Your interest in the Avondale City Council meeting.

Good evening, everyone.

I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of Monday, September 23rd, 2024.

Would you all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Cub Scout PAC 91?

And a moment of reflection, please.

Sir, whenever you're ready.

Again.

And I asked, I am going to ask someone from the troop if they're still here during unscheduled public appearances just to spend a couple minutes telling us what you guys do.

So if you want to have someone stick around, that would be great.

Very did.

You're good.

So thank you for that.

Marcella, do you mind?

Councilmember Conde?

Here.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Here.

Councilmember Solario.

Here.

Councilmember White?

Here.

Vice Mayor Paneda.

Here.

Mayor Weiss?

Here.

And Councilmember Malone has an excused absence tonight.

Thank you, Marcella.

Ron, item two A, please.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, Council, we have one employee introduction.

It's going to be Josh Perez, our code compliance manager, introducing one of his new employees.

Actually, she's not new.

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

I am proud to introduce Martha Ortiz as our newly promoted lead co-compliance officer.

Martha has dedicated over three decades of service to the city of Avondale, 27 specifically in code enforcement.

Additionally, she holds a prominent position on the board of directors for the Code Enforcement League of Arizona, a position that she's held for 15 years.

And she is also a proud alumni of Grand Canyon University, where she has obtained her bachelor's degree in public administration.

She also holds multiple certifications through the International Code Council.

In her leisure time, she enjoys spending time with her family, particularly here, great grand, her grandchildren.

And uh Martha's dedication, her leadership abilities, her experience, and her commitments to the residents of Avondale serve as a shining example, and she will be a wonderful asset to our co-compliance team.

Thank you.

So Martha, so tell me what the tell us what the new promotion is gonna involve and kind of give us some background on that.

On the promotion.

Yeah.

As far as well, you were just promoted.

How long ago were you promoted?

Oh, just recently, and it started uh as effective as September 16th.

Okay.

Um we were talking earlier.

I I said you've seen a lot of changes in the department.

Absolutely.

A lot of different councils.

Yes.

So your department went through, so code enforcement went through, go through all the changes to departments that you reported to to give this council an idea of those changes.

So at the time when I started code enforcement, we had one code officer under the fire department and one zoning enforcement officer, which I held, and then I applied one um under the fire department.

We got moved over under the fire department.

From there, we were there um probably I want to say about seven years, and then we were uh transferred under neighborhood and family services.

Um we were there for a very long time.

Um, and then we were uh moved over to development services for two years, and now we're under uh Office of Public Safety.

Wow.

Yeah, it's a lot of movement, a lot of different buildings, a lot of pieces.

We're glad you're with us, so thank you very much.

Thank you.

Ron Item 2B and 2C, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

The proclamation ovarian cancer awareness month is gonna be read by Councilmember Solario.

Whereas ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of death among women and the American Cancer Society estimates that in 2023, approximately 19,680 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and 12,740 individuals died from the disease nationwide.

And whereas the United States, a woman's lifetime risk of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer is about one in 87.

And whereas due to vague symptoms and the lag lack of reliable early detection tests, most women are not diagnosed until stage three or later, when the cancer has already begun to spread to the lymph nodes and outside of the pelvis.

And whereas although a five-year survival rate for stage one ovarian cancer is over 90%, only 15% of ovarian cancers are diagnosed at this early stage.

And the five-year survival rate for the late stage ovarian cancer is below 30%.

And whereas while a mammogram can detect breast cancer and a pap smear can detect cervical cancer, there is no reliable early detection test for ovarian cancer.

And whereas women's lives can be saved through increased public awareness of ovarian cancer and its risk factor signs and symptoms.

And whereas the city of Avondale joins all of those who are battling ovarian cancer, all of those who have lost their lives to this disease, their loved ones, our state's many dedicated health care workers in spreading awareness, committing to public education, and embracing hope for a better diagnosis, treatments, and a cure.

Now, therefore, mayor and the council of the city of Avondale, Arizona, do hereby proclaim September 2024 as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

In the city of Avondale, Arizona, we encourage all residents to observe Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and support the cause so deep that so deeply impacts many families in every community across our country.

Thank you for that.

Appreciate that.

Our next one is for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Whereas the U.S.

population is comprised of some 64 million people of Hispanic ancestry, making this population the largest minority in the United States.

And whereas each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month by celebrating the heritage, histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors hail from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

And whereas this observation began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon B.

Johnson and was expanded to a full month by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.

And whereas the starting date of the annual celebration, September 15th, is the anniversary of independence of the Latin American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and is followed by the independence days of Mexico and Chile.

And whereas 2024's Hispanic Heritage Month is theme, is pioneers of change, shaping the future together.

And whereas the cultural, educational, economic, and political influences of Hispanic residents can be appreciated in all aspects of our life, from farm workers organizing for housing and equal wages to incredible gifted artists to vibrant businesses to music and community festivals.

And whereas the City of Avondale recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month as an opportunity for Avondale residents to celebrate our freedom, our diversity, and to build upon our tradition of embracing people of all cultures.

And now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Avondale, Arizona, do hereby proclaim September 15th, 2024 through October 15th, 2024 as Hispanic Heritage Month, and encourage all residents to join us in recognition of the impact Hispanic Heritage has on Avondale's history and culture.

Thank you all.

Thank you, Mayor.

We have not received any requests to speak.

Can I ask uh Cub Scouts to come out and just give us uh just a few minutes of kind of what the scouts are involved with, kind of what they're doing now?

That would be great.

Please, right at the podium where the green lights at.

You're do it's great.

Um we are Pac 91, we're sponsored with the American.

Um we're PAC 91, we're sponsored by American Legion Post 61 here in Avondale.

Um there are sponsors, so they sponsor both us as a PAC and they sponsor a troupe of boys.

Um we do various things around the community.

We try to schedule at least two uh meet and greets, like city council last year we went to the Avondale Police Department.

Um we're gonna schedule a firefighter station visit or meet and greet.

We go camping twice a year, we participate in as many of the council, not the council, the community events.

So you'll see us at Kids Fest, um, hopefully the Billmore days.

Um you'll see us, well, we met Councilmember Tina Khand at the Memorial Day event.

Um, and our scouts work on various activities through the year, whether they're math, STEM, outdoor leadership, citizenship.

How many kids are in the troupe right now?

Um in our pack, we have 12 scouts right now.

Wow.

And about four additional siblings.

And our troupe has about twelve scouts as well.

Good.

We're glad that they could do that.

Hopefully they enjoyed it.

So thank you so much for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Item number four is consent agenda.

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

Yes.

Councilmember White?

Item number item letter G.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Okay, that being noted, can I get a um motion for consent agenda minus G?

Second.

I have a motion from Councilmember Solario, a second from Councilmember White.

Marcella.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Thank you.

Passes 6-0.

Councilmember White.

Hi, Mayor.

I was really excited to see that we will be accepting assistance from the Department of Energy.

And I wanted to make sure we understood what that acceptance of grant funding means and what it will be used for.

And I believe we have a presentation that will be coming to us from Kurt Steve.

Thank you so much, Kirk, for being here, and welcome, Kimberly.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Tonight, myself and our sustainability officer Kimberly Emerson.

We're going to discuss the Avondale's use of the energy efficiency and conservation block grant funding, which is comes in the form of technical assistance from the Department of Energy.

So the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Block Grant Program or EECBG is a federal program established through the bipartisan infrastructure law, and it's allocated $550 million nationwide to support support local energy initiatives.

Funding from this funding objectives from this is to implement strategies to reduce energy consumption, cut fossil fuel emissions, and also improve overall energy efficiency.

City of Avondale was allocated just over 138,000 through the EC EECBG funding formula.

It's a uh no match fund required.

So purely just money coming to this coming, not necessarily to the city, but through a uh voucher program that we'll talk about in a moment.

And so this presents a tangible opportunity for us to advance our city's city's energy efficiency efforts today.

Um the two of us are going to walk you through a little bit about what that means going forward.

So the Department of Energy offered two ways to get this to get this funding.

One is through a traditional grant, and uh the other was through the voucher.

As I mentioned, the voucher is recommended for agencies that are receiving less than 250,000.

Um with the voucher, it requires less administrative effort on our part as a city to monitor that.

Um what we're gonna do with that is um is is uh utilize technical assistance provided by the Department of Energy to evaluate our energy efficiency in our buildings and um possible improvements.

So that's kind of the background of how or what.

Um I'm gonna turn it over to Kim to talk a little bit about why and how this ties into our city sustainability plan.

Thank you, Kirk.

So uh as we began our evaluation uh with this opportunity, uh looking at goals outlined in Avondale's community sustainability plan.

Um as you can see on the slide, we have um set some pretty ambitious targets for renewable energy and emissions reduction.

So to support our sustainability plan, we've established two key targets in the uh community sustainability plan for our city operations.

80% renewable energy uh for city operations by 2035, and reaching 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions within city operations by 2030.

And the overarching goal for this sector of the sustainability plan is to achieve 90% renewable energy citywide by 2050.

With that, um the City of Avondale also completed a municipal sustainability plan in 2014 and some of the energy efficiency targets identified in that plan are identifying energy efficiency um retrofit opportunities for buildings and equipment, as well as reducing office building energy use by 10% by 2025.

Um so we have some goals to hit.

That's why we chose to go for this um opportunity.

So moving into the grant project, we identified this strategic opportunity to use the EECBG grant to get technical assistance, which will focus on two critical areas: municipal energy efficiency and mean planning and municipal renewable energy planning.

So first we want to evaluate our municipal buildings' current energy efficiencies.

And this serves two purposes.

It gives us a pulse check on where we currently are, and it also provides us with insights on what we can address to be more efficient.

So this is an approach that's essential moving forward because energy efficiency is more important to get ahead of.

We want to understand where we're at as we look into investing in renewable energy sources later on.

This ensures that we're not wasting money and we're not wasting energy down the line.

So some of these initiatives have the potential to generate significant utility costs savings for our city investing in energy efficiency and renewable planning.

Now we're going to be setting ourselves up for success long term.

So to achieve this, um our technical assistance application.

Um we've identified some sites to be evaluated.

Um those include 20 city-owned buildings, 26 city well and booster sites, and eight city parks.

So our proposed grant project focuses on those technical assistance uh to help us conduct thorough energy audits of our municipal buildings, develop a comprehensive energy efficiency plan, and create a strategy for integrating renewable energy sources in the future.

Um the Department of Energy will be responsible for selecting the technical assistance contractor, um and they will be the ones providing the evaluation.

So uh in our application, we've included many proposed deliverables that we're asking for this contractor, most of which are summarized here on this slide.

Uh the Department of Energy is currently in the process of selecting a technical assistance administrator who will be overseeing the selection of these contractors.

Uh they have not given us an exact date, but we're expected to hear about uh when the administrator is coming on board uh in the fall.

So should be coming up soon.

At this time, we don't know if we'll have enough funding to complete all of the um deliverables and sites that we've outlined.

So we'll be asking the technical assistance contractor to focus first on energy efficiency audits and planning, and then with the remaining funds, we will then focus on renewable energy evaluation and strategy development.

So the technical assistance deliverables being developed also include development of implementation plan and a multi-year implementation schedule to execute the recommended efficiency and upgrades, and it'll also prioritize projects based on factors such as energy savings potential, cost effectiveness, and while also taking into consideration our target time frames in the sustainability plan.

We're also requesting a uh cost analysis, which includes a return on investment.

Um some information on that so we can uh use that to help make decisions, prioritize what improvements we would we would make if we move forward.

And then another deliverable we've asked for is uh identification of potential funding sources, whether it be grants, um incentives or other financing options to implement the recommendations that are set forth in this in the study.

So, should council approve the acceptance of the program tonight, we'll be waiting for the Department of Energy to get their technical assistance administrator assigned, and then uh once that happens, we'll be meeting with them and moving forward with the program.

And Kim and I are available to answer questions, and I also want to recognize Catrice Swenson.

She was actually the one to put together this package quite a while ago.

So kudos to her for getting us a good package that was able to be awarded.

So thank you.

So I guess when I look at this and I look at our previous sustainability plans and our and our target goals then.

Um fuel efficient fuel efficiency in our fleet plays a huge role in that.

Uh when you talk about reducing carbon emissions by 2050 by was it what was the number?

Yes.

80%?

Yeah.

So what role does the changeover from ice vehicles to battery powered play in that?

And then when I look at the buildings that you're looking at targeting, those are large buildings.

So solar is going to play a part in that.

And with the cost of solar panels now being really low, does it make sense for for us to move faster on this than slower?

I know you have to get the technical advisor on board.

But kind of give us some idea how how changing out the fleet impacts the goals that you've set forth.

Sure.

Okay.

Um so I'm looking at our 2020 municipal greenhouse gas emissions um report that's in the sustainability plan.

And I do see that uh vehicle fleet is 15% of that pie.

Um the electricity grid is 50% of that pie.

Um so as far as vehicle fleet, we're definitely looking into the future and seeing what's available for um, you know, swapping out, looking at it strategically to see what fleet operate uh vehicles are available in the market and uh make the most sense as far as operational um impact as well.

Um so that's something that we have been recently looking at.

Uh we did our fleet assessment study recently, um, and part of that was kind of looking at what type of vehicles would be most impactful for the city.

So it's something that's on our radar as well.

Um I don't know with this specific funding opportunity how that would tie in, but it is something that is on our watch list.

And my last question is when we did this in 2020, uh, battery technology is it wasn't nearly where it is today.

And we've seen uh the uh Sierra Estrella battery facility in the southern part of the city.

Where does this plan play into battery storage?

And will we look for a private institution utility for battery storage, or will the city invest in battery storage at some point in the future?

Because you've got to be able to capture the solar and the wind at some point.

What does that look like?

And will that be an update in the future for this council?

I think that this uh funding opportunity is a great opportunity to kind of get those answers in the future.

Um I don't know what that looks like at this time, but um I think that this would be the perfect opportunity to have the technical assistance available to really give us those answers uh moving forward.

And and I look at this as an issue that can be a regional issue.

So we could work with other municipalities on this for storage and and work that way instead of trying to go it alone, because I think that makes a lot of sense.

But again, the technical advisor, my hope is that they're on board by the fall of 24, but we're in the fall of 24.

And the longer they delay, the longer this program gets delayed.

So Max, any thoughts on this?

Thank you so much.

Awesome presentation.

I think um what I was look looking at at through the presentation, and we talked about the goals.

I forgot what slide the goals were on.

Um it probably reflected the 2022 sustainability plan.

Um do we know what percentage of goal we're at right now?

I know these goals might have been set uh and I might be mistaken.

They started setting we started setting goals 14.

Um how how are we looking as we shift over?

Um so thank you for the question.

Uh I think that since the municipal sustainability plan was put in place, the um community sustainability plan was the next um kind of audit that they did, and that was still a few years ago, 2020 was the baseline, so that's four years ago.

Um so that's also why this grant is essential, is it will give us a clearer look and it'll be an indicator of where we're at now.

Um because you know, years go by and things change.

So this will be a the perfect opportunity to get those answers for you so we can really identify where we're at and what we need to do moving forward.

Thank you.

I know um my original employer taught me um what measure gets attended to.

So I'm just looking at the fact you want to do an energy audit, which sounds like something we would probably want to make a routine.

What is an energy audit look like?

And is that something that we could um house internally for going forward, uh thinking that we have a strong internal audit process, um, even if that's an audit and I'll speak and then you can answer, even if that's an audit that we would have to kind of for lack of better terms contract out because you know, our auditor audits we need to look at that ongoing.

Is that something that this will this um this funding will help us see?

One, we'll do that energy audit, and then two, we can set up a cadence on when we will continue that process in perpetuity.

Um yeah, so I think that um this is an opportunity that will not only provide us with updates now, but it'll be a good opportunity for me as well to walk with the contractor and understand what the process is, what they are doing.

Um yeah, so I think that um this is an opportunity that will not only provide us with updates now, but it'll be a good opportunity for me as well to walk with the contractor and understand what the process is, what they are doing, um, and then that way we can kind of take the framework and really take the blueprint of what this opportunity is going to provide, the technical assistance.

It pr it in includes uh physical hands-on walkthroughs of the building.

So I will be with them as well during that process.

So I'll really get an understanding of what our contractors are doing, and we'll be providing some information for them as well.

Um so this will be a learning opportunity for the sustainability division as well to um see what the process is moving forward and how we can replicate that and get those contractors um moving forward to get a semi-annual or or whatever that looks like, um, more frequent audits of our our facilities.

Uh, my final uh question or inquiries in regards to our kind of private partner uh liaisons that we have with our energy providers.

Uh I know that CAP provides water in the valley, but here in Avondale, I believe we rely on APS and SRP.

Will we go back out with our findings and share that with those energy providers?

Um if I heard the question correctly, um were you asking if we are going to be working with our utilities?

Yes.

Yes, yeah.

So they will be a part of the process too.

Um, as we are collecting data to give to the contractor, we'll be working with the uh utility companies to acquire some of that information.

So they will be also working with us on this process.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

And Max, our APS liaison is going to change over the next couple months.

So as we get more information and is that they bring someone on board.

I know they'll reach out to us, but yeah.

Council, anyone else?

Curtis?

Just make a comment.

Uh and this is coming from someplace else, okay.

Last year I was in England, and the tour guy that was with us was talking about shade covers, tree covers, whatever that is.

And they were talking about their throughout England, they've got a six percent or seven percent, and they're shooting for 10 or 12 percent to help with their CO2 recovery, not recovery, but uh exchange and whatever it might be.

All of this I see here has to do with buildings and things right there.

Is there any thought to look in what our shade cover is right now?

We've got parks and everything else where we could put additional trees at one time.

We were a national tree city at once.

Maybe something just gave us a thumbs up, so we are okay.

So we still are, but we need to continue to look at that.

And I mean, that's a simple thing.

You go out and plant the trees, and that takes more of the sustainability for the community and the region as the mayor was talking about.

So maybe just some thought as to what we've got as a shade cover today in Avondale, and is there a possibility of increasing that and how that would impact or work with your sustainability and reduction of some of that energy.

Yeah, thank you, Councilman.

Um that is a great opportunity.

I honestly love um increasing shade canopy, especially in the form of trees because who doesn't like planting trees?

It's it's a great activity and it's a great opportunity to get the community involved as well.

Um we actually do some tree planting events uh for Earth Day, and we like to get the community involved with that.

Um so that's something that is an ongoing effort.

Uh we do have a tree equity analyzing uh model that was released to the Maricopa County, and that's something that it takes a look at the city, and it's by parcel will show what the tree canopy coverage percentage is.

Um, and that's something that we've utilized in um our strategic efforts on identifying where we're gonna be placing these trees.

So we identify neighborhoods and parks and areas that may be in some disadvantaged areas, and they have less trees, which means higher heat um and more energy use as well to cool their homes.

So that is something that we take into consideration and we're looking to expand.

Um, and I think to your point as well, with um going back to our utility providers.

I know like uh SRP has some tree, um, I don't know the actual word of the program, but the uh tree canopy loaning, they give out trees to the community.

Um, and that is specifically to provide shade to homes.

Um, we're gonna be hosting the drop-off location coming up um next month, I believe.

So we are definitely thinking of that and thinking of shading this area a bit more.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate that.

Thank you.

You get you have to go through an educational process.

I think you get two trees.

I think it's a week long pro son-in-law just did this, and he was so excited to get his trees.

But I think I think when you talk about that, and I think you bring up a great point.

If we can have nature help with this, and we do it in our parks, we do it along the roadways.

We did it at Festival Fields for Earth Day, which I think was amazing.

But I think getting those trees, especially when we talk about historic Avondale.

And if you drive down Historic Avonville, a lot of the homes just don't have trees.

Sometimes they because they don't have irrigation for it.

Water is expensive to water the trees.

So I think you have to look at it holistically, especially in when you talk about underserved areas.

And how do we help you achieve what we're trying to achieve?

So I I won't be on council when we get the next update, but I'm really excited about what you guys are doing on this.

So congratulations.

Thank you.

Max, do you mind making the motion on this?

Yes, I move.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Vice Mayor.

I just thought I just had a quick question.

Um, is this a uh an annual grant?

Does this come up often?

Is this the first time that we've been awarded the grants?

Um I I only ask because moving forward as a result of what is uh discovered or uncovered as as part of this audit.

I saw that uh you could be utilized in terms of technical technical assistance as well as uh equipment.

Um not on the slide, so I I I would be misquoting it.

Uh but if we were to apply, let's say next year, or is the opportunity there to apply next year for additional funds to then uh react to some of those things that have been discovered or uncovered during the grant audit process, I should say.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor Pineda.

Um for the record, Catrice Swenson, senior management analyst, public works.

Um, this is not an annual opportunity.

This is a one-time through formula funding.

It was basically an earmark for the city.

Um, but we are definitely keyed in to looking to future opportunities.

Um, we're also asking the technical administrator to look into those funding opportunities.

So hopefully we come away with some opportunities to directly apply for those funding through what they provide for us.

So unfortunately, this one is the one time, but there's definitely a lot of funding out there right now, and and we are looking to go after it.

Thank you.

I mean anything they can help out, how about the uh the uh the audit process and to get some of those things that we learn uh you know fixed, retrofitted, whatever it may be.

It'd be nice to be able to do it with some funding.

So that's why I ask.

Thank you.

We're sitting here making promises for Joel's team, but I'm Joel, it'll be okay, trust me.

Trust me.

Max, you don't want to make the motion?

I move to A adopt resolution one zero nine eight-0924 authorizing technical assistance acceptance from the Department of Energy in the amount of 138, 310,000.

B authorize and direct staff to take all steps necessary to cause the execution of the agreement and take all steps necessary to carry out the purpose and intent of this resolution, and C authorize mayor or city manager, city attorney, and city clerk to execute the necessary documents.

I have a uh motion from Councilmember White, a second for Councilmember Nielsen, Marcella.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll do a roll call vote.

Councilmember Condi.

Aye, Councilmember Nielsen.

Hi.

Councilmember Solario.

Councilmember White.

I'm Keneela.

Aye.

Mayor Weiss.

Aye.

Thank you, Council passes 6-0.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Council up next, we have a presentation by our chief of police and Lieutenant Alt.

Um, they're going to talk about our police department's response to loud noise calls for service.

1700 calls.

My name is uh Lieutenant Thomas Hall.

I'm one of our patrol lieutenants currently assigned to our case.

And I was like, LT, is that why you have it?

There you go.

Technical difficulties.

I'll start over.

Good morning, or sorry, good evening.

Good evening, my mayor, vice mayor, council members.

My name is Lieutenant Thomas Salt.

I am uh one of our patrol lieutenants currently assigned to our day shift in Litchville Park.

Uh this evening, uh I've uh come to present the department's response to loud noise or loud party calls for service.

Um the uh loud noise calls for service warnings versus citations, what they look like, and we're going to review some stats from the years.

To us, a loud noise disturbance call for service is a loud party, loud music, loud noises coming from a residence.

This does not include animal noise as that comes in or is generated as a different type of call for service.

And so what is an initial response process look like?

The dispatch will receive a call for service, which our officers are dispatched to.

This call for service can be initiated by an anonymous person, a resident, just about anybody that would call to make that complaint.

And so officers will have addresses that they can respond to, or sometimes it's just a location example would be like 107th and McDowell loud noise.

And so officers will respond to these calls for service.

A lot of times without an exact location, but what they are doing is they're looking to determine in their investigation what is that loud noise.

Is it uh what time of day is it?

How many callers have we had on this particular uh call, how loud is the noise, how far can it be heard from?

Is this a repeat offense?

And so in those situations where officers do have an address, they are able to look up a history of a residence to see if there were previous noise complaints made.

Um, but ultimately what they're trying to determine is is what they're being dispatched to reasonable.

And so for us, uh, what is a warning versus citation look like?

And so when officers respond to a call, their first step is to identify who the responsible party is uh for making the noise if they deem that there was some type of loud noise.

Uh what a loud noise example that I will give is let's say you go to a neighborhood and there's a loud party, live ban, it can be heard from like five, six houses away or a whole nother neighborhood away.

That would be something where we would say, hey, this is unreasonable.

Maybe it's super late at night, one, two o'clock in the morning, and you can hear, you know, just the thumping of the noise.

And so they'll try to determine who that responsible person is for making that noise.

And our policy, uh, the first contact would be giving the person a warning.

Uh, we want to educate our citizens.

A lot of our calls for service, this may be a first time somebody has ever met the police or a first time that we've been called for a noise in this particular occasion.

So we want to educate our citizens and make sure they understand that they could be cited under a disorderly conduct statute through the Arizona Rise statutes or our city code uh for a noise violation.

If there are subsequent calls for service, um, or maybe this is a situation where uh there is a warranted citation right from the get-go, which I'll give you an example in a second, or um it's a house that is a continuous problem.

Officers uh can cite the uh the violator or the responsible party for uh either one of those disorderly conduct or the city's city code for the noise disturbance.

And so an example of something that would be, you know, where an officer would respond and would write a citation right away would be you know, it's a very large house party with three, four hundred plus people, it's causing a disturbance to the neighborhood, there's cars parked everywhere, people can't get to their homes, there's trash.

You know, that has created chaos for that particular neighborhood, and something that an officer would try to handle or find that responsible party for that noise that night so that we can make it cease to continue.

And so for the fiscal year 2023, um, the Avondale Police Department responded to 1,691 loud noise calls for service.

Out of those loud noise calls for service, officers took 879 police reports where 11 citizens were cited for uh the noise violation.

Uh out of 809 calls for service, noise was either not located, uh we referred that call to another agency as it was in their jurisdiction, or the call was canceled prior to us uh arriving on scene.

And so for fiscal year 2024, we did see a reduction in noise complaints.

We did take 1,626 loud calls.

Uh we did write or we took 876 police reports where 19 citizens were cited for that noise violation.

743 of those calls for service officers were unable to locate any noise.

We referred it to another agency due to it being a different jurisdiction, um, or the call was canceled.

And so I'd like to kind of move into what does that look for our citizens?

Uh so show a graph on days, days of the week.

As you can see, based on the graph on the days of the week, it's no surprise Saturdays and Sundays are the days where we get all of our calls for service.

And so this looks at fiscal year 2024 out of those 1629 calls for service, you can see Sundays and Saturdays are a high call value.

And what we attribute that to is most citizens have their days off on Saturdays and Sundays, most of the family get togethers, that type of stuff occurs over people's weekends.

And so what does that look like for just your day?

Well, hours of the week, you can see that most people are in you know working or out and about running errands, going to Costco, that type of stuff during the day.

So you don't start to see that spike in noise complaints until around eight o'clock at night, and then it slowly graduates up till it starts to uh dissipate two, three in the morning.

Typically that'd be when most people would be you know laying their heads to rest, um going to sleep, that type of stuff.

So we would see that.

And so noise complaints, like I said, I wanted to kind of show a comparison real quick to council, what uh you can see the different types of noise that the uh department responds to and the other categories, which would be animal noise, ATC disturbance, which is gonna be your off-road vehicles, ATVs, river bottom type stuff, shots fired, call for service, and then fireworks.

Um but we are well, I am here tonight presenting the uh the loud noise uh service calls and kind of just wanted to show council what that looked like compared to those other types of uh calls that we do respond to.

And so with that, I'd like to open it up to any questions.

So many years ago when Chief Parkin was here, we had this discussion, and it was a discussion of loud noises and animal dog barking.

And I know that's gonna be a different discussion sometime in the future.

Um I think that was probably the last time that council discussed this issue.

And I and I think for me I I think there's I guess what I would want to know is how do how do residents help you more, your team more when they respond to calls?

So obviously having having specific addresses where this is happening, but how does this council help you do your job more effectively?

Does that mean permitting if someone wants to have they're gonna have a birthday party and they're gonna have a band or they're gonna have a DJ?

Does having the city put some kind of permitting process in place where that resident would come in and whatever that looked like for approval from their neighbors, time of hours of the day, whatever that looked like, and have a fee associated with that.

So if there was a violation, the city would capture that fee.

We'd also have a record of where the party's playing or parties happening that would allow officers to go out there and have a more specific area.

Those are kind of things I'm looking at council to see if this is something the council has an appetite for to go with uh in the future.

So anyone I don't necessarily think that we need to do a special license for it, but if you guys have any ideas on how we can be more helpful to you or anything, whether maybe you guys are already working on something because I feel like once we start getting into licensing, and I may be wrong, but it starts opening up the door to other things potentially.

I don't know, I I don't know.

Yeah, Mr.

Mayor and and counsel uh Vice Mayor and Councilmember Solar, thank you.

Um not a fan of the uh permitting.

We have uh enough um difficulty doing a great job with our big events with our special events permitting.

So at least let me get that fixed before we add other permits.

But um, we did ask that question during practice, and so I'm sure Chief and Lou Lieutenant might have something to say.

Mayor, Bis Mayor, Councilmember Solorial.

I agree.

Uh the uh permitting process would complicate things for us.

I believe that uh our policy, our uh ordnance or city ordinance in our state statute uh is sufficient.

As you can tell, and to uh for fiscal year 2024, we cited 11 people.

Uh that is not a lot.

Our experience, and uh I'll let uh Lieutenant Alt uh give his experience, but my experience has been that uh the majority of the people, once you warn them, they understand and they shut off the music, they turn it down or or whatnot.

So they're they're willing to work with us.

Those 11 people are the exception.

Thank you so much.

Um Chief and Lieutenant for the presentation.

Can we go back to the comparison slide, please?

Yes.

I see the uptick um in shots fired calls for service.

Um and fireworks call for service.

That just I mean, of course, in all areas, those two just seemed more alarming to me.

Of course, it looks like um the off-road vehicles are also a concern.

What are we doing to kind of drive that down?

Um is question one.

Question two, with shots fired, are uh are those normally tied to like criminal outcomes, so they might not be cited for the the shots fired, they might get cited for a whole nother crime.

So we kind of respond to the shots fired, but something else really happened.

Um, and then uh what was our success with the fireworks call?

I'll let you respond.

Mayor, vice mayor, councilmember white.

So I I don't have the details on fireworks or shots fired as I was prepared for loud noise this evening.

Um I I I can gather that and present it to you at another time.

Um as for the question regarding shots fired, if if we did run into something along those lines, that would be you know a different offense than a noise disturbance, so it wouldn't be captured under that noise.

We're not gonna cite somebody for the noise on under that.

Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, uh Councilmember White, uh if I have the chief respond, as you know, um that the police department's been working on a river detail that we hope is addressing some of that.

We do get a lot of calls for the uh ATCs uh shots fired um from that area, so we have been working on that.

And the uptick in the fireworks calls is probably a result of the effort the city's been doing over the last couple of years to educate people to call it in.

So that's really our fault for the higher numbers and be more effective.

But I'll let uh Chief talk a little about the the increase in what we're doing.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember White.

Uh yes, uh so one of the things that we would have to do is separate the uh those calls for service by citizen generated calls for service and officer generated calls or service.

What I mean by that is a citizen generated calls for service, somebody calling us to report that hey uh I'm listening, I'm hearing fireworks uh being my neighbors shooting fireworks or whatnot.

An officer initiated call for service would be that the officer is out and about with the special details that we have for the fireworks, for the river bottom details, and they proactively come in contact with uh situation.

So we generate more calls for service.

So just because you see more calls for service, it doesn't mean that the numbers are uh increasing.

It could also mean that our staff is out and about recognizing the the concerns.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate the data that you presented.

Anytime I see numbers, I guess they they question I question them.

But I want to acknowledge that the drive down and loud noise calls for service.

That that number's been driven down, and I think that's probably what you're probably showing us here and how important that is.

So um with the issues that we're looking at in the city, it seems like we are helpful as a council driving that down.

I I guess incrementally, that's something that um we probably need some help with the other areas as well.

So before we have a presentation, I guess we might want to take that offline, give us some guidance on what we can do to help drive those other areas down in the same fashion.

Great job.

Max, thank you.

Curtis Chief, I just have one question.

If the difference between a warning and a citation, I have a n had a neighbor.

I think they got cited so many times they've moved out.

But if we call like at 6 p.m.

or something because of noise or whatever, or 8 p.m.

or something like that.

You come and investigate that at six eight p.m., nine p.m.

And then by 11, 12, they're still going.

And another officer from somebody else on the other side of me calls.

Is that second one a citation or is it a warning of how to in the same eight-hour period or something like that?

Because it's just so much noise and it goes on until two o'clock in the morning.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember Nielsen.

So our officers' practice is when they respond to a call and they make contact with that responsible party, they should be docked because they're making contact with a person, they should be documenting that under what we call as a field card.

And so it should have all that information to help assist other officers in say a different beat officer ends up coming for an additional call, and they can see that hey, this person was already warned at that time.

And then that officer, if that noise is still raised up when they arrived on scene or or is deemed unreasonable by that second officer, then they should be writing that citation.

Okay, thank you.

The other is just a comment on maybe outreach.

I know again, some of my neighbors were afraid to call.

We've given them out, you know, the non-emergency number in the past.

But I know the big billboard down there, uh Littleton corner right there, they have one of the things that flip around there with the non-emergency number.

I don't know, Ron, if we do that on ours, you know, for for the 4th of July and then New Year's.

Just the numbers available so people can call and yes, that you're gonna get more calls, but at least they then may feel a little bit more comfortable to do it because the numbers right there.

Mayor, vice mayor, count uh council and uh council member Nielsen.

Uh that's one question that I'm asked uh on a regular basis, uh, or when I'm talking to residents are like, hey, we're dealing with this, it's a minor issue.

I don't want to bother the police.

We tell our residents bother us.

That's why we're here.

We are here not only to address, you know, protect not only to protect and serve, but also to improve the quality of life of our residents.

You're not bothering us.

This is our job.

If someone's has a loud party, we'll be more than happy to go and educate that person having that party.

Thank you.

Thanks, Chris.

Tina.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for the presentation.

I have a question because I've seen people reference their Z quiet time.

So is there specific hours like say I know a property management?

We ask folks to turn the music down after 9 and before 7 a.m.

Is that something that we have in our in our city?

So mayor, vice mayor, council member Connie.

So this the city does not have a specific time limit.

There are times for like construction.

But regarding like loud parties, if somebody was calling at noon saying, hey, my neighbor is having an entire band over and it's you know causing me issues with sleeping, that would be something that we would take case by case.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you.

Not no question, just more of a comment because I appreciated uh what Lieutenant Alt mentioned in regards to the potential that it may be the first time you've ever interacted with the resident.

And if their first time is with an officer who is there and has intention of providing education, then it just provides that ultimate customer service experience.

And so I just caught you, I just caught that comment.

I just wanted to make sure that I uh acknowledged that uh I heard that and it sounds like it's intentional.

And I I would believe that for our residents, even in a situation like this, who aren't aware, uh, the simple fact of an officer being there and uh and instead of making the the situation worse or intense is really there just to educate, and I think uh our community is is best served that way.

So I just I appreciated that that comment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

You know, I'm not a big fan of the permitting process.

My my thought on that is does it make your job easier to identify a home?

Um when I when I looked at the numbers from 2024, and there was 19 citations issued, I think was the number.

My initial response is wow, that's really low for 1626 calls.

But then you put it into perspective and say we didn't, those are the 19 who were the bad actors who are the ones that really had to be fine.

The other people were cooperative in their response.

I think the education process plays an important role in that because we have so many new residents that are coming in, and you don't want to drop the hammer on residents, you want to educate them, you want them to understand because maybe they came from different communities that didn't have the same rules that we do.

I would be interested going forward on uh follow-up information on the last four parts of this of this chart as and give that update on council.

And I think council could probably do it all at one time gunshots, fireworks, just get a little bit more explanation on that.

But I yeah, I I I think for the we have we have a neighbor who lives two doors down, and they came from an area outside of LA, and they talk about how quiet Avendale is.

They can sit in their backyard and it's quiet.

And they don't hear a lot of the things that they heard back then back there.

And I think that's a testament to who we are as a community.

I think that people genuinely care about the community and they want to be good neighbors.

So thank you for all the work that you guys do in this for compiling all this data.

It's it's impressive.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Summary of current events.

Um, I would like to just note two things.

One is uh economic development sent out an email last week uh through the city manager, and it talked about something that kind of goes unnoticed, and that is median household income for the city.

And in 2021, that number was are we okay, Lisa?

All right, I saw make sure.

Um that number was 69K, and in 2024, that number is almost 91,000 median household income.

The other part that's important that I think you look at is um college graduation rates, whether that's an associate, an undergrad, or a grad.

And for many years at hovered in the low 20s, and that number right now is above 30 percent.

And I think that's a testament to efforts on from council, but also from leadership and bringing in new dropper opportunities for residents and really pushing what we do through a Straight Mountain Community College and what we do through the schools.

We have a mayor and superintendents update along with the city manager every quarter with school districts, and I will tell you it has been really effective.

So it was just something I wanted to point out.

Those numbers allow us to track a different level of people who are coming in and investing in our city when it comes to retail and commercial.

So they look at those numbers and they go, okay, you guys are now in a different category.

So I think those numbers are significant.

I would encourage council to keep your eye on those numbers over the over the next couple years and see where they're at.

Anything for you?

Anyone?

Can I oh sorry, Max?

Uh thank you so much, Mayor.

I just wanted to share that I had the opportunity on um Friday, September 13th, to attend um the Black Excellence um luncheon hosted by Dr.

and President Biden in Washington, DC at the Rose Garden, and it was a really awesome event.

I had uh got a chance to you know fellowship with other um Arizona lawmakers um from throughout the area, and it was kind of neat because when I was looking for a seat, I couldn't find anywhere to sit down, and it was just amazing to look across and see um Councilmember Keisha Hodge Washington from the city of Phoenix as well as Councilmember Burdetta Hodge from the City of Tempe, um Representative Quante Cruz, as well as uh Sarah Tyree from the NAACP say, hey Max, we have a seat right here for you.

So being a part of what is considered what's considered black excellence in America is awesome, and we got to see the president uh I'm sorry, the CEO of NLC, uh Clarence Anthony.

So he came and he found us as well.

So it just it just felt full circle, and it was amazing to hear um Corrine Jonpier, press secretary for Joe Biden and President Biden come out and speak to us.

So it was uh an awesome event, and I just wanted to um let you all know I felt like I represented Avendale well.

Um thank you very much.

That's awesome.

Anything else?

Can I get a motion for adjournment, please?

I'll make the motion.

I'll second.

I have a motion for Vice Mayor, a second for Councilmember Nielsen, Marcella?

Yes, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Thank you.

We are adjourned, folks.

Be safe getting home.