City Council meeting.

At this time, I'd like to call to order the regular city council meeting of May 19, 2025.

Would you all please join me with a Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence?

Under the feature and Justice Earl.

Thank you.

Chris, if you could do a roll call.

Councilmember Condi.

Here.

Councilmember Garcia.

Here.

Councilmember Solorio.

Councilmember White.

Here.

Vice Mayor Nielsen.

Here.

Mayor Pineta.

Here.

And Councilmember Weiss has an excused absence tonight.

Yes, thank you.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Up uh next is we have our employee announcements.

I believe we're going to start with the judge.

Here he comes.

We say all rise.

Thank you, Ron.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

Uh Brill and I are honored to be here today with two of our newest employees.

As you know, we don't have too many vacancies at the court, or very often do we have vacancies at the court.

Uh, but we had a promotion recently, and then someone did leave, so we had uh two new hires.

First, I want to interview or excuse me, introduce Gregory Leppert.

Uh Greg started with us on April 14th, uh, so been there a little over a month now.

He came from the post office uh where he had been there for a few years.

And then Joanna Malon Romero uh joined us the week later on April 21st, and she came from the Tallison Police Department where she was a dispatcher.

Both of them have told me multiple times they're in better positions now.

So well, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for joining the Avondale team, and tonight we have so many folks coming tonight.

Usually we have you say something or unless there's something that you'd like to share, get off your chest.

We'd love to hear.

Okay, well, thank you again for being here, and I'm glad to hear that the positions have been filled.

Thank you so much.

Mr.

Mayor and Council, up next we'll have uh Jodi, our director of development services, present her new employees.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council.

Um, I have two new employees I'd like to introduce to you this evening.

Um, Carrie Schrove.

She is our new building permit technician, too, that serves in our front counter permanent center with our permit technician team.

She had worked with City of Avondale for a little bit as a contractor, helping us during our transition as we were filling positions and managing workload.

She previously worked with a firm that we consult with called Shun Scota, but she was very excited to work in public government.

Um and had applied for a position and ultimately was hired to be a part of our team.

So she chose Avonville because of our culture, all the wonderful team members that we have that she gets to work with, and she enjoys taking her daughter to rodeo events in her spare time.

Thank you for being with us.

And our also our other new employee that we have is Monica Schmier.

Uh Monica is one of our new senior planners in our planning division.

Uh she worked both in public and private sector, so she has a lot of urban planning experience.

She most recently worked with Penell County, um, so we've brought her more towards the Phoenix Metropolitan area.

Um she's assisted with all sorts of zoning code updates, public engagement planning, and working on master plan communities.

She has a bachelor's degree in architecture and a master's degree in landscape architecture, but comes in very handy in a lot of the stuff that we do in our department.

And she enjoys listening to excellent music from a variety of genres in her spare time.

So we want to say welcome uh to Monica for being part of our department as well.

Carrie and Monica, welcome to Avondale, and thank you so much for being here.

Appreciate it.

Mr.

Mayor and Council, I'll ask uh Chief Rooney to come up and introduce his new employee.

Uh actually, new certifications.

How's that?

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Tonight I had the pleasure of introducing you to our new paramedics.

Unfortunately, two are sick, and one is on vacation with his family, so we I will introduce you to one of them.

I'll mention all of them though.

They uh we're very proud of them.

They uh completed a nine-month course of paramedicine and spent uh weeks and hours studying.

Um we're very proud of them.

And we're also very thankful for the council and the city management team to support us on increasing the number of paramedics that we have to serve our community.

So uh not present, we have uh firefighter Justin Kahn.

We have uh firefighter Oscar Lopez and Firefighter uh Jordan Ute.

Um I do have the pleasure of uh introducing you to Brock Chicago.

Um Brock is uh a firefighter at 171, and uh he's on A Shift, and he's serving that part of the community as well as the rest of the community.

But we'll uh we have some little bit of a bit of bragging rights with Brock as well.

So uh every class they give the paramedic of the class award to the uh highest student.

And Brock was that this year.

I I know I'm embarrassing him right now, but that's that's the cause.

We we strive to be number one and constantly we have the number one people in in in the academies and also in the paramedic class.

Um he received the Kyle Brayer Award.

Kyle was a uh captain in Tempe who lost his life, and uh they uh uh named the award after him and and Brock uh got the top scores across the board, and and we're very proud of him.

So Brock, thank you very much.

Brock, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you so much, Chief.

All right.

Up next, uh Council and Mayor, uh sorry, Mayor and Council.

Will uh why is it Corey I always mess up on?

But anyways, uh Corey's up next, our Parks Rec Director to introduce his new employees.

There's a lot of us tonight.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the council.

I'm Corey Lever.

I'm excited to show that we have some new talent on the team in green joining our parks and recreation division.

I'm gonna allow them each to introduce themselves themselves, uh share their position title and a little fun fact about themselves as well.

Um I just want to show that these are some of these are backfilling bacon positions.

Uh one is an internal promotion, moving into a newer higher level role, um, and two are new positions that we are fortunate to add um in the new fiscal year uh to join and support our team.

So with that.

Hi everyone.

Uh my name is Desirez.

I'm the new recreation programmer for our wonderful sports division here.

Been here just under two months.

Um fact about me is I actually am an assistant coach for a basketball team here within Arizona, so I'm pretty much always busy.

Um couple things I love about Avendale so far is the leadership, the people in Pickable.

Hi, I'm Marissa Bailey.

I'm the Arts Culture and Library Manager.

Uh my first day at Avondale was March 31st.

Fun fact about me is I'm on week 93 of a reading streak, and I'm an avid uh very new fan of hockey.

Um, let me believe this last.

Um that's yeah.

Thank you.

Hello, Mayor, Rising Council.

I'm Angelina Sarah.

I'm the recreation programmer for special events.

Uh fun fact about me is unfortunately I'm an Arizona sports fan.

Um I love about uh Avendell Subs leadership and how welcome you guys have all been since I started.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Blake Mellon, the park supervisor here.

Um been with the City of Adam back with the City of Avondale for three weeks.

I was previously here from 2019 to 2022 as a park lead.

Um fun fact about me, I'm addicted to cooking food on the Blackstone, so if you see a TikTok, um most likely gonna try it.

Um favorite part about Avondale is just the whole city vibe, the small town feel, and just how the uh each department works with one another.

I can make a phone call, and the water departments that are within an app.

So it's good to be back.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mariana.

I'm an administrative assistant for parts and recreation.

I've been with Abbendale a week today.

Um a fun fact about myself is I was actually part of the Avondale Explorers for three almost four years, and I participated in a variety of volunteer opportunities and competitions.

My favorite part of Avondale is uh the care and effort that goes into giving back to our community and being able to watch it grow throughout the years.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Daniela Cornechel.

Um I have just got information promoted to librarian too at Civic Center Library.

Um fun fact about me.

Um I won my state culinary competition in high school, so that's why I bake so much, just not for Corey.

Um but what I like most about Avondale is just serving the community, and I've been doing that for almost four years now, and just recognizing those faces that come to the library, and then when they came at the community center.

So yeah.

Thank you so much.

We'll take some big goods though, so let us know.

Two Mondays a month is what I heard.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Uh Mayor, uh Council up next is we're gonna have, I believe, Harold, our uh assistant director of public works make the next presentation.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council.

Um we'll introduce uh Lala Four of our newest uh employees who introduce themselves on this video, but I'm also happy to say that after these uh four individuals, we only have four vacancies left to fill for this year for our department.

So very excited about that.

Hello, my name is Anthony Johnson.

I work for Public Works.

I'm in street maintenance side, street maintenance too.

I came to Avondale because our beautiful town, city.

And what I most love about this job is to keep the city clean and the roads cleared and smooth.

Hi, my name is Ryan Willard.

I'm a wastewater collections operator here in the city of Avondale.

My favorite part of my job is the people that I'm gonna work with.

Hi, my name is Flavio Alvaro.

I'm the new Cater Technician here for the city of Avondale.

Um the reason I came here to have the City of Avondale is I just wanted a new opportunity, something fresh, a fresh start, new career.

Um the one thing I do like about this place is everyone's so friendly.

The culture here is great, and it's uh it's a culture that's makes it makes it easy to motivate yourself and make you want to better yourself and just be part of a big group.

Hi, my name is Douglas Bayanya.

I'm part of the public's work.

I'm a heavy equipment operator.

Why did I come work for the city of Avondale?

I heard it was a good city to work for.

Um I also believe that working for a world respected organization will give me access to opportunities that will be a bass in my career.

My favorite part of working in my job is going to be probably dealing with the public.

The residents and working with individuals that had a lot of experience in the same goals as you do.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Mr.

Mayor Council, before we go on to um uh B.

Uh if uh our firefighter paramedic, if he could make sure he sticks around for a picture uh with council, I'd appreciate that given he's representing the whole crew um for the uh paramedic school.

Up next, Mayor Council is our second presentation by our director of human resources, Andy, on award the city recently received.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council.

Uh on April 28th, 2025, the Industrial Commission of Arizona hosted its annual recognition day focused on organizations and employers who demonstrate a commitment to worker safety.

I'm pleased to announce that with council's leadership and support, the City of Avondale received the ICA Public Entity Partnership Program, Large City Employer Recognition Award, which specifically recognizes the municipalities who epitomize and exhibit exceptional support, time, effort, and action in the PEP program, um, setting them apart from other similar municipalities in the industry.

During the event, we were honored to have Vice Mayor Nielsen attend to represent City Council for the acceptance of the award.

Uh the city was provided a banner that we intend to rotate periodically throughout the city to celebrate the recognition, but also serve as a reminder for prioritizing safety at work.

I'd like to also take a moment to acknowledge James Corless, our risk manager, and Greg Lacama, our safety officer, for their efforts and leadership in supporting worker safety here in Avondale, and they're here tonight.

Both James and Greg are approaching the one-year anniversary with the city and have accomplished quite a bit in their first year with the organization.

I also want to take this opportunity to recognize other members of the Citywide Safety Committee as well as staff from the Public Works Safety Committee who might be here tonight.

Anyone, sir, can you please stand up?

Again, under city leadership, they've done a great job of creating a culture of safety throughout the organization and specifically also within the public works department and have worked very closely in partnership with James and Greg.

So again, Council, thank you for your leadership and the opportunity to show this important recognition tonight.

And Mayor, at this time, I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you so much, Andy.

And again, any time that uh we are doing something that can be acknowledged, and often not in search of the award, but because it's just what we do, it's always a great feeling.

And I see uh I think I saw uh a glimmer of the of the flag folded up, so I can't wait to kind of see it displayed.

Um, but um, Vice Mayor, would you like to share about the event?

It was kind of an interesting thing.

They had probably about 10 or 12 different organizations there represented by different aspects of it.

But the safety aspect, I guess, my background from the minds, it's important to go into work with the number of fingers that you got in the morning and come back out at night.

But uh, some of the things that they've done just uh prove proactively to engage safety rather than looking at it after the fact and doing things in the morning and the afternoon, trying to keep that in everybody's mind and current.

And I just am impressed with the work that is going on in the city of Avondale and keep it up.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

We really appreciate it and look forward to seeing the flag displayed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Mr.

Mayor, a reminder for the rest of the presentations, we will get pictures at the end.

Thank you.

All right, up next is our proclamation for National Public Works Week, and I believe it'll be Harold making TNS up.

All right, good evening once again, Var Vice Mayor and Council.

Uh this week is National Public Works Week 2025.

National Public Works Week started as an education program in 1960 and received federal recognition in 1962 when President John F.

Kennedy issued a proclamation proclamation designating the third week of May as National Public Works Week.

Each year, the American Public Works Association creates a theme for National Public Works Week.

And this year it is three P people, Purpose, and presence.

This year's theme, People, Purpose and Presence, highlights the three cornerstones, ideals that motivate public works professionals to serve in their communities every day.

Meeting the needs of people is what gives public works its sense of purpose.

Many times public works professionals will never meet those whose lives have been impacted because when things are going right, no one knows that public works is right there.

Yet, with yet with or without fanfare, public works is ever present, working in the background to advance the quality of life for all.

The public works industry encompasses many areas, included but not limited to streets and transportation, water and wastewater utilities, fleet services, administration, solid waste and recycling, and it incorporates city, county, state, and federal programs as well as the consulting and contracting community.

In Avondale, public works related services are provided by the public works department as well as members of the facilities, engineering, and parks departments, so I would like to recognize and honor them as well.

Your public works department employs 123 full-time staff providing and supporting city services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This week is an opportunity to provide education about the work of public works.

So once again, we will be offering a chance for employees who tour our operations and learn a little bit more about what it is that we do.

And we'll also be recognizing, celebrating, and thanking the men and women of the public works industry that work hard to make life civilized for all of us.

Many members of the public works team are here this evening, and we would be honored, Mayor, if you could read the proclamation that is before you.

Services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to public health, quality of life, and well-being of the people of Avondale.

And whereas these infrastructure facilities and services cannot be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector, who are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens.

And whereas it is in the public interest for residents, civic leaders, and children in Avondale to gain knowledge of and to maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities.

And whereas the year 2025 marks the 65th annual National Public Works Week, sponsored by the American Public Works Association, Canadian Public Works Association, be it now, therefore be it resolved on behalf of the Avondale City Council, the City of Avondale hereby proclaims May 18th through the 24th of 2025 as National Public Works Week.

I urge all residents to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies and activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and advancing quality of life for all.

And if you are a member of Public Works, would you please stand so you can be recognized?

Thank you so much for everything and what you all do for the city.

Thank you, May.

Appreciate it.

All right.

Up next, Mr.

Mayor is our Citizens Water Academy recognition, be presented by Eric, our assistant director of public works.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council.

I'm very excited for this next item, and it's placed very conveniently on the agenda because it's right after Public Works Week.

And that's to celebrate the completion of the spring 2025 Citizens Water Academy.

The Water Academy is an annual event held by Public Works, where we invite a group of inquisitive residents for a deeper look at water within the City of Avondale.

This year the Academy was held over a series of five sessions over five weeks, five Tuesdays in a row with one bi-week.

I think that's because we're trying to be a little bit more like the NFL.

And I'm happy to announce that this year Public Works graduated 14 residents.

And while I had the privilege of being the Master of Ceremonies for this event, it's my water division staff that really makes this a wonderful and successful event each and every year.

So I would like to highlight a couple of the photos of them giving their presentations.

And then one of our environmental techs, uh, Jasmine Orteza running the TAC trailer.

On night two, we had production distribution and water quality.

On night three, we had wastewater collection and stormwater.

You can see our lead water distribution operator, TJ S.O.

talking about our VAT truck, and then our wastewater collection supervisor, Mike Arichetta given a presentation about our CTV van.

Night four, night five, we had water reclamation facility and the aquaculture program.

Wetlands recharge CIP utility building and graduation.

You can see our plant supervisor at Jess Grasad talking to individuals on top of the Aeration Basin, our wetlands operator, Zach, talking about the aquaculture program, our aquaculture cultivator in the bottom left-hand corner, Reed Barrel, talking about the Crystal Garden Wetlands, and then we have our production and treatment supervisor Matt Farrell, uh, given a little tour of the Rancho Santa Fe station.

And I could honestly rave about the academy all night, but instead I figured you'd like to hear from one of our academy participants, so please join me and welcoming Cynthia.

I'm sure everybody knows uh my story.

I've been participating in these academies since September 2023.

Um, police, leadership.

I'm uh an ambassador now, and now I just finished sadly the last academy.

I think that there should be other academies created just for me.

I don't know what I'm gonna do with my Tuesdays.

But seriously, I learned so much about water that like I I encourage everybody, everybody I talk to, even if they don't live in the city of Avondale at events, uh, that they should take these academies to just learn what what all of these employees do for us on a daily basis.

It just surprises me every time I take an academy.

Uh, the amount of like they're they are so passionate about their jobs, and I'm always shocked how they all love their jobs.

They just love their jobs.

Nobody plans to ever leave.

I'm really surprised of how many new hires that I saw this evening, um, because nobody ever leaves.

But um, really, um, I I really just want to thank everybody that was involved in the academies for the citizens, because it's really an important program because until you truly know what the um employees of Avondale do for you, you just don't have that um appreciation.

Um so I literally want to thank the academy because I really appreciate everything that um they've done in my life.

It's more than they will ever know.

They've just really supported me for about a year and a half.

So I really just want to say thank you.

Thank you.

And Cynthia, really quickly.

Uh as the as the uh ambassador of the uh committee, uh sorry, the academy, um, was it I hope it was communicated just how uh well Avondel has done when it comes to a portfolio of water uh and as well as you know just the advancement and the technology that is utilized as part of uh the water and the treatment and all the other things, and so uh as an ambassador, I hope you are able to share that information with the residents of just the importance that water plays uh in terms of a role here with the city and and and just how important it is for us as a policy making body uh to communicate that to the residents.

And so I we appreciate uh you being here, appreciate the rest of the group uh for participating.

Um, but hopefully that message was conveyed.

It really was, um, mayor, and um I am able to even regarding like the rate hike, I was able to like really believe in it, and you know, nobody wants their bills to go up right, but just going to the academy, I knew that there was no way I couldn't support, you know, a rate hike.

I think it don't quote me, it probably wasn't enough.

But um, I mean, everybody just does such a good job here, and you know, just what we learned about I call them the fish man back there at the back.

What we learned about what fish do for the city of Avondale was amazing.

But I would like to say one more thing, but one thing that I was horrified about, and I changed my habits.

You already know, you're already shaking your head.

Um flush flushable wipes.

All right, who's gonna give us some money back there?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for everybody.

Would would the uh graduates from the academies stand up to be recognized as well, if you don't mind?

We're gonna get a picture, but yes.

Yes, thank you so much.

Thank you all for your time.

We appreciate you.

Mr.

Mayor, I always have the pleasure of going out the last night and I ask them what they found interesting, and that flushable wipe thing is is always at the top of the list.

Um I don't know what they do in the class, but they get the message across.

Alright, up next, uh, Mr.

Mayor and Council, we have uh read better, be better, pathway to civic leadership.

I believe Edith is gonna introduce our team or the team.

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

At this time, we would like to welcome nonprofit organization Read Better Be Better to the podium who will speak on their pathway to civic leadership program, which works to equip students with leadership and advocacy skills in order to encourage them onto a pathway to become leaders in their community.

I would like to invite Alex Peck, she's our Pathways Program Director for Read Better, Be Better, to share their recent event that took place right here in our council chambers on Monday, April 28th.

Uh, thank you so much.

Um thank you to Avondale City Council members, Mr.

Mayor, thank you for inviting us and allowing us to speak tonight.

Um, Whitney Castro and the neighborhood services department for coordinating everything and being so accommodating for us.

Um my name is Alex Peck, and I'm the Pathways Program Director at Read Better Be Better.

Read Better Be Better's focus is addressing Arizona's third grade literacy crisis.

Currently, nearly 60% of Arizona third graders are not reading at grade level according to state testing results, which makes them four times less likely to graduate from high school.

Read Better Be Better seeks to address this problem through providing tier two evidence-based curriculum to K through third grade readers that are implemented one-on-one after school by fourth through middle school students in partnership with public district schools and public libraries.

Over the past 10 years, Read Better Be Better has expanded this work into a comprehensive pipeline we call the ChangeMaker continuum.

You'll see some students in the front wearing their change maker shirts.

It's a full programmatic spectrum that includes high school programming that I'm really privileged to be able to develop and run.

Through these programs, high school students gain experience in classroom management through our education profession pipeline and also gain leadership experience and can you reach their communities through our civic leadership pathway.

Through these programs, young readers gain literacy skills, older students step into mentorship roles, and high schoolers explore pathways to teaching and civic leadership.

Avondale Elementary School District is our longest standing partner and has been working with us since fall of 2015.

So most of our life as a nonprofit, we've been working with the elementary school district.

Tonight I'm uh really grateful to highlight a new partnership with Agua Freya High School Districts, specifically through Agua Fria High School, where we ran our first region-based civic leadership cohort.

During this program, students from the Agua Freya School District as well as neighboring school districts came together once a week for nine weeks, uh, worked through a leadership development curriculum provided by the Flynn Foundation and facilitated facilitated by Read Better Be Better staff, myself and some of the staff in the audience.

They met with guest speakers from the community and were asked to identify a problem or area of need on their school campus that they wanted to provide a solution for.

A lot of students came to us and said, you know, my school is fine.

I think, you know, I got what I need, those types of things.

And by the end of our nine weeks together, they were able to articulate the things that they wanted to see more of on their campus, find ways uh to implement creative solutions to make their day-to-day life and the life of the students on their campus better, um, which is a win for us for sure.

The students worked together, they crafted proposals, identified policies, practiced and gave feedback.

And it culminated in a final presentation here at the City Council Room.

So they're practiced.

And they're ready to go, and you'll hear from them in a few moments.

Um civic leadership program that's being highlighted for you tonight is our newest program, but for me, our most crucial.

Through my seven years at Read Better Be Better and over ten years in the nonprofit sector, I have learned that the social problems nonprofits should be seeking to address are always connected to a structure that is supposed to be serving the community.

I have seen firsthand that the structures that should be supporting public schools and their students are deteriorating, most significantly impacting students of color and low-income families.

This is reflected in lack of quality teachers and budget constraints that prevent schools from being able to provide fundamental services to their most vulnerable students.

I have also had the privilege of meeting exceptional public school teachers, administrators, and district staff that work through these obstacles with deep humility and grace, with children always at the forefront.

They persist through circumstances that are out of their control to serve the students that are right in front of them, uh in front of them day in and day out, often functioning as more than a teacher and school staff, but also as a mentor and advocate for students who need it most.

The high school students I have had the privilege of working with this semester in Avondale are deeply committed to the health and well-being of students in their community, and they are the ones most uniquely equipped to address these structural issues that lead to a fundamental lack of literacy skills as they experience these issues day to day.

The students I have worked with are thoughtful, inspiring, and future leaders in our community and the community of Avondale.

You'll be hearing from three of these students tonight.

Linda Wynn from Aguafria High School, Jalen Aguyar from Westview High School, and Nijah Edmonds from Westview High School.

I want to do a special thank you to Principal Autumn Daniels from Aguafria High School for providing a beautiful space in their library to run this program, being flexible to allow students from other campuses to take part in the program and being such a willing participant in their success.

Also, Chelina German, the BSU advisor who connected me to many of the students on campus and has really become an integral part of our expansion and partnership.

Providing this program for kids in the community in where they live is fundamental to the work we're trying to do, and I appreciate their partnership.

So I'm going to stop talking and I'm going to introduce the students.

First, we it'll be Linda, you're first, then Jalen.

And Nija.

Thank you so much.

Hi, my name is Linda Wing, and I'm a junior at Albert Free High School.

I'm the president of BCU and I've been in film for three years.

My the intro to my problem is that some teachers rely on too much on videos instead of teaching the class themselves, which and some of the students or some of the teachers don't understand fully the materials that they are teaching, which can make it harder for the students to learn and stay motivated.

This relates to the school and district teaching standards and professional development policies, which should make sure students teachers are well trained and fully understand their subject.

Thank you.

Hello everyone, and thank you for inviting me here today.

I'm super glad to speak.

My name is Jamie Agar, and I'm a freshman at Westview High School.

I've been involved with Read Better Be Better for four years now.

I'm doing this and I tutored all throughout middle school.

It's so nice to just see the kids brighten up to start learning and then seeing their progression based on it.

Okay.

The issue at hand is student morale.

Community is very important to me.

If a student is disengaged and doesn't have the support from the community, it will not only worsen their mental health but disengage them from others.

If a student is unengaged during class time and fundamental learning, it will not only lower their test scores and attendance, it can also overall bring down the funding for the school.

If we break from the everyday routine and include pep rallies and more student input, like using resources like Stugo, which is a student government at our school, having more inclusive and unified classes and sports, I think it will truly grow our community.

A sense of community is so important for anyone, especially a teenager going through high school.

At my school, we had a unified basketball game, and it was just so nice to see everyone making signs for the kids and cheering.

I thought it was just such a beautiful thing.

And I mean, you know, everybody wants a little sense of community.

Nobody wants to feel alone.

Okay, that's all.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Protected.

As youth, I want to feel protected.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

My name is Nijah Edmondson.

I go to Westview High School.

Writing this speech made me realize that there are many problems the youth have, not just one.

On the daily, my peers and I have to worry about being verbally attacked through cyberbullying, constant fear of school shootings, and struggle with suicidal thoughts.

According to Stopbullying.gov, did you know that 2021 in 2022, 19.2 students from ages 12 to 18 experience bullying nationwide?

A lot of students reported being bullied by a student who seemed more powerful in some way.

There was just one time in middle school when I had a friend who was cyberruly.

As I was she shared that she was experiencing suicidal thoughts.

This was the first time I realized that cyberbullying affected a person so negatively.

Based on Western Michigan University suicide prevention program, it is said that most suicidal individuals desperately want to live.

Recently, on April 17th, 2025, there's a school shooting at Florida State University.

Studies show that on CNN.com from the year I was born 2008, annual school shootings increase from 18 per year to 83 in 2024.

My solution to this is to partner with the city of Avondale and hold teen summits.

These summits could spread awareness by having community leaders talk about how to prevent cyberbullying, school shootings, and suicidal thoughts.

To encourage students to attend this event, we can partner with principals and teachers to give students extra credit.

In summary, I want my peers and I to feel safe at home at school and in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I mean, it's kind of the gift that kids keeps on giving as they progress throughout the career.

And uh four years in the program being a freshman in high school says says it all that uh you're giving back and continuing on providing that service.

So thank you so much for the students.

Thank you so much again for reading better, be better.

Uh, and for a platform being provided to all free high school autumn.

So thank you so much.

And if not, we'll continue on, but I just wanted to member Garcia.

It is so touching to just hear and see one how articulate all three of you ladies were, but how passionate you guys were about the topic that you guys chose.

And all of those three topics are so important in our communities right now.

And the fact that you guys as freshmen senior sophomores see that is speaks volumes on what's happening in our culture, but you guys are looking for solutions, and that's what I love.

If there's a problem, you find a solution, you don't complain.

And I love that you guys are involved and keep going, and the sky's the limit if you guys keep doing what you're doing right now.

Thank you so much.

Parents be very proud of your girls.

Councilmember White, I know you're on the phone.

Is there anything you'd like to add?

No.

No, thank you, sir.

I'm just very proud of the program and the outcomes.

Thank you so much for offering it in Avondale.

Thank you so much, and thank you again for being here tonight.

Miss Ray now will ask council to join us for pictures.

Perfect.

All right, Chris, item number three, unscheduled public appearances.

Do we have any blue cards or anybody online?

Uh no, Mayor, we have not.

Okay, thank you so much.

Let's move on to the consent agenda.

Are there uh I believe we do have one item that's being pulled, which is is it 4F?

Okay, 4F.

So if we can get a motion uh for the rest of the consent agenda minus item 4F.

We've got a motion by Councilmember Condi, a second by Vice Mayor Nielsen.

All others please vote.

Aye.

Thank you, Councilmember White.

Okay, item passes.

All right.

Uh Ron.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor Council.

I believe uh Chris uh Lopez, your uh director of uh family neighborhood services will provide information and background on this item.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council.

I'm pleased to be here before you this evening to provide you with a little bit of background regarding this second amendment to our IGA with Maricopa County um for the expansion of homeless services.

Jumping ahead.

To provide a little background and a little bit of context for this amendment.

Back in February, Lutheran Social Services reached out to us to inform us that they were gonna be discontinuing the IHELP program.

This is the interface shelter program.

Um they made this decision greatly because funding streams have been significantly impacted.

Um and so they were gonna be dis discontinuing the program bellywide.

We got that news on April 1st.

Early in March, Lutheran Social Services began coordination with our homeless services division and sonar to begin um finding shelter placements for those individuals, approximately twelve individuals that were in shelter at that time.

Our team is highly effective in doing so, and so we were very successful in sheltering most of those individuals.

There was a remaining four folks that uh decided to stay uh within IHELP.

Um and those the IHEP was able to continue through the collaboration of the churches.

The churches felt really strongly that they wanted to try to sustain the program and wanted to ensure that these individuals had shelter.

The churches were working diligently to um find other funding streams and to organize themselves to um find a way to continue to operate the shelter.

Um but in May they made the decision to temporarily pause the program uh due to churches pulling them back from the program and really a need for um generating some funding and just organizational structure.

Um we've been along the way uh kind of shadowing them, supporting them, providing recommendations and thoughts on how they should structure the program um and kind of guiding them towards possible funding streams.

Sonar continued to assist in sheltering the remaining four guests in our network of regional shelters across the valley.

Again, Sonar is highly effective in doing so.

Um IHELP was just one of the many solutions that we relied on.

Um and so we we remain to be very successful.

Since the announcement, um back in April, Sonar has connected at least twelve individuals to regional shelters across the valley.

I share this because there's been no disruption in uh service.

It was convenient to have the shelter in our community, but again, we have a wealth of uh partners and resources across the valley that we're relying on.

With that, uh we wanted to make sure that that residual, the remaining funding was put to good use.

Um this would be the second amendment to this agreement, and what we want to do with this amendment is allocate reallocate the funding to another partner that we have.

So we work closely with a new leaf.

They provide family stability, case management, and a variety of supports to make sure that families are are sheltered um or remain sheltered.

And so we felt like this was a great use of those funds.

Um we have a strong relationship with Lutheran, I'm sorry, a new leaf, um, and they were happy to expand the program and collaborate with us.

This amendment will also extend the deadline for um expenditure of those funds out to December 30th of 2025.

Shifting gears just slightly, we wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with some updates regarding heat relief efforts.

The two kind of go hand in hand.

We know that council um is has been concerned over the years and really uh wants to make sure that we're protecting our most vulnerable residents across the community.

And so we thank you for your investment and the care that you put into us uh into helping us uh provide these services.

So again, we are um continuing with our heat relief efforts with cooling stations being held at the Avondale Resource Center and then hydration stations at both of our libraries.

Uh last year we expanded heat relief in the cooling center at the resource center to make sure that we were covering weekends and holidays.

Extremely critical as we hit those extreme heat days, making sure that folks had an option seven days a week.

Um in addition to that, we have strong collaboration across the city with other departments being involved.

Our Avondale Police Department uh operates Beat the Heat.

They're gonna kick that off this year on May 30th.

Uh this is a hotline that folks can call into if they are um remote and they're unable to access some of these shelter uh cooling stations and resources, and so the police department will coordinate with a variety of resources to get folks connected to cooling stations or other services or assistance as needed.

Um in addition to this, it's not listed here.

We recently got word from Avondale Baptist Church.

They want to make sure that they're doing everything they can to assist us in this effort.

And so our sonar team is in the process of getting them onboarded as a heat relief site, and so they will also be providing heat relief.

And um and then Salvation Army continues to operate as a heat relief site.

So we have three options for uh cooling stations across the community.

There's a variety of other supports that we offer.

Um I know you're very familiar with our community action program.

This provides rent and utility assistance for residents.

Um really it's important to make sure that we keep power on for folks that are struggling, especially households that uh maybe have medical equipment or just our aging population.

We want to make sure that we keep those AC units up and running.

Uh we do that with that utility assistance.

We also have a small pot of money that we don't widely advertise, but my department has some funding available for what we call crisis assistance.

So this is kind of our last option.

We exhaust all other options before we tap into this.

This is a flexible pot that we can use for qualifying residents to pay for things like uh mobile uh portable AC units, um, pay an electric bill, um, help with other repairs, those sorts of things.

So it's very important that we have this resource, and we're grateful for council in providing that.

We also have a portable AC loan program, and I want to use this as an opportunity to kind of clarify how this program works.

Um we do have our home repair program, and as residents come in for that program, occasionally one of the repairs that's needed is air conditioning or ductworks or things like things like that.

So, what we do is we want to make sure that those folks are or their homes are cooled while they're um applying for the program, going through the qualification process, and then while those repairs are being completed.

So this program was launched, I want to say maybe a year or two years ago, and last year we provided 13 units during the summertime, and then we recover those units at the end of the summer.

And we'll be offering that program again this year.

Mayor and council, that was uh that concludes my presentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you so much, Chris.

And uh just just again just cements that service that's being provided by the city.

I know I received a phone call from a resident uh about two weeks ago in regards to crisis uh regarding your water bill and and keeping the water on.

And I know that uh your department were it was able to help this resident and they were much appreciative.

And I I just truly, truly uh want to thank you and your team for the services and all the providers that provide that.

At this moment, I'd like to turn over real quickly to Councilmember Condi, who I know uh this item uh was pooled, and I know that there's uh a great reason why, so please share with us um some information.

Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you, Chris, for the presentation.

Um I'm really happy to hear that um we were able to pivot and find shelter placements for those um that were a part of the IHELP program.

You know, that's been a very successful program in our community since I've got on council, and I know Pastor Jack was the one that really kind of spearheaded that, and then um Lutheran Social Services and the City of Avondale was able to come alongside of him and help support support him and the other churches.

Um but I do know once the program starts again that there still is a need for churches.

So if anybody's out there that has a church that's interested in um being a part of the I Hope Help program, please reach out to Pastor Jack for that.

Um and I'm really thankful about the um increased heat efforts because summertime comes and it gets so hot, and I'm always sad to hear, you know, when someone is in their car down at the river bottom, and I'm so thankful that we have the Sonar team that's able to get down to the river bottom and provide um some of that heat relief.

Um, you did mention that um Pastor Jack's church was going to be a heat relief center.

Are they gonna put his church on the MAG map?

Do you know?

Mayor, Vice Neighbor, members of council.

Um, our Home Services Manager Brian has getting getting the church connected with MAG.

Um our goal is to have it listed on that uh DIS map.

Perfect.

Because I know there was a gap between heat relief places in the summertime.

So having something closer to um the freeway, Van Buren, McDowell makes it easier for folks to go get heat relief.

And then the final thing, just thank you for clarifying and explaining the the portable AC loan program.

I referred someone over to you because I wasn't sure you know that they had to have um get repairs being done in their home to get that.

But thank you for clarifying that and explaining and really just thank you and your team for just creating new services for our community whenever they need it, have a need.

So thank you guys so much for all that you guys do.

I really do appreciate you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your support.

We couldn't do it without your support.

Thank you.

Uh Vice Mayor Nelson.

Chris, I just have one question, and uh I helped.

There were four of them that you've pulled into the system.

You're not adding any more.

Yeah, I didn't see that you're gonna go up to 12 or anything like that.

I on that one one slide you had, and there I was just kind of asked.

We've got the four, you've taken care of place the four.

We're not pulling any more in.

Are there any more?

No, members of council.

Um, we did shelter the four individuals.

Um iHelp is not accepting new referrals until the program starts up.

Okay.

The tentative start date is September 1.

Um, and a good bit of information that I I um did not share is that we do know that they apply for contributions assistance funding.

This is a good indication that they're working diligently to send that program back up.

Great.

Okay.

And I know this heat relief is great.

Tina and I talked about that earlier today, not only here, but throughout the the West Valley.

And if we if we get the MAG thing together and to the point where it gets out to the people, I know some people find it difficult to maneuver MAG and other such things, but if we get those down, little maps that would be in uh resource center or someplace where they could come in and whether it'd be good year, Avondale Tullison, whatever it might be, at least they see where within the family of our little group there's opportunities there to pass that information on.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember White, do you have any questions?

No, thank you very much.

I appreciate your presentation, Chris, and your concern for this item, Tina.

And um Vice Mayor Nielsen and uh Councilmember Conde, thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Garcia, anything?

Okay, thank you so much, Chris.

Appreciate it.

Oh, we got a motion from Councilmember Solorio, second from Vice Mayor Nilsen.

We can all please vote.

Aye.

Thank you, Councilmember White.

Okay, item passes.

Item number five, summary of current events.

Is there anybody who would like to add any information or share something in regards to Councilmember Garcia?

I have some.

Um so last week I went to well, it wasn't coffee with the cop, it was coffee with the cops and the firefighters.

Um, but it was awesome.

It was at Colados.

Um last week was national um police week, which is you know something really dear to my heart.

So it was awesome that we were able to do that on that week, and then to see the community come out and support.

I saw there was like a coffee thing out here for the police officers, a lot of food being delivered, probably a lot of donuts that they shouldn't be eating, but as long as they enjoyed it.

And then um that same day I went to go uh to the Mother's Day Senior Tea Party, and those ladies are wild, and they're so much fun.

Um, and I love that you guys did that because it was a little different, they said, and they love that you guys had the violinists there.

Um they love the tea and stuff, and I just I was probably there for like an hour, an hour and a half just talking to them, and they were trying to feed me all of their food that they brought.

as they enjoyed it and then um that same day I went to go uh to the Mother's Day senior tea party and those ladies are wild and they're so much fun um and I love that you guys did that because it was a little different they said and they love that you guys had the violinists there um they love the tea and stuff and I just I was probably there for like an hour an hour and a half just talking to them and they were trying to feed me all of their food that they brought but thank you guys for doing that for them because you guys really made them happy anybody else really quickly I'd like to congratulate uh Ben and Cindy who are the owners uh Harlow Ben and Cindy Harrow of Paloma Street Food uh who won the uh mayor's award for the uh was it the West Valley Regional Chamber I always mix mess that up now uh won the award there so congratulations to them and also I want to thank city management uh city uh manager Ron Corbin and your team for uh taking myself Vice Mayor Nielsen and Councilmember Condi uh for a drive around the city to take a look at uh things that are coming up and that we're really excited about and also looking at things that uh require some attention and I look forward for the rest of the council to uh take their drive with you and your team to provide their input uh and to gather information that maybe we did not or that we didn't ask questions we didn't ask so thank you for doing that and and allowing for us to join we appreciate it mayor I just had a couple things okay uh go ahead council member white thank you so much I just wanted to thank the city manager off city manager's office I am a graduate of class 31 of leadership west so um I did complete that recommend thank you all for your support um last week along with you Vice Mayor Nielsen Councilmember Garcia and Councilmember Conde we went to the silver um birch grand reopening that assisted uh senior living center it was very very beautiful I had a great time and then special shout out to our neighbors over in good year got to go to the um bucky's um groundbreaking and got to go to the ribbon cutting for Dave's hot chicken so it's pretty fun over there and very thankful to be out and about in the West Valley mayor.

Thank you so much Councilmember White Ron I was just gonna say Mr.

Mayor it was our pleasure and I I would like to recognize Councilmember Solario who uh insisted on the uh the um coffee with the uh the badges uh yeah coffee with the badges so I just want to give credit there thank you thank you councilmember Solaro for that that was a good event okay with that let's get a motion for adjournment got a motion from council member conde council member a second by councilmember Solorio please vote aye thank you council member white we are adjourned