025.

Current projects in progress and the recommended project schedule for fiscal year 2026.

For fiscal year 2025, the public art team completed 14 art projects, began 11 new projects, and awarded three scholarships to Avondale High School Seniors through the Achieving Artist Scholarship Art Contest.

We followed the public art master plan that was adopted in 2021.

And with support from the municipal art committee, we are beautifying Avondale one project at a time.

So we invited them here today.

Our chair is in the crowd and vice chair.

We have Rhonda Bell and Denise Thiel, other members, Janice Graham, Sarah Ivey, Deanna Zapata, Gavin Mejia, and Jacqueline Garcia.

So completed projects.

At Mountain View Community Center, Maria Madrid Reid completed her mural inspiring young minds.

We continue our hometown hero banners located south of I-10 on the way to the American Legion and plan to add additional veterans this November.

We had 19 submissions this year after a really successful marketing campaign.

So we're very proud of that.

In January of 2025, and Muller Steverson completed her sculpture Harmony of Rivers at Fire Station 172 in the heart of Crystal Gardens.

With approval from the Municipal Art Committee, our park maintenance manager, Tom Street, added a beautiful and complimentary landscape to highlight the sculpture.

Lastly, our newest sculpture, Confluence, can be found at Park Avenue Plaza, completed by Vito de Barry in May 2025.

With submissions from local youth artists, six utility box art wraps are displayed across Van Buren.

These artists were selected from the 2024 Blank Canvas Art Program winners.

And additional wraps were designed as an expansion on the mural at Goodyear Farms Historic Cemetery in partnership with Catitude Arts.

These additional wraps are located in North Avondale along Dysart and Indian School Road.

Public art is funded several ways.

These funds have allowed us to invest in high caliber artists to curate impressive art around the city of Avondale.

Any funding not allocated can be applied to future art projects, and I'm excited to share with those with you in the next slides.

In October this year, Julian Via Pondos mural will be added to the new Fire Station 171 in Old Town Avondale.

This mural will be will be visible from A.

B.

Cernas Plaza and Sam Garcia Library.

Lauren Lee's mural for Cooper's Hawk Restaurant at Park 10 will be completed in November.

And finally, Trevor O'Toole's sculpture, the grid, will be completed in November as well.

You may be familiar with Trevor's work as he completed a large sculpture at the Aquatic Center in 2024.

Trevor stated this concept draws inspiration from the grid-like pattern of city streets, illustrating how something as ordinary as crossing a road can embody a deeper architectural idea.

Concrete is scheduled to be poured on October in October, and then the final sculpture installations will be in November.

We will organize a public art reveal uh at Winterfest on December 6th.

So on the horizon, we have a few incredible projects.

Uh first, Civic Center Park will have a sculpture funded by Capital Improvement Funds.

Our recommended artist is Nicholas Rascona, whose concept is called Seeds for Growth, which comprehensive comprehensively represents the City of Avondale's agricultural heritage, once built on cotton farming and ranching.

Old Town Plaza, located on Western Avenue in Dysart.

We will have an illuminated sculpture after community and a community engagement event where we will partner with local businesses on Western Avenue and Avondale residents.

Our recommended artist is internationally internationally known High Bicozo, who recently finished their exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden.

Being a significant gateway into Old Town Avondale, we wanted something with a strong statement and community input.

Friendship Dog Park on McDowell will have a sculpture funded by the Public Art Fund.

Hometown Hero submissions were received by December 12th, or I'm sorry, September 12th, and will be revealed annually prior to Veterans Day.

And then finally, conversations on future utility box reps are in the beginning stages.

So thank you for supporting Arts in Avondale.

I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation.

And uh I'll open it up at this point in time for council members to ask any questions.

Okay, Councilmember Boyce.

Hi.

More so than ask any question.

I just wanted to thank the um members of the municipal arts um committee or commission for being here tonight.

Um and I also one of the things that I thought was really interesting is the Harmony of Rivers.

Um I didn't know it was a dynamic um sculpture sculpture until I actually was driving by and it moved.

And I was like, oh, this is great.

It's absolutely beautiful, and it's perfect for that area.

So thank you guys for all you do and for um being here and helping us out.

Thank you.

Any other members of council?

Okay.

Oh, Councilmember White.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

Also, thank you for the tour of both of the library facilities on September 2nd.

I think when we look at public art, we have to give ourselves um the opportunity to share beauty and grace with others throughout our community, and it gives us a moment of pause.

And so to see the beautiful works that have come out throughout the city, I appreciate.

Um, I think you all were able to put a directory out there for us.

So I wanted to thank you for that publicly as well.

So folks know how to navigate, they can go to our website underneath the parks, recs, and library tab, and locate the different art installations throughout the city and possibly go on their own individual tours.

But I'm very excited about what we have on deck, and I love love love the installation at the Boulevard.

It's very beautiful.

So thank you for all that you do, and thank you so much for this presentation.

So, really quickly on the hometown hero banners.

I saw that there were two, and there might be more that I've seen, but typically how many yet approved.

So we're working with marketing on expanding the program because we did receive 19 submissions.

Currently, there are only seven or eight, I believe.

Um so yeah, we're working on expanding uh down diesel?

Yeah, uh, to represent the additional submissions we received.

Okay, yeah, no, that's I it's it's a it's a great way to uh to honor those heroes here locally, obviously, driving down Dysert and seeing those uh the banners, um, you know, just put a smile on my face.

And in regards to the art, I mean uh you know it's successful when we have to put barriers around the art, uh i.e.

the heart on the boulevard there, um, and I know that it does, it changes the experience, and quite honestly, it might even be a reason why people would come to the city to even look at it.

So uh in some ways it's almost like cultural tourism, and so I think it's uh it's a great way to benefit the way the city benefits uh from the art.

And thank you, Rhonda and Denise, again for for serving on the on the committee and uh bringing this artist art, sorry, this art forth.

Uh I know that must be a difficult job to agree on what to move forward, but we all benefit as a result, the community benefits as a result.

So thank you again for all you do, and um I really appreciate and look forward to the next installations that will come forth, especially the one across the way at the VIC.

So thank you so much.

Okay, at this time we have summary of current events.

Any members of council would like to share any events that you've attended or information related to them.

Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Um you and I both had the opportunity to attend the April 19th and uh first annual criminal justice conference.

APL stands for Arizona Black Law Enforcement, and I just wanted to acknowledge that we had numerous members of the Avondale Police Department who participated.

Officer Russell Stewart, Officer Um Rogers, Birchfield, Edmonds, Campbell, Ruiz, and Jones.

And so it was really awesome having that event here in Avondale.

Um we uh were able to engage and activate some of the students at Australia Mountain Community College, which was amazing.

And also um they uh had uh reported that our SWAT team uh was the first one that really opened up.

So I wanted to also thank um I believe it's Sergeant Alt who came out with his team um last week and kind of opened up the um the SWAT vehicles and and let them kind of see everything inside of that.

That's a really meaningful learning experience, and it's really important.

Um and there were numerous members of the Avondale Police Department um that were uh receiving awards.

I I would forget all of their names if I went through them, but I I just wanted to um make sure folks realize that this was uh a cultural celebration being delivered by those who represent the black community, but they honored, respected, and and trained all of the community, which was amazing.

And then this week I am participating in national transportation and Indian country conference.

Also got to hear from ADOT's chair director and sat with a member of the governor's cabinet today to uh learn and hear how we can support transit um in our rural areas and support um access to transit for those in and in country across the nation.

So that is what I'm participating in this week.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Thank you.

Any other members of council?

Okay.

I also go ahead.

Councilmember Garcia.

Um I attended the West Valley Chamber Gala on a couple weekends ago.

Um that was wonderful being around community leaders.

And I also want to mention the assassination of Charlie Kirk because it was a global um tragedy that happened.

I got the honor to go to his memorial yesterday and listening to the president, vice president, and our entire community.

It was just beautiful to see that everything was surrounded around the Lord, and that I hope that these tragedies don't continue to happen.

And as a community, we come together through our differences and are able to have civil conversations because that is something that Charlie was doing on his tours.

And I want to thank the law enforcement that was there.

I know Avendale was there as well as every police department in the West Valley as well as federal.

So thank you guys so much for the safety that you guys provided for us.

That it was a really safe and great experience.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Garcia.

Anyone else?

Um thank you to Neighborhood and Family Services as well as Evan Gold, who provided a message to our youth at the Avondale uh Youth Summit hosted at La Jolla Community High School.

Uh, I know that me and Councilmember White were in attendance there, and um, I know the message was loud and clear in regards to confidence uh, you know, with the youth and all the things that are happening nowadays and making sure that they are confident in who they are.

Um, also, in addition to that, uh the uh economic development department in conjunction with freeway uh hosted at 1.1, the Avondale Innovate Summit.

So we got to hear from technology companies, and I know that Vice Mayor Nielsen was there as well.

I also had the pleasure this week of meeting with Superintendent Islas with the Olifria Union High School District.

And if you are already aware of their academies, the Southwest Academies and what's happening at the Litchfield um Paul W.

Litchfield Historical Society and the uh performing arts center that is being built there.

Uh there should be more information coming soon on that.

But he provided a lot of feedback and a lot of information on what's to come, uh, which was really exciting, and and again, much more to come on that later.

And uh that's pretty much about it.

So thank you all for being here tonight.

Can I get a motion to adjourn?

Can we have a motion by Councilmember Condi, a second by council member weiss?

Please vote.

Item passes.

We are adjourned.

Everybody, please have a safe drive home, and we'll see you.