Everybody, I'd like to call to order the regular city council meeting of July 7, 2025.

Would you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance tonight is being led by Sean Ledford?

So we're looking forward to you to kick off the pledge.

There he is.

Let us know when you're ready, Sean.

Hi Pledge of the Just to the Flag of the United States of America.

One motion undervisible liberty and justice for all.

Thank you so much.

Good job, Sean.

Yes, great job, Sean.

Takes a lot of confidence to get up here.

So we appreciate you.

Appreciate you doing that.

Okay, can we get roll call, please, Marcelo?

Thank you, Mayor.

Deborah Nebu, our high school student who is participating in our Abbey Temp program.

We'll do the roll call tonight.

Thank you, Deborah.

Councilmember Condi.

Here.

Councilmember Garcia.

Here.

Councilmember Solorio.

Here.

Councilmember Wise.

Here.

Councilmember White.

Present.

Vice Mayor Nielsen.

Here.

Mayor Pineda.

Here.

Thank you.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Up next, we have our city attorney's office who's going to introduce a couple of employees.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council.

I am here to introduce two new employees to the city attorney's office.

To my left, we have Danny Garonne.

Danny obtained his uh law degree, and he has a bachelor's of art in journalism and political science from Arizona State University.

She couldn't even get it out.

Sorry, excuse me.

Um before coming to work for Avondale, Danny worked at the state ombudsman's office for 11 years, specializing in administrative law, the public records law, and the open meeting law.

He is a proud father of two small children, and Danny loves the New York Yankees.

And he still has not gotten over the 2001 World Series.

So this is Danny.

And to my right, we have Ryan Johnston.

He is a legal intern working with our office this summer.

He is an incoming 2L at the Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law at Arizona State University, where he received the Pedrig Scholar Award for Academic Excellence.

Before starting law school, Ryan lived in Colorado and worked for Amazon as a senior escalation investigator, where he conducted over 250 employment investigations related to equal opportunity, equal employment opportunity laws.

Ryan is also an Avondale homeowner and he lives in Alamar, and he looks forward to contributing to the community.

Thanks, Ryan.

Danny and Ryan, thank you for uh joining the Avondale family, and uh we welcome aboard.

And while a wild cat has a hard time giving kudos to ASU, uh we totally we totally understand, but welcome again to the Avondale family.

Thank you for being here.

Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Next is we have uh Kim Moon, our city engineer, to introduce a couple new employees.

Hi, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council.

It's good to see you.

I have tonight two new employees with the engineering department.

First up is uh Carlos Corona.

Carlos has started with the city on May 12th as a senior engineering technician.

He brings over 20 years' experience to the group, including previous work with municipalities in California.

He's eager to apply his expertise and dedication to the team with extensive knowledge of MEG and ADOT design, as well as inspections.

Carlos is committed to delivering improved service and quality for the city.

Carlos is stationed in Elizabeth Conn's Engineering Plan Review and Permits team.

He's originally from California.

He made the switch this season season to being a Dodgers fan.

From being a Dodgers fan to the Dynobacks.

Okay, so we're glad he made the switch and that we get to work with him here at Avondale, so just want to welcome him.

And we also have this evening Sergio Perez.

Also with many years of experience working with traffic signals.

He has a strong background in reading blueprints as well as installing traffic signal heads and signal poles.

Sergio has worked uh previously in both the city of Goodyear and City of Buckeye, getting valuable municipal experience.

He is stationed in Benny Robinson's team, traffic operation operations team, and you live across the street from City Hall.

So he's right next door.

We are also extremely excited to welcome him to the city of Avondale.

So thank you.

Thank you so much for being here.

Mr.

Brandon.

Mr.

Brain Council, up next we have your fire chief, Larry Rooney, to uh talk about a promotion.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

I have the privilege of introducing you to uh our newest engineer.

This is Jose Guzman.

And Jose has worked with the department for the last five years before being promoted to engineer.

He's very active in the part the department.

He has helped uh with the design of our new training facility that you will be seeing sometime in April.

Um he teaches EMS and supports firefighter charities.

Um before I go with uh who joined him tonight, I want to embarrass him a little bit by saying, Jose, this isn't the first test he took for engineer, this is the second one.

The first one he came in number four.

And so instead of uh doing other things that would help not help his causes, he went back, he worked really hard, he studied, he worked on his engineering.

This is a tough test.

It has hydraulics involved and a lot of other things, but it's really important for the safety of our firefighters that are at the end of those hose lines.

So we take it seriously.

And guess what?

He came out number one this time.

We in the we in the department are extremely proud of Jose, but I know there's some people in the audience that are even more excited about this promotion for him.

He is joined by his wife, Jasmine in the back there.

Jose's five-year-old son, Jose.

And his three-year-old daughter Estrella.

Oh, that's great.

We have a little plaque for Jose uh Chief uh Wagner, you want to present it to him.

It's uh suitable for hanging on your wall and taking a lot of pride in.

Jose, congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor Council.

Thank you so much, Chief, and welcome Jose to the Avenger, or congratulations on the uh uh the engineer promotion and achieving number one on the test.

Thank you.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, uh, if I'd like to say it before the firefighters leave the room because they like to escape.

Um please stick around.

We'd love to have a picture with you, your family, and our council.

If I could share really quickly, I had the honor of being uh at 175 on Saturday and got a little behind the scenes tour, but more importantly, had a discussion and learned that the engineer doesn't just get in and drive, that there's a whole lot more about the truck that they have to uh you know uh go through a whole set of steps and checks just to even get in the driver's seat.

So uh kudos to you, Jose, for wanting to get to that to that point in your career.

So congrats.

Ron, next item, please.

All right.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, up next is we have a proclamation for World Brain Day.

I'd like to welcome I'm gonna get it wrong, and I apologize, Janine and Sean Ledford to the podium to share a few words.

Yeah, Chief Chief is gonna help you with the microphone there.

There we go.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

I'm Sean, and I'm seven.

I like to I live in Almar.

I like to slide down the water slides in the aquatic center.

Brain health is so important because if your brain doesn't work, you won't work.

Kids should learn kids should learn about brain health because it's fun.

July 22nd is world brain day.

Can Avondale celebrate July as brain health awareness month?

Everyone, including kids should know how to have healthy brains.

Here is how they can do it.

Here are the seven pillars of building brain capital.

The first one is brain food.

Eat well.

The second one is brain sleep.

We made a song for this one because it clears out the toxins.

Sweep up, sweep up, sweep up the toxins, sweep up, sweep up, sweep up the toxins.

The third pillar is brain mental stimulation, but I call it creativity.

The fourth pillar is brain peace.

Keep stress slow.

The fifth pillar is brain social connection.

Have friends in the work screen time.

The six pillars, brain movement, exercise, walk, and dance.

The last pillar is brain arts.

Do all the arts by yourself and with others.

We teach kids and their adults to take care of your brain.

Thank you for listening.

Take care, take care of your brain.

Two.

Have any questions?

So earlier I said it takes a lot of confidence to come up and do the pledge, but apparently there was a lot more to this.

And Mayor, I believe Janine also wanted to say a few words before the reading of the proclamation.

Sure.

Thank you.

I did um register to speak, but she said it's better just to do it now.

And good evening, Mayor and the City Council.

It's an honor to meet you.

We moved here from Vaca about a year ago.

And when I moved to the area, I'm always aware of the essence of where I'm moving.

And on the last day of last year, I looked down at a manhole and it said Avondale, the city where three rivers meet.

And I was like, wow, that was it.

It's this is the only city in the valley where three rivers meet, and that's powerful, not just in the physical sense, but in the metaphorical and neurologic and the neurology, the neurological sense as well.

And I wanted to quickly talk about the rivers, your vascular system, and your arteries and your veins in your brain.

I'm here to offer, and my son is here to offer a kind yet urgent warning that our brains are under attack.

What that means is that Arizona is now the fastest growing, has the fastest growing rate of Alzheimer's in the nation.

This disease affects 6.5 million Americans, and it slowly takes away the brain's ability to function and for us to remember who we even are.

It impacts more people than breast cancer and prostate prostate cancer combined.

Between the years of 2000 and 2021, heart disease decreased by 2%, but Alzheimer's increased by a hundred and forty-one percent.

This means the rivers of life within your children, these amazing people back here, and our citizens are being clogged before the symptoms even appear decades later.

And they will come unless we act now.

The CDC said one in four people will experience stroke.

That's 25%, and these strokes are occurring earlier in the lifespan.

So Desmond 221 says there's a point where we need to stop pulling, just stop pulling people out of the river downstream and go upstream to see why they're falling in.

And that's why we asked for you to do this proclamation today, because this is the first step.

We believe in going upstream to spark action to find the root causes.

That's why is Arizona at the forefront of the dementia cases.

And what the neuroscientists are saying is that the cure is not just in looking at the elderly who are dealing with this disease, but the cure is in prevention.

The cure is with them.

Your young people, your teenagers.

We are discovering that of all the Alzheimer's cases, 40 to 50% of dementia cases could have been prevented.

Of all your stroke cases, that your amazing fire and police are adhering to and getting those calls.

80% of those cases could have been prevented had we gone upstream.

I believe, and my family is here today saying that we believe that Avondale could be the lead the way in the entire valley.

So this isn't just about um starving off disease, but this is also about building brain capital, which is a 26 trillion dollar opportunity global.

Which share is Arizona's and which share is Avondale's?

Because when you invest in the brains in your students, in your children, you invest in productivity, innovation, and the health that arise when we prioritize cognitive strength, healthier brains means more creativity, more collaboration, and more resilience in your citizens.

So lastly, in closing, I just want to say how do we go upstream?

That's the question.

Everyone say, how do we go upstream?

Step one, awareness.

Today you're doing it.

Thank you.

We we reproclaim that this is something that Avondale is going to start paying attention to because they're talking about it right now at the United Nations, the G7, the G the G20 World Economic Forum and the World Health Forum.

Step two is I would love to see Avondale create a multi-sectoral brain capital or brain health committee that really brings together government education, which is K-12 and higher ed, public services, private business, and nonprofits.

And step three, create a strategic plan modeled after Canada, Sweden, and Spain, who are currently putting together their brain health plans at the national level.

When you implement, when you adapt, and when you expand, I believe Avondale can be the leader in the valley.

When we support those already affected by cognitive decline, while we go upstream and help your students and your children and your infants, we look at the modifiable risk factors of all of them to build resilient, creative, and cognitively strong brains throughout their lives.

Avondale is the only city in the entire valley where the three rivers meet.

That's not only powerful, that's prophetic.

Avondale is a place of diversity and convergence.

It is the intersection of life, of hope, and of flourishing minds.

And it will remain to be so if we go upstream and protect the river of life that flows within each and every one of us.

Thank you for having my son in here to present to you and have a wonderful rest of your meeting.

And we have the research for you right here from my son.

I'll leave that right there.

And thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Janine.

And I'd like to read a proclamation.

Whereas the City of Avondale recognizes World Brain Day, observed annually on July 22nd as a vital opportunity to promote global awareness of brain health and the importance of preventing and treating neurological disorders.

And whereas the City of Avondale recognizes World Brain Day, observed annually on July 22nd as a vital opportunity to promote global awareness of brain health and the importance of preventing and treating neurological disorders.

And whereas July is an important month to raise awareness about Alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions, highlighting the strength and the resilience of those affected, alongside the dedication of their families, caregivers, and communities.

And whereas promoting brain health through education, healthy lifestyles, social connection, creativity, and lifelong learning empowers residents to protect cognitive vitality and live fulfilling lives.

And whereas the concept of brain capital, recognizing brain health as a vital economic and social asset, underscores the need to invest in research, education, and supportive environments that strengthen community cognitive resilience and productivity.

And whereas during the month of July, the City of Avondale joins communities globally in celebrating brain health, supporting those affected by Alzheimer's and neurological conditions, and promoting activities that inspire hope, connection, and wellness.

And now therefore, be it resolved on behalf of the City of Avondale City Council, the City of Avondale, Arizona, hereby proclaims July 22nd, 2025 as World's Brain Day and encourages all residents to participate in activities that promote brain health and support individuals affected by neurological conditions.

Thank you.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Mayor and Council.

Up next is a proclamation for Parks and Recreation Month, presented by Corey, your parks, recreation and libraries director.

And that was a tough act to follow.

So hopefully a future Parks and Recreation Employee from what I'm seeing.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

July marks our 40th anniversary of National Parks and Recreation Month, first launched in 1985.

Each year we take this opportunity to recognize the vital work of parks and recreation professionals who enhance the health, well-being, and quality of life for millions across the country.

This year's theme is built together, play together.

Haling the impact of more than 160,000 full-time professionals and countless part-time staff and volunteers who keep parks writing in the communities as well as connecting our residents.

Avondale Parks Recreational Libraries Department is proud to be a nationally accredited CAPRA agency upholding the highest standards of service.

Each year we serve 130,000 program participants and welcome more than a million visitors to our parks, 13 parks, renovated community center, our state-of-the-art aquatic center, and two vibrant libraries.

While we've been known for creating fun memories and impacting and the impact of our staff's work goes far beyond the smiles that you see here on the screen.

This month is about celebrating and recognizing our dedicated staff who serve the community 365 days a year.

I am proud to work alongside an amazing group of peers who have become known as Avondale's team in Green.

At this time, I'd like to ask them to please stand to be acknowledged.

And that's just a small fraction of our team.

At the height of our season, your Parks Recreation and Libraries department is made up of 166 full-time employees and part-time professionals, from first-time jobs to season experts.

Each team member plays a vital role in enriching our community through dynamic spaces and program to help our residents, businesses and visitors learn, play, and connect.

Uh-oh.

And with that, Mayor I'd like to invite you to read our Parks Recreation Month Proclamation.

I'd be happy to.

Whereas Parks and Recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including the City of Avondale.

And whereas Parks and Recreation promotes health and wellness, improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks.

And whereas Parks and Recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being, and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's.

And whereas parks and recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, swimming pools, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles.

And whereas parks and recreation programming and the education activities such as out-of-school time programming, youth sports, and environmental education are critical to childhood development.

And whereas parks and recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism and the attraction and retention of businesses and crime reduction.

And whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a space, a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors.

And whereas the U.S.

House of Representatives has designated July as Parks and Recreation Month.

And whereas the City of Avondale recognizes the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources.

Now therefore, be it resolved on behalf of the Avondale City Council, the City of Avondale, Arizona hereby proclaims July 2025 Park and Recreation Month.

Thank you so much.

Before we move on to the next item, is there anybody because as much as Parks and RICs has accomplished and as much as we've all uh you know participated in many of the events, any of you uh up here would like to share any words or comments?

We'll start at the end, we'll go with Council Member Way.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Thank you, Corey.

Thanks to the entire Parks and Rec team.

I just I I I had to become a part of the team in green, so I found some apparel to match.

Um but I just wanted to thank you because I think as as we celebrate and the prior proclamation kind of fit really in a nice space.

I think that what we realize is our ability to interact with each other oftentimes happens in these touch points where we are doing something recreational or at a park or we're at our libraries, and I always refer to my first real job being at a public library.

So cognitive ability is really enhanced, and thank you so much for paying attention to children of all ages and of all abilities.

Um, because if you go into a lot of our facilities, they are accessible, and that's something that's super important to me.

Um, and and it helps people with the range of activities be able to enjoy and love Avondale and to hear that there have been over a million visitors to our parks.

And that was at last FY.

I I just wanted to be clear, that sounds like a lot of people to come into Avondale Park.

So I just want to make sure that number's right.

Oh, absolutely.

And to be clear, that's actually uh a reflection of just a fraction.

Friendship park alone had 1.3 million visitors last year.

Friendship Park Alone had 1.3 million visitors.

Well, thanks to all those visitors as well.

Thanks to our staff.

Thank you, Mr.

Corbin.

Thank you so much, Mayor, and again, thank you so much, Parks and Rec.

Councilman Royce.

Corey and team, thank you again for everything.

It's always nice to see the people in green every single time that we go out to um an event.

I just really love the fact that we are getting people outdoors, we're making things fully accessible for everybody.

And I love the fact that in all of the new designs that we have coming up, we're taking into account um people of all abilities, and we're getting people out.

So just thank you for everything.

Council Murray.

Corey and the team in green, which we all love.

Thank you so much for what you guys do.

I know that each and every one of us up here has come to with you to you guys with a suggestion, and you just take it and just like have it mega explode and make it 10 times better.

So thank you, you guys, for what you guys do and keep up the great work.

Thank you.

Councilmember Garcia.

I don't know if I could say anything different, but thank you to all the team for everything you do.

I know when I first uh got on council, I expressed how much I love the parks and recks in Avondale specifically.

I have friends and family that come from different cities specifically to come to our library programs, to come to our part programs.

You guys offer so much to so many people from the ages of six months to 87 years old.

Like if you go in there, there's something for everybody to do, and you guys made that possible.

Um I love our libraries.

We have beautiful libraries, we have great staff in the libraries, and I really I think the library staff, as much as I love all the park and rec staff, the library staff, thank you guys so much for everything you do because you guys make that so memorable for my two-year-old niece and my three-year-old niece that my cousin has to lodge into that library three times a week.

So thank you all so much for everything you do.

I apologize.

Uh Councilmember Condi, is there any words that you'd like to share?

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just a huge thank you to Corey and um his team.

I know I can say um how much I appreciate all the work you do, but I want to let you know that our family, especially Daniela, you know, she's had an opportunity to participate in several programs.

Um, the summer um camp program, um, attend the aquatic center.

I mean, everything that you guys do, you do with excellence.

So I just want to just say thank you guys, and you guys are amazing.

Thank you.

Vicemor Nielsen.

And I just add thanks to everything that's already been said, but I'll I'll focus on just one last Friday night.

You guys did an excellent job of keeping how many of our thousands were down there in line and made a great, great impression on a lot of people down there.

Corey, you didn't have your green uh shirt on.

You were kind of just natural, kind of blending in with everybody else.

But thank you.

He killed me.

But we could go, we had our grandchildren, grandsons, three grandsons from uh Reno down to visit with us, and they happened to ask if they could visit a adjacent uh water park and see that water park as well as our aquatic center.

And I'm biasedly, I certainly did ask them which one they preferred.

Avondale was the one that they preferred much better.

So again, thank you for all that you do, and we'll continue to do to make this place where people continue to want to come.

I'll just sum it up by saying thank you.

Uh thank you to the staff, the faces behind the green shirts, everything you the long hours you put in.

You know, again, uh many of us up here and even the community uh have ton of asked, and you guys are the ones that make it happen.

So we really appreciate the fact that you are there that and and a cohesive group that makes it come to fruition.

Um and um more pickleballs, of course, right?

To come.

I thought I'd end with I thought I'd end with that.

Thank you, thank you so much, Corey.

Appreciate it.

Mayor and council, I just want to reflect and say thank you guys for your continued support.

You guys make it possible for our team to get creative and thrive.

Um, and again, we're very lucky.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Up next is uh presentation by uh Josh, your co-compliance manager.

Very excited to uh introduce two winners of our property all-star curb appeal award.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council.

Um again, I'm excited to present our very first recipients of our property all-star curb appeal award.

So this award was created to recognize property owners who go above and beyond and maintain their properties.

Um just definitely to set higher standards to demonstrate that community cry.

And we evaluate each of these properties based off landscape design, landscape maintenance, and property maintenance.

And with the assistance of our selection committee, which comprised of members of our neighborhood commission and members of our city staff, I like to present our first award uh to the the Perez family.

If I could have moved on up.

So the Press family moved into the Alamar community in 2021.

They are nominated by one of their community residents in Alamar.

And I like to read a statement from that nomination.

Their home is always beautiful beautifully maintained, and they take great pride in their landscaping and curb appeal.

They truly help make our community look welcoming and well cared for.

So it's very excited to present to you both our your certificate.

And again, I'm sure you don't do it for the awards.

I just I say this many times about folks that are getting awards here and honored is that it's just who you are, I would assume.

It's not because you're looking for the award, it's just this representative representation of who you guys are.

So congratulations to you, and we look forward to you displaying your sign with with pride.

Thank you so much.

Um, I like to read a statement that she made when with her nomination is the locals affectionately refer to him as the man with the beautiful corner lot.

They are truly a pillar of our Avondale community, and again, we are excited to present this award to them on your behalf.

Thank you so much for your contribution and making Avonville look beautiful.

So it's it's funny because every time I go to that specific intersection, whether to go straight or make that left, you know, you see the house and it just sticks out because of just how nice and immaculate the front yard looks.

But I also wanted to draw everybody's attention to the two vehicles and how they're backed into the driveway.

And just how much attention to detail that is.

I I look forward to driving by the corner of your home and seeing the sign again displayed with pride.

And it's just a representation of who you are and just keep it up, and I'm really happy to see that you are honored with this award.

So thank you so much.

And will we get pictures with the winners?

And now's the time.

Okay, uh awesome.

Oh, they're not going to be able to do that.

All right.

Item number three is unscheduled public appearances.

Uh at this time, Marcella, do we have any requests to speak?

Thank you, Mayor.

We have not received any requests to speak.

Okay, item number four.

Okay, can we get a motion?

Got a motion from Customer White, second from Casper Slorio.

Please vote.

Councilmember Condi, how do you vote?

Thank you.

I believe Harold is going to give a presentation and update on this item.

Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council.

I'm going to give a quick uh brief of our agreement with the City of Phoenix and a little bit of uh history with them as well.

So with the City of Phoenix, uh, we have had a long standing uh working relationship with the City of Phoenix.

They process they have been processing our recyclable materials that we collect uh from our residents every week at their material recovery facility.

And with this amendment, uh fourth and fourth amendment, this is the final amendment with our current agreement with the city of Phoenix.

A little bit of uh of cost history.

Um we uh for every ton that we process uh through the Phoenix Recycling Facility, uh they charge us a per ton fee.

That per ton fee has increased over the years, as you can see it on the screen.

Um this is due to the City of Phoenix just continuously improving their facilities and investing a lot of money into their recycling facilities and then passing that cost uh out to their uh customers.

Not only do we uh get charged a fee, but that rev the materials that we collect also have a value to it as well.

And the city of Phoenix every quarter provides us with an updated what they call blended rate.

So all the materials that we collect and give us what the value is uh per ton.

So what does that mean uh for us as a city?

That means that that revenue that we receive can offset that per ton processing fee.

In fiscal year 2022, we had an average of about $8.42 cents per ton in revenue coming back to the city of Avondale, meaning that the value of the materials was worth more than the processing uh per ton fee.

But that changed quickly as the recycling uh industry is very volatile, and the value for those materials uh can change on a quarterly basis.

As we moved into 2023 and 2024, uh the uh our processing fees continue to increase, but so in our in our blended rate, our revenue that we receive from those uh sales of those materials uh started to decrease.

So that meant that for us as a city, we started to pay on average in fiscal year 23 about $30.85 per ton.

And then fiscal year 24 on average, we were paying about $58.38 per ton to process that material.

Since fiscal uh this past fiscal year, fiscal year 25, we're back to about $37.23 at a cost to us for the city of Avondale.

We compare that to the landfill cost uh in fiscal year 25, the processing fee per ton was $35.25 at the landfill.

And for the first quarter of fiscal year 26, um, our average cost is gonna be $33 per ton, which will put us below the landfill uh per ton cost at this moment.

Now again, it is volatile, it can go up and down, but it seems as though over the last year and a half it has stabilized post-COVID.

Uh there was a lot of fluctuation in the change in the market.

So we're hoping that things are starting to stabilize a little bit.

And as you can see, in this quarter two of fiscal year 22, the average return or the return to us was 115 per ton.

So the value of that material was really high during that time frame, and it dropped significantly to only 26.54 cents per ton afterwards in fiscal year uh 2023.

As a uh for fiscal year 25, we uh we were able to recycle 5,700 tons.

Compared that to our two 28,550 tons in trash, meaning just in our cans and our bins and our blue bins and our black bins, we were able to divert 20 percent of our materials uh from the landfill, which is a really good percentage.

It has a friendly reminder, uh we have our top 10 items that we can throw into our recycling bin.

Um so please uh we always encourage our residents to uh follow those uh uh those recommendations on items to put into the blue recycling bin.

Continuing with the topic of recycling, just want to fit quick footnote with our recycling drop-off center that we opened up in August of last year.

It has been a tremendous success for the community.

It was one of those initiatives uh that we had in regards to providing recycling services uh to our multifamily um homes and residents.

Uh month over month, uh the amount of tonnage that we have been collecting from the recycling facility has increased, and then the community has adopted it really well.

The center has stayed clean.

Uh our residents prov uh put in their very clean recycling material, uh so it's been a really good success for us.

And in for since the inception, we've uh collected just shy of 20 tons of recycling material uh through our drop-off center.

So, what are our next steps?

We'll continue to monitor the volatile recycling markets and continue to provide updates to council as to where the industry is heading, what uh where the uh local um Phoenix area cities are doing as well when it comes to recycling.

And we will review options for processing recycling materials in preparation for fiscal year 27 as our current agreement with Phoenix ends with this fourth and last extension.

Uh so we're going to be looking at all of our options in regards to uh processing our materials and be ready for fiscal year 27.

Any questions?

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, Harold, for the presentation.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I was just wondering uh we had valuable recyclables in the past.

Can you give us like a range of what would be considered like a valuable recyclable?

I think about cardboard that's intact, like directly from Amazon and aluminum cans that maybe have a brand label on it that say that they're recyclable because they possibly can go right back to the brand.

But can you give us a better scope on that?

Because it seems like maybe we could target recycling things of more value.

Mayor Respair, uh, Council Member White.

Um yes, that depending on the market, some materials are more valuable than others.

So uh post-COVID cardboard was very valuable because everyone there there was a lot of ordering online and uh items being delivered uh to the household, so the demand for that carboard went up exponentially.

But then it dropped quickly as well because in behavior, consumer behavior changed quickly too.

So, in regards to what is valuable, it depends on the time frame that we're where we're asking that question.

That's where the city of Phoenix provides us what's called a blended rate, meaning all the materials that we collect that give us that one specific rate.

So by targeting one item over the other, doesn't really benefit us from that perspective.

So the City of Phoenix gives us that one full blended rate uh instead of us trying to target, they just would rather have everything recycled together.

Thank you so much.

Any other council members?

Okay.

I'd just like to say thank you for the information.

We always appreciate that and the diligence that public works and you do, Harold, to keep us abreast of what's going on.

I know the community is always excited about recycling just to see some numbers like that.

I get them the opportunity to see what really is happening, and not that we're going to do it one day and not another day.

If you guys are on top of it, you know what you're doing, and you present it to us so that the us as well as the community can see what's going on and have a better understanding of it all.

So thank you.

Okay, Councilmember Weiss.

Hi, thank you for your presentation.

I do have just one quick question.

On the drop off for um the community, it is it ever full?

Do we ever have a need for another one?

It's uh Mayor Vice Fair, Councilmember Weiss.

Yes.

Um, we were having the each one of the bins, uh roll-off bins serviced twice a month.

We've had to now move to having them serviced every week because the tonnage has increased.

So at this moment, we're able to meet with the demand by uh uh uh disposing of the materials more quickly.

Uh but if there is you know any additional need for the demand, we'll definitely uh provide more updates on that.

Thank you.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you, Harold.

And again, just in a short while I'll be talking about strategic planning and one of the uh things that has come up in regards to uh strategy and as an organization, how do we become more efficient?

This just falls right in line with that you know, making sure that that um viewpoint uh or at least that data point is uh reviewed and observed by your department.

And so this is a great way to communicate it to the community.

Thank you so much.

We've got a motion from Councilmember Solorio, second from Vice Mayor Nielsen.

We can take a vote on this item.

Aye.

Thank you.

Okay, item passes.

All right.

Going on to the regular agenda item number five.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

We now will have a presentation by Josh, our lead senior planner on the Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus North, a major planned area development amendment.

Thank you, Mayor Victor and Council members.

Um my name is Joshua Wharton.

I'm a lead senior planner here with the development services department and the planning division.

The item before you this evening is the Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus North Major Planned Area Development Amendment.

This is application PL 25-0054.

The purpose of this item is to review the proposed amendment to the Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus North Planned Area Development and conduct a public hearing.

This will be the final public hearing where council will take appropriate action on this item.

The site is located at the southwest corner of Lower Buckeye Road and Avondale Boulevard and is approximately 239 acres and is a former dairy farm.

In terms of the surrounding zoning districts and land uses, north of Lower Buckeye Road is the Del Rio Ranch single family subdivision.

Along Lower Buckeye Road is a county island to the east, containing the Race Ray Ranchero subdivision, and south of that is the planned Shadow Ridge subdivision.

Those are both single family subdivisions.

South of this property is the Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus South Planned Area Development, which houses the Prime Data Center as well as the Sierra Estrella Energy Storage Facility, as well as an existing SRP substation.

To the west is the Cantada Ranch single family subdivision, and that is zoned Cantada Ranch PAD.

Excuse me.

The property was annexed in 2006 and 2008 and was rezoned to PAD in 2024.

These are a couple photos of the site.

The first is looking southwest from Lower Buckeye Road.

The second is in the same direction from along Avondale Boulevard.

The first photo shows the vicinity where it's expected that the data center will be located, while the second photo shows the approximate location of the commercial center.

The general plan for this property is business park and local commercial.

And the PAD amendment request is comprised of two substantive changes.

The first is to adjust the development standards for the data center parcel.

And the second is to modify the PAD stipulations to address development phasing and clarify the required on and off-site improvements.

The amended development standards include the following an increase in the maximum building height from 50 to 52 feet, an increase in the allowed parapet wall height from 5 feet to 9 feet above the maximum building height, and an increase in the height of screening for mechanical equipment from 75 feet to 77 feet above the maximum building height.

And finally, an increase in the allowed height for elevator penthouses and screening for elevator equipment from 75 feet to 86 feet.

Shown here is a site plan with some of these areas of increased height outlined.

In order to reduce the perceived scale of the equipment screening, the areas where the 77-foot screening will be set will be located will be set back at least 10 feet from the edge of the building.

And then elevated equipment will be located so as to reduce its visibility from the street.

To give you an idea of what these new building standards will look like, the applicant has provided some perspectives.

Two perspectives I'd like to highlight are views two and four.

This is approximately where the commercial center will meet the data center.

It shows the approved building heights for the data center, so this is already what's been approved as part of this PAD.

This next view shows the increased heights.

And then finally, the last view shows what the final product will look like with the required landscaping in front of it.

View point four is the same sequence, so it shows a perspective from the single family subdivision across the street.

And then this is with the increased height.

And finally, the landscaping.

Additional perspectives are shown in the PAD narrative that's included in your pack.

These modifications would tie required on and off-site improvements to the development of the parcels identified in the narrative.

So for context, parcel A has been approved as a commercial center with a grocery store anchor and other retail service and restaurant pads.

Parcel B is where the planned data center will be located.

Parcel A would be required to install required improvements immediately adjacent to their frontage.

These include improvements in and adjacent to the rights of way on Avondale Boulevard and Lower Buckeye Road.

Additionally, there will be a $500,000 contribution to a traffic signal at the intersection of Miami Avenue and Avondale Boulevard.

Parcel B would similar similarly be required to install improvements adjacent to their site, which include right-of-way improvements and a traffic signal at 119th and Lower Buckeye Road.

Additionally, they'll be required to install a trail in accordance with the city's active transportation plan along the regional power line corridor on the west side of their property.

As part of staff's analysis, the amendment meets the five required findings for planned area developments.

It conforms with the general plan land use designations as well as the conforms with the PAD requirements of the zoning ordinance and the city's subdivision regulations and design manuals.

Additionally, adequate public infrastructure to support the proposed development either presently exists or will be constructed by the developer as part of their stipulations.

The recommended conditions of approval are reasonable to ensure conformance with the provisions of the zoning ordinance and other applicable city code or codes, ordinances, and policies.

And the proposed development standards outlined in this PAD are consistent with the city's Commerce Park and Community Commercial Zoning District requirements.

A neighborhood meeting was held at City Hall on May 6th of this year.

There were six attendees aside from the applicants team, city staff, and one council member.

Discussion was primarily related to the scale of the of the data center.

There were some concerns about the uh change in height.

There were questions asked about the potential for the commercial development located at the hard corner, and then the project timeline was also discussed.

Staff has also received 20 written responses in opposition to the change, either through email or via Avindale Connect.

Most of the concerns were with the commercial development and what the timeline was for that development to occur.

Additionally, there were some concerns with the increased height.

In response to that, the applicant provided some perspective showing what the increased height would look like.

And that's what I showed you earlier.

As part of the Planning Commission meeting, a meeting was held on June 18th.

Members voted 5-0 to recommend approval of PL25-0054.

Questions asked were related to the number of requested amendments as well as the timeline for future development.

Staff responded that this was the first amendment of this PAD that was requested, and a timeline for development of the grocery store anchor and data center was provided by the applicant.

And with that, staff is recommending approval of application PL 25-0054.

This is recommendation to adopt ordinance 2026 0725, approving a major amendment to the Hermosa Ranch Technology Campus North Planned Area Development, subject to the 12 conditions of approval as listed in the staff report, and to authorize the mayor or city manager, city attorney, and city clerk to execute the necessary documents.

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

Thank you, Joshua.

At this time, I'd like to open up the public hearing.

Marcel, is there any any any requests to speak on this item?

Thank you, Mayor.

I have not received any requests to speak.

Thank you so much.

And at this time I'll close the public hearing.

And like to entertain any comments from council.

Okay, Councilmember Garcia.

I would like to explain my vote just because it was explained to me this morning very well by our city manager and staff.

I originally was going to vote no.

I've had a lot of folks reach out to me because of the height.

Um, but because of what else that this will bring into the area, including the Fry's grocery store and other amenities that we really need in the South of Avondale, especially the residents are always asking for grocery stores, new restaurants in that area.

Um I think this is going to be a great way to enable that and to encourage people to come here and open new restaurants.

Um hopefully a different grocery store as well, like later on as time goes by.

So I'm not I'm not voting no, because I don't want to.

I'm voting yes for the future of the South Avondale.

Thank you, Councilmember Garcia.

Mr.

Mayor, yes.

To further explain that, um you might ask the applicant to give the timeline.

They provided it to the planning commission, but I think the timeline uh of the grocery store uh is of interest to the community if they're willing to share any of that.

It is as referenced by the presentation out of the 20 comments uh that I was able to review several of them.

Uh there were a few that did mention reference the height, but generally speaking, it was more about when are we going to get some commercial.

So if if uh the applicant would like to come and share uh some information related to the start of that, because everybody is anxious and waiting.

So thank you so much.

Mr.

Mayor, Council members, uh, it's great to be before you today.

Carolyn Overholzer with Burgen Frake Smolly and Overholzer at 4343 East Camelback.

And I don't love coming back to you guys for a major PAD amendment just a year after we got the zoning, but I do love the reason why.

And it really was driven because of the grocery um announcement for the site.

Fry's is the brocer as has been discussed.

And their plans really accelerated the project in a way that we didn't envision, which is why we are asking to amend those stipulations.

They already have their site plan approved.

So with the completion of this PAD amendment, they will be submitting their construction drawings, and they will be open before the end of next year.

Additionally, the data center campus, their site plan is also on file with the city.

That's a longer process, it's a larger project.

There's a lot more site work involved with that.

So they will be going through the site plan process through the end of this year.

Next year will be the engineering and construction document phase.

You probably have noticed they've already done some demo work out there and they are doing site preparation work and things that they can do in advance of those approvals.

Um, but then the construction process for the data center campus will extend for about two years with the um first building operational in early 2028.

Thank you so much for that information.

Yes.

Councilmember White.

I appreciate thank you, Mayor.

Thank you so much for bringing this to us.

Thank you to the family for being here as well.

We appreciate you being um here to support this.

I think that seeing development happen in Avondale.

Um we think about the cloud and where technology and innovation are really going in the future.

I think that we need to be able to have storage facilities.

Um, and and we need to be a part of that technology pathway through the state of Arizona.

So I really appreciate this project, and I'm excited.

I mean, I eat, so I want groceries too.

Um, so that's really exciting.

Um, but I think uh as we continue to develop uh the southern part of Avondale, it's exciting to um know that we're bringing this type of asset onto our portfolio of things that we have available business and commerce and industry here in Avondale.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Weiss.

Thank you, Carolyn, also for your presentation.

And um, yeah, I know that I looked back, this was approved back in May.

The height was approved back in May of 2024, and I did read the comments, and there were a couple about the height, but most of them centered around the need for grocery stores and dining.

And I know that that's just gonna spark um other things in the areas and the other um corners also, and then it's bringing to traffic lights that are much needed in the area as well.

So thank you.

And can I just say not just a fries, but a fries marketplace, which is so exciting.

Um, we just appreciate the investment.

I know it's a two-for-one deal.

We could not have done it without one or the other.

And um again, our residents are just been screaming for this sort of development.

So I know we're all going to be excited to push on down the road and check out the Fry's marketplace and all the other growth that it'll spur uh moving forward from that point.

So thank you for sharing that information, Carolyn.

And at this time, if we already have a motion, got a motion from Councilmember White, a second from Councilmember Weiss.

Uh, can we please vote?

And Councilmember Condi, how do you vote?

Okay, Adam passes seven to zero.

Congratulations, and thank you again.

Thank you for the investment in Avondale.

Okay, Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, Mayor and Council.

Up next is your uh 2025 strategic plan.

Uh oh, Anisa's gonna do the intros.

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

And you're Nisa Remold, senior managing analyst in the city manager's office.

Today I'm here to introduce our updated strategic plan to you.

The city strategic plan was adopted by the city council in 2021, and it was a five-year plan in mid-2024.

The city higher BAFTAL is consulting to begin the update to the plan, continue the long-term vision, and set new priorities that will serve as the basis of for development of departmental goals, objectives, and resource allocation in the coming years.

Tonight, Nancy Hettrick from RAF Tellis will review the strategic plan process and the 2025 strategic plan.

I'd like to welcome Nancy to the podium.

Thank you so much.

It's nice to be here.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council.

It's nice to see you all again.

And I'm delighted to present for your consideration this evening uh your updated strategic plan for the next five years.

I have a short presentation.

I'll take you through.

Uh I know you've had a c an opportunity to view the plan, but for the benefit of the public, we'll walk through uh those elements and the process that took us uh to the plan.

Uh so we'll go through a process, we'll review the vision, purpose, and values and the strategic outcome areas and strategies, importantly, that you identified through your planning process.

A strategic plan answers three important questions, and this is actually what has occurred through a long and engaged process, including uh a workshop held with each of you uh in earlier this year, resulting in your strategic plan.

So a good strategic plan answers the questions what do we know to be true today in terms of the context of the city?

What do we hope will be true in the future, and what must go well in order to get there?

The city of Avondale, as has been mentioned, has a tradition of using a strategic plan to guide and inform the work that you do, and this is an extension of that commitment.

The goals of the process were to update and build on the successes of the last strategic plan.

It creates a shared vision for the future, and it serves to align the resources of the city and develop an action plan that really results in your vision and the results you are striving to make.

Here's just a brief overview of the steps that occurred to create the plan.

It began with council interviews, included community meetings, online engagement, in-person meeting with the city's leadership team, and ultimately convened in a two-day extravaganza, which included expert panels on key topic areas of interest to council, as well as the workshop and participation from each of you.

So here are the elements of the plan.

The core purpose and core values of the strategic plan continue.

They are succinct and memorable and sort of have served the city well over the course of the last uh horizon of the strategic plan.

So no change.

The elements we looked at in our workshop were the vision for the future, strategic outcome areas, and the strategies that will deliver the results.

So each of these have been updated to reflect where the city is on its journey and where you want to take it to the future.

So the vision that resulted through this process is here before you.

It reads In Avondale, we embrace the future with confidence by fostering innovation and empowering all residents and businesses to aspire, achieve, and accelerate to reach their full potential.

Next, we get into sort of the meat of the plan, if you will.

This is the areas of focus that you will prioritize over the course of the next five years.

We'll then look at strategies that really provide a roadmap for how you're going to get there.

There are five strategic outcome areas.

They include economic growth and prosperity, community well-being, resilient infrastructure and transportation, connected and engaged community, and innovative and effective government.

And if you have questions or comments, certainly we can answer those for you.

So the economic prosperity and growth.

Avondale supports a thriving local economy by fostering and supporting business growth, job creation, and workforce development.

The city advances economic growth, economic development, attracts high quality entertainment and full service amenities, and promotes a variety of attainable housing opportunities that strengthen the city's vitality.

So ambitious and aspirational outcome.

Here you can see there were five strategies that were identified and documented to move toward the direction of that goal statement I just read to you.

These are contained in the plan.

Next, community well-being.

Avondale is a city where all people feel safe, supported, and connected to resources that promote and enhance their well-being.

The city prioritizes public safety, natural resources, health care, and wellness while promoting mental, physical, and emotional health for all to enjoy and in enriching quality of life.

And I feel like Sean would like to see that one.

We have a lot of strategies associated with this outcome area.

There are 10 total.

Next, we have connected and engaged community.

Avondale Informs, prepares, and engages our community to ensure residents are connected to resources, the region, and each other, importantly, each other.

Five strategies drive us to that goal as outlined here on this next slide.

Resilient infrastructure and transportation.

Avondale invests in safe and sustainable infrastructure, including water, roads, and utilities, and actively participates in regional planning and development.

And there are five strategies that are associated with that outcome area.

And then last but not least, and importantly, in terms of the quality of services that are delivered to your residents, innovative and effective government.

The goal statement for this is Avondale's elected leaders, employees, and strategic partners collaborate to serve as a model of innovation, efficiency, and responsive government.

We have six strategies that will contribute to achieving that goal over the next five years and we'll develop and inform the roadmap for how work is done.

So here is a little view of the strategic plan.

Again, you have a copy of it that you have had an opportunity to take a look at.

I would ask for any questions or comments and hope that you are pleased with the process and the outcome and your plans for the next five years.

Thank you for having me here tonight.

Thank you so much, Nancy.

Really quickly before we open it up to council.

I just want to take a moment to thank uh Ron and leadership.

Also all staff, directors, um, my fellow council members, stakeholders, members of the community who all participated in this strategic um planning opportunity.

You know, when I was uh elected, um Ron and I met and he said, what's one of the first things you like to do?

And I said, Well, it's let's engage in a new strategic plan.

We have new council members who are joining us, a new mayor, and so I thought it would be great for all of us to set the tone in and we did that.

And it was pretty intense.

It was a two-day uh affair.

And uh, you know, everybody here has other things going on.

So the fact that we were all were able to be here together for those two days to engage in that opportunity says a lot about this body here, and I just want to commend everybody for being a part of the process to kind of set that tone for where we are headed.

And Avondale has a lot of of growing to do.

And uh, while there are other communities here in the region who are excelling, great for them.

But uh Avondel is not to be taken lightly.

We're on everybody's heels, we're the place to be, and uh I just appreciate it.

So other members of council have any comments or questions.

Councilmember White?

Oh, sorry.

Thank you, and I apologize, Councilmember Condi.

Uh let's go with you first.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just real quick, I just wanted to say thank you, Nancy.

And for me, it was really important to make sure that we did get that community input.

I think that we have a lot of folks in the community leaders that had a lot of vision for where they want uh to see our city going, and just to have that communication and inviting them to the table to be a part of it.

Um I'm just very thankful that we were able to do that.

And um, great job.

I Nancy, I think you um the two days that we spent with you.

Um we had a lot of comments and some changes that we wanted to make, and I just thought we did um great um all working together to help develop the strategic plan.

So thanks.

Great job, everyone.

Thank you, Councilmember Condi.

Anyone else Councilmember Weiss?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Nancy.

I was just new to council.

I think I was only here for just a few weeks when we did the strategic plan, and it was I really enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the interaction.

I enjoyed how it was all set up.

I love the fact that we brought in community uh stakeholders um to be part of the process.

So I just want to thank you again for your time and for the presentation and to my fellow council members for being there because you know, we did spend two days you know to work on it, so thank you.

And the staff, they were all there too.

Thank you so much.

anybody else?

Okay.

Thank you, Nancy, and thanks for all of your help and guidance.

Oh, oh, sorry, Councilman Garcia.

Um, I just want to say thank you also for everything you guys did.

And those two days, um, if anyone goes back and watches it, you will see how we as a council agreed on the future of Avondale, and we really put thought into every word, every sentence, every punctuation in in the strategic plan.

So for everyone that participated to the council, um, thank you so much.

But I really do suggest if anyone has opportunity to watch it, you'll see that we as a body put Avondale before anything else.

So thank you so much, everyone.

Thank you, Councilman Garcia.

Thanks again, Nancy.

Appreciate your time.

Okay.

We got a motion from Councilmember Weiss, a second from Councilmember Solorio.

Please vote.

Aye.

Thank you, Councilmember Condi.

Item passes 7-0.

Okay, Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Up next, uh, thank Corey's going to do the intros, uh, but I believe Dominic is going to give their presentation.

But before we start, um, I want to lead with um uh we're gonna do the presentation tonight and the discussion, but um, we're gonna ask council to um continue this till the next meeting on the 14th for the the vote.

Uh we'd like uh another week to work with uh NASCAR and Phoenix Rachel on a couple of questions they had, uh, but nothing we shouldn't have resolved uh before next Monday.

So but we do want feedback from council tonight and uh hear the presentation and then uh our goal is to have it on our consent agenda for for Monday.

Thank you, Ronald.

All right, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the council, Corey Lariva, Parks Archion and Libraries Director back again, uh bringing forward an ordinance to amend chapter seven of the city code related to the special net permitting process.

Uh bringing forward an ordinance to amend Chapter 7 of the city code related to the special event permitting process.

Tonight I'm joined by Dominic DeCono, our senior management analyst on the team who oversees the special event permit application process to show some of the highlights of how this will streamline and improve the overall outcome for our customers.

Thank you for that introduction, Corey.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

My name is Dominic DeCono.

I'm with the Parks Recreation and Libraries Department.

Tonight I am here to give a presentation on the topic of city code, specifically to up an update to Chapter 7, special events.

So the reason we're here tonight is to implement the recommendations of an internal review completed by staff that took in feedback regarding the special event permit process.

The proposed code updates aim to enhance our overall customer experience and improve efficiency.

Under the current city code, all event applications, no matter their size or their complexity, are subject to the same review process.

The recommendations presented tonight aim to improve this.

The benefits customers will see include faster review times, fewer steps in the application process, enhance event safety and risk management, and support for a one-stop shop payment model for customers who pay event permit fees.

This will make the application process much more streamlined and easier for customers.

Customers will also benefit from not needing a permit as often.

In 2024, the city received 144 applications for events with 127 of those applications being permitted for approval.

Staff's proposals tonight will help reduce these applic these annual numbers by doing away with unnecessary permits for events that don't necessarily need them.

For the proposed changes to Chapter 7, there are approximately 15 total changes that staff have recommended.

Most of the changes are minor and either clarify definitions or capture the standard operating procedures staff are using to review permits currently.

However, there are a few proposed changes that staff would like to go over.

The proposed changes to the code support building event permit fees into a single fee that a customer pays.

This alone will greatly enhance the customer experience and make navigating the permit process much easier for applicants.

Updates to the code also include new guidance on event safety as well as requiring city sponsored events to go through the permit application process.

This will increase transparency and sorry transparency and ensures the city is playing by the same rules.

The most significant change to the code is that special events will now fall into one of three event classifications.

Major events, minor events, and alcohol only events.

Major events will be defined as any event with more than a thousand people.

Minor events will be defined as events with 250 to 999 people, and alcohol-only events will be defined as an event that requires a state-sponsored special event liquor license but has less than 250 people.

By creating these classifications, this will simplify the process and improve response times for applicants.

When the city receives a special event application, there are additional factors that determine if an event requires a permit.

In addition to the total number of people attending an event, a special event a special event permit is required if an event has any of the following elements: fireworks or pyrotechnics, temporary structures, such as a large tent or a stage, street closures restricting access to property or displays of non-domesticated animals or livestock.

A good rule of thumb is if a proposed event requires the coordination of multiple city services, it likely needs a permit.

Other items to consider are that when events take place in city parks, the rules of chapter 17, parks and recreation rules of conduct do apply to permits in park properties, and neighborhood park block parties do not require a special event permit.

That type those types of events have a separate review process that is managed by our public works department.

So as uh Ron mentioned before, tonight uh staff is recommending a motion to continuance of ordinance 2027-0725 for Chapter 7, Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

And with that, Mayor Council, we'd like to thank you for listening to our presentation tonight.

We'll be happy to answer any questions.

Open this up to oh, Ron.

I just want to add uh a couple thank yous out there.

Um, this has been an ongoing project for the last year that's been read that's been led by assistant city manager at Del Manigate, um, who's really been getting the teams to think about the services we offer from our residents' point of views, from our users' point of view, and we really have uh simplified this, and I think Dominic has understated the impact.

Right now, you try to apply for a special event permit, you don't even know how much is gonna cost.

Not until you get into the application process and figure out which applications you need.

You even begin to understand the cost uh of your permit.

Um depending on what your per your event is, you're not exactly sure until you go through the process of what permit you will actually need.

So they have done a great job working through this, making it simpler again under his leadership.

In addition, Anissa and Torin have led the innovation team, which you'll hear about later in the year, who have actually come up with most of these ideas, help select a single online vendor point, and really have worked to make this not easier for staff, even though it will be easier for staff, but easier for our residents.

Um of the uh rules you saw up there about who it applies to.

The only thing that's really changing as far as what's new is it's fewer permits will be needed.

Right now, if you have more than a hundred people at your event, it requires.

So our minimum has been increased from 100 to 250.

So we've actually reduced the number of special that permits that will be needed.

We've really done a lot to make it um as as flawless.

And again, uh Dell, Anissa Torr and the innovation team, and of course uh Dominic and uh uh Corey and his team going along, but um uh the the give from fire uh working on here.

Uh they went from you still had to come in and and pay in person to to do your fire permits.

We're now doing that online and it'll be a part of this process.

Your engineering, your traffic control plans.

I just the amount of innovation and willingness to think outside the box is just I can't understate how impressed I am with how well our city and you unfortunately you get to hear about it one more time when we talk about the innovation team, but it is going to be one of my most proud moments for this year.

I can tell you with it with the work and the outcome that this happened.

Again, we need to uh cross a few T's and dot a few I's with NASCAR being our our largest uh vendor in the in the area.

Um but we'll we'll be ready uh by the next meeting.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Thank you, Ron.

Any comments from council.

I I just want to state the same.

I mean, it goes back I said this earlier, but it ties right back into our new strategic plan in regard to being innovative uh and really meeting the customer where they are.

That's really what this is about efficiency and making making sure that we're aware that those parties that work with us uh jumping through all these different hoops may leave a bad taste in their mouth for future opportunities, and this just streamlines all of that.

And so and more importantly, uh thank you again, Ron, for the sensitivity to uh engaging with our one of our biggest tourism draws in terms of partnership and be NASCAR.

So I appreciate it.

So we got a motion to continue.

Oh, sorry, uh Councilmember Conde.

Thanks, Mayor.

I just I do have a question.

Um some of the processes are new, and I'm glad that they're gonna be uh more streamlined for the applicants.

Are we notifying some of the applicants that say do events every year at the same time, letting them know that there might be some changes?

Um in particular, I'm thinking about Mercy House, because I know they have street closures for um some of their events.

Mr.

Mayor Council, Councilmember Condi, yes.

So we have um points of contact for all of those regulars, Dell for NASCAR, uh Chris's group for some groups, Corey for some groups, and we'll be reaching out to them once council approves this about the updated process.

Uh ordinances go in effect 30 days after council approves, so we have a little bit of time to uh notify people.

We have a few applications that are in the process right now.

Hopefully, we'll get to make those simpler.

But yes, absolutely.

Um and I know council has uh uh a special affection for Mercy House and Cash N S Heart and some of those others.

We'll continue to work with them uh like we have in years past, and I think they'll be even more pleased uh with this new process.

And I know that council uses some of the discretionary funds to pay for some of these fees for some of these events, and that'll also become simpler uh come the holidays or when their events come about.

Great.

Thank you, Ron.

Thank you for the question, Councilmember Condi.

If there's no other questions, again we got a motion to continue by Councilmember Weiss, seconded by Councilmember Solorio.

The rest of you could please vote.

Aye.

Thank you, Councilmember Condi.

Item passes 7-0 to continue.

Okay.

Ron.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor Council.

Up next, we have a presentation by Kirk on our amendment to City Code on water service and water resource management.

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

Before you this evening is request to adopt ordinance 2028-0725, amending the Avondale City Code, Chapter 24 to add a new Article 5 titled Water Services and Water Resource Management.

So the primary purpose of this ordinance, like two purposes.

First is to establish certain terms, conditions, and limitations regarding municipal water service provided by the City of Avondale.

And then also it's define how Avondale will manage its water resources to ensure equitable and sustainable distribution of the resources across all land within the city, and ensure compliance with the city's designation of assured water supply or our DAW.

So as a reminder, our designation of assured water supply or DAWS ensures that Avondale has a 100-year supply of water available for current demand and our planned future growth.

Our current DAWS provides for 30,666 acre feet of water use annually, and it's currently undergoing a review and renewal process through the Arizona Department of Water Resources now.

The city delivers just over 50% of that volume of our designation each year to our current customers.

And the customer base and the demand is growing as you know.

We have a projected commitment of an additional 20% of that designation to projects not yet constructed.

So we anticipate by the year 2034 that 70% of our city's designation will be delivered to customers each year.

However, we're facing issues with ongoing drought that's pressuring our water supplies, and we fully expect that after 2026, our Colorado River allocation will be reduced, which may impact our DAOs in the future.

A lot of the city growth is anticipated in areas outside of the Salt River Project Service Area, where the areas primarily south of Lower Buckeye were the only water resources we have available to use are the Colorado River allocation and our reclaimed affluent in our portfolio.

Finally, the need for more housing and the desire for certain high-tech or industrial businesses in the city that create jobs.

The bringing development that needs additional water resources and places higher demands on and more dependency on the city's infrastructure.

Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that Avondale has water for current demands and future growth.

And as I noted in the strategic plan, one of the strategies is protection of our designation of assured water supply.

So the ordinance really is an element to help meet that strategy.

So there are four main components to this ordinance: general provisions, limitations on liability, water resource availability and allocation, and penalties and remedies.

And I'm going to touch on each of these components in more detail.

So we'll start off with the general provisions.

It states all water customers consent to this ordinance by virtue of receiving city water services.

So if you're receiving water from the city and you're sitting receiving a bill, you are automatically consenting to this ordinance.

This ordinance prohibits the drilling of exempt private wells, which are low volume wells unless otherwise approved.

This is primarily for wells that would be sized to serve a single family home.

The intent here is to get new customers to connect to the city infrastructure rather than drilling their own well.

And then finally, this ordinance contemplates future development in the planning areas south of the Australia Mountains and the applicals applicable special provisions to provide services in that area.

As a reminder, and I would refer you to a map, I think that was provided to you at your at your chair.

The area south of the Australia Mountains is called the city's South Planning Area.

Water for this area is not included in our designation of assured water supply.

And there is no infrastructure that exists in that area to get water to it.

Therefore, the noted special provisions require that future developers in this area would need to secure water rights and assign those rights to the city, and that they will be required to develop infrastructure plans subject to city review and approval.

Otherwise, the city would have to procure the water resources and develop the infrastructure through other methods.

In regards to limitations on liability, as they mentioned, developments with higher volumes of water demand and specialty needs are coming to Avondale.

And while our duty is to provide satisfactory water service to all our customers, and I believe that we do that today, we can never guarantee against fluctuations and pressures or intermittent issues or service disruptions that might occur due to emergency maintenance needs or even water shortages.

So therefore, the city has stated in this ordinance that the city is not liable to customers who experience loss or damage due to these possible service disruptions or the fluctuations.

And furthermore, the customers that absolutely must have uninterrupted service or a better water quality than what the city is obligated to provide in compliance with federal regulations, that those developers must take their make their own provisions on their projects with the necessary machinery, storage tanks, or specialized treatment systems to meet their specific needs.

And then finally, in the event of a service outage, the city will make will restore service in a manner that's equitable and for the greatest public benefit.

And the restoration may or may not favor any special customer or a venue, just depending upon the circumstances that present themselves at that time.

The heart of this ordinance is really the water resource availability and allocation portion.

And this ordinance defines how water resources are allocated across lands within the city's water service area, and it provides a process for city and prospective developers to agree on how much water or how much of the city's designation a developer is allowed to use.

So there are three key definitions that I want to bring to your attention that are important to the implementation of this ordinance.

First is water allocation.

This is the volume of water from our designation of assured water supply that's allocated to a parcel of land based upon the general plan and the integrated utility master plan.

Second is water allowance, the volume of water that a customer or project is allowed to use based on agreements with the city.

And then third is multiple or large meter or MLM customers.

These are customers with demands of 25,000 gallons per day or more or 28 acre feet per year or more, or have a three-inch or larger water meter or a combination of meters equivalent to that three-inch size.

So how does this all work?

So the city's integrated utility master plan and the general plan are used to determine a water allocation.

The integrated utility master plan or the IUMP is a planning document that was approved by council in 2018, and it's currently being updated and will become before council at a future date.

The general plan is also approved by council and identifies desired land uses throughout the city.

So the way that this works is that the IUMP has a table that establishes projected water demands for specific types of land uses or developments.

You can see that the IUMP has water demand projected for number of land uses and the categories that match the land use categories in the general plan, like medium density residential, education, mixed use, or freeway commercial.

So as we work through the work through an example, if you look at the yellow line on the table, you would see for medium density residential development, the target density is 2.5 dwelling units per acre.

The projected water demand for that particular development is 361 gallons per day per dwelling unit for a total unit water demand of 903 gallons per acre per day.

The general plan indicates the desire for a medium density residential, and I've indicated the land in the red box near the bottom of the page where the arrows are pointing to.

And that has a target density of 2.5 dwelling units per acre, but an allowable range to of 2.5 up to four dwelling units per acre.

Each parcel of land underlying the land use is allocated the volume of water using a math formula, and it's pretty a pretty straightforward calculation.

We determine the land use from the general plan.

We just talked about that.

We determine the parcel size, the acreage through a survey.

We look up the unit demand in the IUMP table, and then we just simply do the math.

The allocation of water equals the unit demand times the area area of the parcel.

So for our example, we were just mentioning, we had 903 gallons per acre per dwelling unit times 28 acres, and for the case of the parcel we're looking at, that equates to 25,284 gallons per day of water allocated to that specific parcel.

Or if we want to use water resources speak, we would call it 28 acre feet per year because we work in acre feet, not necessarily gallons.

The water demand is the other piece of this, and this is what the developer states they will use on their development based on a demand report prepared and sealed by a registered professional engineer.

If the demand is less than or equal to the allocation, there's no further action required.

The project proceeds as planned.

The developer can secure and pledge additional water resources to the city.

The developer can reduce the water demand of the project through redesign or other means to meet the allocation, or the developer can petition the city for additional allocation subject solely to the city for to the city's approval.

Or it could be a combination of any or all of the three.

So what are these developer options look like in more details?

So additional water resources.

That could be a lease that's transferred.

Maybe they acquire a Native American tribal lease and they transfer that lease to the city.

They can obtain long-term storage credits and pledge those to the city.

Or there could be other forms of that the city could agree upon, like groundwater outside of the of the valley.

But what's important is that any of the resources have to be approved by the city, and they really need to be physically available to the city.

We maybe need to be able to get to those resources without a lot of investment and infrastructure.

With regard to redesign, that would be managed through the development process.

Maybe the developer is reducing the amount of turf on their project.

Maybe they go back and reduce the planned density, or they implement water use reducing measures, recycling, and other things to help reduce their demand.

So then you ask, well, why would the city agree to provide more water than what is allocated?

Well, there's a number of reasons.

Maybe the development is highly desired.

It's something that the city really wants to see.

Maybe it brings a lot of jobs.

Maybe it brings additional tax revenue, maybe provides affordable or workforce housing.

All great reasons that the city may want to consider something like that.

But when we do this, we are going to reallocate water from other parcels within the city.

We're going to take from this group and give this other group a little bit more.

Keep in mind that water has a monetary value.

And when we reallocate water, there could be a chance in the future that the city would be obligated to find those additional resources to make up that difference.

And that future resource may be costly, so it's always something we want to keep we keep in mind.

All of this would be documented by a development agreement between the city and the developers, so we know exactly what was decided upon.

So maybe you ask why would the demand be greater than the allocation?

So another example here is a change of land use through rezoning.

So say the developer wants to change the land use from medium density residential with 2.5 dwelling units per acre, as was shown in the yellow line, to uh high density residential, which is in the red circle with 20 dwelling units per acre.

Then you can see on the right hand of that table, the demand for that is 7,220 gallons per acre per day instead of the 903 that we talked about in the previous example.

Or perhaps the developer would like to change the land use to local commercial.

That has a demand of 1,850 gallons per acre per day.

What's important to note is the allocation does not change as it's still based on the adopted general plan in the IMP.

So we would have to make the developer would have to make up that difference between what we allocated and what their use would be based upon that change in land use.

So Public Works has several methods to track the allocations and the allowances.

We have a water demand calculator to GIS about GIS-based calculator that compares demand against allocation for every parcel in the city.

We have to report annually to the Arizona Department of Water Resources on our use.

We submit that water report.

The water usage for all categories is tracked, tallied, and reported.

So we have we know from year to year how much water we're using.

I mentioned the integrated utility master plan.

We are in the process of updating that.

That happens every five to seven years, really depending upon what's going on with the development of city and the data tables like we've like I showed you are updated based on actual usage and projected growth at the time.

And then finally, I mentioned it before the renewal of our designation of assured water supply.

We have to review that, renew that every 10 years to validate that we still have that 100-year supply that we believe that we that we have.

It's this high-level planning.

Development projects come and go, or they get delayed or canceled or changed, or they sometimes take a very long time to come to full completion, and so we've allocated water way out into the future that we may not see the use for a long time.

Also, specifically regarding residential development, I mentioned that the general plan allows for a range of density for home development.

We work off of a target of two and a half, but if a developer comes in and says, Well, I want to do 3.9, we are still going to approve that because they are within the land use that was designated for the city.

But we end up making up some of that difference.

We just absorb that through the allocation process.

So this concept of water allocations and allowance is not new.

Many cities in the valley have similar ordinances.

Peoria and Goodyear just completed their ordinance within the last six months.

Surprises working on theirs right now.

All of these have different complexities based on their individual circumstances.

All the cities have different portfolios, different designations and amounts of water available.

The one thing about Avondales compared to the others, I believe, is it's simpler.

And the simplicity provides the city and council more flexibility to make decisions on when they how they approve projects.

Developers, they've become familiar with this process because they're seeing it in other areas.

We took the opportunity to provide the ordinance out to our development community for review and comment.

And we only really received two questions, and it was basically regarding the effective date when the ordinance will go into effect.

So one thing that's important to note is we are already doing this, even though the ordinance isn't in place.

We've been practicing water allocation allowance for over five years here at the city of Avondale.

Water allocations have been considered for all of the annexations, rezones, land use changes, everything that's come before the council over the last five years.

Applicants have been informed by stipulation in those documents of the need to provide additional water to certain projects if that was necessary.

And those stipulations were approved by council.

And we talked a little bit earlier about data centers.

That was a topic of tonight.

This concept is really what brought us to the point of bringing in the air-cooled data centers instead of the water cooled data centers that we were looking at several years ago because we really looked closely at what was available as an allocation and what those demands would be.

So it's been very successful in bringing those data centers to the city.

The last portion of the ordinance concerns penalties and remedies, and primarily this applies to the multiple or large meter customers because those customers have the highest demand, so they're going to create present the highest risk to our designation.

Use is measured compared to the allowance.

And if the if a project's use exceeds the allowance, there's an escalation process.

We notify them of that of that exceedance, we give them the opportunity to correct.

We may ask them to bring some resources back to help offset what they overused.

If the problems continue, we can disconnect their services, and then at the worst case, there's civil penalties and fines that would be applied.

This only applies to commercial, industrial, and HOA landscape customers.

It does not apply to single family residential, and I'll preface this by saying we apply the methodology to residential developments in the initial planning stages, but the enforcement doesn't apply because once the residential development parcels are subdivided, the parcels become small.

We have hundreds or thousands of individual water meters and water meter customers, and then we just can't we simply can't enforce that usage limit on an individual household.

So we take care of it up front, we'll still double check it, but we don't we aren't going to go back to residents and say, hey, you need to give us additional water.

This is not retroactive, but I mentioned we've been following this practice for more than five years.

So most of the developments that have come through, we've already addressed these situations with them.

They already know what they need to do.

I also want to note that just to give a little perspective.

14 accounts of the 28,000 approximately accounts in the city for water services actually have MLM status.

There's nine residential multifamily, there's two park amenities for Avondale, one high school, one business, and one HOA.

But these developments are already existing, they wouldn't be subject to the ordinance unless they intend to make some kind of a change.

It increases their water demand.

Say they add another building or water features, or they develop some large turf areas, then we would take another look at that and uh and see what their what their demand would be.

So some final considerations.

This ordinance protects the finance resources, finite resources of the city's designation of assured water supply, meaning again one of the strategies of the strategic plan.

But we want to make sure that we have enough water for the last developer that comes in, that we don't give it all away to the first ones that come through the door.

We want to have enough for everybody.

So we want to use them wisely.

New water resources are becoming very expensive to acquire.

What used to cost about $200 per acre foot is now costing $20,000 to $100,000 acre foot for a 100-year lace lease.

So that 28-acre feet example that we talked about in the beginning, that could have a value of up to 2.8 million dollars if if we had to purchase that water in the future.

The ordinance provides flexibility for the city to consider any development.

And public works, engineering, development services, and economic development.

Our departments all work in collaboration for each proposed development to ensure that the development and the water allocation and the land use all fits together.

If council approves this ordinance, it basically puts what we already do as practice into ordinance, and the ordinance would become effective 30 days after your approval.

And lastly, I want to thank the team that's been involved in this.

Many departments and many staff have been working on this, even some of our predecessors over uh multiple years.

So it's been quite an effort, quite a collaboration.

I definitely appreciate the support that uh that they provided in getting this together and before you this evening.

So with that, our recommendation is adopt the ordinance and uh which is for the water resource management.

And I thank you for your time.

We have some of the staff here, and we're all available to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you for the presentation, Kirk.

Any comments from council?

Okay.

Vice Mayor Nielsen.

I need to make one, of course.

Only because as one of the responsibilities on City Council, I participate in the AMWA, which is a municipal water association with 10 communities throughout the valley right here, and we're consistently talking about water and this hundred-year uh lead or 100-year supply that we have.

And uh I can't believe the the comments that are made about Avondale and how well they have their portfolio managed and taken care of.

Other places, Scottsdale depends more upon uh Colorado River as that comes through there, that's going to become less and less.

And those who are have the vision out there, it's not going to be my kids or grandkids, it's going to be the grandkids or the great grandkids that are going to still have a great place to live here in Avondale with the sustainability that we've already talked about.

That will continue to go, and these kids will have water for a hundred years or whatever.

And I appreciate you looking at uh the developers and everybody else that'll come in here.

And I guess the only other thing I think you would like to say is we just need to be careful as to what we hear in the media.

There are certain places that want to have growth and continue to have growth, and those are the ones that are crying because all they do is pull groundwater out.

They don't have what we have of all the different portfolios available.

So compliments to Avondale and your work and the group that has done this.

So thank you very much.

I appreciate that.

And it's good for us to know now that yes, Avendale's got that water, so some of the things we listen to on TV and here have to keep maybe a jaundice eye with some of it, but uh Avondale said for the future.

So thank you, Kurt.

Thank you, thanks, Mr.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Any other councilmember White?

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Thank you, Kurt, for the presentation and to the team for collaborating on this.

I think you um said something in passing, it went really quickly in your presentation.

But you said the amount of Colorado River water we're gonna receive will be decreasing.

Is that just because of what we're seeing in the news, or do you have an exact amount that we'll be getting less than we receive currently?

Right.

So uh mayor, vice mayor, councilmember white.

We don't know what the exact number is gonna be.

What we do know is at the end of 2026, the current plan that we operate under with the Colorado Colorado River ends.

And all of the states that are involved in the in the uh negotiations on Colorado River usage and including Mexico as well, are all trying to figure out what they're gonna do next.

And there's a lot of uh questions of what the upper basin and lower basin and California and Arizona.

What Arizona has proposed with the lower basin states is what is equivalent to what we were used to be calling a tier three shortage, which means a cut.

So we are definitely anticipating a cut.

Whether it's 20 percent, 30 percent, 50 percent, it's hard to say.

It's also hard to say where it actually goes.

All that Colorado River water is allocated to the state, and it goes to agriculture, mining industry, and of course the cities as well.

So that still may be divvied up, you know, based upon those particular needs.

So we've heard numbers of 20, 25 percent of our of our resource might be cut.

And if you remember from previous presentations, we use about half of that resource right now through our connection with the city of Phoenix, and the other half goes into uh long-term storage.

So what we would likely see is a reduction in our long-term storage.

We wouldn't be building as many credits for the future.

And then hopefully maybe things change, you know, 10, 15 years from now, we see the climate um improve with regard to rain on the Colorado River Basin, and perhaps we get back to something what we consider normal today, but it it unfortunately doesn't look very good right now.

Thank you.

Councilmember Conde, do you have any questions?

Thank you, Mayor.

No, no questions at this time.

Thank you, Kirk, for the presentation.

Thank you.

Uh, you know, I love seeing the team back there, as you mentioned, it's it's a collaboration between many different departments.

And uh I I'll speak for myself, but I'm sure that many others here who have run for election.

One of the things uh that I know I've was asked many times by residents in the last year was with all the multifamily and the development happening.

Do we have enough water?

That was a question, that was a concern.

And it's nice that we're able now to put this into context with this ordinance to be able to demonstrate to them if if should they wish to read uh what we've done here tonight and put this not just in practice but through an ordinance as to how serious we actually take this because uh and Jen, I know I've mentioned to this many times when it comes to economic development about being aggressive, but yet we really still have to think about what we're doing and the research that we have available to us on how aggressive can we be.

But being um uh willing and able to work with those potential end users is still there as part of this ordinance.

And and I know in practice that we've seen what it looks like when uh there's a shortage, right?

With uh uh a development that is coming to fruition here who had to purchase extra credits to to come online, but yet it made business sense for them to do that.

So I think this meets that community where we need to meet them.

It provides some consistency.

Uh we're joining in with other cities that are currently doing this, and so for that reason, um very happy uh with uh with putting this into practice this practice into an ordinance.

We have a any other councilmember with count comments.

Okay, we have a uh motion from councilmember white, second from councilmember Solorio.

The rest of the council would vote.

Thank you, Councilmember Condi.

Item passes 7-0.

Thanks a lot, Kurt and team.

This time we have the summary of current events from members of councils or anybody who would like to share any information on a an event.

Okay, councilmember Garcia.

I went to the Fourth of July event on SAT on Friday.

Gosh, such a long weekend.

It was so good.

Even with the amount of people, people were just so happy to be there.

The what you guys did inside with the golf, like the golfing, that was such a hit.

That was so busy, but it wasn't overwhelmingly like uh like chaos because it could have been, but because of the staff and um the way we manage everything.

I think that you guys did such a wonderful job.

I took my 11-year-old, um, I spilled a bunch of uh Icy on me, and it was great.

Um, I think the fireworks are so pretty.

So I don't normally attend those type of events because the amount of people, because I get a little anxiety, but it was so worth it.

Like the the like seeing the fireworks like off the mountains and stuff like that, it was great.

And also the food was really good that you guys provided.

I just want to say that thank you guys for the staff so much because the patriotism in Avondale is really huge.

Seeing everybody out there in the red, white, and blue and celebrating the independence of this beautiful country was so wonderful.

So thank you so much for all of the staff that did that.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Any other council members?

Councilmember Conn, do you have any uh an event you would like to cover?

Thank you, Mayor.

No, I'm all good.

Thank you.

Okay, and I too will just echo uh Councilmember Garcia's sentiments on the event.

Uh while it was uh the positioning of the stage and the vendors were shifted, as I mentioned to Corey, that it just made everything feel more intimate.

And um, I don't think that took away from the event at all.

As a matter of fact, I think it might have made it even better.

I really love where the stage was.

I what I really enjoyed was watching the community who were not quote unquote purchasing VIP tickets, still be able to access the uh cool um uh what is it called?

Access the barn, play games, uh eat, buy drinks, whatever they wanted to do, so they were able to go in and out uh without having to have any wristband or anything, and that made it much more fun and accessible.

So thank you to you and your team for that.

And I'm sorry, okay.

Uh and then one last thing really quickly.

Uh thank you to Abundel Fire 175 for allowing me to ride along.

And um, I want to say fortunately, I only got to go on one call because otherwise that's not good, right?

For the community if I'm going on many calls.

Um, but everything they do, they're just so professional.

The education constraints they're under to continually uh, you know, uh perfect their uh career choice, just just amazing.

So thank you to 175 and uh Caitlin Smith for putting that together.

Councilmember Solorio.

Uh same kind of echoing on what they said, great event on Friday.

Uh I know that I talked to vendors and in the free speech zone, you had them indoors.

Very much appreciated by them from years past having to them outdoors.

I've done that in the past, it's too hot to be outside, so it was nice to see the vendors and free speech zone inside.

Thank you, Councilmember Solorio.

Okay.

Wait, Mayor, sorry.

Councilmember Condi.

I was just looking at my calendar and realized um an event that I just wanted just to thank everybody for attending.

It was the Mercy House Summer Reading Program.

So a lot of us attended, and we got to celebrate with the kids that went through four or five weeks of Mercy House Summer Reading Program.

They did such an amazing job, and I was so um unbelievably proud of how many kids got perfect attendance.

And um, I also just want to thank City Manager's office for all showing up for that because that really meant a lot to not only just um the kids to myself but to um Mercy Health staff as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Condi.

At this time, can I please get a motion to enter into executive session?

We have count a motion from Councilmember White and a second from Councilmember Weiss.

Please vote.

Aye.

Thank you, Councilmember Condi.

Okay, we will now move into executive session and we'll return shortly or afterward complete.

If you're leaving, drive safe home and enjoy the rest of the week.

For those who are listening online, city council will return to the council chamber after the executive session.

Uh oh.

We will reconvene into the city council meeting.

Uh Marcella, can you please do roll call?

Councilmember Condi.

Here councilmember Garcia.

Here, Councilmember Solario.

Here, Councilmember Weiss.

Here.

Councilmember White.

Present.

Vice Mayor Nielsen.

Here.

Mayor Paneda.

Here.

Thank you so much, Ron.

Mr.

Mayor.

Up next is resolution 1050-0725 development agreement with Sierra Luna Energy Storage.

LLC.

Staff is available to answer questions.

The applicant is also here if uh council so desires, or you can move forward.

Are there any questions from any council member?

Okay, I see we have a motion from Councilmember Weiss, second from Councilmember Solorio.

Please vote.

Councilmember Condi.

No.

Okay.

Item passes five to two.

That's it for this item, correct?

Yes.

Okay.

Again, thank you, team, for being here and sticking around for the evening.

And uh we appreciate uh all that was brought to the table and the investment in uh in our near our city.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Okay, at this time, the next item is adjournment.

Can I please get a motion to adjourn?

Got a motion from Councilmember White, second from Councilmember Garcia.

Please vote.

Aye.

Thank you, Councilmember Condi.

Okay, we item adjourned item passes.

We are adjourned.

Good night, everybody.