In the Avondale City Council meeting.

The regular city council meeting of March 24th, 25.

Would you all please join me in a standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence?

Pledge of allegiance of the United States of America and the Republicans one management and invisible with liberty and justice for all thank you.

Marcella, can you do roll call, please?

Councilmember Condi.

Here.

Councilmember Garcia.

Here.

Councilmember Solario.

Councilmember Weiss.

Here.

Councilmember White.

Here.

Vice Mayor Nielsen.

Mayor Paneda.

Here.

Thank you so much.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Up first is we're going to hear from our city clerk, Marcella, to talk about our two lights for tomorrow proclamation.

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

I am here before you today to introduce the Two Lights for Tomorrow initiative.

If you have not heard, America will turn 250 years old next year on July 4th, 2026.

And we are joining the nation in the America 250 campaign.

The Two Lights for Tomorrow Initiative is the start of the nationwide celebration, beginning with recognizing the famous ride of Paul Revere, which occurred overnight on April 18th through April 19th, 1775.

The Two Lights for Tomorrow originated out of a multi-state collaboration that uses the imagery of two lights shining 250 years ago as a united calling for citizens, no matter where they are, to commemorate and remind ourselves that our history is about working together for a better tomorrow.

Throughout the week of April 14th through April 18th, our library team will have some fun Paul Revere craft and storytime activities scheduled.

Additionally, we will be displaying two roll-up banners, one for each library, with imagery of the two lights shining.

And Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council, I thank you for your time tonight, and I'll pass it back over to you, Mayor, for the reading of the proclamation.

Thank you so much, Marcella.

It'll be a pleasure to read this proclamation.

Whereas the City of Avon recognizes the importance of commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a milestone that embodies our nation's founding ideals of equality, liberty, and justice.

And whereas the events of April 18th, 1775 signaled the beginning of the war for independence, immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride, with the famous phrase, one if by land, two if by sea.

These events were called to action, a beacon of light that rang out across the nation.

And whereas 250 years later, the two lights for the Tomorrow Initiative, a nationwide campaign to commemorate the 250th birthday of the United States of America to be observed on April 18th, 2025.

And whereas part of the National Initiative, Two Lights for Tomorrow, we will display two lights on April 18, 2025, to honor and draw inspiration from Paul Revere's historic ride, to unite Americans in reflection, celebration, and service.

And encourage a day of service on April 19th, 2025.

And whereas by lighting these two lights, we call on everyone in the city of Avondale to join together in support of one another, to serve each other, our neighbors, and our communities.

And now therefore, I Mike Pinetta, by virtue of the authority invested in me as the mayor of the City of Avondale, Arizona, do hereby proclaim that we join in the nationwide celebration of the Two Lights for Tomorrow initiative and urge all citizens to participate by lighting two lights to honor the past and illuminate the path forward for future generations.

Let these lights serve as a reminder of the strength of our collective history and the enduring commitment to the values that make our nation strong.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Ron, next item.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Up next is we have a proclamation on Fair Housing Month, presented by Regina, our housing and community development manager with neighborhood and family services.

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

My name is Regina Moret, and I am the housing and community development manager in the neighborhood and family services services department.

I am here this evening to introduce April as National Fair Housing Month.

Fair Housing Month is a time to celebrate and reaffirm our commitment to the principles of fairness, equality, and inclusion in housing.

The Fair Housing Act was passed on April 11th, 1968 and represents a landmark achievement in the ongoing struggle to eliminate discrimination and ensure equal access to housing for all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability.

Despite significant progress, discrimination in housing continues to affect communities across the nation, preventing individuals and families from achieving their dreams of homeownership, stability, and prosperity.

It is our collective responsibility to foster communities where everyone can live in a safe, affordable, and accessible housing free from bias, segregation, and injustice.

Let this month be a time for reflection, education, and action to further the cause of fairness, justice, and opportunity for all people in our community.

At this time, I would like to introduce Mr.

Roger Nelson, CEO of the West and Southeast Realtors at the Valley, to accept this proclamation.

At this time, Mayor, I would like to pass it back to you for the reading of the proclamation.

Thank you so much.

And we welcome Roger Nelson from We Serve and uh look forward to reading this for you, or for on behalf of us.

Whereas April marks the 57th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which sought to eliminate discrimination in housing opportunities, and to affirmatively further housing choices for all Americans.

And whereas the National Policy of Fair Housing enunciates a policy without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, sex, familial status, and handicap, and encourage fair housing opportunities for all citizens.

And whereas ongoing education, outreach, and monitoring are key to raising the awareness of fair housing principles, practices, rights, and responsibilities.

And whereas equal access to housing choices impacts our children's access to education, our ability to seek and retain employment options, the cultural benefits we enjoy, the extent of our exposure to crime and drugs, and the quality of health care we receive in emergencies.

And whereas illegal barriers related to housing, no matter how subtle, diminish the rights of all.

And whereas only through continued cooperation, commitment, and support of all Arizonians, can barriers to fair housing be removed.

Now, therefore, I, Mike Pinetta, by virtue of authority vested in me as the mayor of the city of Avondale, Arizona, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2025 as Fair Housing Month in Avondale, and in the pursuit of the shared goal and responsibility of providing equal housing opportunities in our community.

Thank you.

Oh, Roger, would you like to Roger?

Would you like to share when you're and you're gonna take a picture when you're done?

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, uh members of the council, thank you so much for taking the opportunity to do this.

Sometimes we think fair housing is is gone, that everybody has an opportunity in the same way.

That's simply not the case.

And thank you.

Thank you so much for being here tonight.

Uh Ron Marcella, will be taking a photo at all?

We can, Mr.

Mayor, if you'd like to stick around for a photo.

If uh they wanted to stick around for a voto, we'll do one more proclamation and then we'll ask them to come down.

Thank you.

Next item, Ron.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, next we're going to ask you to read a proclamation for Women's History Month.

Be my pleasure.

Whereas women of every race, class, and ethnic background have made historic contributions contributions to the growth and the strength of our nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways, and have served as early leaders in the forefront of every major progressive social change movement.

And whereas women have played and continue to play a critical role in the economic, cultural, and social spheres of life by constituing a uh significant portion of the labor force, working both inside and outside of the home.

And whereas women have historically provided the majority of the volunteer labor force across the nation, contributing to its strength and resilience.

And whereas women were instrumental in the establishment of early charitable, philanthropic and cultural institutions that continue to shape our nation today.

And whereas women have courageously served our country in the military, demonstrating valor, dedication, and service.

And whereas women have been leaders not only in securing their own rights to suffrage and equal opportunity, but also in the abolitionist movement, the emancipation movement, the industrial labor movement, the civil rights movement, and other pivotal moments, which have all contributed to creating a more just and equitable society for all.

And whereas the theme for Women's History Month of Twenty Twenty-Five is moving forward together, women educating and inspiring generations, which celebrates the collective strength and influence of women who have dedicated their lives to education, mentorship, and leadership.

Through their efforts, they have served an inspiration for all generations, both past and present.

And whereas it is vital to continue to learn about and celebrate these outstanding contributions, even as the role of women in history has often been overlooked in the literature, teaching, and the study of American history.

Now, therefore, I Mike Pinetta, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the City of Avondale, Arizona, do hereby proclaim March twenty-five, twenty twenty-five as women's history month, and urge all residents to celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made throughout history.

Thank you.

So I think it'd be very nice if all of our women leaders for the City of Avondale take a stand.

Yes, please stand and be recognized.

And at this time, Mayor, if you would like to take the photo.

Yes, please, if council would mind joining me down below for a photo.

Okay.

Next item is unscheduled public appearances.

And I do have several here of folks who will be coming up to the uh to the podium to speak.

Marcel, I'll I also see that there's several that you will be reading.

Um I just wanted to provide um a couple of of notes for those who will be coming up.

The first and foremost is that we are not allowed to respond uh from the gayest to those of you up um at the podium.

And so I know that in the past there's been a several questions directed to us.

And by no means is it that we do not want to answer you.

It's just procedure that we don't respond from the dias itself.

So that's the first um for those of you who are not aware tomorrow evening.

And so just wanted to make sure that you're aware that we are aware and that we are following process and procedure.

So thought I would start with that.

Uh with that being said, let me call up the first speaker.

Actually, I'm gonna call the first up and then the second who will be after.

Um first is going to be uh Teresa DeSante.

And then after Teresa will be Linda Yeager.

And I hope I pronounced that that name correctly.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

My name is Teresa DeSante, and I reside in Avondale.

It was apparent and quite obvious that council member Garcia used her employer.

Turning point for her companion for her companion, her companion.

I'm not saying her companion, anyways.

It was also very clear that she also used her in point to help elect councilwoman Sheri Weiss and Mayor.

I hope that both the mayor and the councilwoman wise will not allow council councilmember Garcia assist in getting elected influence your decision to uphold the code of conduct.

Council member Garcia is now using turning point to push for the recall of a fellow council member in Mesa simply because they voted for Ruben Gallegos.

Yet she preaches for freedom of speech here on the council.

She shows a lack of respect for her position and for the citizens of Avondale.

Also, I would like to know how many people sitting behind me are turning point employees and being paid to be here tonight because we know you're not from Avondale.

Go ahead, raise your hand now if you're on the clock.

And that's my response of this, and I thank you.

Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members, except you, Garcia.

Linda, Linda Yeager.

And after Linda is Veronica Malone.

Hello.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

My name is Linda Yeager, and I presently reside in Lichville Park, but own property in Avondale.

But I grew up in Avondale for the most part of my life, in fact, for the majority of my life, and consider Avondale home.

Avondale has in place policies, regulations, etc.

That all Avondale residents must abide by.

If they don't, they are held accountable accordingly.

Also, Avondale has in place policies, regulations, etc., that all Avondale employees, council members, mayor, etc.

are required to and shall abide by.

However, Garcia feels she is exempt from these policies.

Garcia violated Avondale's code of conduct by using her title as Avondale council member to spew lies regarding Tom Hanks.

Garcia will have you believe that she was merely calling Tom Hanks a fart, meaning pedal in Spanish.

Garcia, please don't insult the Avondale community with your lies.

You knew exactly what you were doing.

The Oxford languages and dictionary state the meaning of pedal as pedophile.

Garcia, you need to resign.

Show a little dignity, do the right thing.

Resign.

Mayor.

Do the right thing.

Have make Garcia resign.

I hope that all of you who sit in those seats aren't of the do as I say, not as I do, mindset.

One more thing.

Garcia.

I commend you for your service as I commend the generations in my family for their service.

World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and those who are still in the military serving.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Veronica Malone.

After Veronica Robin Velasquez.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

My name is Veronica Malone.

My address is 11578 West Yuma Street, Avondale, Arizona, 85323.

I'd like to take a moment to express my concerns regarding some of the articles I've read about Councilwoman Garcia.

While I fully understand and respect the importance of freedom of speech and the right to express opinions, I want to share my perspective as a councilwoman.

When I served during my time in office, I was always mindful that words carried a lot more weight than others.

And because as an elected official, I represented everyone in our community.

Being in a nonpartisan position, and taking the oath of office means understanding that my actions and my opinions must reflect and commitment to all residents, regardless of their background or the political affiliation.

I know firsthand that words matter.

While your post on your personal opinion, I encourage you to consider how they may impact the perception of Avondale.

Negative rhetoric can potentially affect developers, businesses, and even Avondale residents or residents who may hesitate to call Avendale home.

During the brief two months that I had the opportunity to serve right alongside you, I encountered someone who was kind and ready to serve the community.

However, our community may not have had the chance to fully experience that yet.

Unfortunately, the nature of some of your social media comments that spew a hate or always calling out folks might hinder some members of our community from seeing you as approachable and open to dialogue.

The recent post on Facebook from you and I quote, thank you, Avondale employees who have reached out to show your support, you all have been so kind from the administration, public works, wreck fire, and police, could imply that endorsing your actions, which doesn't reflect well on the city, if any policies or process have been changed, people will assume it's because of your influence and that staff won't challenge you, leading to concerns of lack of separation of power.

When I reached out to you, I expressed my genuine well wishes for your success.

Although we might not share the same values, I believe that there is always a common ground.

We we find when you're you when you're successful, Miss Garcia, Avondale is successful.

My hope is that the next time I read an article about you, it highlights the impactful and inspiring councilwoman I know you're capable of being.

Lastly, I like to address the council's code of conduct, which is essentially a framework for governing body, and as a leader of the city of Avondale, as leaders of the city of Avondale, it is crucial that you take the responsibility seriously of putting the standards set forth in the code of conduct.

Ensures that you maintain integrity, respect, and professionalism as public services.

As an elected officials, it's equally important that you hold each other accountable in these statements.

We have so much work to do in Avondale, and I know that you guys can do it, and we just need to get past this.

Thank you.

Robin.

Then after Robin Walters, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilmembers.

My name is Robin Velasquez, and I'm a proud fourth generation resident of Avondale.

My family moved to Coldwater 97 years ago in 1928.

They built a third home in the town, and we, as a family, continue to help build the town of Avondale over many decades.

Clearly, I have deep roots and a vested interest in Avondale, and I represent generations of family members as well as several Avondale residents that expressed to me they don't feel comfortable stating their concerns out of fear of retaliation.

I come to you this evening with a very heavy heart to speak about the recent controversy regarding Councilmember Garcia's comments on ex, formerly Twitter, with regards to calling Tom Hanks a pedo.

I was made aware of this issue when I received multiple calls, texts, and emails from Avondell residents and business owners expressing their concerns and outrage.

While we all understand that none of us are related to or even know Tom Hanks, that is not the point of our outrage at her post.

Many of us feel that as a council member you should hold yourself to a higher standard and that you should know better than to post things on your social media personal accounts that could be seen as violating Avondale's City Code Council of Conduct.

Those of us who are Latina know that Councilmember Garcia's lie and deny approach about the pedo comment is her attempt to avoid taking responsibility for what she really meant.

While I abhor all the attention this controversy has gotten because Elon Musk shared Councilmember Garcia's defamatory post with his billions of followers, my biggest concern is the fact that she is clearly attempting to lie her way out of this mess by using the lie and deny approach.

In fact, she is minimizing her utter disrespect for a member of the public as well as her disrespect for all of her constituents by asserting her right to cause all this unnecessary drama, using the First Amendment defense instead of admitting her mistake and asking for forgiveness.

Councilmember Garcia knows exactly what she said and meant when she used the word petto to describe a member of the public.

And using God and being a veteran in her defense does not excuse bad behavior.

In fact, Councilmember Garcia must understand how important ethics are given her service to our country and to God.

I ask you, Mayor and Councilmembers and Vice Mayor, if Councilmember Garcia can lie about this, what else will she lie about?

And at what cost?

How can any of you or any of us trust Councilmember Garcia if this is how she deals with her mistakes?

Unlike many who have come to speak before you all about this issue so far.

I live in Avondale, I work in Avondale, I play in Avondale, and I represent four generations of Avondale citizens.

And I'm asking the council to reprimand and/or censor Councilmember Garcia.

Thank you.

Walter.

Then after Walter uh Mary Avarado.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

As you know, I'm a third generation resident of Old Town Avondale.

And tonight I am here again once again with disappointment, but also some hope.

Hope that this council will act with integrity and accountability.

I want to be real clear.

This whole council, this whole management team, and everyone sitting behind me know exactly what Garcia meant when she posted what she posted.

Now, whether you want to admit it or deny it will just reflect the integrity and the honor you yourself have and the seat you were elected to by the people of Avondale.

It's no secret that our words and actions can and do come with consequences.

No matter what title, what position, what political affiliation or amount of wealth, there are consequences.

Yes, we are all human and we do make mistakes.

Each and every one of us do.

But this was different.

Councilmember Garcia had to type out each and every word before posting her comments.

No doubt about it.

She thought it out before typing and posting it.

So this was no mistake.

Also, I do admire your faith, Councilmember Garcia.

I myself, like the mayor's parents, have spent many time in the Catholic Church.

It's a blessing to know and love Jesus.

But I also know that if Jesus had a phone, he wouldn't be posting the awful hateful and divisive comments that come from your not so private account.

Thank you.

Okay, Mary, and after Mary, we have Roger Picarellow.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Mari Alvarado.

I am a resident of Avondale.

I have been in 11235 West Piccadilly Road for about nine years.

And as a resident of Avondale, I find uh member uh the behavior of Member Garcia shocking.

It's not only incorrect for a person elected to a nonpartisan position, but I also find it unacceptable.

The city of Avondale does have a code of conduct.

So we're not walking in the dark, or this is not unfettered territory.

There are codes of conducts for everyone.

And I quote, the citizens and businesses of Avondale are entitled to have fair, ethical, and accountable government that has earned the public's full confidence and trust in the ability of their elected officials to always act with honor.

I do recognize that there is a meeting tomorrow night, and I am pleased that the council is taking immediate action to address this issue because such behavior has no place in the city of Avondale.

And I hope that the council will do the right thing.

Thank you.

After Roger, we have Jose Hernandez.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, I want to thank you for what the voices have been spoken today, but we also have to understand there's some things that we all have to be careful about.

We're f we we do we are not of this world, but we also have to know that we have obligations to the to our Heavenly Father.

And he has provisions in his word that will I'd like to share devotion that was shared to me on this issue, if I may.

Matthew 7, 1.

Do not judge so that you will not be judged.

We are conditioned to believe that judging everything from food to people is a given right.

We are conditioned to believe we are not only to have an opinion on everything, but we must express that opinion.

It is what is expected.

It is our right.

Jesus, as usual, turned everything upside down.

He had just finished a section on not worrying in Matthew 6.

Now he says, do not judge.

So our conditioning to the world's ways turns upside down.

The world says we're to judge.

Jesus says, do not judge.

The world says some people are less than you, and you should make sure they know they are less.

Jesus says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Romans 3 23.

The world says those who can judge should judge, because they have the right to be little others.

Jesus says, love God with all with your all and love others as yourself.

There is a downside to judging as the world does.

If you judge, you will be judged.

Jesus continues in verse 2.

For in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of measuring, it will be measured to you, Jesus says.

Look at yourself, really, see yourself or who you are, problems and all.

You will not judge others if you truly see yourself.

You have no right to judge anyone but yourself, and God says, do not even do that.

He is the only act, he is the only accurate righteous judge.

He loves you and will righteously correct you if you choose to listen to him.

Psalms 51, 10.

Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

When we have a heavenly father that provides us his guidance from the time that he created this earth and breathed his life breath into each and every one of us since the Garden of Eden, we've always we've seen that there was times that we made choices.

He gives us his free will, but we're not perfect.

As God's word said, we all fall short of glory of God.

But he had all we have to do is be able to understand that if we've received him in our heart as our Lord and Savior.

So the one thing that I think in my life, my family, is to make understanding that if I recognize that, then I need to confess and repent and turn from my waist.

God bless you, God keep you, and thank you for this time.

Thank you.

Jose Hernandez, after Jose, we have Natasha Edmonds.

Hey, good afternoon, City Council members, Ms.

Mayor, Councilwoman Garcia.

So I'm glad Tom Hanks has his supporters out here.

Props to you guys.

And some threats, some pretty serious ones.

So if anything happens to me, I'm quoting Miss Garcia in her in her Twitter post.

Uh, if anything happens to me or my family, this person is the first person to look for.

He's instigating it and giving out my information.

I've already received threats to abduct my child.

I'm not taking this lightly.

Then she goes on to tag the Phoenix Police Department and Councilwoman elect Ana Hernandez for District 7 in Phoenix.

Um I don't uh and it claims that I work for Ana Hernandez, which I don't.

So, in the time since, and I and I emailed you guys, so you guys are familiar with uh with what happened here.

I emailed you guys, and since then I've had a meet with cybersecurity companies to make sure my information and my family's information is safeguarded.

I've had to add more home security options uh for my family.

Um I've had to change my personal and work routines due to the threats just to take precautions, and I've taken precautions driving home where I'm at.

I've had to cancel some meetings that I had booked, and I didn't attend a few public uh events for for about a week or so.

So it impacted me pretty severely, and those are her actions, right?

This is what she posted to her 40,000 followers on Twitter.

Now you can see why I have coming in.

So, and I read through the minutes and I watched them in the eatings, and I've noticed that Miss Garcia did have a fair share of vocal supporters.

Most of them are are paid by turning point, which is kind of odd.

And none of it really addressed her actions, and none of it addressed the lack of accountability that she continues to demonstrate.

She made defamatory statements about me, my sister Ana Hernandez has disrupted my personal life.

I actually, I had a brother that I lost to state violence to by Phoenix Pedi Phoenix PD on in 2019.

That led to a lot of trauma with my nieces and nephews.

And I'm very close to my family.

I spent a lot of time with them as a matter of fact.

I live right next door to my to one of my sisters.

And I I'm very involved in their life, and this has caused a lot of havoc in our household.

So, you know, she continues to do this, she continues to deflect, say this little thing about five days later about oh, it's about a fart.

What are we kidding?

She continues to do all this, never takes accountability, and all she's doing is demonstrating that she's not fit for public office.

And she is not fit to serve the residents of Avondale.

She's dishonest, she deflects, no accountability, hides behind religion, hides behind her service.

I got impacted, right?

And I hope that you guys take this serious because I'll be here every week talking to you guys.

And she's not fit for office, she needs to resign.

You guys need to give her the boot.

She could try again in a few years when she rectifies this issue she has.

I appreciate your time.

All right, next up, Natasha.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, and City Manager's Office.

For the record, my name is Natasha Edmonds.

I am the West Valley NAACP chair for the economic and development committee, and we do have members in the audience.

My intent today is not to attack, but to encourage correction, understanding, accountability, and growth.

As an ordained Christian elder and a dedicated member of this city, I believe it is important for all of us, especially those in leadership, to reflect the values we wish to see in our community.

Our words and actions have power to bring people together or push them apart.

What we're experiencing right now is division.

We are when we profess faith, we also carry the responsibility to embody its principles, such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The very qualities described as the fruits of the spirit.

Galatians 5, 22 and 23.

So I want you to consider that when you make posts, consider are those posts, is it love?

Is it kind?

Is it good?

Is it gentle?

Or are we practicing self-control?

The core values of our city, if we work for the city, is professional, kind, and helpful.

Serve as a guide for how we treat one another when something is said or done that causes hurt.

It is an opportunity for reflection and reconciliation.

True leadership is not about being perfect, but about being willing to listen, learn, and when needed, make amends.

If harm has been caused, a sincere apology can actually be a powerful step toward healing.

Acknowledging the impact of our words, seeking to rebuild trust, can strengthen both our community and our leadership.

So regardless of the decision made in the upcoming executive session tomorrow, I hope this moment serves as a reminder of the grace, forgiveness, and accountability that allow us to move forward together.

And City Council member Jeanette Garcia.

I do believe that you can have a change of heart.

And you can request uh you can ask for forgiveness.

You can uphold the code of conduct.

But if you choose not to do so, do the right thing and resign, and we will understand.

But I truly believe that we will lead with humility and genuine desire to do what is right.

Thank you.

Marcella, I believe you have uh several of these to read.

Thank you, Mayor.

First, I have a request to speak from Katie Maxwell, and I quote it's a shame to see the city council of Avondale sit by as one of their members is targeted and attacked by a partisan operation simply because she is a strong outspoken mother with a minor minority political opinion.

As a fellow mother, I am disappointed in my city and the outsiders trying to hijack it, but I'm also inspired by her strength during these lame and quite frankly racist attacks against her by radical leftists.

Avondale mothers salute you, Miss Garcia.

End quote.

Next, I have Jose F.

Gonzalez, and I quote, my name is Jose Frank Gonzalez, and my wife is Amelia Gonzalez.

I was born and raised here in Avondale.

My family worked on a farm on 103rd just south of Encanto, just behind where the now Harkins is.

I have served our community in many ways.

I have even worked for the City of Avondale as a street sweeper for 24 years before I retired.

I have first handedly seen the growth of Avondale from just being farmland to now apartments on top of apartments.

The city has seen nothing but growth, and that has contributed to the many council members and mayors throughout the years.

The behavior that I have read in the newspaper about one of the council members has me disgusted, something I have never thought I would feel about my beloved city.

If this isn't taking care of, this would only impede our city's growth.

Do not allow this council member to be the eyesore of the city that my family and so many families have built and worked and served and loved for many years.

This is not Avondel.

Be Avondale and do what's right.

Thank you.

End quote.

Next, I have Mark Gonzalez, and I quote, Good evening and thank you for accepting and reading my comments tonight.

I am unable to attend tonight's meeting, but would love to comment on the code of conduct and the integrity and honor that all political figures should be held to.

I am a longtime school board member of the Avondale Elementary School District, and knowing that I represent more than just myself and my views, conduct and social media postings as displayed and posted by Councilmember Garcia should not be allowed, tolerated, and accepted as common practice, as she represents more than just her political views.

Representing the city of Avondale should be held in the highest esteem, and every citizen should be represented in the highest regard.

Those political views and comments made publicly and or on social media accounts should be held accountable accountable for, whether in good or bad taste, it is a reflection of our city and its citizens.

Your response as that you have a right to your freedom of speech is true, but there is need to be an understanding that when representing us lifelong citizens in the manor is uncalled for and should not be dismissed without fault and or repercussions.

There have been so many other council members that have represented us in the highest of standards, and for you and your comments to be announced as such is irresponsible and detrimental to us as other cities and their citizens look upon us as the residents that you represent.

You should be held accountable and reprimanded to the highest level for violation of the code of conduct and the integrity and honor that you for your position holds.

Thank you for your time.

Mark Gonzalez, lifelong resident and long time school board member of Avondale and Avondale Elementary School District.

End quote.

Next, I have Laura C.

Gonzalez, and I quote, Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I am Laura Castillo Gonzalez, a third generation Avondale resident and former business owner of Laura's Burgers and Moore in Avondale, Old Town Avondale.

I feel I must voice my frustration and concern about Councilmember Jeanette Garcia and why I feel it's your responsibility to intervene, holding her accountable for her words and actions.

Councilmember Garcia was causing problems even before she became a city council member.

During the city campaign last year, Jeanette posted on social media calling out Avondale Council members Veronica Malone, Gloria Solario, Tina Conde, Max White, Curtis Nielsen, and running mates Sherry Weiss and Natasha Edmonds as spineless on July 14th, 2024 for not giving their condolences to Donald Trump when he got shot in the ear and interfering that they condone political violence.

On July 30th, 2024, the day of the Avondale City election, I went to City Hall to drop off two ballots, and I saw Mike Penilla standing outside City Hall, so I went to say hello.

Jeanette was standing within earshot, approximately seven feet of my conversation with Mike and inserted herself, interrupting our conversation.

Jeanette proceeded to tell me that I could not drop off anyone's ballots.

Mike and I looked at each other, what is she talking about?

And we said to each other, everyone brings each other's ballots in.

Jeanette goes inside City Hall building to tell on me.

And even though I knew I was not doing anything wrong, I didn't turn in the ballots because Jeanette intimidated me, making me feel like I was doing something wrong.

When Jeanette came out of City Hall, I confronted her, asked why she treated me that way while recording her on video because I was not sure what she would do next.

And we exchanged some words.

I do not I just don't understand why someone trying to get elected to be council member would use voter intimidation to get elected.

Well why not be nice about it and introduce yourself to me instead of interrupting a private conversation and tempting to intimidate me.

In the end, Jeanette was told by the Avondale City Clerk that I was not doing anything wrong, but I never received an apology to this day.

Regarding the Tom Hanks issue, you already know what Councilmember Garcia did and said, and you know she is lying to avoid getting in trouble.

Councilmember Garcia must follow the City of Avondale City Council code of conduct, and I expect each one of you will listen to our valid concerns and reprimand her.

Before I close, allow me to quote what Jeanette posted on her social media account during the city campaign.

I'm not running to make friends, I'm running to keep people accountable.

Well, Councilmember Garcia, we the citizens of Avondale are here tonight to keep you accountable.

End quote.

Next, I have Jessica Beharano, and I quote, as citizens of the city of Avondale, we will not tolerate this type of behavior that Councilmember Garcia has showed.

She needs to be reprimanded as she serves the public.

I do hope that council comes together and puts favors and friendships aside and do what's right for the residents of Avondale.

If you wouldn't like to hear or see your kids talking or posting the way Garcia does, then why should we allow a city council member?

So put all the election and campaigning alliances aside and follow the code of conduct.

It's the right thing to do.

End quote.

Next, I have Colin White, and I quote.

Subject, taxpayer expense caused by Elon Musk repost of a city council member.

Question.

How much did the city how much did this cost the city in regard to one receiving complaints and commentary?

Two, meetings hosted and/or held to address Avendale appearing in national media.

Three, the cost it will take to close the issue for the city.

The post seemed very adversarial and aggressive from a body who is considered to be nonpartisan and serving of the people only for the sake of civil service.

End quote.

Next, I have Mark Vasquez, and I quote, no one actually cares about Tom Hanks.

It is unfortunate that this that this time Avondale is in a negative light for other residents' discrimination towards a council member who has different political views than them.

This is showing our city is unwelcoming of all people.

I follow the council closely and have witnessed other council members encouraging the actions on Facebook.

Councilmember Solario.

And another, in fact, began the attacks on Councilmember Garcia since the day she was appointed.

Councilmember White.

This is not organic, but in fact being used for the political gains in two camps soon campaigns.

Councilmember White and Avondel Ambassador Natasha Edmonds are both members of an organization who held a town hall with Phoenix Councilmember and all of the residents who have been speaking against Councilmember Garcia this past week.

The next day, a Facebook event was created and shared with the community.

This is not organic, and our city should be past this, and Avondale City resources are being abused at this point.

Councilmember White has led the charge.

Avondale has always been a welcoming city, but now I second guess if it is because we will get attacked for our differences.

Businesses who will want to invest may not be may not now because of the discrimination.

Their business may not be welcomed, and as you see in the news now, Tesla has been attacked viciously and the customers.

This has nothing to do with the code of conduct.

They found an opportunity to pass Councilmember Garcia.

Whatever the council decides tomorrow will be a statement of the community that you will stand by the first amendment or be intimidated and allow discrimination in our city.

End quote.

Next, I have Veronica Gonzalez.

And I quote, I'm writing to address the ongoing attention that Councilmember Garcia has been bringing to our city, following her controversial pedo comment involving Tom Hanks.

She continues to use her platform to express her views, but in doing so, she draw an unnecessary attention to our city.

I believe the council has been slow to act, taking over a month to address her conduct.

Start working for the people and hold one of your members accountable for their behavior because right now it looks like you're you're all tolerating it.

Mayor, show the residents of Avondale what you stand that you stand with us and will not accept this behavior from many of our members.

End quote.

Next, I have Liz Gonzalez, and I quote, March 23rd, 2025, City of Avondale, Mayor and Councilmembers.

My name is Liz Gonzalez and I am resident of Avondale.

I'm writing this statement out of concern for Councilperson Jeanette Garcia's comments made on social media account regarding Tom Hanks being a pedo pedophile and all the negative attention it has brought to our city.

I am a Spanish-speaking Latina, and I can tell you that we Latinos do not use the word pedo or fart to insult another person.

I feel this excuse was used by Councilmember Garcia to avoid any negative pre repercussions.

I have read the Avondale City Council Code of Conduct, which I feel Councilmember person Garcia has specifically violated the conduct of members section of the code of conduct that states the professional and personal conduct of members must be above reproach and avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

Members shall refrain from abusive conduct, harassment, personal charges of verbal attacks upon the character or motives of another person of council, boards, commissions, staff, and the public.

Members shall demonstrate civility and respect at all times.

This remains true in both public or private encounters as members should be aware that the public nature of the office they hold means they are always on display.

Based on this excerpt of the code of conduct, the post written by Council Per Councilperson Garcia should and the fact that she is lying to avoid negative repercussions.

I respectfully request that you censor Councilperson Garcia or at the very least, formally reprimand her.

Thank you for your consideration to my request and for your services, City.

Sincerely, Liz Gonzalez, end quote.

Next, I have Angel Saverano, and I quote, it's time for this council to start working for the people and stop turning a blind eye to unacceptable behavior from one of your own.

The longer you allow this to continue, the more it looks like you are all complicit.

Mayor, it's your responsibility to show the residents of Avondal that you stand with us and won't tolerate this kind of conduct from any council member.

Holding one of our own accountable is not optional.

It's a duty.

The people are watching, and we demand action now, not more delays and empty words.

End quote.

Next, I have Masai Montenegro, and I quote, I write to the council today and ask that my comments be heard and recorded in support of Councilmember Garcia.

While her recent social media posts have sparked controversy, this response feels less about genuine accountability and more like a targeted effort driven by political differences.

She clarified her statement, and it's clear her words were misinterpreted, yet the outreach continues.

Are we really going to punish someone for expressing an opinion simply because it's unpopular?

If so, who's next?

Freedom of speech is a fundamental right in this country, including for elected officials.

Silencing someone because they think differently is not democracy, it's censorship.

Weaponizing the code of conduct to settle personal grievances is a misuse of council resources and taxpayer time.

And let's not forget the work Councilmember Garcia has done since winning her race in June.

Being appointed early in October and sworn in in just in January, it's just a few short months.

She's shown up for the community over and over again, attending three to four community events weekly, including Chop of the Cop and the Cash Room with Love Christmas events, and where she served food and drinks to residents in need.

She's engaged with interface group, interfaith groups to build stronger relationships across Avenue, and met with educators and school administrators who've asked her to be the voice at the council table.

She was also the only member to vote against raising utility costs, proving her commitment to putting residents first.

Councilmember Garcia is not just a public servant.

She's a mother, a dedicated church volunteer, and someone who leads through action, not just words.

She listens, she shows up, she serves.

Avidel cannot afford to lose a council member who is coveted here for the people, not for the politics.

If we allow outrage and personal bias to override facts, how can residents feel safe expressing themselves?

How can we trust the process?

I urge this council to step uh politics aside and focus on what truly matters, the well-being of the city and the residents that you elected to serve.

Thank you for your time.

End quote.

Uh last one, I have Eric Gonzalez, and I quote, Mayor and Council, you must do better.

The people of Avondale deserve leadership that upholds integrity and accountability.

Your inaction is not just disappointing, it's betrayal of the trust we've placed in you.

It's time to stop tolerating behavior that undermines the community and take decisive action.

The residents are watching, and we won't stand by while this continues.

My question for each of you do each of you do newly elected members of the council receive training on how to conduct themselves as impartial, nonpartisan representatives.

Councilmember Scarcia Post suggests she was only interested in representing those who share her views.

As a Republican, not as part of the MAGA movement.

She has already shown us the type of elected official she is, one who only serves those who agree with her, rather than representing the entire community.

The kind of behavior she is not what we expected from our leaders.

End quote.

Thank you, Mayor.

That concludes all of the requests to speak.

Thank you so much, Marcella.

As mentioned when we first started that we are not as a body able to respond to direct questions.

However, um, as based upon uh feedback in regards to criticism specifically, council members are able to address and respond to those direct criticisms.

I know that on our first meeting, um, Councilmember Garcia was able to respond directly to those criticisms.

Um I believe that we have other council members or council member who would like to respond directly to a criticism.

So, Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, staff, members of the public.

Um, in regards to a commentary that was made with me um reaching out or having attended some meetings, I would like to confirm that all of my public appearances are on my public calendar.

Last week I had a Valley Metro briefing on Monday with the staff at Valley Metro.

On Tuesday, I attended Cafecitos late.

On Wednesday, I went to MAG Transportation.

On Thursday, unfortunately, I was unable to attend the city manager's coffee.

However, I did attend the Valley Metro meeting and we had a board retreat that day and had a great time.

On Friday, I was at Zen at Angelina's groundbreaking.

And on Saturday, I attended the Youth Empowerment Summit where I believe somebody RSVP'd but didn't show up.

Thank you for being there, Mayor.

Um, however, I do want to say, in regards to Natasha Edmonds and any type of event, she had requested my presence and for me to provide a video.

I do want to extend my deepest apology to the NAACP and Ms.

Edmonds.

I did not do that.

Um, and so there was no contact, and I feel it's a personal attack to accuse me or my time to involve myself in this matter.

I've asked everybody to keep my name out of their mouth in regards to the situation.

I have nothing to do with this.

I have made no social post.

I don't have a social media trail.

I am honored and very thankful for my former employer, Bank of America, the former CEO, the current CEO and president, um Brian Moynihan, for allowing me to serve in his office.

I've been in social media services and helped start that group there, but I have a very private life, and I really don't have anything to do with the situation.

And I just wanted to be clear, my calendar is open all the time, and I do serve the city, and I want to continue to do that with integrity and excellence.

And I extend my deepest apologies, and the allegation that was made is just untrue.

Thank you, Councilmember White.

Councilmember Sloria.

Hi everyone, welcome.

Um I also as well wanted to express uh and thank you for showing up tonight to the NAACP.

I was not invited to that meeting.

I was not a part of that.

I wasn't even a part of the Facebook post for that.

Um and to clarify, I did not do anything for political gain while other people slandered other people during the campaign.

I chose the higher route.

Thank you.

Okay, and then for myself, I know that it was, and I'm only making this point for those of you here in this room and those online listening that the comment was made earlier that I believe turning point.

Um I forgot the actual specific verbiage, but uh assisted me in getting elected.

And I can assure you, I ran my own campaign.

My financial documents, which are public knowledge, will detail I received no money from any organization.

As a matter of fact, there was a no alignment, and most of the the folks that saw my campaign knew I aligned myself with nobody.

I ran my own campaign.

Uh, and so to be accused of allowing myself that would cloud my judgment in making any decision is is just wrong.

Um, and so I just want to make sure that I uh am able to communicate that to the public who is here tonight and those online.

There is absolutely no alignment.

There's no organization that has helped me fund my campaign that is aligned with any political organization, and in terms of judgment, judgment remains just as all members of this body have the ability to judge each member according to the code of conduct.

That's exactly what we will do.

So I just want to state that for the record that that is absolutely false.

So Sherry Thank you, Mayor.

I guess I should also say I was not funded in any way.

Um the only um alliance maybe that I had was knocking on doors with the mayor, because he would always offer for me to go walk with him.

Um and we knocked on doors together, and that's pretty much it.

Other than that, it was my husband and my family, and we were out knocking on doors, except for the few times I had the opportunity to knock at the mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, in regards to asking staff to review a matter, may I have a moment, sir?

Nicole.

Okay.

Yep.

Thank you so much, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council.

I believe a few commentaries that we heard this evening talked about the taxpayers' dollars that were spent.

I would like to know we have very detailed budgeting information, and we're able to get very precise information.

I would like to find out prior to our meeting.

If we can get a rough estimate about how much this has cost the city so far.

Thank you.

Ron, is that something that we can provide?

No, Mr.

Mayor, we could not without an uh educated guess, and I'm not comfortable guessing at this point.

We we don't keep track by the hour or the minutes on the stuff we spend time on.

Okay, thank you.

You have anything to respond?

No.

Okay.

All right, with that being said, let's move on to item number four consent agenda.

Are there any members of council who wish to have an item removed or separate or discussed for separate consideration?

Seeing none if I can get a vote.

Got a motion from Vice Mayor Nielsen, a second from Councilmember White.

Please vote.

Item passes.

Thank you so much for the vote.

Let's jump on to the regular agenda.

Ron.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Next we'll have Sylvia, our planner with the development services department on the Hopewell Avidale annexation.

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

My name is Sylvia Willem, and I am a planner with the development services department.

Tonight I will be presenting item 58, the Hobo Avendale annexation.

Application PL-24-02 for C.

So the purpose of this item is to conduct the final public hearing on the proposed annexation.

Located east of the northeast corner of El Mirage and Indian School Roads.

On the southeasternmost part of the Hopewell parcel.

The area to be annexed was formerly MerriCo provided way.

And uh the small area was abandoned by the county.

And it is now part of the Hope Well parcel, but technically still within county jurisdiction.

The annexation would allow for the parcel to be developable to Avondale standards, and uh action on this item will be taken tonight.

So on the current slide, we see the site outlined in red, and it is located east of the northeast corner of El Mirage and Indian School Roads as previously mentioned, and on the southeasternmost part of the Hopewell parcel itself, which is shown on the aerial map.

Um if you see the dotted in blue, that's the Hopewell parcel.

Um the jurisdiction shows the five-foot white strip considered for annexation.

I'll give you just a moment so you can analyze these two images.

So to provide a little bit of context and background on this request, there is one property owner, which is Hopewell Avondale, and they are the ones who initiated the annexation request.

The five-foot wide strip being considered for annexation is approximately five feet wide by 500 feet long, and it totals approximately 2,501 square feet in size, and it is part of the Hopewell parcel.

Uh the vacant Hopewell site has no existing buildings at the moment or no residents residing on the property.

It is zoned A1 and it underwent a site plan and design review with the city, which was approved on uh June 29th, 2023.

The approved development plan uh includes one warehouse building uh for warehouse type uses or industrial type uses.

Umnexing the five-foot wide strip would bring the entirety of the parcel into conformance and into the city jurisdiction and make it developable.

Uh lastly, the first public meeting was held on February 24th of this year at the city council meeting, and there was no comments at the time.

Um the proposal meets all state requirements for annexation, and the petition has been signed and recorded by the property owner, and all required notifications have been completed up until this point.

As a reminder, this is the last public hearing for this item.

Uh so we will take action tonight.

Uh, staff recommends that ordinance 2010-0325 be adopted, annexing approximately 2,501 square feet uh located east of the northeast corner of El Mirage and Indian School Roads.

Thank you so much for your time tonight.

That concludes my presentation, and I am available for any questions.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

At this time, I would like to open up the public meeting.

Marcel, have we received any requests to speak on this item?

Thank you, Mayor.

We have not received any requests to speak.

Thank you so much.

At this time, I'd like to open the floor to council for any comments related to this item.

Okay.

Seeing none, can I please get a motion?

Oh, sorry.

At this time I'm going to close the public hearing.

Now can I get a motion?

I see we got a motion from Council Councilmember White, second from Council Member Weiss.

We can get a vote.

Oh, thank you, Mayor.

Um, it passes six euro.

I'll note Councilmember Solar is absent for the vote.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Have a good night.

You too.

Thank you for so much for the presentation.

All right, Ron, next item, please.

All right.

The moment everybody's been waiting for tonight.

We're here to talk about the budget, and Renee is going to kick us off.

We have presentations by Renee and Andy, and I believe James, um, to introduce uh our draft budget.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Um, we're here tonight to continue the discussions of the fiscal 26 budget.

Um, we first kicked off the process with staff in November.

We presented a first look at our forecasts and revenues to council in January, and we heard council's priorities and strategic planning earlier this month.

So all that information has been taken into consideration to develop the first look at what would become the uh city manager's recommended budget, which will be presented to you in April.

Therefore, as we go through tonight's presentation, we are seeking your feedback or comments that you may have to make sure that we've captured your priorities and that we answer any questions that you have.

So for tonight's agenda, um, I'll be covering the FY26 budget, um, including the forecast assumptions, looking at our five-year forecast, and then some of the recommendations and highlights included thus far.

Our director of HR, Andy Mosquito will be covering employee compensation and benefits, and then James Milanese, our city projects administrator, will be talking to you about the CIP update.

So first starting off, we did hear council's priorities, which did include economic development as a the main priority, but to include parks and rec and public safety, connected communities, and to maintain high quality services within the city, as well as making sure we take care of our employees in the city.

When we look at our the budget numbers and looking at our forecast and the recommendations that you're going to see tonight, these are just some of the assumptions that have gone into this information.

The first is there's no impact of any recession in any of the forecasts that we're looking at, as well as any changes to the structure of sales tax or state shared revenue that could result from any kind of change legislation.

We have no changes.

The only thing that we have and have had this year was the loss of the residential rental sales tax.

In our development revenue, our contracting sales tax has been higher than projected for the past couple of years.

Each year, when we go into the budget process, we do assume at some point in time that contracting revenue is going to come back to a normal sustainable level.

So that's what we mean by returning to normal, as well as single family home permits.

That's an indicator that we look at and monitor and we make an assumption that it would be on average between 300 and 500 per year.

The other thing is that you are aware that we have some data center projects that may already be underway.

However, we do not have any revenue from those projects incorporated into our forecast.

On the expense side, you are aware we do include salary increases in our forecast.

We do have an increase for cost of living for merit, and we did have a compensation study done, and so that will be incorporated into fiscal 26 as well.

Just overall inflation assumptions, we do include them at 3% per year.

And our Alamar public safety staff, so the staff needed to eventually fill the Alamar Public Safety Substation is incorporated into our forecast starting in fiscal year 27.

Some other assumptions we didn't want to lose sight of is future financing.

So this is something that we've discussed in the past.

We've talked about the general obligation bonds, which we have the committee formed, but there's also some assumptions that at some point in the future we will come back to council and discuss the restudy of a wastewater development impact fees, the financing of the wastewater treatment plan expansion, as well as the financing of the PFAS and the Bartlett Dam.

And then James will discuss a little bit more about general obligation bonds in his presentation.

So diving into the general fund, these are charts you're familiar with, looking at ongoing revenue and expenses.

So that just started January of 2025.

And you can see that our expenses are continuing to increase.

However, that surplus between the blue line and the orange line is very thin in fiscal years 26 and 27.

Now, keeping in mind, as I just stated, there is no future revenue for data center projects.

However, we want to make sure at this point in time we can maintain a structurally balanced budget.

You will see our expenses outpace revenue, and this is composed of assuming that all of our CIP projects would primarily get done in fiscal 25 and spend down those balances in future years.

So we are still working towards smoothing this line out so we're not having to carry projects over every single year, but we will get there in time.

So when you put those slides together, we say what are we working with?

What is the balance left?

So I do want to point out on this slide, this fund balance is above stabilization and capital reserve.

So that means in our financial policies, stabilization is a reserve amount of money, which equates to 35% of our prior year budget that is set aside.

And then in addition, we set aside another $5 million for capital reserve, which means that we have the discretion to come before council to use those dollars if anything unanticipated happens on capital projects and we need to use those funds.

So you can see the balance decreases all the way out to fiscal 30.

I do want to make sure everyone's aware that these are one-time dollars, meaning if you spent that extra 5.7 million, then that number in fiscal 2030 would be zero.

We do have some policies concerning other funding sources beyond the general fund.

The first is our public safety sales tax.

So this fund, the majority goes towards funding police and fire salaries.

It can be used to supplement public safety capital.

Because we do have salaries, that is an ongoing expense.

So when we are planning to spend down any of those balances, we want to make sure that we are sustaining at least 16% of ongoing expenses.

And so for public safety, that means at the end of 2030, we must maintain at least 2.8 million dollars, which represents that minimum.

And that is where our forecast has us projected to be.

Out of the academy.

So we'll be back up.

I think we currently have seven vacancies.

But so we should be in pretty good standing come January.

Thank you, Ron.

Okay.

Moving on to other personnel.

The first position is an economic development for a business development manager, which was a priority of council.

And in engineering, we have an associate engineer plan review.

Now I do want to note on this dollar amount that it does include more than just salary and benefit.

It does include some technology one-time expenses.

And that position is to manage current demand for plan review.

And this position is not funded from the general fund.

It's coming out of our HERF.

NSF, a senior services coordinator.

That position is to manage current programs and services.

That is those are part-time hours, which would equate to a 1.5 FTE full-time equivalent.

In parks, and the administrative assistant and the parks supervisor, those are two positions that were already higher this fiscal year out of vacancy savings from the current year, but we need to add into the budget for fiscal 27.

And I will note that that amount there for parks does also include a vehicle.

And then in public works, the solid waste equipment operator, the solid waste laborer, as well as the administrator civil engineer, are already incorporated into the rates that have been proposed to council.

And lastly, the fleet coordinator, which is covered by revenue generated from the services the fleet department provides.

So beyond personnel, we have some highlights.

You have been provided the list of the funded supplementals.

These that are being presented are not all of them, but just some of the highlights across the different categories.

So we're starting in general government with the city auditor.

There are some requests that are one time in nature.

They get them this year and then they would go away.

Or in the case of the city auditor, it may be something that has to be requested every given year.

It could be a potential general obligation bond.

In facilities, we have some janitorial, some security enhancements at buildings, which is a one-time expense, and then some overtime.

And overtime is managed just based on the need and capacity of the department and is monitored whether we need another FTE at some point in the future.

In human resources, we do have a request for some system enhancements and looking at the software to make the department in the city more efficient.

And then in information technologies, you can imagine the costs there are very large, and it this is just the inflationary increase across those costs.

In public safety, I will point out on the the first line, the city court.

Um that was not in your list that you pro you were provided on Thursday.

We did update the supplemental list and attach it to the agenda.

So it did include some costs for increases to the Pro TEM judge contract.

In FIRE, we have increases for our CAD fees and as well as supplies and equipment related to apparatus maintenance and training.

Overtime is being requested in order to backfill training, such as a paramedic, technical rescue, and peer support.

And then there is a one-time request for technical rescue vehicle.

NFS is requesting the public safety home buyer program.

Again, it's a one-time cost, but that is something that does get requested on an annual basis.

And then operations, Office of Public Safety, the Glendale Regional Public Safety Training Center.

There is a significant increase in that contract for increased costs and capital improvements on that facility.

Next, we're moving to community services.

So within that category, we have some special event permit software and interfacing.

That's a project that's ongoing right now, and we're looking to roll that out in fiscal 26.

And NFS senior service bus is for an existing program and the increased demand in parks.

We have the city events costs as well as concert Mercado.

The facility landscape restoration would be for the mosque facility as well as the Civic Center library.

Landscaping, water, and pool increases, those are basic operational costs that are increasing.

And then lastly, the the youth summer camp program, which was new last year, is included as ongoing going forward.

And then public works, we have inflationary increases for the We Ride program of over $700,000.

That is not the full cost of that program.

That is just the increases on what would be a $3.6 million contract next year.

Next is community and economic development.

So the first is the citizens access portal site, building inspection software.

That's an overlay to existing software that would make our customers' user experience a lot easier.

The Hill of River Basin Meridian Implementation Plan.

This is a one-time cost to build a plan that would prioritize annexations, access ways, and land acquisition along the Hila River Scenic District.

In economic development, we have 1.4 million requests for business attraction, lead generation, small business growth, and economic incentives.

And for information technologies, managing managed services for permitting software and an engineering module.

And that is to streamline fees and workflow and to support the development service engineering and finance departments.

And then lastly, we have public works to include some fleet software to manage inventories and services, an arborous study.

And then the next three of four are basic operational costs for landfill, solid waste, wastewater chemicals, electricity, hauling, as well as per water purchases, storage and electricity, and then an ARC flash study.

But again, all of those costs have been included in the reassumptions that have been provided to council.

So with that, um this is just one step through the process.

Our next step would be to come back in April and present to you the city manager's recommended budget.

We would follow up in May to adopt the tentative budget.

I would like to note at that point in time when that tentative budget gets adopted, that does set the spending limit for the city.

We can make changes of the number up until May.

Once we adopt a tentative budget, we cannot increase that number.

We can make changes within it, but we cannot exceed the tentative adopted amount.

And then we will be back in June to have the final public hearing and to adopt the final budget as well as set the tax levy.

So at this point in time, I'm going to turn it over to Andy to discuss some point conversation.

Ron.

Mr.

Mayor Everna, if we can hold on just a second, this might be a good time to take a quick break before we go on to the next section and see if council has any questions or how we want to proceed.

It's going to get it just more complicated for me.

Correct.

If if council wouldn't mind, I I just would like to make a couple of comments.

Uh and I would love to hear your feedback.

But I just want to let you know that it was a pleasure meeting with each department head as I met with them prior to the year end.

And I gotta tell you that based upon what was shared with me in regards to their three to five year outlook and what they require and what was utilized as far as supplemental material, that um our departments are are working at uh close to max capacity, and so a lot of the items and things that we've seen here aren't fully realized as to what truly is representative of what uh the job that they're doing and the constraints that they're working under.

And so to see uh some of the items that were listed here and with that understanding, I just wanted to not only commend uh all of the directors and leadership uh for providing that feedback to me, but more importantly, um in terms of efficiency, being as efficient as possible with what we have while keeping an understanding of the limitations we have with budget.

So I just wanted to make sure I made that comment first as we move forward to hearing what your feedback might be in regards to the specific items, because as uh Renee just mentioned, um, this is the time where we can kind of work through some of the numbers, um, things that you've seen that you would like to address uh or identify now as we move closer to adopting that tentative budget.

So let's start on this end here, and we'll go with councilmember conde.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Renee, for the presentation.

I just want to thank staff and especially city manager.

He had requested um each council member provide a list of our uh priorities for each council member.

And you know, I submitted my request, and I was happy to see that a lot of those requests were were um put into our budget.

So I just want to say thank you for that.

And I agree with you wholeheartedly, Mayor.

I know that um a lot of our staff are working hard and there is a need for additional employees, especially as our city grows, there's going to be additional workload for them to um to have to do.

So um I just want to thank you guys for all your work and listening to us truck for for what we would like to see in our budget.

Thank you, Councilmember Condi.

Councilmember Garcia.

I want well, thank you, everyone that went through it.

I know that I asked questions that like as someone new looking into this, like why do we do this or why do we do that?

And um, like one of them was like, why do we like where does the money from the photo radar go into the budget or where it does?

Why do we hire people outside of the their positions here to do studies?

And the city manager gave me a like a really long answer, but it was a good one.

And it was it it made sense, you know.

Like you hire a teacher, but then you need somebody to come in and evaluate them and see if they are doing the right thing or if if there's something that needs to be added into there.

So that clarification really helped with understanding the budget and seeing why we are doing uh some things as well as that it is all for the citizens of Avondale.

And the everyone who works here in the city is working towards that.

The employees work really hard and to give them that extra support is gonna be wonderful to see um going forward.

So thank you, everyone that worked on that.

Thank you, Councilmember Garcia.

Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Thank you so much uh for your hard work on this.

And I just wanted to thank the city manager's office as well.

I don't think I sent anything additional over because you know we write as my priority here for the city.

I love what public works is doing.

Thank you so much, um, Kurt, your entire team.

Um working with Matt has been amazing, and to understand that um we're even trying our best to make sure we benchmark what we're doing here and taking our show on the road.

So hopefully we'll be able to share that outside um with the national um platform in in the fall if they accept our presentation.

I also felt like another one of my huge priorities that is on here is our audit and finance.

We cannot do a stand-up alone with just having Barbara here.

So having that additional outside support, um, I really appreciate me not having to send an extra email over, you just knowing those things are my priority.

Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you, Councilman White.

Councilmember Weiss.

Thank you, Renee, for your presentation, and thank you, uh Ron, this morning for your education.

I was also in the meeting with Councilmember Garcia, and we had lots of questions as newbies, and you really did answer them for us.

So thank you.

Um and I want to thank also the directors of all the departments.

You guys are amazing, and you know how much we support you, and we really appreciate your work.

I did have one question that I didn't ask this morning that I did see, and it was on slide number 35.

So I was just wondering if we couldn't go look at that slide.

I just had a really quick question on economic development, and there was economic incentives.

And I was wondering what those incentives were.

Are they um infrastructure bills to and to help bring businesses here?

Um what does that mean exactly?

Mr.

Mayor, uh Vice Mayor, uh Councilmember Weiss.

Uh so actually uh on our on mine it's 16 or 17.

We haven't gotten that far yet.

Um, that that's all right.

But uh for what we've covered already, or actually I may have the wrong numbers, I'm looking at the wrong one.

Um so this is uh a couple different things.

Uh one is this covers uh some of our contract partnerships that help uh other that we pay other organizations to help us, whether it be the Chamber or Westmark or um GPEC and those kinds of things.

It sets aside money for um possible incentives and contracts with uh other with uh developers depending on you know uh what it is.

This actually number is only slightly larger than has been for the last three to four years.

So it's one-time funding that doesn't get totally replaced, it just gets replenished with what was actually used.

So this is kind of uh a lot of this is determined as the year goes along and as different projects present.

So maybe if something happens at the boulevard and we need to subsidize um uh utility, because you can't uh you can't waive utility fees uh for development, but you can supplement it with general funds.

So we might ask to take some of that money.

Uh we come back to council for the actual spend on a contract, um, but we would have that money set aside to um incentivize uh uh a business uh job creation business here.

So it just kind of um a little bit all over the place, depending on what tools we have, the hub uh that we've been using that we that we pay that contract with uh to support small businesses.

Um it just goes on and on and on.

Um but this this provides the meat of the monies that uh the economic development team uses to uh attract and retain uh businesses here in our community.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Boyce.

Council Mr.

Salario.

Thank you, Renee, for your presentation.

Thank you, everyone.

I'm sure when you know you hear the word budget, not it's not the most fun thing to discuss, but we have to do it every year.

And you know, some of us who serve uh nationally as well are hearing all about other people's budgets, so that's pretty interesting too.

Um I really didn't have any questions regarding this.

I thought it was well put out.

I'm happy to see personally I'm super excited because uh we are adding somebody to the economic development world.

I do sit on a national committee for economic development, and I know that we're doing great things here, and that's one of the things that I have channeled to Ron for quite a bit now.

So any help to that department is always welcome to any department, because I know that each one of you in here works very hard for that.

Um other than that, I don't have any other questions.

I do have questions later for the next part, but uh that's it.

Thank you, Councilmember Sloria.

Vice Mayor Nielsen.

Renee, thank you very much.

I appreciate the simplicity of the presentation, even though we've got a lot of questions about it.

It's really well done.

I like the graphic representations.

I love my engineering background and the way the graphs are so simple.

But I do have a couple of questions for you here.

Just on uh two auto items, two personnel that would be for photo radar, uh the lead time to get those people involved by January or July 1st, depending on kind of what's going to happen with the State Legislature downtown as to whether we do photo radars or not.

So do we wait until after July 1st or wait until after that uh decisions made downtown and Mr.

Mayor and uh Vice Mayor, if I can.

So a couple things about those two positions.

One is for the court's office.

And while we have currently funded those positions from revenue from the photo radar, if the photo radar goes away, the plan is to keep those positions, probably retitle them and and find other uh revenue sources to pay for them.

Uh the the uh the judge and a brill asked for actually two positions, and we could only fund this one given that the revenue was attached.

But if at some point during the process, photo radar photo radar goes away either by state legislation or by action of the city council.

I made a commitment to bring back the photo radar in the fall for council to discuss as we talk about its effectiveness at that time.

So either way, if it goes away, um we believe that it's a position the court needs uh and can help in in other ways.

One of the few departments without administrative help um for for the direct the the just chief judge uh and um uh the court administrator.

And then the uh position in um the police department, the uh community services uh position.

Again, it's a general position, a general title that does many things for our communities.

Uh the the police department asked for uh a significant number of new positions.

Uh they only received a small handful of those positions.

So we believe it's a position that the the PD uh will be able to absorb into other duties uh that and then reduce their ass next year in next year's budget.

Yes.

That that's my hope.

Thank you, sir.

The other one, just uh a quick thought came to mind about the fleet operation and software here for the public works.

I know in another hat I wear, they have software that actually maps out where buses go.

So where the children are, the buses go to maximize or minimize their costs and whatever else.

Does this software do the same type of stuff or is it more for maintenance and assets?

Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, if I can answer that.

It's not for those things.

We have software uh already for tracking our vehicles.

They have software to manage the buses and the routes and all that kind of thing.

This is uh mostly for uh the result of an audit uh where we needed to uh do a better job of tracking our vehicle usage, our gas uh usage, um our supplies and those kinds of things.

So this is to pay for a brand new uh system, uh IT system as a result of an audit uh that we received.

And the last one I guess just uh tentative budget once we get a number fixed.

Uh mayor vice mayor and counsel.

Um that's a great question.

When we set the limit, we do include a contingency line that we can do a budget transfer once the year is closed and we have to true up carryover.

That's all I've got.

And just to kind of piggyback a bit off of what some other council members have mentioned in regards to the big number that jumps out at you uh for economic development.

Um investing in that process I think is necessary.

What a lot of residents may not be aware of is that while it seems that uh many in the development community have leapfrogged over Avondell and have went to Goodyear, um, is uh a lot of it is the result of these investments that they make.

And so I think that if that is truly a priority of ours, which I believe it is, then I I believe that we need to be able to fund programs in which we can make that happen and be as aggressive as possible.

So um just for for residents looking at at this information and seeing that big number jumping out, I just wanted to kind of uh capture what the what the priority is there.

So just more of a comment and thank you so much.

I believe that's all questions we have for this first part of the presentation.

Thank you so much for five minutes.

Oh, break.

Sorry.

Okay, uh Andy, I I know you're eager.

Do you mind Ron if we take a five minute break?

Okay, let's have a five minute break and we will be no seven eighteen.

Sorry, Andy.

I know you're ready to go.

Michael, that you're hammering.

Yes, most mature are actually my head.

I believe we're ready to go and now we're ready.

Okay.

Well, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

My portion of tonight's presentation will cover recommended compensation and benefit changes for FY26.

Before you is an overview of the recommended compensation increases for various employee groups, which have been incorporated into the proposed budget.

Because topped out employees would uh typically only be eligible for the three percent COLA, uh new recommendation for this year is to provide topped out employees with a one-time lump sum payment uh for their merit increase.

So in this case for our officers and sergeants, uh topped out individuals would receive a two percent one-time payment um in lieu of of not being able to receive any additional pay because they're at the top of their range.

Um this specific recommendation is responsive to feedback that we received last year from both our employee benefits committee and other employees throughout the city.

And you'll kind of see this common theme with some of our other employee groups as as I go through each of those.

Um moving along to our sworn firefighters.

So the current MOU that covers firefighters, engineers, and captains provides for a one-step increase, again, equivalent to five percent, uh, plus a three percent cost of living increase.

So similar to PD, our topped out um fire employees in this group will also receive their merit as a one-time lump sum payment equivalent to two percent.

Um we will be submitting a future agenda item um to amend the MOU to allow for this one time payment before the end of the fiscal year.

Just to ensure that the language uh incorporates that.

Uh remaining city staff will receive a two percent merit increase and a three percent uh cost of living adjustment.

Um same same theme here, additionally topped out employees will receive up to a two percent one-time lump sum payment for their merit increase.

You'll notice in this instance I said uh up to two percent.

The reason being that in some cases individuals may get a little bit more than the three percent depending on on their range movement.

Um so some of that merit increase may go into their base pay, but anything that's left over uh would be paid out in a one-time lump sum up to that two percent amount.

Uh additionally, as you can see, uh we're also recommending uh based upon a review of of recent market data from some of our comparator agencies.

We're recommending an increase to on call pay from two dollars an hour to two fifty an hour, and an increase in our shift differential rate um from fifty-five cents an hour to seventy-five cents an hour for any hours work between nine PM and midnight, and seventy-five cents to one dollar an hour for hours of work from uh midnight to four AM.

Uh in addition to what I just uh covered in collaboration with our police department, we've also evaluated additional requests related to sworn officers and are recommending the following.

Uh so first there's a uh a request uh to increase the ballistic vest allotment for our sworn officers from twelve hundred dollars to nineteen hundred dollars.

Um officers typically purchase a new ballistic vest every five years and coordinate reimbursement with the department.

Um the purchase of these items include the ballistic vest, an outer carrier, and a rifle plate, in addition to just some inflationary costs that have occurred over the recent past.

Um next, we have an increase to the annual uniform allowance by $300 for eligible police department employees.

So this includes Swarm, but it also may include some of the other positions that would have some sort of need for a uniform, whether it's polo shirts, anything that they're currently receiving today, they would continue to receive with an additional $300 annually.

Something new, but but you'll you'll likely recognize this.

So providing a city contribution of $5,000 to a postemployment health plan account for sworn officers and sergeants who retire in good standing with 20 or more years of consecutive service.

So last year or the for this current MOU cycle for our firefighters, we incorporated a similar clause and verbiage there for that group.

So we're recommending that same option here for our sworn officers and sergeants.

Again, just to ensure that there's parity there, plus just ensuring that we have that public safety aspect, that it's something that's currently on top of mind for us from a recruitment and retention perspective.

Something that we in in collaboration with the police department feel is is appropriate at this point for us to include in this upcoming budget year.

And one item you you may recall last year we spoke about the public safety retention program, which uh essentially was implemented to promote uh rewarding and and uh retaining employees, public safety employees for the duration of their career.

Um it opted for allowing uh eligible sworn employees to uh receive a retention payout based on which cycle they were at over a 20-year career.

Um so that was implemented this year, and we had our first iteration of individuals being able to elect a payment.

Um so nearly we had about 50 eligible sworn employees within PD and the fire department that have elected to receive their retention cycle payout, and that will be paid in this July.

Um so with council support, one-time funding was provided this fiscal year to conduct a market study to ensure that Avondale remains competitive with the market and also is an employer of choice.

So in fall of 2024, we engaged with public sector personnel consultants, which is a third party uh consulting uh compensation consulting agency to conduct the study.

Um this organization's been in business for several years and is very familiar with public sector and municipal jobs throughout Arizona.

The scope of the study was specific to market ranges, so we didn't do a deep dive into classifications or job descriptions.

Um that was something we did a couple of years back and likely will do in our next iteration of a study.

So this was very much looking at comparator uh positions that exist in other agencies throughout the valley.

So our comparator cities that we looked at were Goodyear, Buckeye, Glendale, Peoria, Surprise, El Mirage, Chandler, Mesa, and Tempe.

So those were the agencies that we looked at as we started to conduct our study.

So in collaboration initially with our department directors, we wanted to set some priority jobs.

So we sought input from each of our directors about you know what were the big ticket jobs that they wanted to have included as part of the study, what were the medium level jobs, and then maybe jobs that were lower level or really didn't need to be studied at that time.

So overall, we had 170 jobs that were survey.

Um this represents approximately 52% of jobs across Avondale.

And then we established some linkages there based on the job survey.

So for example, we may have included a job in a survey, and as a result of that survey, let's say there was a need to make an adjustment to that grade.

Well, we also, I'm sorry, to that position.

We also looked at internal jobs that that are essentially valued the same, even though they may not have been surveyed.

We wanted to make sure that there was that internal equity and that parity amongst those positions.

So we we did some of that review internally, again, getting feedback from our department directors and just the expertise of our consultant to kind of make some of those linkages.

Overall, 80% of our jobs surveyed were within 5% of market midpoint.

So that was kind of our um our staple.

We were looking at the market midpoint and wanting to be within if we were falling 5% or more below, that was a job that we were looking at to consider uh adjustment.

Um, but essentially 80% of our jobs were within that market, 5% of market midpoint, which means that 20% uh of our jobs were were more than 5% below below market.

Um so we were looking at essentially, you know, those are the our target areas for us to take a look at more closely and determine you know next steps for for making some adjustments.

So overall, approximately 80 jobs are being adjusted up one grade, which would equivalent which would equate to a 5% adjustment for those individuals in those job titles, which is above and beyond what I spoke about earlier.

So it's that five plus three plus an additional five for those individuals.

Um again, that ensures market competitiveness or internal equity if another job had been identified through that study for movement that we felt it was appropriate to move a comparator job.

And as I mentioned, the the adjustments are in addition to the COLA and the merit increase.

Approximately 13 jobs have been identified for reclassification evaluation.

So as part of this effort, we may have a job that comes up where you know it's it's really there's a lot going on with it, and and really there's not a clear comparator, or we needed to do some some further evaluation of that position.

Um so we've identified 13 jobs that we need to take a closer look at that are kind of outside the scope of this study, but for us to work with those departments and to develop um ensure that we have an accurate job description that we can then either ourselves are working in conjunction with the consultant to go back out and do a reclassification review.

Um so our intent is it may not be part of the market, but our our goal is to at least um have some of that research completed in advance of fiscal year 26 uh to determine if there's any any additional movements that need to take place.

And then again, as part of this overall effort, um there were 21 inactive uh job titles that we were that we intend to remove from the compensation plan.

So it was just some positions that maybe had been retitled over the years, or maybe positions that no longer exist within the city.

It was just an opportunity to kind of true up the compensation plan and make sure that it was accurate and reflective of the jobs that that we currently have throughout the city.

Um so moving forward with our benefits.

Um so before I cover the recommended medical dental envision premiums for FY26, I just want to provide an overview of some of the the recommended changes.

Some of these are our requirements, uh like our first one.

So based on IRS regulations, uh deductibles for our embedded high deductible health plan will be increasing for individuals by $100.

So overall, the the deductible for that plan in the upcoming plan year is going to $3,300 from $3200 for individual coverage or individual deductible.

All of the other tier tiers will be increasing $200 from $6,400 to $6,600 annually.

For vision, we are moving to from our current uh vision carrier to a new carrier to the vision service plan, VSP.

Um, and this is primarily based on employee feedback.

So this was uh information that was shared through our benefits committee through uh interactions with employees, just generally about um you know their benefit needs and so forth.

So the purpose of the move is to receive uh enhanced customer service and and really access to a larger provider network.

Um our goal for this is to have the current cost, the vision coverage remain neutral for employees.

So that's what we're working towards before we finalize a contract for FY26.

Um and then we're also exploring other potential vendors for our employee assistance program.

Um we haven't made any of the final decisions yet, and and we may end up just staying with our current vendor, but we're just looking at uh other um levels of service that might be out there, numbers of visits that are part of the plan to determine if there are any other offerings that that might provide enhanced resources for for our employees.

So that's just something that we're that we're also looking at.

And then open enrollment is currently scheduled to begin in mid-April, so we'll have some communication forthcoming about uh on that, and usually it's open for a two-week time uh period for individuals to make any changes for the upcoming plan year.

So this uh current slide, so the slide before you shows the recommended medical premiums for FY26.

Um so just a little background on this.

Uh, rates were reviewed internally by HR Finance and with our outside benefits consultant, and then ultimately we presented uh those uh our recommendations or our proposed changes to the employee benefits trust board on March 3rd of this month, uh, who voted to recommend these rates as part of the FY26 budget.

Uh so some key type takeaways, uh those council members that that were that were present last year.

Um, you'll recall that we went from a two-tier plan to a four-tier plan.

So we're we're still in the midst of right-sizing some of those costs.

Uh we didn't want to do we didn't want to just make an automatic change all at once and and have um some significant impacts to individuals as a result of of those tiers.

Um so we we were phasing that in over a three-year time frame.

Last year was the first year, this is our second year, and then year three will will essentially kind of smooth out um the costs based upon what level of tier that an employee elects to have.

Um additionally, our our targets.

So, again, looking at our high deductible health plan, which has our most um our our most number of enrollees is to have a uh target employer-employee split of 90 percent and 10 percent.

So essentially where this the city is picking up 90 percent of that cost, and the employee is responsible for that other 10 percent.

Additionally, when you factor in the employees uh I'm sorry, the city's current uh pay period contribution to the health savings account, that that's near a free plan for an employee, an individual uh employee only uh coverage in that particular plan.

So um just continuing to to maintain that level, balancing the uh the increased cost of health care, but also making sure that um we're able to provide uh uh significant benefit for our employees as we look at costs.

Our next plan is our PPO plan.

Again, it has the the second um number of of enrollees in that plan.

Um our target there is for single uh employee only coverage would be an 8515 split.

So the city picking up 85% of that cost and the employee responsible for 15%.

And then for the remaining tiers, it would be a 75-25 um split, 75%, 25%.

So again, those these are the targets that that we're continuing to work towards.

And then lastly, our EPO plan, which is our richest plan and has the lowest enrollment, um, looking at an 80-20 split for uh employee only and then a 6040 split for all remaining tiers.

And uh again, looking just at the the enrollment numbers are things that we're that we're constantly looking at year over year.

Um and it at some point if if we have a lot of migration out of that plan to the PPO plan or the high deductible health plan, we may look at sunsetting that plan um just from an administrative um position.

It may not be um it may not be necessary for us to maintain that plan.

Um it is our richest plan and and likely most expensive for employees.

Uh dental premiums overall, we're we're remaining with our current vendor um and providing a uh there's gonna be a 5% increase in our premium costs on a per pay period basis.

It's it's fairly minimal.

Um, but that typically is is something that we see every year.

There's some administrative increases, things of that nature um that would contribute to that that change in in premiums.

And then lastly, our um our vision coverage, even though it currently has uh has our current vendors um name, company name there, we're gonna be transitioning to to VSP.

Um so vision premiums are anticipated to increase by 10 percent.

This is a voluntary benefit and funded uh solely by employees, therefore you won't see a city contribution in in any of those columns.

Um and again, we're we're anticipating or on the track to to change our vendor for that uh particular benefit.

So this concludes my portion of tonight's uh presentation.

I'm happy and available to answer any questions uh you may have.

Thank you, Andy.

At this time, I'll open it up to council.

I'll start on this side.

Or Ron, do you have anything to add?

No, Mr.

Mayor.

Okay.

Uh Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, um, Andy, for the presentation.

I was just looking at the um EPO plan.

You did indicate that was the richest plan.

What would cause us to sunset that plan?

I see only 47 of our people are using and leveraging that.

What what number would that get down to where the team would say we don't need that one?

Um mayor, council member white.

I don't know what that magic number would look like.

I I'd want to consult with our with our outside consultant and our and our benefits manager just to kind of see from a cost of administration, is it does it make sense for us to continue that?

Obviously, we would monitor that to see if we continue to see migration from that plan to other plans and not be just a wholehearted decision to to do that based on a particular number.

Really just kind of looking to see if if we're continuing to see a certain percentage year after year moving into some of those other plans and and less um interest of employees enrolling in there.

I notice it's about 13 uh employees that use it for their spouse, children, and family.

So that's a really, really low number.

I so I was just saying I kind of focused in on that because it's 34 employees only, which of course we want them to enjoy their benefits.

Um but then as I look at the it's only 13 other families.

Right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember White.

Councilmember Weiss.

Thank you, Andy, for your presentation.

I have no questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Solario.

Thank you, Andy, for your presentation.

I'm going to start on a high note.

VSP is much appreciated.

Um as a person who needs uh glasses who should be wearing glasses but is in denial.

Um it's good to have VSP as an option.

You see the optometrist just smile when they see VSP, and this other one was throwing them through a loop.

Um so thank you for that.

Um I also wanted to thank you for the breakdown of the insurance.

I'll be honest.

I really for many years I had um insurance through my other job, and I never once picked my own insurance.

We had somebody who would read the material and then tell us what was beneficial.

So this time I remember having to go see Kathy and have actually making a decision with my insurance.

So thank you for making it so easy.

My second one is based on the slides.

I don't see it on this one, but I did see it on the slides that I received.

Um if you go back to police compensation.

And I know I talked to Ron about this in my consent, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention how I feel about that.

First of all, this one doesn't say Avondale Police United.

Can we clarify who that is?

Because I asked Ron who that was, and I also asked Dillard in an email.

He said it would be clarified for us tonight.

I just wanted to know who that is, what that is, and because I'm not familiar with it.

Sure.

So maybe Vice Mayor, Councilmember Solario.

Um Avondale Police United is uh an associate, I believe they're a relatively new association out of the Avondale Police Department.

Um they had reached out to the city manager's office and and ourselves to kind of introduce themselves and uh my understanding is that they don't just represent sworn um employees, they represent all different um titles and positions actually from the police department.

Obviously, anybody that joined the particular association.

And then here's my other question for you.

How many LTs and above with the same standing of 20 years in good standing while retirement do we have?

Mayor, vice mayor, councilario.

Um I don't know on the number of years.

I think overall we have about nine tenants.

Um I don't know over how many of them have.

Do we know that number?

Does anyone know that number?

We can just go with nine.

Uh they're all they're all senior, they're probably not all at 20 minutes a little while.

Okay.

Uh my reason for asking is I like this.

I like whoever the Avondale Police United was, because I'm familiar with it now, came up with this, and that's great.

I do like that.

But I would like to offer that to everybody.

I'm sure we have LTs and above who 20 plus years in good standing.

And um I think it would be a nice benefit to offer it to everyone.

If we have give me a minute, let me calculate here.

If we have nine, we say, if we have nine.

May I ask Chief Espinoza if he can.

Mr.

Mayor, Councilmember Slawy, what was the question?

If I can ask how many LTs of 20 years greater, would he know?

If you need the exact number, I'm sure.

I would like it because I really don't want to inflate the number or not reflect it correctly.

But Mr.

Mayor and uh Vice Mayor and Council members, we wouldn't do just one group of employees.

Part of this program was created off of the agreement we have with the fire department.

And so we consider um uh both uh public safety offices very similar to the case.

I understand that, but fire has an MOU.

So that's why I'm the uh the BCs and above are not represented by the associations.

Okay, I just I'm I'm just merely I'm wanting to see how many.

Chief, would you know how many ma'am?

We have uh eight lieutenants, two assistant chiefs, and uh myself.

Eleven.

Yes, okay.

So if we did eleven times five thousand dollars, that'd give us an extra $55,000.

Um is there a reason why we're not doing that?

Including those folks too?

Because it is a great benefit, and I'd like to see all of them have it, because I would rather see all of them have it than a certain select group have it, and the rest not.

Mr.

Mayor, uh Vice Mayor and Council, uh, as we uh, as I discussed earlier uh via email, um this is a uh long-term game to fix inequities that have been created over the years in the city of Avondale.

And so it it when we start to begin to pick and choose uh above outside of the represented groups, it just gets uh more complicated.

And then we have to consider other groups in the organization as well.

And so this is one of those things that we want to do a test run with.

Um this is something that we will eventually bring back to council in future years and possibly I think expand uh beyond just the um senior police officers.

We have senior uh firefighters that aren't covered, and I think we have other employees that we begin need to begin to explore as other cities begin to increase their post-retirement health care benefits.

We need to find a way that is sustainable over the long haul, and that's really my goal in presenting tonight's draft balanced budget is to make sure that whatever benefit we start tonight we can do over over the long haul.

And again, um beyond the represented groups uh makes me very uncomfortable given the um 800 other or the 600 other employees that we have in the organization and creating uh a long-term expectation of this benefit.

And I understand one of the things that uh has been asked for from the benefits group is possibly a contribution to all employees with a PEP, because right now the only employees that have a PEP are sworn officers and firefighters.

And so the benefits group has been asked to begin to contribute uh to a post-employment health plan for all of our employees, and so we're exploring that and that cost.

In addition, we're looking at ways to take uh sick leave and convert that into a contribution.

So then that way uh right uh uh starting this year or the next year, we have to start listing all liabilities, including sick leave on some of our uh financial statements, and you'll hear about that later.

And so one of the thoughts is if we can find a way to convert uh sick leave into payments into a post-health uh post-employment health care plan, um, then it will uh uh be something that the employees can get.

It also encourages them not to use sick leave after they get to other current amounts.

So there's lots of options we're considering.

Um this is just our starting point, and over the next few years we'll be coming back to council with additional plans.

Well, my thing is just I'm just looking at the public safety.

My apologies.

In the future, we'll look at the other one.

I'm looking at the public safety aspect.

I'm well aware of fire, but that also goes in an MOU.

Do we have any salary savings in the Avondale Police Department?

Uh Council Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Larry, yes, we have three to five million dollars usually.

Uh the uh your police chief is hoping to have zero salary savings next year, but we all know that he will have some.

Again, this isn't about what we can afford this year, it's about in the future, and equity throughout throughout the city.

This is the only benefit currently in the draft budget.

And I understand, and we're talking about long-term, but we're also saying it's a test run.

I'm simply saying that if they all can't have it, then maybe they shouldn't get it at all.

That's just my feeling on it, because they're very equally deserving.

There's 11 individuals that I think if we have a salary savings, and I don't know what the salary savings averages a year for the PD.

I don't know if anyone has that number.

Is finance.

Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, between three and five million dollars.

So we can't afford $55,000.

Again, it's not about that number, Councilmember uh Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmore Solari, it's about equity, and it's about the other sworn uh positions we have in other departments, and it's about the other employees.

Which can be addressed as well in an MOU when they we do their MOU process.

The other the other people we're talking about are not covered by the MOU, just like the lieutenants and above are not included in any association.

And so it is for it is for a future uh date that will be coming to count.

Well, I just think if we have salary savings and if we're doing a trial run to see if how it works, that they should all be allowed the same benefit.

That is how I feel.

I understand that that's not something that we're wanting to entertain right now, it appears.

But I would really remiss in saying that the people that went and negotiated this that was on my slides, those people are representative of the people that are going to get that money.

Am I correct in saying that?

Mr.

Ray Vice Mayor, only a portion.

They also represent people who aren't getting it, including our dispatchers and our records clerks and our civilians in the in the position.

They they represent uh many people other than just sworn officers.

Um they asked for uh several benefits that we were able to add this year, uh, including uh the uh increase in the standby pay.

That was a request from this meeting.

And this is something we can afford to plan uh to provide to all employees, uh whether it's uh public works or utilities or uh facilities, uh uh detectives, other people who uh do standby pay.

Uh same thing with the differential uh for the night shift and the swing shifts again came from that.

So a lot of the requests uh were for more than just the people that they represent, even though they were asking on their their behalf.

So we've added uh several benefits uh based on this meeting that that benefit uh the the police department, including lieutenants and above.

The clothing allowances for everybody uh that's sworn.

The uh the ballistic vest is for everybody that is sworn.

So where we we thought it was appropriate, where we thought it was sustainable, we we did add those benefits.

I just I mean I don't have anything else to say.

I understand your point of view, but I'm talking about fifty-five thousand dollars and the fact that we can't do that because we don't want to sound like in the future, yes, everyone will be addressed and we'll do that.

But we're talking about public safety and giving this first five thousand.

What is this?

This is like new five thousand to the post-employment health plan that we wouldn't consider the eleven individuals.

It's not even twenty.

It's not even fifteen.

It's eleven individuals at five thousand dollars for fifty-five thousand dollars, and when we have salary savings to show that.

That's all I'm saying.

Thank you, uh, Councilmember Slorio.

Um I I I am completely thank you for acknowledging the mayor, vice mayor council.

I'm confused because um I just pulled up the slideshow that I got, and I I'm not sure.

Our security officers are protect our building, they wear ballistic vests.

So I I don't um I I am I'm not sure we have the same point of view, but I'm learning in this process, and I don't understand why we I'm not comfortable with us speaking to associations that aren't recognized, period.

Um but if we are going to make extensions of offers to people for things that are just basic equipment, we do have security that it's not sworn, and I would like to be able to make sure we extend the benefits to them as well, Mayor.

Thank you.

Councilmember White.

Mr.

Mayor and uh um Vice Mayor and Councilmember White.

We would absolutely anybody who buys a vest.

The program that we uh did this with is operated out of PD.

So if they if they go through the same process, they absolutely get uh the vest that they need uh and get it paid for.

Thank you, Ron.

Appreciate it.

Okay, Councilmember Condique.

Thank you for the presentation, Andy.

Um I just had a question about the comp employee compensation market study.

Um, how often is it recommended we that we do that study?

I believe um uh mayor, vice mayor, council member uh conde, I believe our um chapter five and our compensation policy indicate every two years um with with budget and funding um uh permitting that we do that.

So the last one we did I believe was in 2023, and that was a full-blown um classification and comp study.

This one was was focused on compensation, so I would I would anticipate that our next one would include a compensation uh classification portion as well, but we look at doing that every two years.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Garcia?

Thank you for your presentation, Andy.

I have no questions.

Vice Mayor Nelson.

I don't have any questions.

Just thank you again for all the work and effort you put into it and condense it to the point where we can see it in a few pages and hopefully let it sink in and appreciate all your work.

Thank you.

And just really quickly, so out of the hundred and seventy jobs, i am am I correct in reading this that the thirteen that were identified as reclassification evaluation, meaning that the rest were all in line outside of those thirteen.

Um mayor, uh the 13 jobs were really these were ones that kind of surfaced to the top based upon feedback that we got from departments.

So as we took a little bit of a deeper dive, it it looked like these positions needed to be studied more holistically as a reclassification rather than just uh uh general market um evaluation.

So going back to we had 80 percent of our jobs that were within market, then the 20 percent were ones that we had to make some decisions on and look at linkages internally.

So there was quite a few that we are um anticipating making some changes to.

Those thirteen, some of them may have been um affected by the market, so they may be getting some sort of adjustment, but there might be a need to even look at them more closely based upon their job duties and responsibilities that maybe um would have them aligned with another position.

Uh just kind of some information that came out of that that we need to take a closer look at.

And my my point being behind the question is really relative to the point of just how competitive we truly are, number one, but uh also in addition to the market study and the data um and uh essentially waiting to get that data is kind of reaffirmed uh just how competitive we we really are.

And if we are looking to to to be as competitive with this region uh that I'm sure all of us are looking to to be, then this is uh this is a relatively comfortable report, uh at least the way I see it.

So I that's that's the reason why I asked that question.

No, Mayor, absolutely.

So I think um being able to have that many jobs that are still within market midpoint is is really good for us as far as our our competitiveness.

We see it from the number of applications that we get for our positions, um that individuals are interested in coming to Avonville and and it's just working for the organization.

Um I think even with the the council's commitment as budget permits to be able to look at this and keep it at the forefront every couple of years, uh speaks testaments to to us ensuring that we we we maintain that position and and don't fall behind, you know, uh three, four years, and and then we're playing catch-up, and that gets very expensive and and is impactful to us in retaining employees and really recruiting uh talent communicates to the organization.

Thank you.

Thank you, Andy.

I appreciate that.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, uh City Council.

My name is Shane Zillings, your city's project administrator.

Again, very happy here to talk to you tonight about capital projects.

So as always, I like to kick off with wins.

And that's looking at all the wonderful things that we've gotten done this year for the community.

This is not everything that's all inclusive in terms of projects.

These are the big kind of showy things.

So first off is that uh detention and PD substation replacing the facility on Western with a new facility, maintains the safety uh for both our officers and for our disainees.

The water reclamation facility odor control project was a long time coming.

It's really uh a gift to our new southern residents who are moving in who uh don't have any negative experiences from the plants.

We've treated 71 lane miles of pavement management in FY25 uh all over the city.

And you're seeing we'll do it again next year.

Uh Deacon Senior Park Improvements, that wonderful photo there of council with the kids uh celebrating uh at that park opening with its uh new facilities with the uh fencing around the playground and the wheelchair safe swing and the impact it's making in old town.

Uh old El Mirage Road and Lower Buckeye Road improvements, the newer section that's just open a month ago.

Again, it's time to help with the new development that's coming into the south, making sure that people continue to move safely through our intersections.

Mountain view, oh sorry, Avondale Boulevard resurfacing.

Obviously, that's a gateway to our city.

We want to make sure that it looks as good as it can be.

Uh Mountain View Park expansion, again, trying to take use of abandoned space after the uh public works department removed a water tank.

How can we reclaim that and give it back to the community and additional playground and Romadas?

Four new hawk signals.

So again, those are high activated intensity crosswalks.

So those are the fun crosswalks.

You walk up to you, push a button at Lakes Red, stops all the traffic so pedestrians can move safely across.

Four of them are in are under construction right now.

Well, two of them are actively under construction, two others are lining up to be in our construction before the end of the year.

Those are at uh the one that's under construction right now.

The polls are being set up this month, is at Al Mirage and Northern Alamar Park.

Uh we have uh also cold water springs at 118th Avenue just started, Al Mirage and Pima, and then Central and Holly.

And then the improvements at Sam Garcia Library and the artwork at the Awa Freya at Dysart and Western at the high school.

Uh so what does that mean if we put it in a chart form?

Uh it looks like this.

Uh so a little bit of uh information here that blue uh portion of it, those are funds that we haven't spent that are already programmed.

Uh if you look at the program as a whole, it's about 170 million dollars.

It's lagging about a little bit behind of where we want it to be, but as Peter Dracker would say, we don't improve what we don't measure.

And so that's what we're doing here today.

The orange is what we've encumbered.

So we have contracts in place, it's more than just the contracts.

We have purchase orders with vendors to do the work.

These are constantly changing because we're spending money every month.

And that's what the gray is.

That's where we're spending those dollars.

That's gonna change a lot here in the next couple of months.

We have some major projects going on with Fire Station 171 and the Canine facility.

We've got improvements going on in old town.

Uh, we're gonna be kicking off the uh street portion of old town three uh in cash in here next month.

So we've been putting in the water line.

Now it's time to come in and resurface the roads.

Um and then there's uh uh Western Avenue, the reconstruction from Central Fourth.

We just got the bids are complete with that one.

That'll be kicking off here this summer as well.

So you'll see these numbers continue just.

We're gonna continue to focus on these numbers.

We want to make sure that we're making that commitment that council has provided the funding that we spend it when we say we're going to.

Uh and with that, we have a whole lot of projects here for next year that are currently uh scheduled to be completed in the next fiscal year.

There's a lot here.

I'm not gonna go over all of them.

But you can see it touches all the parts of the city.

Um, everything from a new fire station and old town to traffic signals, uh improvements at Friendship Park.

We're continuing to make investments there with new pickleball courts, uh, renovated dog park, renovated softball park.

There's uh sidewalk expansion and gap improvements, trying to figure figure out where those gaps are in our sidewalk to make sure people can safely get along Avondale Boulevard or perhaps along Lower Buckeye at Festival Fields.

Um the intersection at Dysarton Westerns.

We continue to make those investments in Old Town and then the bridge housing project, which will be going to bid here in the next couple months.

Again, lots of projects going on, lots of reasons to celebrate.

We're gonna continue working towards that pyramid uh that Renee showed in her chart, continuing to spend that down and bringing those projects online over the next fiscal year.

And then there's lots of projects that are budgeted and in design with completion in 27 or later.

So some of our projects take multiple years of design and multiple years of construction.

So I'm going to spend a little bit more time on this side than the last one.

First of this is old town phases four and five.

The commitment from uh with council has always been as we complete one phase of old town, we go to the next one.

So again, as phase three, as we get the roads rebuilt this summer, we'll roll into phases four and five.

Those are an old town, both north and south of MC 85.

So those will be starting up her early fall.

Donatello Park is off of uh 113th and um Palm uh in the Donatella neighborhood.

Project's currently under design, and it'll be done in FY27.

And then FY26, or sorry, following uh four and five will be rolling right into old town phase six.

This is in Las Legas.

So this will complete the old town project uh projects that were promised many years ago.

We have improvements to Dysart Road and McDowell Road.

This is adding an additional turn capacity to get more people through that intersection.

Uh we have a trail improvement at Lower Buckeye Road in connection to Festival Fields.

So, what this is basically going to do is get provide a hock signal so that you can safely cross Lower Buckeye Road and then continue along the levee down to festival fields.

We have an intersection going in at 111th and Thomas.

You know about the plant expansion and the phase two improvements there.

We have a Southern Avondale Fire and Police Station.

We often recall that you've recalled it's called Alamar Fire Station, Southern Avondal Fire Station.

Um really that's that fire station that'll be located in the Alamar development.

It's a combined public safety facility.

We are timing that project to align with how Brookfield does their work.

So one of the uh items on this, uh, Brookfield will be completing El Mirage Road.

They're gonna be expanding the road, they're also gonna be installing a water line under the road.

So we're timing our work also to come after there.

Um it just makes sense rather than come through and have us stamping on on top of each other.

And then the last one I have on here that we're currently under design, and I've got an unfortunate TBD there.

This is the Awa Fria Trail.

This is a crossing at the uh Buckeye Road and the uh railroad.

And really what's going through is negotiations with the railroad on how exactly we're gonna safely cross the roadroad.

We're trying to look how we can go underneath it.

And then because those on good negotiations are ongoing, I don't have a completion date for yet this time, but it is something that we continue to work on because we know it's a priority of council that we complete the Awa Fria trail system.

Mr.

Mayor, if I can just add real quick on the um Alamar Public Safety Station, we are gonna have the staff and the engine a year early.

So, God willing, if they move ahead of schedule or they're we're able to start construction sooner, those kinds of things.

Um, we'll have be able to house them out of another firehouse in the interim, but we're gonna get the uh the engine staffed up with the 15 firefighters a year before the completion is built, according to the current schedule.

Thank you, Ron.

All right, I would like to transition uh to the general uh obligation bond.

Uh this is I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this because I'm gonna say the wrong terms uh for our finance people.

Uh but there are some guidelines that we had to work with as we work through the bond committee.

Um, some of those is about keeping that rate flat.

Uh we worked with them with 123 million dollars worth of projects.

Uh the bond election would be in November, so on and so forth.

There the one key point here is that as we look at our capital, we also have these bond projects that we have to consider.

Um, and the bond is not something that if should council approve it and should the voters approve it, is not something that we would have availability next year.

It is a long-term plan that we will work in to complete those projects as we can within the bond financing and workload availability.

But what are those projects?

In case you're wondering as I get into the future ask why I'm not mentioning them, they're here.

Again, I don't want to spend too much time on this.

We're gonna be back on April 7th to cover these in more detail.

Uh but you can see them here for your information.

And again, just a little bit cover of that schedule.

Um, we've been working with the bond committee since December.

Um, we'll be back on April 7th to present uh what their recommendations and then the election.

Should you give us uh should you vote to move forward on the election to be held in November?

Okay.

And then uh as I transition now to 2631.

So the new asks, um, I do want to highlight a couple things.

Uh we are taking a cash flow approach.

So when you're looking at budgeting for capital projects for uh municipality, you can do it a couple different ways.

One way that Avondel had done in the past is you kind of just put all the big pot of money in one year one.

And that way the money is secured, you know it's there, you don't have to worry about it.

But it does create some other issues on the financing side, and it does make it difficult to manage expectations of when those projects will be done.

So what we're doing here is it's called the cash flow approach.

We're going to actually show those dollars where possible in the year we believe we'll expend those dollars.

Projects, construction projects, very, very, very rarely get designed and constructed in year one.

Usually it's a year or two of design.

We might have right-of-way acquisition, and then we can roll into construction and construction can often be multiple years.

You see that with the treat with the treatment plan.

We're have that project budgeted over five or six years because of that.

And then we can adjust it too.

So we we know within our workload, we know that we can adjust it to council's priorities, and we can adjust that to other uh activities that are happening on the city.

You know, Mr.

Corbin mentioned uh what's going on with the Southern Avondale Fire Station.

So part of that is we're trying to time it around development.

We do that with a lot of our projects, but we also have that flexibility to move it up and down if we need to.

Um we're also taking uh a measured approach.

Uh so we're phrasing our projects incrementally, and that's a lot of words to basically say we're taking small bytes of the estimates.

We're taking we're going forward and we're doing studies.

We once we learn that it's something that we can accomplish that it is within the space we need that does meet our needs, then we go into design and then we go on to construction.

And so rather than coming to you and asking for numbers that we don't have good data with, we're taking that measured approach to make sure when we come to you we know what the answers are going to be.

One of the items on this, and I believe that you've received an unfunded projects list.

So we haven't forgotten about it.

We we are we're programming those items out there, and as our finance team uh works through budget every year, if funding becomes available either through uh one-time sales taxes being more than we projected, or some other reason we can have those conversations about council about how to finance those projects in the appropriate year.

Hopefully that makes sense.

With that, we have a lot of facilities projects, and again, right off the bat you see that uh we're starting with the design.

Uh last year, council authorized us to start with a study for an operational warehouse.

This would be at the Fourth Avenue and Lower Buckeye site that we own across the street from the municipal operations center.

So the study is ongoing right now.

Um we believe we're ready to next year to move into a design effort to actually construct a facility there.

That's to provide additional interior storage space for several departments as well as relocate the traffic engineering team into that space.

Also, that yard has been used uh for a number of uses over a number of years.

Um it is gonna need some site remediation just to clean it up, level it up, be good neighbors.

Uh that's what a large chunk of this request is.

The second ask on here is a modular building at cold water booster station.

This is related to that warehouse, and it's related to another project you'll see on here.

The staff at Public Works, they are running out of space.

They're running out of space at a facility they have right now at the cold water booster station as the city's needs continue to grow.

So this would provide for a temporary modular uh facility to be located at the bold uh the cold water booster station for a number of years.

Right now, they're located there in an older building.

This would get them into a better workstation for the next few years.

The multiple site cellular connectivity booster project, uh, as you're aware, a lot of our city buildings, we do not have good cell signal.

Um, and that's how we commonly communicate with our fellow employees, it's how we communicate with developers, it's how we communicate with a lot of the public.

Um, and so this would provide uh technology at several locations to make sure that we have a better signal and we can be more responsive.

The fleet shop electrical and office upgrades.

This is a two-parter, so part of that is on that audit that Mr.

Corbin mentioned about the fleet.

Um we have a fleet manager that we want to move into the fleet building with this team.

Uh we have a new position that we're asking for in the supplemental.

Um then we need a better space for if you're coming to uh drop off or pick up a vehicle to have that space to communicate with the fleet team, that would provide for that, just like at any other service station.

And then there's also an electrical upgrade needs.

The facility is pretty much tapped out right now, and it's electrical needs.

But again, we're getting a new equipment that we need for the newer uh uh vehicles that we have.

We need to make sure that what we have will continue to service them in the future.

Conference room redesigns and upgrades.

The I added there in the parentheses, this is really audio visual and IT.

Um a lot of our conference rooms are ready for a refresh, they're ready for upgrades.

Um, so that's what that is taken care of.

The study of the municipal operations center again is to bring in a team to look at okay, we have this facility, where could it grow so we can come back later on and see if we continue to add more staff down there?

How could we grow the facility?

Also, how can we move around some stuff in the yard to make it more efficient?

The land entitlements for Las Vegas veteran housing.

We've identified a parcel of land or two parcels of land technically in the Las Vegas community that we'd like to investigate to see if there's an opportunity to construct veteran housing.

Um while our staff are looking for additional funding opportunities for that.

There are two pieces of land that would need to be combined in a minor land division and some other land utility uh easements that need to be taken care of.

And then finally, um we continue in investing in the library with uh new office furniture for our Sam Garcia staff.

We we made a lot of improvements last year to the forward facing, but we didn't really take care of the backside, so that's really what that's taken care of.

And then also shelving upgrades.

At both locations, there's a couple things that we just wanted to pick up at Sam Garcia, but mainly at Civic Center and Library.

For parks projects, we're continuing with our multimodal trail improvements, specifically in FY26.

We're looking to add additional lighting on trails.

So this will be looking at additional uh existing trail sections, but making sure that they could be used after hours or before work for commuting.

Uh we want to add uh we're asking to add shade and lighting at the Civic Center amphitheater.

Again, this is to expand the programming there uh by providing uh uh activities that take place when it's hot or when it's dark.

Um we want to look to see if we can add additional parking or additional entry and exit out of Friendship Park.

So that's that kind of uh image that's on the screen for you today.

Um again, that can get very busy on the weekends.

Uh we talked previously about an indoor pickleball facility.

We did do a study, we could fit one adjacent to the Aquatic Center.

So the next step then would be to move into a design effort.

Uh and then Fred Campbell Park and Las Legas Park.

These are new projects that we recognize as the next parks kind of up in the system where we need to bring them up to the Avondale standard.

Uh so this would be looking at how do we refresh both those parks, how do we bring them back up to uh a park that the communities um can take full advantage of for transportation uh right off the top is another sidewalk project.

So this would be to create a sidewalk all the way from Festival Fields to Las Legas Park along Lower Buckeye Road.

We've heard from the community that they need a way to get between those two parks safely.

Um our streets maintenance team on the second one there is looking to add a new concrete mixer.

Uh this is for sidewalk repair.

So if a sidewalk's cracked or if it's been lifted up by a tree route, a lot of times they're mixing the concrete by hand, or they have to wait for a third-party vendor to bring concrete to them.

Um so this would really provide some efficiencies to that team.

The Avondale Boulevard median improvements, this would continue to uh enhance our meetings, specifically in Avendale Boulevard from the Civic Center campus to uh MC85 by providing that black and white checkered and new landscaping within the um within the median.

And then uh next we'd be taking a look at Las Legas.

There are some unfinished streets in Las Legas.

Um so it's a study to see what do we need to do to get those streets to be completed, make sure all the grades work.

Um and then finally the last thing on here is a new signal, uh, which we believe will be warranted in FY28 at 107th Avenue and Lakeshore Drive.

Uh new utilities projects.

So the first of these is the PFAS land and design.

So again, uh Public Works is asking to purchase some land, and then they need to provide improvements to well sites so they can treat the water at the source as close as or as close to the source as we can so that would begin the design efforts next year.

We have several wells that need electrical upgrades, so again, we'd be looking to do those next year.

And then Bartlett Dam right now we have penciled in and FY29.

Again, as you know, um that is a target that is not entirely in our control, so we'll continue to uh monitor that and work with our partners and adjust it as needed.

Last on the list is asset vehicle replacement.

So again, every year uh staff come forward to ask about uh asset replacement.

So we do have asset replacement programs that identify the uh when uh technology, when equipment should be replaced on a regular basis rather than replacing them on an emergency basis.

And so you see those asks here going through information technology in the various departments, um getting their assets up to place, and then on the last two uh lines there's vehicle replacement, does call for uh fire apparatus fire apparatus replacement, and then other vehicle replacements uh totaling six point three million dollars.

year uh staff come forward to ask about uh asset replacement so we do have asset replacement programs identify the uh when uh technology when equipment should be replaced on a regular basis rather than replacing them on an emergency basis and so you see those asks here um going through information technology and the various departments um getting their assets up to place and then on the last two uh lines there's vehicle replacement does call for a fire apparent fire apparatus replacement and then other vehicle replacements uh totaling six point three million dollars uh and with that that concludes my portion of the presentation I'm available to answer any questions that you might have at this time thank you James for that uh presentation um councilmember conde thank you mayor thank you James I don't have any questions just comments um in 2017 when I um started on city council one of the things that we really were focusing on was parks improvements and I can't believe it's 2025 and we're still continuing park improvements but I I I love that that that's necessary because we know that our parks are all very well loved especially friendship park and now you know 2017 there was no pickleball and now we've got pickleball craze that our city manager loves so much but um I'm just glad to see um um thank you guys for taking the time um to present us and and like council member Nielsen said it's just simple and easy for us to see uh it's easy to understand and so thank you so much for your presentation thanks James thank you council member Garcia thank you so much for the presentation um I I wrote things down but I think it was awesome to see the new transit shelters that we're gonna have I know we spoke about it like um a few meetings ago and I and seeing them on here and I saw I've seen the design that's gonna be really awesome to have and friendship park having so much extra stuff in it and the part like hopefully we get that park second out out of there because if it's busy it's wild to get out of there um but I'm just happy to see all of these things happening in our city and to see other other parks as well that are um have I don't want to say neglected but now we're getting to them and it will be awesome to use them for a lot of other stuff.

So thank you guys.

Thank you.

Councilmember White Thank you James for the presentation I have just a couple commentaries for you because I was taking a look at the numbers and so I'll start with the um recommended five year CIP plan.

That's the more comprehensive information we all got on council.

I would just urge you to go back and double check um the total projected project budget um calculation for all the years adding in on the old town I think it is four maybe it's six that's not um adding up correctly I'm pretty sure it's just a formula calculation it's not on the the presentation that we're looking at just a heads up for you when you go back and take another look um it's on the more comprehensive details that we got and then on the unfunded capital improvements you definitely spoke about the boulevard when I took a look at the line item from FY26 to FY30 it's off about 75,000.

Again it probably is just a programming concern with the um cells on this because it's comprehensive information it's a lot of data and then Las Legas is off on that one as that well the Las Legas parked improvements construction it's a quick one when you just look at that on the unfunded it says 8.5 million on that but when you look it's FY29 and it's 7.75 million.

So I'm sure there's just some make sure those calculations are up there because when they add in to the total projected budget I wasn't sure if it was to the naked eye it might look like we're fluffing the number up and we want to make it precise.

Thank you but excellent work.

Mr.

Mayor Councilmember White uh some of that explanation is money already spent or money already programmed and so especially that one million dollars for that one park that's uh design we've already started and begun to spend so some of that isn't is is um not a new ask or is being spent in this NFY 25 and so you won't see it moving forward is that a correct uh summarization uh James yes yes sir with the unfunded ones as well sir yes uh Mr.

Mayor Vice Mayor Councilmember White yes so we funded the studies and we funded the design and then we have unfunded some of the uh construction uh waiting for new sales tax numbers to come in um over the the next couple of years uh depending on how long it takes us to to design so um and then some of them we're gonna uh pay for out of bond and so it those are uh rough estimates on the actual numbers depending on what the designs come back for thank you thank you councilmember voice James thank you for your presentation I did have a couple quick questions rural comments uh also I um second um councilmember conde's uh note about the parks and I really appreciate the ADA um aspect that we're putting into those parks I really think it's wonderful for our um residents I did have a question with regards to the pickleball um on the recommended five year capital improvement plan we have um an item uh and it's one million dollars for the design I think it's for the design and then on the unfunded it looks like it could cost the construction up to 15 million and then I saw something on a PowerPoint 19 million so I just didn't know where we were going with that.

I did have a question with regards to the pickleball.

Um on the recommended five-year capital improvement plan, we have um an item that and it's one million dollars for the design.

I think it's for the design.

And then on the unfunded, it looks like it could cost the construction up to 15 million.

And then I saw something on a PowerPoint 19 million.

So I just didn't know where we were going with that.

If we if we spend the one million dollars for the design, do we know what the cost is going to be after that?

And if we make that one million dollar um investment, it I just really want to make sure that you know, are we committing ourselves then to the 15 million or the 19 million?

Yes.

So uh mayor, vice mayor, uh councilmember weiss, thank you.

It's a great question.

Uh so that was um as I had mentioned that measured approach.

So we are going to we've we've done the study, we know it can fit within the space.

Um the next step is then okay, let's design it.

So we'll take the investment and we'll design at no point or at this point you have not committed for any sort of construction.

That's why it's out there in the unfunded portion.

It's out there because we're tracking it.

We know it's there, but we're not really sure on that number.

Um I think that gives us a little bit of flexibility to uh to make sure it's designed that we can present you with a project um that can be afforded um in the future years.

Does that make sense?

Mr.

Mayor, uh Vice Mayor, Councilman Weiss.

Very important to me that uh first of all, the nineteen million was an early number, and I said there's no way I'm coming to council to build a nineteen million dollar pickleball facility.

That just doesn't pass headlines test.

And so we're looking at different options.

Um we we reminded our current consultant that we just want to know um because it's an odd shape uh piece of property just uh next to the pool, uh just on the other side of the courts.

We wanted to make sure that a building would fit and it would have enough courts in it to make it worthwhile, make sure it it could hold parking, and make sure that we could create a barrier for noise to the neighbors uh to the other side of that.

So there was a lot of unknowns on that property.

And so they've given us a couple different options.

I said the the max that I'm currently comfortable with is about 15, which puts a design at 10 percent at one and a half million dollars or so.

And so I'm hoping it will be closer to eight to nine million um for the uh uh concept that we have is really just an open space uh that we can cool people off in the in the summer, uh warm people up in the winter, reduce uh it's not meant to be a huge locker room, it's not meant to be a large uh we're really trying to keep it simple.

Um the other thing is to make sure it's usable for other things in the future if the if the world changes.

And so uh one of the biggest asks in the uh parks recreation plan was indoor recreation.

And so this is is a uh uh space that we're starting with.

It's also not funded, actually funded till FY27, the design.

And so it's two years out still.

Um we're trying to space out the work of our team, uh Rick's team and um oh I forgot our parks CIP gentleman's name.

Um our team to make sure it can get done.

So we put it out a year, gives us a little more time to assess inflation on construction, continue to make sure this is what council wants, um, but we did want to put money in for the design.

Um but like many projects, we wanted to not fund the actual construction until we get a real number.

We really are trying to do a better job with budgeting our CIP in years that we actually expect to spend the money so that we don't tie up dollars that can be used to improve the uh the parks, the streets, uh the intersections for our community now as we hold that money aside for five years, if that makes any sense.

We really um we don't believe that our job is to um keep money in a bank for our residents, it's to bring back uh a quality of life for our residents.

So that's really our our goal with this in the approach we've taken over the last couple of years as we begin to transition to using the tax dollars that our residents have entrusted us with to improve their quality of life.

Good.

Councilmember Slorious.

Uh thank you for the presentation, James.

Great as always.

Um I don't have any questions.

I'm gonna quote the mayor.

I'm comfortable with this plan.

Uh so oh Vice Mayor Nielsen.

James, I just had one question for you.

Um Old Town phase one, four and five, I mean not one, three, four, and five.

You've got old town.

Is that really cash in or is it old Avondale?

Uh so uh mayor, uh Vice Mayor, uh three is cash.

So that's the area that's being in construction right now.

Um I know, and that's why I'm asking about it and trying to find out when it's gonna be.

It's uh four and five are more of what we consider old town, so that's that area both north and south of NC85 west of the river.

Okay.

Um and then six is a area within Las Legas.

Very good.

Thank you.

I just wanted to just had Old Town, Old Town, Old Town.

I didn't know if we could bring them out, and this is cash and this is old town, and this is Las Vegas.

It's just figured out where they are at.

Thank you.

That's all I had.

Thanks, James.

And for me, you know, just based upon what you see here.

Um to me, it just demonstrates uh not only being the the stewards, the good stewards of of our residents uh money, but more importantly, uh the diverse options and uh diversification of projects that are happening.

Often you see um uh folks saying that you know this area has been neglected, that area is getting this and that, and this just demonstrates a commitment to a citywide approach, and more importantly, even here uh internally with the organization, making sure that we have the right machinery and and items for that growth that we are anticipating.

Um the only comment that I have would have, and may not be very um what's the word that I'm looking for here?

Um popular, but I I would love to see the Las Vegas park pushed in front of uh the pickle wall design um in terms of of uh year.

Um but that's just a comment, and there's probably reasons as to why um that it's not the case.

Uh but that part of many other parks have have on have gone under uh beatification and have taken on uh other um amenities, improvements.

And uh I know that I during my discussion with Ron and leadership, uh, you know, whether it be lighting, additional lighting, uh, and other things, I I just think that's just as important.

And so again, maybe there's reasons that uh I'm not aware of as to why time frame wise one would be in front of the other.

Um but I just think that that's something uh priority that I would love to see uh moved up if possible.

Mr.

Mayor and Vice Mayor and Council members, um it is possible.

One of the things we're trying to do, uh especially with parks, is design and build closer together.

Um a couple of our parks we've experienced a couple difficulties by having the design and construction separated.

And we had planned on using bond funds to do Las Legas.

And so um that's that that funding is not available for several years.

Um depending on council's uh direction, one of the top priorities for the first release of bonds would be Alamar Public Safety Building.

Correct.

And I believe we have 10 million dollars set aside for bond.

And so we we will look at that both are a couple years out.

So I think next year's discussion we can absolutely uh review whether we move that park up uh looking at at Corey, and and we'll come back to you with that.

The other thing is we're trying to make sure that we're doing uh one or two parks a year.

And so we have uh Civic Center Park that we're trying to wrap up this year, I think, or early next year, fiscal year.

We're trying to this year, and then we have uh Donna Telepark in the following year where we'll be working on that.

We have um uh Desi Lorenz uh that we're also trying to do uh next year.

So we're trying to space out our parks, uh not only for staffing, but to make sure we're we're doing the community.

But both um I always want to call it Joe Henry, but um Fred Campbell Park and Las Legas.

Sorry, it's it's a Duma park.

I don't even know why I do that, but Fred Fred Campbell Park uh behind uh Sonic behind the old uh uh uh City Hall or our PD station, whatever that building was, um, is on our radar as well.

It's uh it's um Ramadas are in a dire need of repair.

And uh we do have some um uh movie nights planned for Fred Campbell over the the next season.

Shake your head, Corey.

Yes, yes, we do.

Um and so uh we're we're on it.

We understand uh it'll be spacing, but we will absolutely consider that for that for the next budget, sir.

And I appreciate you communicating that it just demonstrates that all those are in uh uh in the queue, or at least are registering with us.

And I know that especially with um phase uh is it I think it's four, five, and six of Old Town.

Um, you know, again, just going back to listening to residents and uh the comments that I've read and have heard in regards to Avondale Boulevard with the resurfacing and yet yeah, I've western has not been touched.

And I've I've tried to communicate it's it's on deck, it's it's in the queue.

Western is very soon.

We we uh uh had some struggles um getting western, but but we are James very soon on Westerns?

Yes, sir.

Where's uh Kirk and uh where's Kim?

Western soon, right?

Western is soon.

We're working on it, we're getting there quickly, yes.

And and I appreciate that.

It's just it's just great uh again for us to communicate that so that uh those updates are provided.

So thank you for the presentation and and thank you to Ron for the feedback.

Any other questions, Council?

Okay.

Then uh Mayor Vice Council, uh Ms.

Well, those just asked me to remind you one more time about the the next steps here for the budget.

So again, we've got the uh in April, the city manager's recommended budget in May will adopt it and then June will be the file pass.

Thank you so much for your thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, there'll be plenty of time for this uh as we move forward.

But if there's any other general questions, I'll ask Renee to come up uh to answer any uh last minute questions.

But I would be remiss if I didn't ask uh Rob to stand up.

Uh he sits quietly like he's just waiting to do something.

But this is your budget manager.

Um, this is the gentleman who gets many emails from many people, a lot from me about changes.

Um, but him and his team, which I didn't see your team, they're not here tonight, right?

They're they got off at a normal hour.

Um I just the amount of work uh that they put in and the professionalism and the work and the ability uh to do this with all these department directors, which I'll think uh in a future one as well.

But uh, but I really appreciate Rob's uh efforts and works on the on this budget.

Yeah, thank you, Rob.

And and just with all the different competing forces that are happening at the state level and everything else.

I mean, I can just imagine that when you think you have something complete or finished that it just changes.

So thank you for for everything that uh you and the team have completed and have demonstrated for us.

Thank you.

Any questions for Renee that maybe you've thought about over some time now?

We do have a couple more dates coming coming up.

Okay.

Guess that's it.

Thank you.

Okay, with that, let's move on to summary of current events.

Oh, go ahead, uh, Councilmember Solorio.

Uh many of us, well, actually, three of us, should I say, were in Washington, D.C.

Um, not last week, but the week prior.

And um, I just wanted to thank Peers team uh and Alyssa for the amazing video that they did uh for Small Cities Council.

As I told Ron and some of the other folks, they were blown away by the caliber of that video.

They thought it was outsourced, and when I told them it was not, they said they were kind of wondering like what kind of talent do you have there?

And isn't it pricey to have that?

So thank you, Pierre and your team.

Um lots of great things while we were up on the hill representing myself, Councilmember White, and Vice Mayor Nielsen.

Um as usual, it went really well, and um Avondale will be recognized as a small city during uh June's uh small cities month.

Thank you.

Councilmember Weiss.

Um I was thank you, Mayor.

Um I was super excited.

Last week I was able to attend uh the United Way Breakfast, and they highlighted uh Laddie Core School and their literacy hub.

And during the breakfast, they did a little fundraiser, and um people could donate, and the room was packed.

So um, and then I went to a meeting the next day online for read on air uh Southwest Valley, and they had talked about 35 families um actually going to um that Latticore school um literacy hub and how the families are impacted.

So the talk about literacy being so important for young kids.

That's it.

It was a wonderful time.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Um, I had the opportunity to attend um neighborhood and family services youth empowerment summit this past Saturday with you.

We had a really great time.

It was the be kind folks, and a lot of great kids came out to Agua Fria High School, and it was just really impactful.

I got a chance to sit through um a couple of their sessions and kind of peek over their shoulders, and that was a heck of a lot of fun.

And then today with leadership West class um 31, best class ever, I had the opportunities just had to make sure you knew.

Um I had the opportunity to go out to Luke Air Force Baith um and visit with one of my class members, Command Chief, uh the bull, um Jay Schaeffer and um the logistics officer, Peter Abercrombie, and I was just really excited.

They had us out there on the last day US F F 16s will be flying out of um Luke.

So I was really honored to be there and represent Avondale.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any members of council on this side that would like to provide a summary?

Okay.

Councilmember Garcia.

I can't remember all the events I went to, but I know the two that um were really impactful this these past uh few weeks were the cafecitos and uh coffee with council, seeing the community come out and really give their input um to what we're doing and them showing their like support for everything that we do for them was really nice to see.

Um I really like the cafecitos.

That was my first time going to one, so that was a really nice experience to see how old town, Legas, and um Cash Income come together to better their communities, and I would like to see something like that also for like the north side of that of Avondale as well to see to just get people involved more because I know that we always see the same people at these events, which is awesome.

But I would love to get more people to like kind of pull more people to come voice uh what they want to see Avondale to become.

And I did not attend the RSVP on Saturday because I had to go pick up my son really sad.

So next time, Diller, I will let you know if I'm gonna miss something.

But thank you very much.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Nielsen.

I've just got a quick one here.

When we were at NLC, we got to listen to different kinds of things.

I think my highlight that day was the morning we spent having breakfast with the Avondale Youth Advocacy group.

They are a wonderful group of kids.

They were asking me questions that I didn't have answers for, but they were really, really good.

Chris, keep them coming.

I would have no problem turning the future over to those.

Those were great kids, had they.

And I just appreciate that and the time and effort you and others have paid to make that group for those youth available.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Uh Vice Mayor.

Just quickly, uh many events I attended last week.

The empower the empowerment event, the be kind, watching uh all of the students dance.

Um that was awesome.

The same evening attending the Olifria uh gala.

I had uh an awesome opportunity to be there with a lot of other alumni to hear some great stories and the great things that the principal Autumn Daniels is doing with that community and keeping it together.

It was such a pleasure to see in action.

Uh, and with that, that wraps up our summary of current events.

Next item is adjournment.

I see we got a motion already from Councilmember Garcia.

Councilmember Condi.

That was a fast fingers.

Can we vote, please?

Passes 7 or 0.

Everybody, thank you for being here on such a late night.

Drive safe, and uh, we'll see you soon.