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.

I am you to NFS.

And I work with the Senior Center of the Nume.

Um Senior Center Assistant.

And I am so happy to be here because it gives me an opportunity to help uh people.

Hi, I'm Stacey Himes.

I'm the new NFS specialist, and I'm excited to work for the City of Avondale because they put the values of community into thought and action.

And with that, I do have Stacey Adollano here.

Hello, thanks for having me.

How are you?

I'm doing good.

How well are you, sir?

How long you've been with us now?

A month, exactly.

Congratulations, 30 days, big deal.

You made it through the toughest part.

It's all smooth scaling going forward.

We're glad you were with you with us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, it looks like next is our proclamation for building safety week, and we have Jody, our Director of Development Services.

Hi, good evening, Mayor and Council, Vice Mayor as well.

Tonight we have Building Safety Week.

It's an international campaign that takes place in May to raise awareness about building and life safety codes.

It's a really important part of our development process.

It not only involves our building inspectors, our building plan reviewers, but even our front-counter permitting staff that also do some over-the-counter review.

And it also is important to as well, maybe not directly mentioned, but indirectly with our fire prevention because they're highly involved with building safety as well.

We feel all communities need to have adopted building codes to really keep safe buildings and protect our community and our residents as well as our businesses.

Our Building Hood officials and building plan reviewers work daily to keep a tab on all of our projects and make sure that they are being built to save codes and they're able to go out and make inspections for them.

So I am happy to announce that we're going to be promoting Building Safety Week here from May 6th through May 10th.

Thank you, Jody.

With that being said, let me go ahead and read the proclamation.

Whereas our city is committed to recognizing that our growth and strength depends on the safety and essential role our homes, buildings, and infrastructure play, both in everyday life and when disasters strike.

And whereas our confidence in the resilience of these buildings that make up our community is achieved through the devotion of vigilant guardians, building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, tradespeople, design professionals, laborers, plumbers, and others in the construction industry who work year-round to ensure the safe construction of buildings.

And whereas these guardians are dedicated members of the International Code Council, a nonprofit that brings together local, state, and federal officials who are experts in the built environment to create and implement the highest quality codes to protect us in the buildings where we live, learn, work, and play.

And whereas these modern building codes include safeguards to protect the public from hazards such as monsoon storms, including microbursts, tornadoes, wildland fires, floods, earthquakes, snowstorms, and hurricanes.

Whereas Building Safety Week is sponsored by the International Code Council to remind the public about the critical role of our communities, largely largely unknown protectors of public safety, our local code officials, who assure us of a safe, sustainable, energy, efficient, and livable buildings that are essential to our prosperity.

And whereas Building Safety Week encourages us all to raise awareness about the importance of safe and resilient construction, fire prevention, disaster, mitigation, energy conservation, water safety, training the next generation, and new technologies in the construction industry.

And whereas each year in observance of Building Safety Week, people all over the world are asked to consider the commitment to improve building safety, resilient resilience, and economic investment at home and in the community, and to acknowledge the essential service provided to us by all local and state building departments, fire prevention bureaus and federal agencies and protecting lives and property.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the week of May 6th through May 10th, 2024, is hereby designated as Building Safety Week in the City of Avondale in conjunction with the celebration of Building Safety Month by the International Code Council.

Thank you, Jody.

Curtis.

Thank you, Mayor.

We have also an proclamation of our commitment to volunteerism here in Avondale.

I'd like to read that proclamation.

Whereas we firmly believe that the value of compassion, empathy, and community support are the foundation of united and harmonious society, fostering connection to transcend differences, and whereas the strength and prosperity of our city is based in its selflessness of its residents to serve and uplift one another, whereas we acknowledge the profound impact that can be achieved when we extend a helping hand to our neighbors, especially those of diverse backgrounds, lifting them up and collectively working to improve lives.

And whereas we nurture a culture of giving within our cities, emphasize cities, emphasizing that volunteerism is not just a duty, but a source of personal fulfillment and community strength.

And as we work side by side with and learn from each other, mutual understanding increases, misconceptions can be corrected, and new friendships can be built.

And whereas we encourage all citizens to care for one another, volunteer, and engage in acts of service and kindness that contribute to our city's betterment and its inhabitants' well-being, regardless of background or belief.

And whereas the City of Avanale has joined a growing list of supporters, including the President of the National League of Cities and hundreds of lead hundreds of leaders to date in making commitment to volunteerism.

Whereas April is National Volunteer Month and a month dedicated to recognize the importance of volunteering and a time for us to thank our city volunteers.

Now, therefore, I, by virtue of the authority vested in me, do hereby proclaim the month of April as National Volunteer Month and affirm our city's commitment to volunteerism in the City of Avondale, Arizona.

And I would expand on that a little bit.

We see volunteerism in the city every day, every week, every month.

This weekend we had uh our Earth uh Earth Month Festival, and there had to be a hundred and thirty volunteers who came out to plant trees and to clean up and do a lot of work.

I see our Avondale Youth Commission here.

They were out there, and it is something that makes Avondale unique, and it's something that uh makes us a better community.

So thank you for everyone for being part of that.

Ron, item number D, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Or letter D, I shouldn't say number D, letter D.

Okay.

Next we have Mary Ellen Arnold, who will uh present a holiday school spirit food drive award presentations.

That must be what all those trophies are about, Mayor.

We got some trophies to give out.

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

I am not here alone.

I am joined by our Avondale Youth Advisory Commission elected officers for the season.

The neighborhood and family services department has teams with Avondale Schools every year since 2008 to address the high demand faced by local food banks during the holidays to support families in the community.

As mentioned, I am joined with our Avondale Youth Advisory Commission members to assist with the distributing awards to our participating schools.

The commission actively engages in the food drive by encouraging participation and advocating to provide essential resources for the community.

The 16th Annual Food Drive was held from November 20th through December 20th of 2023.

We had participation from a total of eight schools in Avondale.

In just one short month, the 2023 Holiday School Spirit Drive collected 4,351 pounds of food, which is 3,628 meals.

The photo you see here is actually submitted from West Point High School.

They had a lot of excitement and sent over photos when they were collecting the food.

Through their work in hosting the drives at their respective schools and spreading awareness is that we were able to achieve this year's goal.

Their efforts have truly made a difference in our community, and we are incredibly thankful for their participation.

As I call your name school, please send your representatives to receive the award, and at the very end of the meeting, we'll have an opportunity to take a group photo.

First up, we have Avondale Middle School.

If we have a representative from the Avondale Elementary School, I will have you come up and receive the award on their behalf.

Perfect.

You know it's an important award when the superintendent is here.

Let's get Betsy in the U.S.

Next up, we have Canyon Breeze Elementary School.

If I can please have the Canyon Breeze 2024 National Junior Honor Society come up to accept your award.

With us tonight, we have Natalie Lewis, the school librarian accepting their award.

Next up, we have Michael Anderson School.

If I can please have a representative from the Avondale Elementary District come up to receive the award on their behalf.

Next up, we have Star Academy.

Tonight we have Gio Tenori, the school counselor accepting their award.

In third place, we have West Point High School.

West Point High School generated eight hundred and seventy-four pounds of food, which is seven hundred and twenty-nine meals.

Tonight we have Ava Shelton, student body vice president accepting their trophy.

Thank you.

In second place, we have Estreia Vista STEM Academy.

Estreia Vista STEM Academy generated eight hundred and seventy-nine pounds of food, which is seven hundred thirty-three meals.

Here with us tonight is Emily Palmer, student council president accepting their trophy.

And the anticipated first place, we have Imagine School Avondale.

Imagine School Avendale generated 954 pounds of food, which is 795 meals.

If I can please have Christina Gonzalez, Miss Mimi, Yasmin de Santiago come up to accept your trophy.

Thank you again for being a vital part of this meaningful initiative.

We look forward to working with you all again later this year for the 17th annual drive.

Thank you again.

So this almost entire group was out there on Saturday.

How long were you out there on Saturday for our Earth month?

Like four hours, yeah.

You learn how to plant trees, correct?

Yeah.

Thanks for everything you guys do, seriously.

Thank you.

Council, any comments on this?

Okay.

Thanks.

And for the recipients in the room, we will have a photo opportunity after the next presentation items.

Item E is the exceptional student recognition.

Edith, are you doing this one?

Okay, I want to make sure.

Awesome.

Good evening again.

I am back to present you with the exception of Student Avondale nominations.

This is a fun and wonderful initiative to recognize the amazing things that students are doing in the community.

I am honored to be presenting these recognitions on behalf of the administrators, principals, educators, and nominators of each school, district, and school.

The achievement being recognized may be academic, extracurricular, or personal, which highlights the impact that the students have made for themselves, their family, school, or community.

With that, we'll start off with our first district.

Our first district had a difficulty choosing just one student this time around, so we're going to make the exception and recognize two students from our Agua Freya High School District.

So first up from our Aguafria High School District is Damien Gonzalez.

Damian Gonzalez is a junior at Aguafria High School.

Damien has excelled in his leadership skills during the past year.

Damien supports his community and volunteers as much as he can.

He volunteers at Feed My Starving Children, where he helps other students package and stack boxes of food to be distributed.

Damien also volunteers at the Sun Valley Animal Shelter, where his duties include bathing the dogs, cleaning animal cages, and landscaping and cleaning up the grounds.

His leadership and volunteer skills have led him to be employed at the Agua Freya High School as a student worker during lunches in the school cafeteria.

He is kind, courteous, and eager to help out in any situation and embodies an extra exceptional students of Avondale.

So if I can please have Damian Gonzalez come up here.

And he can stand.

He can stand right over here.

We'll take a group at the end.

Perfect.

Next up from our agua fria high school district is Esperanza Acuna.

Esperanza is a junior at Agua Fria High School.

Esperanza demonstrates dedication to her school and community on a regular basis.

She is a leader amongst JROTC cadets and has held several leadership roles, such as flight commander, colour guard commander, drilled team trainer, and is expected to move into the program's senior leadership in the upcoming school year.

She has volunteered in nearly 120 events, accumulating over 180 community service hours.

She has earned outstanding cadet ribbon, which is a ribbon awarded annually to the outstanding first year, second year, third year, and fourth year cadets.

The recipient from each class must be a high school morale character, demonstrate positive personality attributes, display outstanding military potential, and obtain academic and military excellence.

Esperanza has also earned the military order of the Purple Heart Award.

And if I can please have Esperanza Acuna join us up front, up next from our Avondale Elementary School District is Axel Navarro.

Axel attends Alicio C.

Felix and is in the fifth grade.

Axel is kind, compassionate, and resilient.

He is always engaged and eager to learn.

He shows respect to his classmates and school staff.

Thank you, Excel, and if I can have you come up to the front to receive your award.

Daniel has made tremendous progress over the past two years in all academic areas.

His grades, test scores, and benchmark scores reflect significant growth.

This is all due to his hard work and growth mindset.

Thank you, Daniel, and if I can have you come up to receive your award.

Daniel's family is in the back.

Hi.

Benjamin has a strong work ethic and always goes above and beyond.

He is an active member of the Littleton Elementary School District Online Academy Gaming Club and recently presented his initiative game innovative game he created at LESD Digital Learning Day.

He demonstrates collaborative and leadership characteristics.

He is kind to all individuals.

Thank you, Benjamin.

I'll go ahead and have you come up to the front to receive your award.

Jordan's commitment to academic excellence is reflected daily in his work ethic and dedication to his studies.

Jordan's commitment to academic excellence is reflected daily in his work ethic and dedication to studies.

He participates in the Canyon Breeze ASU Digital Prep program, talking algebra and now geometry, earning high school credits.

Jordan's participation in the program requires self-mo-motivation, time management skills, self-discipline, eagerness to learn, responsibility, and seeking help when needed.

When out of the classroom, Jordan displays outstanding sportsmanship and dedication as a member of our basketball, football, track, and field teams.

He embodies the values of teamwork and discipline.

Jordan has been an influential role model for his peers and truly exemplifies the qualities of a well-rounded and driven young person.

Thank you, Jordan.

I will go ahead and have you come up to receive your award.

Ava sets goals for herself and continues to surpass them in the classroom.

She is a leader who helps contribute to wonderful classroom discussions.

She is a creative and problem solver.

Ava is kind, responsible, and respectful.

Thank you, Ava.

I will now have you come up to receive your award.

And that concludes our exceptional student awards for this quarter.

I just want to give a huge round of applause to all of our students this time around.

Thank you all again.

Yes, Mayor.

So do you mind hanging out there?

We'd be honored to take a picture with you.

We would.

We're coming down, all right.

Everyone else, talk amongst yourselves.

Mr.

Mayor, families, right?

Families, teachers, principal, superintendents.

Yes, sir.

We've passed out snacks.

Are there any snacks left?

Chris?

Chris, do you have the snacks?

No, okay.

I just want to make sure.

Item number four is oh, I'm sorry, Marcella, any unscheduled public appearances.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have not received any requests to speak.

Thank you for that.

Item number four is consent agenda.

Are there any counselors who wish to have an item removed for separate consideration?

Seeing none, can I get a motion on the consent agenda?

I have a motion from Councilmember Salario, a second from Councilmember Nielsen.

Any discussions?

Seeing none, please vote.

It passes 6-0.

Thank you.

Um, before we get into regular agenda, just for councils information, um, I'm tabling item number letter B.

The police department's response to loud noise calls for service to a later date.

I would prefer to have all council members here, and I know Councilman Malone is an important voice on this, so I want to make sure that she's involved in this discussion.

So we'll schedule probably sometime, I'm guessing in June, Ron, if we can.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, I'll have to take a look at the calendar.

We have a couple other discussion items coming up before the summer break.

Um, but we'll we'll get it on an agenda.

So item five, A, Ron.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Uh, we get to hear from Edith again, our uh assistant director of neighborhood and family services.

They love you, Edith.

Um, she's gonna talk about the year 2025 contributions assistance program.

So good evening again, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Um, I'm here this evening to present on the contributions assistance program for fiscal year 2025.

So the purpose of this presentation is to provide you with background and history, update on nonprofit agencies funded in fiscal year 2024, which is happening right now, uh, provide criteria overview, and also review the process and timeline, and then review the maximum award amount.

Provide criteria overview and also review the process and timeline and then review the maximum award amount.

Okay.

So for the background, we have uh the contribution assistance program allocates funding to eligible nonprofit agencies with 501c3 status that provide health and human services to Avondale residents.

Level funding for fiscal year 2025 is 200,000, which is included in the proposed departmental budget.

Funding uh will remain at the 200,000 increase supported by the American Rescue Plan Act, uh the ARPA grants.

In fiscal year 20, oh, and just to go back to um due to the increase that we're going to have where we keep it at 200,000, uh the award uh proposal per project has is going to be 20,000 instead of 10,000.

Um so in fiscal year 2024, we had 33 agencies funded, providing a wide array wide range of services.

Uh these agencies are the current awardees for fiscal year 2024.

The program is in its last quarter, and all recipients are on track to expend funds by June 30th of 2024.

I also want to point out there's an asterisk on the new recipients for this fiscal year.

Um we have seven of them, and they include the 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.

So the criteria we have is uh number one provision of direct services which improve the health and welfare of Andy Avondale residents, two, current timely and accurate reports from current recipients.

Three is ability to generate revenue from other sources.

Four, priority will be given to special projects.

However, requests for operating support toward direct and measurable services will be considered.

Five, priority will be given to services and initiatives that support and address city council goals.

Six, we have services provided at the Arizona Complete Health, Avondale Resource Center will be given priority.

Number seven is organizations that receive funding in the previous year will participate in a mid-year review and demonstrate satisfactory progress towards stated goals and objectives.

Number eight is all awards should be at or above the minimum amount requested by the organization.

The minimum amount is established to provide adequate funding to effectively complete the project as proposed.

And number nine is services and initiatives responding to the needs of vulnerable populations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Okay.

So we do want to uh bring to light our council subcommittee.

Our subcommittee appointments include council member Veronica Malone, Councilmember Tina Conde, and Councilmember Curtis Nielsen, who take this very seriously.

They get together annually, they review the applications, and then they talk through all of the uh awards and uh funding recommendations.

And so we want to thank them for their time.

Okay.

So here we have the process and tentative timeline.

So uh tomorrow's April 23rd, we will uh have the applications go live on the website.

Um, May 23rd, uh the deadline for the application submittals will take place at 5 p.m.

On June 3rd, we will convene with our council subcommittee to review the applications on uh somewhere in second or third week of June.

Uh the I'm sorry, applications will be provided to the council subcommittee on June 3rd, and then we will convene with them uh the first or second week of June to go through the application review process.

Uh we are going to then bring on July 8th uh the request for approval of the funding recommendations, and then we will have an award presentation sometime at the end of July or early August.

Okay, and with that, I will um thank you for your time.

And if you have any questions, I'm available to answer.

Tina or Curtis, do you folks have any comments on this?

Curtis?

Yes, it's a great opportunity for Dean and I and Veronica to get together and actually see these people and visit with them and then work with them.

They're they're great people to work with.

I guess the only question I've got is uh outreach.

How are we gonna get that information out to those people as already stamped?

Yes.

So we have an ongoing email distribution list that we will send out.

We also will send out to all the recipients who uh have been awarded this year.

Um we also have social media.

We are, I believe we're gonna even share a flyer tomorrow with the Interfaith Council.

Um we will share it on our website, and um I think um there's a media release.

Media release, sorry, that will go out uh tomorrow as well.

Thank you.

Anna?

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Edith.

I'm excited.

I'm excited, especially because last year we had some new applicants that applied.

So I'm I'm excited to see kind of how that money that we kind of just started them with last year, kind of what they did with it.

Um so maybe we can increase some funding if you know all was well with them.

But also I just want to just say thank you to you and your team because I know I've had people that it was their first time writing a grant, and so you guys have been very patient helping them through the process so that they can fill out their paperwork to submit so they can you know possibly get a uh some money from us.

So thank you guys for that.

And I just wanted to say thank you to Mayor and Council.

These um nonprofits really are vital to our community.

Um these organizations step in and do things that maybe we can't do as as a city, but they step in and they take care of our residents and they do a fantastic job.

And so I'm really blessed to be a part of this committee, and just know that um it's always difficult for us to narrow it down.

And um, but Edith always kind of guides us and reels us back in, and so just allocating those dollars is difficult because we want everybody to get something.

But again, thank you, Edith, and thank you for your team.

Thank you for Mayor and Council and City Manager, everybody for your support for this.

And thank you, Michael.

Thank you.

Uh just to clarify, you said tomorrow's gonna be on the website, and I'm sure the media release will cover it, but where exactly will they go to neighborhood and family services?

Yes, there's a link for I don't have the address, um, but it will be able, it will go into the NFS, and then you can see the application link from there, and we'll send that out as well and include the link on all of our social media and our website and our press release.

Um, and then we also have phone numbers and email addresses to be able to get in touch in touch with staff to help uh guide them and direct them.

Thank you.

Thanks, Council.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Up next, we have our 2023 Citizen Survey going to be presented by Pierre, our director of marketing and public relations.

And I'll let her talk about Torrent.

I don't want to press the wrong button.

Mr.

Mayor, we're having a uh someone conference in the uh consultant conference in, so that's uh taking us another second to set up probably not a good time to explain how nervous Mark is right here behind me right now.

Not nervous at all.

Okay, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

We are pleased to present to you tonight the results of the 2023 National Community Survey, which is a survey of our residents conducted to gather feedback and insight regarding the livability of our community.

As you know, community input is critical in helping council make decisions about priorities when it comes to the services we provide and the infrastructure and the amenities we build.

The Aquatic Center, for example, was one prime example of the council listening to the desires of our community.

So as you know, the city works year-round to gather feedback from residents through a variety of ways, whether it's through Avondale Connect, which is our citizen online portal, through social media and public meetings and town halls, through events like Cafecitos, Coffee with the Council, as long along with the many celebrations and festivals that we have.

We're constantly seeking input from our residents.

Council is also actively engaged in the community.

Um you're out there listening to feedback from our residents.

But we also know it's important to also hear from those who are not inclined to come to council meetings or pick up the phone or be on social media.

Um for more than two decades, we've worked uh with professional consultants to gather feedback from our residents by taking a formal poll on our community in order to provide to you statistically meaningful feedback.

Um over the past uh few years we've worked with Polco.

They have conducted three community surveys, the most recent one in December of 2023, and we're here to share the results of that survey with you.

Prior to that, we did a survey in 2018.

And tonight we will learn how the results from the two surveys differ and also how Avondale fared when we have benchmarked against other cities that were conducted that also conducted the national community survey.

I will be joined tonight by Jason Newmeyer.

He's a survey specialist from Polco, who will provide a lot more detail on the survey.

I'm also joined here by my colleague Torin Sado, who did the heavy lifting on the survey on behalf of the city manager's office.

So he'll be here to answer questions as well.

And with that, we will turn it over to the National Community Survey and Polco.

Great, thank you so much.

I just want to make sure that everyone is able to see my screen here that I'm sharing with you.

Looks like we've got some nodding.

Great.

I'm happy to be here tonight.

My name is Jason Newmeyer to present the a summary of the findings from this most recent Avondale National Community Survey.

And I just like to echo the message that was just brought forward.

But on behalf of myself and my Polco co-workers, I really would like to thank the entire team at Avondale who worked with us here and provided thoughtful and detailed feedback, not only when we were developing the survey itself, but also during implementation, during reporting and even with this presentation deck as well.

So before we dive in, I would like to just tell you a little bit about who we are.

Polco's online community engagement polling platform really provides the information tools that local governments and other public sector leaders need.

Today, hundreds of organizations nationwide use Polco for strategic planning, for budgeting, and for empowering resident voices.

Ultimately, our goal is to make civil verified community engagement online not only possible, but accessible to everybody.

The National Research Center at Polco gives local governments the data that they need to make more informed decisions.

Since 1994, NRC has worked with hundreds of jurisdictions nationwide and is best known for our national benchmarking surveys, such as the National Community Survey that we'll talk about tonight, in addition to the National Employee Survey and the Community Assessment Survey for Older Adults.

And as was hinted at earlier, our national benchmark database is the largest of its kind in the United States.

Polco and NRC merged a few years back in 2019 to more effectively serve local government and to help project resident voices.

You can also see on the slide here that Polco is exclusive partners with ICMA, and we work very closely with the National League of Cities, as well as the engaged local government leaders, the Alliance for Innovation, and many, many, many academic partners, including the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the University of Wisconsin Madison, the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

So before we dive into the results, I do want to emphasize that there are numerous ways that these results can be used.

Most commonly, the jurisdictions that we work with will use their survey data to monitor trends in resident opinion over time, to measure government performance and ratings of public trust, and again to inform their budgeting processes and strategic planning.

The results that we'll present tonight also allow you to benchmark your community specific characteristics against those same characteristics in uh within other communities using that national benchmark database.

The hope here tonight is that as these findings are presented, it will spur ideas for you in what can be done with these results or areas where you might want to dig deeper.

So the National Community Survey or the NCS is a standardized five-page comprehensive survey, and it allows municipalities to assess resident opinion about their community and about their local government.

The NCS focuses on the livability of Avondale by characterizing survey questions into 10 main facets of community livability that you can see here on the slide.

These facets have been identified through extensive survey research as those that are most impactful to the overall quality of life of your residents.

The NCS includes items within each of these 10 facets to provide a full picture of how residents feel about their community.

And finally, each of these facets also tend to align with different municipal departments, making it much easier for city staff to quickly find the information that is of most importance to them in the final report of results.

So in this most recent iteration of the NCS, all households within Avondale were eligible to participate in the survey.

A list of all households within the zip codes that serve Avondale was purchased based on updated listings from the USPS, and then using the GIS boundary files that were provided by the city, addresses located outside of Avondale's boundaries were removed from the list of potential households to survey.

From that list, 3,000 households were randomly selected to receive the invitation.

The 3,000 randomly selected households received mailings beginning on November 6th, and this survey remained open for eight weeks until the end of the year.

The first mailing was a postcard inviting the household to participate in the survey online.

The next mailing contained a cover letter with instructions that five-page survey questionnaire and a postage paid return envelope.

Both the postcard and the cover letter also included a web link and QR codes to give residents the opportunity to respond to the survey online, should they so choose.

This survey was available in both English and Spanish, and all mailings contained paragraphs in both languages, instructing participants on how to complete the survey in their preferred language.

A total of 184 completed surveys were received from these efforts, providing a response rate of 7% and a margin of error of plus or minus 7%.

We then compared the demographic profile of the survey respondents to that of all adults in Avondale using the most recent census and American Community Survey data, and we weighted the final survey results.

Waiting is a survey research best practice and really helps to improve the representativeness of the final numbers.

In addition to this randomly selected probability sample of households, a link to an online community wide open participation survey was also publicized.

The open participation survey was open to all city residents and became available on December 1st.

That survey remained open for four weeks and 44 responses were received.

This presentation and the report that has been shared with you are based on the 184 responses from the random sample, the mail-based survey.

The responses to the open participation survey are provided separately in the full report at the end.

Now again, one of the major advantages to a local government participating in the national community survey is the opportunity to compare these ratings given by your residents to communities from across the nation.

NRC was the first organization to conceive of the idea to create benchmarks of public opinion for local governments.

This allows jurisdictions to compare ratings of services to similar services in other communities.

And today, as you can see on the slide, there are about 500 communities in our national database.

Alright, so with that out of the way, let's turn to an overview of this recent survey.

In the survey itself, we have two questions that ask directly about those 10 facets of community livability we saw a few slides ago.

The first asks residents to rate the quality of each of those 10 facets.

The bar chart here shows the percentage of residents who provided excellent or good ratings to each of the 10 facets.

And the resulting comparison to the national benchmark can be seen using the shading on the chart.

The second question asks again about those same 10 facets of livability, but is centered on how important residents think it is for the community to focus on each of these facets in the coming two years.

So ultimately, we ask both about the current quality and the future importance of each of these facets, and we use these answers to create what's known as the quality importance matrix that you see on the slide here.

We use this chart, which is also included in your final report to help determine which areas are of relatively higher importance to residents and have a lower quality rating, those that are located in the lower right-hand quadrant as pictured.

This chart is just one of many, many ways to interpret your data, but it can ultimately be used to help identify key findings and to determine which areas may need additional focus or resource allocation in the coming years and which others are performing well by comparison.

So of the 123 items for which residents provided evaluative ratings on this survey, four items received ratings that were higher than the national benchmark, 108 received similar scores, and 11 received ratings that were lower.

Ratings are considered similar if they fall within 10 points of the national average, and they're higher or lower than if they're more than 10 points difference from that number.

We have a full table for you of these national benchmarks in the final report, and you can find those starting on page 34.

In addition to the national benchmarks, we can also compare to the previous results that Avondale has from their national community survey.

And when compared to the results from Avondale's NCS in 2018, the 2023 numbers had eight that received ratings which were statistically higher than the previous survey iteration.

80 received scores that were similar, and 15 received lower ratings.

Again, we've got the nice table for you that shows this full trend.

Actually, there are some numbers in here that date all the way back to 2006.

This can be found in a table again, which starts in the final report on page 40.

All right, so moving now into some of the highlights of our findings, I do want to point out a few items that stood out to the survey research team and data science teams here at Polco.

There is a lot of additional data in the full report that we won't cover tonight, but the rest of the presentation here will really focus on a few areas that we found to be most noteworthy within Avondale's survey results.

So, first and foremost, Avondale residents experience a high quality of life and appreciate many aspects of the city's leadership and governance.

Around seven in ten residents favorably evaluated the city as a place to live, their neighborhood as a place to live, and the overall quality of life within the city.

Additionally, more than half of the respondents positively evaluated Avondale's overall image and reputation and the overall sense of community within Avondale.

And finally, over three quarters of residents reported that they plan to remain in Avondale for the next five years and said that they would recommend living in Avondale to others who asked.

Each of the items that you see on the slide here scored in line with comparison communities from across the nation.

Additionally, around seven in ten residents offered excellent or good marks to their overall confidence in Avondale's local government.

This score came in higher than national benchmarks and actually was a statistically significant increase from the last survey iteration in 2018.

A similar number positively evaluated the job that Avondale government does at welcoming resident involvement, another statistically significant increase from 2018.

And many other aspects of Avondale's local governance received favorable marks, including public information services and the overall customer service by Avondale employees.

And you can see here finally, about two-thirds of respondents gave positive scores to the overall direction that Avondale is taking and praise the city's efforts at taking care of vulnerable residents.

This included the elderly, disabled, and homeless populations.

The second key finding, the economy continues to be a top priority for residents, and they show some concern about general affordability and their own economic outlook.

So over half of residents positively rated the quality of the city's overall economic health.

This number was in line with benchmark comparisons.

Around two-thirds of respondents also praised the overall quality of business and service establishments as well as the variety of business and service establishments within the city.

And overall economic development and Avondale as a place to work, both received positive evaluations from around six in ten residents, similar to the 2018 numbers and to the rest of the nation.

Now, while most direct evaluations relating to Avondale's economy were similar to national benchmarks, results did indicate that residents were less optimistic about their own personal economic outlook and the affordability of resources within the city.

Nearly all residents identified Avondale's overall economic health as an essential or very important area of focus in the next two years, while fewer than one in five respondents stated that they were very or somewhat positive about the economy's impact on their family income in the next six months, down about 20 points from 2018.

Other measures of affordability also showed some signs of resident concern.

The cost of living in Avondale saw steep declines, earning favorable marks from around 36% of respondents, down 25% from 2018.

Around four in 10 residents positively evaluated the availability of affordable quality health care and the availability of affordable quality mental health care, while approximately three in 10 felt favorably about the availability of affordable quality food and the availability of affordable quality housing, both exist uh exhibiting rather large drops from the 2018 numbers.

Now, these affordability concerns are not unique to Avondale alone, and we like to put this into a little bit broader context using our national database.

The line chart that you see here actually displays the average ratings across a number of these affordability sentiment questions for every community community which has completed the NCS over the last 10 years.

The 2023 numbers are just being finalized now, but I can unfortunately assure you that these trends did continue last year as well.

But you can see here that some of these items, like the availability of affordable quality housing, the pink line have been declining for some time.

But others, like the cost of living, the availability of affordable quality food, and especially the availability of affordable quality child care, have shown really large declines post pandemic and since Avondale has last surveyed with us in 2018.

I don't think these numbers will come as a surprise to anybody here, as we've all been navigating very high inflationary times combined with increasing interest rates and really up until the turn of the new year, very, very low consumer sentiment about the overall health of our economy.

So although we do see declines in some of Avondale's ratings from 2018 in regards to affordability, many of them do relate to these broader trends.

This isn't to say that the city should or shouldn't address these affordability concerns, but hopefully this helps to place these ratings into a broader context by also taking into account the hundreds of other communities within our database who have surveyed with us over the last decade.

All right, our third key finding here, while residents generally feel safe in Avondale, some declining ratings in this area may indicate an opportunity for growth.

Overall feelings of safety continue to be a top priority for residents, with nearly all indicating that this was an essential or very important focus area.

Around eight in ten residents felt very or somewhat safe in their neighborhood during the day.

This was in line with comparison communities.

Additionally, six in ten positively evaluated their overall feelings of safety within the city, while nine in ten felt very or somewhat safe from fire, flood, or other natural disaster.

However, residents' feelings of safety in Avondale's downtown or commercial area from property crime and from violent crime did come in lower than benchmark comparisons.

Additionally, some of the safety services provided by the city did see statistically significant declines from 2018.

You can see them listed here on the slide.

Police sheriff services, EMS and ambulance services, fire services, and then finally emergency preparedness.

So although the top line feelings for safety continue to be in line with 2018, continue to be in line with communities from around the U.S., there are some of these service-related items that have shown decline and may require some further evaluation from the city.

And then finally, residents consider mobility to be a priority and do show some concern about traffic flow.

So over 80% of respondents stated that the overall quality of the transportation in Avondale was an important area of focus for the city.

And around six in 10 residents provided excellent or good reviews of the overall quality of Avondale's transportation system.

You can see here that's in line with other communities around the U.S.

Additionally, around 6 in 10 positively evaluated the ease of travel by car as well as the ease of public parking in the city, while just over half gave similar scores to the ease of walking and the ease of travel by bicycle.

However, traffic flow on major streets did receive positive reviews from just around one-third of respondents, coming in lower than national comparisons.

This concern about traffic flow does seem to align with the increased usage rates, actually, that we are seeing for alternative forms of transportation within Avondale.

Over one half of residents stated that they had carpooled with other adults instead of driving alone, and around two in ten residents reported that they had used public transportation instead of driving.

Each of these results were higher than the 2018 numbers.

Additionally, many of the ratings for services related to alternative transportation received ratings that were similar to the national benchmark, but showed some steady increases from 2018, and you can see them listed here.

The ease of travel by public transportation, bus and transit services, sidewalk maintenance, and street lighting.

So these are the four big takeaways again from our survey research team as well as our data science team that put this report together.

Key finding number one, Avondale residents experience a high quality of life and do appreciate many aspects of the city's leadership and governance.

Key finding number two, the economy is continues to be a top priority, but residents do show some concern about general affordability as well as their own economic outlook.

But residents do show some concern about general affordability as well as their own economic outlook.

Key finding number three, while residents generally feel safe in Avondale, there are some declining ratings in this area that may indicate an opportunity for growth.

And then fourth and finally, residents consider mobility to be a priority and show some concerns about traffic flow.

All right.

So with that, uh, I will catch my breath here and I will uh open this up to any questions you might have regarding the results that we just went through, the process by which we got them, or anything at all.

Uh thank you so much for your time.

Thank you for that.

I want to start off the conversation with a little bit of debate for council and see if you guys want to jump in.

I think it's the nature of surveys where people are less apt to fill out a survey than they were five years ago, ten years ago.

We see it in national polling on politics and on other issues.

When I look at 184 respondents out of a city of 93,000 people, and then an error rate of plus or minus 7%, I have concerns about that.

I have concerns about the truth in the participation.

Not the people who aren't participating aren't telling the truth, but it's a very small number of people.

And that's a concern for me that is what we're seeing the true general feeling of the population.

Now I will tell you there's things that when I look at economic economy results, when people feel less sure about the future of their finances and about the economy, I don't think that surprises anyone in the room.

When we talk about crime, I don't think that surprises anyone in the room when we hear about stories nationwide about crime and the increase of crime.

I think people look at that and they say, well, I see that in my community too.

Well, what are the true crime statistics that we report and how do those compare over the last five to ten years?

Also, affordability is something that we've been trying to deal with for years on this, and I can understand where people look at the economy and they look at Avondale, any growing community in the metropolitan area and say affordability is an issue.

When I looked at the results on other issues, parks and rec, um, other quality of life, shopping, things along that line, those results were higher.

And I'm wondering how do we look?

And I have to go back and look at other results, and I know they're better than 2018 or in line, but I just have concerns about the statistical number on this, and is it a true representation of the feeling of Avondale residents?

And I want to kick that around before we go any further.

Tina, any thoughts on this?

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for the presentation.

Well, I was concerned too about the low response rate.

Uh is that is that a low or is that an average rating from compared to other cities?

Mr.

Mayor Council, if we can let our consultant, I I already forgot his name, I'm sorry, Jason.

Could do you have a comment on the uh participation rate for the city of Avondale?

Yes, certainly, certainly.

I mean, the higher the participation rate, obviously, the better.

I would say 7% uh is on the lower end um of what we've been seeing.

Uh as you said, declining participation rates and surveys have been happening for the last 20 to 25 years.

Um so we we try to um adjust our our methods of outreach to reach as many people as possible.

Uh we do wait the results uh at the end.

Um so we do have you can see the waiting table early on in the report.

Um I believe it'll be on page four, uh, in order to try to take into account as many voices and make the results as representative of the actual makeup of Avondale residents.

But you are correct, the plus or minus 7% uh is the margin of error because our response rate was uh also uh 7%.

Thank you.

And I guess I would ask.

Thank you, Marcel.

I guess I would ask then, and Ron brought this up, the city manager, how does our response rate compare to cities?

You said 500 cities that you represent across the nation.

What is that response rate look like compared to them?

Yeah, so certainly post-pandemic, uh, the response rates well during the pandemic, they actually we actually saw them go up.

Uh everybody was home.

Uh they were reading their mail more closely.

Uh, they were willing to participate.

They had maybe more time uh on their hands.

But over the last five years, our average response rate is usually anywhere between 12 and 30 percent, depending on what the community is.

I would say I could look up the number for the average and get back to you, but um I would say I've had uh projects active right now that have been anywhere in the in that range uh usually.

But again, because we're utilizing the random sampling of residents, we are at a minimum able to provide the margin of error around all of these estimates because we utilize that that outreach method.

Okay.

Tina, I'm sorry.

Mike.

I just wanted to add on to this uh part of the conversation.

I would say that that actually compounds the issue of receiving the true data that we're looking for.

We're not even hitting 10%.

And I would say during that time of the year, most people aren't looking to respond to a survey, or at least that would be the least of their concern during that time of the year.

I would agree with that.

This weekend at the pool opening at the pool dedication, the aquatic center dedication, and Earth Month.

There was a gentleman out there doing a parks and rec survey.

Hands on, out there engaging with people.

And I'd like to kind of see how many people, when he's all done with that, to see what those what that survey participation looks like.

Now I understand in a very not everyone uses our parks and rec department.

Everyone in this survey is going to have some opinion on this because they've utilized our streets, they've utilized something in the city that they can respond to.

But I'm really I I again I agree.

Is it timing?

Is it something else that I call into question?

Not the work that your company has done, Jason.

Not your not the work you've done at all, but just I have to look at the validity of what the results are.

Gloria.

Yes.

I mean, we certainly do our best to attempt to work our way around the holiday season as much as possible.

Um our timeline got condensed uh at the end of the year for this effort, uh which is why we actually left the um survey open a little bit longer uh than usual.

We we took into account the last two weeks of the year as well.

Um I I would say uh that you you can trust the validity of the results, but the validity of the results has a plus or minus 7% margin of error.

Right.

So whenever you're usel utilizing randomized sampling, you're going to get a margin of error, and we know with 95% confidence that the true population parameter is plus or minus 7%.

But the problem with that is that's a pretty big spread.

We the higher the response number, the lower the margin of error.

So that's really our ultimate goal.

Increase as many responses as possible.

I I do think there are um other ways that we can we can go about this if we attempt to do this uh survey again.

Um we can we can try to utilize a blended method um, get out there with as much as we can uh in the open participation as well.

Uh we can expand the outreach.

Um but there are always certain communities.

I will say that our response rate in 2018 um was not much higher either.

So maybe this is just something we need to take into account uh before we before we push out uh another mailed survey effort like this.

Jason, thank you.

So I appreciate that feedback.

Thank you.

Glory?

Um I will have to say um personally myself, I work for a hotel and we used to send out surveys.

We recently stopped doing that uh three months ago because the response started completely everybody wants a survey for something, some type of service.

Sometimes you get asked three questions and you ask if you have a couple of minutes more to continue on.

So we've done away with that.

We have a different thing now that we use for all Hilton brands, but it's no longer that survey just because people weren't doing them anymore.

Once you've done one and you really don't see a change, or maybe it's something that you know it was too long to take, um, you just stop participating.

So I'm just wondering if we're really in the era of surveys still.

Do people still continuously want to continue taking surveys for every little service or everything they see?

We also don't know, you know, what our community is.

Maybe they get surveys for other things, and um I'd be really interested to see that parks and rec one, especially because we are out there basically touching point with people and physically engaging in that versus while they're at an event, versus I'm gonna send you a survey and I'm gonna hope that you fill it out and send it back to me, or you're just gonna press delete and move on.

Mr.

Mayor, if I can interject now that it's been said twice.

This will not be comparable to the parks and rec on purpose.

So one of the reasons we don't do that touch point uh survey for something like this is we want to confirm residency.

So your parks and rec survey will be about people who use our services regardless of the community they come from or where they're doing.

So we had the STEM event at the library and our consultant was out there and he said he filled up four boards before we ever got to the aquatic center with uh recommendations from the public.

But there's no connection to Avondale residents.

What we did here was we wanted to make sure that the survey came from people who lived within the city limits.

So it was a very particular, very different kind of survey than we've done with parks and rec.

If we decide, and that's the way it's been done in the past so that we can compare previous numbers.

So if if council would like to have us do something different, we can absolutely do that.

You heard from Jason and we can do that.

The other thing I uh I'll say is um I questioned the results less than what can I do better.

And so I've already had a conversation with our chief of police, and he's ready to explain some of our current trends that we know are are factual based on um the reports that they do.

We're already uh been working with economic development to see what we we can do.

So we figure that there's some truth in there, whether it's you know that number or not, we we don't know, but we can always do better.

So that's just so you know.

We agree with you the numbers are low.

Um so far it's been my experience with this community that the participation rate is lower than some other communities that I've uh been around.

Uh uh.

But I think it some of it has to go back to their trust in the elected leaders and our community leadership.

Um you just see less people um complaining than you do in other communities, and I so I think that that's a good sign.

So we took what we could get out of the survey and we're trying to be better.

So if you wanted to hear from any of our directors about uh about this, we'd be happy to to talk about any of that.

No, Mr.

Mayor.

I I think for me, I I I'd want to I don't want to do that tonight.

I I I I'd rather have a not a formal presentation, but a work session on this as we digest more of these results and look at some of the other communities nationwide.

I think it's impactful.

And and Jason, we just we just surveyed Avondale residents, correct?

We didn't survey business owners or visitors, correct?

That's correct.

So I think there's a bet I think there's a more complete picture out there.

When we talk to our business community, do you feel safe?

Do your businesses feel safe?

Do you hear complaints from your customers?

When visitors come to our hotels and they visit the sports center and they come for race weekends.

Do you feel safe?

How do you see Avondale?

And I don't want to put as much credence on visitors' opinions of our city as I do residents or business owners.

But how business owners feel about our community is a pretty good indication if they're recommending Avondil for few for other businesses, and are they looking to expand in Abadale with other things?

I mean, and I also look at this results and I say, did we drill down deeper on the questions?

Here's an example.

How do you feel about public safety?

Do you feel safe in your neighborhood?

If the answer is no, have you been a victim of crime?

And I don't know if that was a survey question.

Out of 184 responses, could people who say who have been a victim of crime but weren't asked that question, could they skew those results in a way that we're seeing today?

And again, I I don't know.

I'm not a I'm not a survey specialist.

I have a tendency to agree with the city manager.

We we hear fewer complaints than our counterparts in other cities.

I I would hope to think that that's us being successful and not apathy, but I also don't want to take that for granted.

So Curtis I think we've covered most of the things I was looking at.

The one uh we talked about not only the timing of the thing, I don't know how geography was into that.

I know down in my neighborhood, everybody's talking about more food uh shopping opportunities than they would on you know the other side of the ITAN up there.

That just one thing then with the top of it.

Mobility, I think we've addressed with We Ride and some of these others.

I mean, we've seen that in the past.

So there's some that we have have really addressed.

And I guess if we're the one that caught my attention was government.

Evidently, they're really pleased with what we we have done.

I don't know what how they participate in that.

I mean, you saw the the parents here tonight.

Uh that's one aspect of it, but they're pleased with what we are attempting to do or trying to do, or know who we are and what we're doing.

It's just some of these other areas and we may need to address like Ron said, and have each one of the staff look up and see what could we do a little bit with with more bill more mobility?

Well, we've done some aspects of that.

So I I think we need I think we need to point to their their um support of governance in a 70 percent, 71 percent.

Does that does that dichotomy between what we're seeing and the other results, affordability, crime, economy?

Does that mean that they look at those three issues and the lower scores on that is a federal and state issue and out of the control of local government?

Because you would think that if they're fear if they're feeling this way about these three crucial areas, that they would point fingers to local government and say, you people aren't doing enough to fix it, but that's not what we're seeing.

So I think that's another drill-down question.

When you're feeling anxious about the economy and affordability and crime, is it because of da-da-da?

And I think that that those kind of questions, and I know that could be end up being a really long survey.

But I think for council to base policy decisions and resource decisions and everything else going forward off a survey, I want to be pretty confident that what we're reading is a true benchmark of how the community is feeling.

And I and I do not want to minimize the 184 people who took time out of their day to fill this up.

I do not.

I just want to have more information on why they responded the way they did.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

And thank you so much, Mr.

Corbin.

Jason, I really enjoyed hearing the survey results.

I think in the debate format, I want to share with you highly concerned about 3,000 mail pieces.

I I just feel like that's a waste of paper.

I just I just do.

Especially since it's a random sample.

Um all the other things that have been said before, I feel bad I might have thrown it out myself.

So I I just I I think there's so many people who just don't read the mail anymore.

So as a digital city, I I challenge us to take another look at how we uh bite off at this in the future um with poll call because I I know Jason, you said there's 44 that must have been captured online and those results were separate, but we have to do something different.

I just was thinking, you know, we can validate residency with our utility billing, so maybe we can have a link that goes after you pay your bill.

Hey, check out the survey.

People who give us money actually want to talk to you.

And normally when I do something and I pay for something, if I hit a survey, I'll actually answer the questions because I have a monetary connection and like affection because I gave me money.

Um that's just my thought process for the debate.

Um I'm I'm happy that we have less complaints and and that we were considered as good governors, uh governance folks here.

Um it's it's wonderful working with each and every one of you and all the work that we do.

I think the community sees it.

Um where am I going to make my policy decisions off of this survey?

Because the 184 people they count.

Jason, there's a heat map you gave us with the T chart on there.

Can you can you go back to that slide for me, please?

Jason, did you get that?

Jason, did you get that?

I I'm sorry, was there a question?

I think I I didn't quite get you at the end there.

Sorry.

A little quiet.

Um, I I was saying that the the question is kind of how do we make policy decisions off of the results of this information?

I was just asking you to go to the T chart that you gave us, like a heat map of the issues that were um juxtaposed to what we're doing really well or things that people are concerned with.

I think high up um Yeah, it was that T chart that showed the green star in the bottom right corner and it had percentages.

Yeah.

Yes.

So we see that again.

That is really the first place to start uh if you're looking for that's where we we begin the process is if you're looking for positions or one of the ten facets to work on, it is certainly uh the chart on page uh eight.

Um so what you're seeing is the higher further right you go, the more Jason, I need to interrupt.

Can you put it back up on your screen?

Can you can you put that chart back up on your shared screen?

Yep, no problem.

Thank you.

Right now, Jason.

Oh, there we go.

Yeah, sorry about that.

We have to go a long way back here.

Oh, there we go.

Yes.

Uh so here we are.

So the further right you go, the higher the importance rating.

Uh so safety, I believe, was 97%.

Economy was 95.

Those are the highest two.

And then the further up you go in this chart, the higher the quality rating, so excellent or good uh percentage that was given to those scores.

So you can see the one in the bottom right uh is economy.

Jason, I'm sorry for interrupting again.

Um we're still not seeing that chart.

We're on the faucets of community livability.

Oh, I'm sorry, I'm seeing it here on slide.

You just missed it right there.

Perfect.

Thank you, sir.

Sorry for interrupting.

No, no, thank you for that's weird.

I was seeing it and you weren't.

Uh no big deal.

Uh, but you can see here again, you move to the right, higher importance, move up, higher quality.

Uh so anything in that that's below the median on either of those two measures is what we deem to be high importance, low quality.

Uh so again, here the item that's in that um uh uh zone uh is the economy.

Safety is just a little bit above the median, and quality health and wellness is a little bit above the mean.

Uh same with natural environment.

Uh so this is really a good place to start, I would say.

I I also think if you are interested uh in your in your um comparisons to other communities, that was something that was brought up in our post-survey kind of check-in call with the team.

Uh there is an excellent uh uh table of that starting on page 40, I believe, of the report.

Um excuse me, not 40, 34.

Uh that will actually show you the percent positive, your rank, how many communities you were compared against, and your percentile.

Uh so this is really uh I believe those two are really the meat and potatoes of the report.

Uh the quality importance matrix here, and then the national benchmarking.

And obviously the way you've changed over time is is important as well.

But these are really the two big ones, yes.

I don't know if that answered your question.

I I kind of got off on a side there.

Mr.

Mayor, uh Councilmember White, um, when you talk about policy, I can tell you looking at this uh T chart here, um your budget is made to address many of these issues.

So from my uh year and a half in the community, I do feel like safety has been a big priority for this council moving forward.

We've invested significant resources in both our police and fire departments.

So I think that um it is an area of significant concern uh for our community and we can do better in quality.

I do think we've been making improvements.

Same thing with mobility.

We have been putting our money where our mouth is, we've been investing in We Ride.

So I think that while the numbers of respondents may be incorrect, I do see a reflection of what I see from my bosses, the seven elected leaders, and from what I hear from the community.

So when I drive down Dysert, which I do uh twice a day, uh six or seven days a week at a minimum, um, we can improve our mobility, and we have our engineering team working on our intersections, working on our turn lanes.

When I drive down McDowell and get stuck through three changes of lights trying to get through 99th, our teams working on that.

So I I would argue that um that I don't know uh polling, but the results from what I see are areas that you guys have prioritized in the budget and that your staff continue to work on.

So with natural uh environment, uh we can do better.

You know, we put um a lot of money, uh I I believe it's 500,000 into the base meridian area next year to make improvements.

We continue to work on our events.

So I would would argue that that you are doing this.

You are working on this.

Now look at utilities and look at parks and rec already up there.

High importance, high quality.

Um you guys over the last several years have invested in our parks and recreation team, added parks to our facility, and this is showing.

We have one of the best water portfolios in the state.

We have a uh reliable uh utility system, water and wastewater, and I think that shows.

Um I came from a small community where you didn't take for granted that the water was gonna run every day.

And here you can, you know, assume the water is gonna run here every day.

So we have a lot going on here.

And so as a newbie, and you all have been in the community much longer than I have.

Um, this reflects what I have seen so far and what our priorities are for this next year's budget.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate you going back to this.

I think the health and wellness piece seeing that a little bit lower um in this T chart.

I just know that our investment in our health corridor is gonna probably make that come up on the high quality because it's it's growing in importance.

But I I appreciate this, and to me, this is kind of the slide I I I want to continue to govern off of.

When I when I when I look at this, and I think you're right on when I look at these type of charts, this tells me where our focus should be.

But again, there's questions in this.

When we look at utilities, do residents look at utilities as just Avondel water, or are they looking at utilities in general, whether they have APS or SRP or Southwest Gas?

Do rate hikes influence what they how they feel about utilities?

I when I look at education, arts and culture being the lowest for uh quality and for importance.

Do they understand our role when it comes to education in the city of Avondale?

Many of you who have gone out and campaigned or are campaigning, knock on doors and people say education is a huge deal for me.

What are you doing about education?

It's a hard answer to give because we don't control education in the city of Avondale.

I also when I look at this, Max, I look at this and I say, are residents looking at the complete jigsaw puzzle that's completed out of the box, right?

Are they looking at that picture and going, I don't like what I see?

Or are they looking at the jumble of pieces inside that box and saying, I don't like what I see, but they don't have a complete picture yet.

So again, I think that as we go forward, I I think we should continue doing surveys.

The format in which we do them, I think probably has to change.

But I think that's a discussion that council can have, and then also to have information on some of these lower scores, Chief, when we talk about crime.

What is the uniform cride statistics tell us out of the FBI for the last five years?

What if fire responses look like?

What do all these things look like?

So council can make more informed decisions on where those resources go.

And I'd rather hear from the experts, our directors, than base it off 184 responses where we're really not sure what where they came from, not where they came from, but what people were thinking.

So anything else, counsel.

Jason, thank you.

Yes, if you wouldn't mind, I I do just have one one response there when you asked about utilities.

I will say that in the utilities facet, we do try to break that down for you because this was a common response we had from people.

informed decisions on where those resources go and I'd rather hear from the experts our directors than base it off 184 responses where we're really not sure what where they came from not where they came from but what people were thinking so um anything else council jason thank you yes if you wouldn't mind i i do just have one one yeah response there when you asked about utilities i will say that in the utilities facet we do try to break that down for you because this was a common response we had from people uh could you tell us the difference between broadband versus drinking water versus stormwater management versus power services so as you dig in there you will find uh some of those uh individual breakouts uh but but you're totally right um we can certainly reassess on on how we deliver the survey we have a lot of different methods that we can try uh to reach out to to more avondale residents the next go around so I appreciate the feedback thank you so much no and thank you for being here tonight Pierre thank you for everything Torin right in your wheelhouse I'm guessing so all right council uh summary of current events any updates from council all right can I get a motion to adjourn I have a motion from councilmember condi a second from our vice mayor please vote past six zero thank you council thank you everyone be safe