Avondale City Council Regular Meeting - April 22, 2024
Avondale City Council Regular Meeting
The Avondale City Council held a regular meeting on April 22, 2024, at 5:48 PM (UTC equivalent: 2025-10-15 17:48:47). The meeting included new employee introductions, proclamations for Building Safety Week and National Volunteer Month, recognition of school food drive participants and exceptional students, approval of the consent agenda, a presentation on the FY2025 Contributions Assistance Program, and a detailed discussion of the 2023 National Community Survey results. Councilmembers expressed concerns about survey response rates and deliberated on how to use the data for policy decisions.
Consent Calendar
- Council approved the consent agenda (motion by Councilmember Solario, second by Councilmember Nielsen) with a vote of 6-0. No items were removed for separate consideration.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No unscheduled public appearances were made. Council Clerk Marcella reported no requests to speak.
Discussion Items
- FY2025 Contributions Assistance Program (presented by Edith, Assistant Director of Neighborhood and Family Services): The program allocates $200,000 in level funding to eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofit agencies providing health and human services to Avondale residents. The maximum award per project is proposed to increase from $10,000 to $20,000. In FY2024, 33 agencies were funded, including 7 new recipients (Avondale Police Association Charities, Bridges Re-entry, Dress for Success Phoenix, Goodyear Pebble Creek Rotary Foundation, Helping Children Succeed in School Foundation, Project Kicks, and Top Dog Wrestling Club). Applications open April 23, 2024; deadline May 23, 2024; council subcommittee review in early June; funding recommendations to council July 8, 2024; award presentation late July/early August 2025. Councilmember Tina Conde and Councilmember Curtis Nielsen serve on the subcommittee. Councilmembers expressed appreciation for the program and staff assistance to first-time grant writers.
- 2023 National Community Survey (presented by Pierre, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, and Jason Newmeyer, Polco survey specialist): The survey was conducted via mail to 3,000 randomly selected households in December 2023. A total of 184 completed surveys were received (7% response rate, ±7% margin of error). Key findings: 1) About 7 in 10 residents gave positive ratings for quality of life and confidence in local government (the latter statistically higher than 2018 and above national benchmarks). 2) Economy is a top priority but residents show concern about affordability; only 36% rated cost of living favorably (down 25% from 2018), and fewer than 20% were positive about the economy's impact on family income. 3) Safety ratings remain generally high (8 in 10 feel safe in neighborhood during day), but ratings for police/sheriff services, EMS/ambulance, fire services, and emergency preparedness declined significantly from 2018. Feelings of safety in downtown/commercial area and from property/violent crime were lower than national benchmarks. 4) Mobility and traffic flow are concerns; only 1 in 3 gave positive ratings to traffic flow on major streets. Councilmembers raised concerns about the low response rate and margin of error, questioning whether the results accurately reflect community sentiment. They discussed alternatives for future surveys, such as digital methods, utility bill inserts, and in-person engagement. City Manager Ron noted that the city is already acting on the findings (e.g., police chief reviewing crime trends, economic development efforts). Councilmember White requested a future work session to further analyze the survey data and hear from department directors.
Key Outcomes
- Approvals: Consent agenda passed 6-0. Proclamations for Building Safety Week (May 6-10, 2024) and National Volunteer Month (April 2024) were read and adopted.
- Deferral: Police department response to loud noise calls (Item 5B) was tabled to a later date (likely June 2024) to allow participation of Councilmember Malone (excused absence).
- Next Steps: The FY2025 Contributions Assistance Program applications will open April 23, 2024, with funding recommendations scheduled for council approval on July 8, 2024. Council indicated interest in revisiting the survey methodology and possibly holding a work session on the 2023 survey results.
- Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at approximately 7:00 PM (motion by Councilmember Condi, second by Vice Mayor Paneda, passed 6-0).
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call the regular meeting of Monday, April 22nd, 2024. It is great to see a room full of parents and kids and everyone looking to uh participate with us tonight. Um please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of reflection and prayer. I would um I would ask you to keep in your thoughts and prayers uh Sarah Selby, who's the wife of one of our police officers. She was tragically killed um a few days ago, and uh they have four children. So there's information. I think, Chief, there's information um that we can share with the public if they're interested on how to donate and how to go do the GoFundMe later on. Pledge allegiance to the United States. Under God. Thank you, everyone. Marcella. Councilmember Condi. Councilmember Nielsen. Councilmember Solario. Councilmember White. Here. Vice Mayor Paneda. Here. Mayor Weiss. Here. And Councilmember Malone has an excused absence tonight. Thank you, Marcel. Ron, item number two, please. I think Miss Mayor and Council. Up first is Mark, our assistant director of IT, uh presenting uh two new employees. Good evening, Council. Mayor, Mayor and Council. Um, so we've got two new employees. One's not here today, but this is Sean Rashid. He's our senior network engineer. Uh he's from Florida, where he had 10 years experience in networking and security with federal and state um government. And he loves to travel, meet new people, and see new culture. And then our other one, Matthew Hughes, not here with us tonight. He's our new GI's technician. He's from California, where he was the intern for the city of West Covenant, California. And he likes to play video games and watch TV shows. Welcome aboard. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Mr. Mayor Council. Next we have Edith, our assistant director of neighborhood and family services to introduce new employees. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members. I have three new employees that we would like to introduce this evening. We have a video for you, and then we do have one employee who's here present if you'd like to speak with her. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and show the video. Hello, my name is Stacey Ariano, and I'm new to NFS. I am the neighborhood and family services coordinator, and I'm excited to be joining the city of Avondale to further my experience in social work at Human Services. Hi, my name is Sophia.
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