Thank you for your interest in the Avondale City Council meeting.

I'd like to call the regular meeting of Monday, July 1st, 2024 to order.

Would you all please stand for a pledge of allegiance?

And I would ask you to keep in your thoughts and prayers all those who are going to be affected by hurricanes in the next week.

I pledge allegiance to the fly of the United States of America.

Thank you, everyone.

Marcel, just to confirm, we're gonna be doing the voice hold spine again.

That is correct, Mayor.

And it sounds like we've added some new speakers or something because my voice sounds booming right now.

Booming.

Marcella, item number one.

Roll call, please.

Councilmember Condi.

Here.

Councilmember Malone.

Here.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Councilmember Solario.

Here.

Councilmember White.

Here.

Vice Mayor Panetta.

Here.

Mayor Weiss.

Here.

Ron, item number two, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor Council.

We are going to have a presentation by Stacy, our recreation supervisor with Parks and Rec.

Corey did want to for me to send his condolences or to sadness.

He got promoted, so he doesn't think he has to attend these anymore or something like that.

No, no.

I told him I was going to poke him while I was here, but he uh has a pre-planned vacation, so he does he is very sad he uh doesn't get to be here tonight.

But Stacy will do a fantastic job.

Hello, assistant director, how are you?

You got jokes.

Mayor, vice mayor, council, good evening.

I am here to celebrate National Parks and Recreation Parks and Rec month.

Um but before we hop into that, we're gonna start with our parks and recreation updates.

We're gonna give a little bit about what we've been doing with recreation um since January.

First off, we're gonna go into an events recap.

So the last time I was standing in front of you, I was kind of just recapping all the events that we have had thus far.

Um and this one is a little bit more stats-driven.

So you'll see here for each of the events, you'll see the participants that we had, the survey ratings, and then the surveys that we did receive.

So we started off the year with Trace Rios in February, and we had about 10,800 participants with a survey rating of 4.9 out of five.

We then had our family camp out in March with 226 participants that were registered and attended the event at a 4.7 out of 5 star rating.

Hoot and Hustle was our partnership with Agua Fria High School, and that was the run on Western.

We had 167 runners for that event, which that was our first time doing it, so that's a great number.

And we had a 4.6 out of five star rating.

And then we hopped on into our extravaganza, and we took um we had three days in March that we did this at three different locations, and we had about two thousand people participate, and we had a three out of five star rating for that one.

We then had Kid Fest at Friendship in April with an estimated attendance of six thousand, and we had a four point two out of five stars.

And then to kick off our last big event of the year was Avondale Fiesta, and that was on May 4th at Western.

And we had about 1,500 with a 4.3 out of five.

And the last event in May was our Memorial Day ceremony with about 200 attendees and a five out of five star rating.

And our most recent event, which was held here at City Hall was Juneteenth.

It was an amazing event.

I can't wait for that to grow because it was wonderful.

We had 400 participants and about a 4.6 out of 5 star rating.

Those surveys are still being received.

Those will close up on Wednesday as we keep always keep our surveys open for two weeks after each event.

Now moving on into sports.

There's two sports that I'm two sport leagues that I'm very proud of, our team.

Um one is pickleball.

And uh you'll see there we have our winter and spring seasons.

Uh for winter, we had 201 participants with a 4.6 rating out of five, and you'll see 56 survey results received, which is outstanding.

And then spring was 171 with a 4.2 out of five with 40.

Um pickleball players um are great with returning surveys and giving our feedback to make our program even better.

So we have nine leagues going on right now, mornings, nights, and even Saturday mornings.

So there's only seven days in the week, and we're providing more pickleball.

Um and then use soccer.

Our winter spring season was the best season since I've been here and I've been here for eight years.

And we got 232 kids.

We actually had to add another age division to take all of the children.

And that's 4.5 out of 5 stars.

And you'll see there another good one, 38 survey results received.

Moving on into our softball series, I wanted to share this because in 2023, we started to realize that a lot of our in-house tournaments was a decline in participation.

And since we are the only West Valley city to offer in-house tournaments, we wanted to rebrand, get some new swag, get some new marketing out, and that's what we did.

And we ended up getting just from 2023 and 2024, 81 teams and a 4.8 out of 5 star rating, which is awesome.

And that's also my little dog in the corner.

And so what's going on at the community center since January since we opened?

A lot's going on.

We have our open play.

So we started up in January where uh children can come in for free and they can play in the esports room or they can play in the game room after school.

We have classes, including fitness, painting, dance, top programming, and then a lot of our outdoor recreation also takes place at um the community center.

And then of course, facility rentals.

We also have our Avondale Rec Camp.

You'll see uh the picture of the big group.

Um that was right before they went on their field trip.

And um we had last session, we had 53 kids sign up for that.

And then right underneath, you'll see our 2024 facility attendance.

It's pretty amazing to see.

So our door counts in January were 154.

In June, we're now at 4,246.

So that's very incredible.

Um, program registrations also you'll see there.

In January, we had 13 to June, 255, which a lot of that um is for the summer camp as well as our outdoor recreation programming.

And then room rentals.

You'll see again January and February was um zero, and then June we have 14.

What is upcoming?

Well, this Thursday we have Avondale Light Up the Sky celebration at Phoenix Raceway.

So the gates open up at 6 p.m.

And then we have entertainment going on before the fireworks.

Something new this year as well is we do have a miniature golf um activity going on in the barn.

So the other side of the VIP area will be uh miniature golf for all families to attend.

We are excited about this because hopefully families will see, hey, what is this VIP area?

And then they'll kind of you know want to do that for next year.

So we're hoping that we'll increase the VIP area for next year.

And then also we have our Blink Canvas summer showcase is one of my favorites.

We have already 130 canvases turned in.

Um we will be showcasing those outside here at City Hall.

And then we'll have our August 8th expo um where we'll do a welcome and awards for all the participants with dinner.

We also have more outdoor recreation coming up.

So we started outdoor odyssey guided hikes that take place at a Straham Mountain Regional Park.

We have classes that include planting and gardening, bug and animal encounters, water safety, landscape painting, archery classes.

We actually got our recreation uh assistants um certified in archery to be able to teach the kids.

And then new this November, we're doing an active outdoors fest.

And then our sand volleyball complex, we obviously had the grand opening on June 4th, and we had a youth clinic with about 25 kids that day.

And then our programs, we have pickup games that take place every Saturday and Friday, and we have an average of 30 participants out there.

We have our co-ed league starting up in the fall tournaments.

Our first one will be in August, and that's an overnight tournament.

And then our contractual classes.

So we'll have our Skyhawks out there teaching the youth how to play volleyball.

And that concludes my presentation.

Any questions?

Pretty incredible numbers when you look at them.

Um the growth, especially at Mountain View, uh pretty fantastic.

I think if we look at the survey results, and we had this talk when we looked at city survey results a few months ago.

I think it's really hard to gauge true reaction to an event to something that we program when there's such a small survey response.

So I'd like to see more surveys, and I don't know how we do that, but like you said, the pickleball people like City Manager Corbin, I'm sure, replied on that survey.

Um five stars.

I I think when I when I look at um, you know, 10,000 people responding or going there, and then it's 4.5 or 4.6, but there's a small survey result.

And it's hard because some of our events don't just attract Avondale residents.

So when we have residents from other cities from the county, they may not be as willing or think it's as important to fill out a survey.

For us, for you, it's incredibly important because how do you know what to tweak?

How do you know what to adjust?

How do you know what works and what doesn't work?

So I think those survey numbers are really important.

Again, I don't want to discount the people who filled them out because they took out the time to do it.

I just think it's hard to gauge reaction when those numbers in some cases are really low.

So I'd like to go around and kind of see if council has any comments.

Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, for the presentation.

I appreciate all that Parks and Rec has done.

You know, I think there was something missing here.

You guys did not see International Yoga Day and goat yoga pictures.

Um but we were all out there, and I just want to commend you on being able to bring the vision of enjoying outdoors in Avondale.

So many people come to Avondale to enjoy what our Parks and Rec does, really for the programming for us here in Avondale.

But we bring people in from miles around from across the country to come into our spaces and places, and they are so happy when they're here.

They enjoy everything that they have.

So I just want to thank you all for all of the work that you do, all of the program coordination.

Um it's it's amazing to be here, and a part of why I wanted to live in Avondale is really because of the outdoor spaces and places.

So I really am grateful to be here and thank you so much for everything.

Thank you, Councilmember Curtis.

I just like to say, hey, man, she's done a wonderful job of saying everything I can, but thank you for the presentation.

We do like seeing what's going on around in the city and appreciate your in-depth and looking at our all and presenting it to it so that we can see and make comments as to what we need to do.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, staff for all of your work.

Continue the good work and let's move forward.

Thank you, Curtis.

Councilmember Soloria.

Hi, Stacey.

Thank you for the presentation first and foremost.

I think Max pretty much said it all, but it's nice to see the engagement overall within people and employees who get involved.

As I remember when we did the Barks and Treats, you adopted a dog.

So it's nice that hey, it's an involvement even with your staff.

So by the way, how is your dog?

He broke his hip, so he's very expensive.

Yeah.

Well, you know, so the involvement that you see, not just with the community, but within you guys together as a you know parks and rec unit is really good.

So thank you for sharing the statistics with us and seeing what's working when maybe we have some room where we have some room for improvement.

But thank you.

Thanks, Gloria.

Councilmember Conde.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thanks, Stacey.

I'm absolutely ecstatic with those increase in numbers.

I can't believe how many people have gone through the door at that Mountain View Community Center since we opened it.

So thank you guys.

Um I just want to make a comment in regards to the extravaganza.

I remember we started off at Friendship Park when we first started doing it, and I remember how many kiddos and how many eggs were just all across Friendship Park, and there was so much traffic.

And so I just want to thank you guys for really trying to figure out a way so that everybody can still be included but safely and having those um egg hunts at various different parks in the community so that everyone in Avondale can enjoy them.

So I just want to just say thank you for that.

And you guys are doing phenomenal job bringing in great programming.

Um, I do want to give a shout out to Councilmember White.

You know, I know that she had a big part to play in helping with the Juneteenth, and I just want to honor her for doing that because I see growth and potential in this Juneteenth event from last year to this year.

And I just want to just say, Councilmember White, thank you so much for taking the time and working with staff for making it such a successful event.

Thank you, Tina, for doing that.

Councilmember Malone.

Thank you for the presentation, Stacey.

Appreciate it.

It's great to see uh the all the amount um all of our uh programs that we have out there.

I always attend most of the community uh events, and I always get uh feedback from all of our uh constituents that say how how happy that we've taken the extravaganza out on the road.

I call it on the road because it was really um condensed into uh friendship park, and there was a lot of overflow and stuff like that.

So going into the different partlet parks in different areas, um we have gotten feedback that they've enjoyed it, we they like it, but I also like that the fact that the community center has uh has grown.

That was something while I walked with Tina and we've been out in our neighborhoods, that was something that was always being pushed with um to us.

Hey, what when can we get like a recreation?

Like when I was um back in high um grade school.

So I'm glad to see that the numbers are going and it's very successful.

So thank you.

Thank you to all our parks and rects team and for all of the programming and all the work that goes into it.

It's we appreciate it.

Thank you, Councilmember Vice Mayor.

Thank you.

Uh, much has been said already that um I would love to elaborate a little bit more on, but what I would really like to focus on is really just uh the fact that our programming and our amenities are less uh about being just passive uh opportunities and more about programming itself.

I mean, to the extent where you know staff is getting certified to provide archery training, hiking.

So in other words, it's not like these things just exist and people can use them when they want, it's they exist.

Let's see how we can maximize the opportunity with the community.

So taking what we have and being able to maximize it, I think is going to be best for our residents.

And quite honestly, I think it's just being responsive to their needs and what they're looking for.

And pickleball, I would think at this point in time is one of the best examples of that of just how much it takes off, how many folks are looking for it, um, and just you know, it never stops.

You guys are evolving, you're changing.

Um, as you said, you're rebranded uh, you know, for the softball and the leagues have just grown, and so again, it's not about what we have, and here's what you what our residents need, but more about here's what we have and how can we maximize what you're looking for.

And that I believe is the difference.

So thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

You know, when we talk to our residents, whether it's here, whether it's at the grocery store, whether it's church, whether it's at a city event, you know, there's things that they expect from a city council, the things they expect from the city, and they expect really good police and fire service.

And we talk about water, they expect their water bills to be as low as possible, and the quality of water to be as high as possible.

But the thing that ranks up there with all with both of those is recreation and parks.

And young families in Avondale, we talked about this before, the median age, under the age of 34, lots of young families, economies tight.

The more we can provide for them to do at no cost or low cost and take on more of this programming, I think it really benefits us in the long time.

It benefits our residents.

I think that's what builds community.

I'm really excited to see things growing when we talk about the first run on Western Avenue.

That's an incredible turnout.

And I'm excited to see that grow.

Light up the sky on Thursday.

That is an event that you know we talked about many years ago about how do we do this?

How do we bring back fireworks for because many years we didn't have fireworks?

How do we bring that back?

I think that's become an event that the community looks at and says, every year I want to go to that.

It's something that they want to bring their families to, it's free.

I'm excited about the future.

I will tell you to the vice mayor's point is I think in next year's budget, there has to be a look at expanding pickleball in the city.

And I say that, you know, if you would have said to me three years ago is pickleball of fad, I would have said it's a fad.

It's gone past that.

So I think there's an opportunity for the city to really invest.

You said we have the only really softball complex in the in the West Valley that's like this.

If other cities are doing pickleball, but I think we do recreation better than any other community in the valley.

So I think we can do pickleball better than any other community in the valley.

So anything that surprised you out of these results, anything that surprised your team, I see them back here.

Anything you want to share with us?

Um, I just wanted to say this is all possible because of them.

They're a great team to work with.

Um, I'm just here presenting, they're the one delivering.

So, do you mind if we do this proclamation?

Of course.

All right.

Ron, anything for you, sir?

I was just gonna add that yeah, uh, we have an amazing uh parks recreation staff.

They do a fantastic job as a as a resident of our community and a user of our whether it was the run or pickleball or many of the other events that we attend, they just do an outstanding, outstanding job.

I will say I will make sure that everyone gets a picture of the goats.

Um, I don't know if she said that clear enough, but we did have goats at yoga day.

Thank you to staff.

Um I got in trouble for that actually because my wife didn't know about the goats and she would have went.

Um so we'll uh we'll know more for next year.

So good job on that.

What a great staff.

So it's so funny when you can shame the city manager into doing something.

I was running into Costco or I'm running into Sam's club on that day, and Ron was running out, and he's like, it's international yoga day, and they have goats.

And he was almost running to his car so he could go attend, which I think is awesome.

So would members of the parks and rec team please stand up.

So this proclamation is for you and everything that you do.

Whereas parks and recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including Avondale, Arizona, and whereas parks and recreation promotes health and wellness, improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks, and whereas parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being, and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's.

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

And whereas parks and recreation is a leading provider of healthy meals, nutrition services, education, and whereas park and recreation programming and education activities such as out-of-school time programming, youth sports, and environmental education are critical to childhood development.

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

And whereas parks and recreation is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community.

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

Whereas the U.S.

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

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

Now, therefore, this entire council, by the virtue of the authority vested in us by the City of Avondale, Arizona, do hereby recognize July 24th as Parks and Recreation Month in Avondale.

Do you mind if we get a picture with you and your team?

Of course.

Anybody have a cutout of Corey?

Can we just put a cutout of Corey?

We'll just leave a space in the middle and we'll photoshop them in.

I'd be happy to, Mayor.

We received a request to speak from Paul Lemon.

He extends his apologies as he's not able to be here tonight.

The traffic on Avondale and McDowell with construction is simply unacceptable.

This is not the first time I have raised issue.

It starts many years ago when the city was to widen southbound Avondale Pass and Canto.

They never finished before school opened, and then again they were to widen it to McDowell.

This was never finished past Palm.

Now the McDowell construction from Avondale to 119th is moving into the second year.

Not sure why it's a work zone when they have only worked on it four days in the last three months.

I travel it twice a day.

In the afternoon, it's normal to have eastbound McDowell be backed up past friendship park.

The only thing done every day is replacement of all the cones knocked down daily.

How can the city accept this?

It seems strangely familiar to the 17th and McDowell project a couple of years ago.

What's more alarming is now you have signed off on another large project on the south on the south side of McDowell.

So we will once again spend multiple years restricting traffic.

If you ask residents about the ability to transverse the city, a great deal of us are tired of constant project delayed.

End quote.

Thank you, Mayor.

So while not commenting, to irritate Paul Lemon is a huge deal.

I think Paul Lemon speaks for a lot of residents, and I know you and I have talked about this before.

Have we gotten back with Mr.

Lemon yet or will we?

Yes, sir.

I think there has to be kind of a community education on this.

I think this is beyond the pale right now.

Next, uh former Mayor Drake, do you mind coming up, sir?

Thank you.

Process.

Can you hear me okay?

My name is Ron Drake, Avondale resident and also former mayor of Avondale.

Um ditto to that Mr.

Lemon's comments.

Uh I don't know how you're allowing that to occur.

Uh I never thought I'd be back here in council chambers, but I am.

I I've got some concerns, and I and we elect you to do our bidding in the city, and there's some things that just aren't getting done.

Uh and it all started with the wall on in Canal.

I called, it keeps on getting damaged.

I talked to a young woman in one of your departments, and she tells me that though that wall is owned by each individual property owner.

And I said, How does a half a mile long wall stay the same color for 20 years?

Because we built it.

It's the wall in between the road and the SRP canal.

So I didn't believe her.

I'm sorry, I don't I don't think we would have administrated that way.

So I don't know what you can do about it, but if you keep on allowing the city to degrade like that, uh those kind of things um are aren't going to be good for the future of our city.

Um second thing that I wanted to bring up was code the code enforcement.

Um wasn't until recently that I talked to somebody uh on 107th and Indian school, the Walgreens, so delicious, look terrible, and it's been like that for months.

Another issue is um your parking lots, the the business parking lots, especially at the grocery stores.

You've got to go in, I've done it.

You've got to go in there and talk to the store manager and say, hey, you've got to clean this up, or next step will be someone from code enforcement, because it's just it's just not acceptable.

I'm just watching how how this is occurring, and it and we would have never allowed this 20 years ago, and now I'm seeing it occur here, and it's like something's wrong in the city.

So I hopefully you can get that addressed.

Um I just found out yesterday we have a needle depository in the library.

I'm assuming that's for drug users, because I actually went into the men's bathroom today in the library, and there it was.

And there was probably 50 or 60 needles in there.

Why would you want if that is for if it is for drug use?

Why would you want to bring drug users to our children?

Wouldn't you want to keep them away from the children?

I I don't know what reasoning was was used to do that, but it's wrong.

It's wrong.

You can't bring them towards the children, right?

Isn't that what you're supposed to be doing?

Protecting the children.

So I think that's another issue.

Um Avondale Boulevard.

I I I was told we've got about 2,000 units in and about Avondale Boulevard planned or being built or built total.

What are we going to do for water?

I uh we know there's water restrictions coming, and now we're adding not 2,000 homes, which would require a lot more land.

We're stacking the people on top of each other and going to require water use.

Uh I don't get it.

Um today.

I found this uniquely Avondale magazine.

Nice magazine.

Pier did it, or was managing that.

Oh, I'm out of time already.

I'm sorry.

I just wanted to tell you uniquely Avondale, and when I open it up, this is our marketing piece for the city, and it's a cemetery.

I know the cemetery because we built the walls around it and enclosed it.

So I'm very familiar with it, but I just I don't know who our economic development director is.

But this should not not that it's not an important piece of history, it's an important piece in Avondale, but this should not be the lead story about tourism in Avondale.

You did get to it when you got to page 16, which was PIR.

That's that's that's our tourism piece.

That's that's the beacon on the hill.

It I'm I'm I'm I'm just I'm I'm confused.

Uh I really am.

And thank you for the time.

The last piece I want to admit, we need to get restaurants in here.

Goodyear starting to beat Avondale again.

And uh we we lost two restaurants.

I don't know how we can't fill Ruby Tuesday, but economic development, um, and I'm gonna ask you, you need to put and I guess city manager, you need to get a focus on that.

Because we can't there's many restaurants in Avondale.

I I'll agree with you that.

But when I you see what's going on in Goodyear, we're losing the battle, and we shouldn't be.

We were always better than Goodyear.

We've been better than Goodyear since for 20 years, and now they're gaining an upper hand on us.

And and that that's something I think you're going to have to address in Mayor with the council.

I think you should also adjust.

So thank you very much for your time.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Mayor.

I appreciate that.

Ron, do you mind having I I took notes on all these.

Do you mind having someone get back to the former mayor?

Thank you.

Mayra Bell.

My name is Mayor Balcano, and I am a resident of Avondale.

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

Like I said, my name is Maribel.

Um myself and my partners, Tonatiera have established a food distribution for our farm workers in the West Valley.

It is called Miltecayo.

So I'll give you guys just little people like, what is that?

That's a Nahuatl word, and it means essence of the people or essence of the earth.

So basically what why we use it as farm workers are the last people who are working with Sacred Mother Earth and and giving us all fits.

So the the food distribution was established because our farm workers did not have any kind of food distribution in the West Valley or could not get to the food banks that we did have in the West Valley.

So we serve right on the field.

We're serving over 200 families right now, and it's just a really beautiful thing.

But I'm here really to thank you guys.

Um the city has been a great, great supporter of of ours, really truly a catalyst for for what we've been able to do from this point.

Um so I just really want to come here and thank you guys.

Um Vice Mayor Piñeda connecting us to Maricopa Community Colleges has been extremely, you know, it's again one of those things that are where there's a lot coming out of it.

We have a consistent um donation of clothing coming to us every month.

Um they are also working with us on um advocacy work as well as we're working with them on experiential and service learning to where we're taking their students out and they'll be able to to serve the farm workers, which is really great.

Um donation drives all that good stuff, but most importantly, we're doing ESL classes with them because the farm workers have asked to learn how to speak English.

So that one's really big, so thank you so much for all those connections.

Um councilmember Malone, can't I mean honestly, Councilmember Balone has been a supporter of ours from the very very beginning.

Um a supporter of Massa Palarrasa, the very first thing we did.

So Massa Palarrasa, just so everybody knows.

It's uh it was for Christmas, and it's basically at the male at the Malikit that we got for our farm workers trying to give them something that's a little bit more culturally appropriate.

So I had the masa, the the the everything, the masa, the um hojas, the chile, everything to make them was really cool.

It's a really nice event.

We got 150 of those boxes out.

Um top of that, she has been instrumental in helping us.

We're doing with the UFW Foundation, their six hundred dollars in USDA relief fund money that we are awarding to farm workers in the West Valley.

Um Councilmember Malone has helped us with a hundred applications, which is sixty thousand dollars that has been awarded to the West Valley.

Altogether it's been about a hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars, which is pretty excellent.

Um, and again from the UFW Foundation and those USDA grants.

Um Tina.

Tina is um I'm sorry, council member Calendy.

I I cannot thank you enough.

You already know again, she's connected us with everyone else.

She is the first person that I met, really believed in what we were doing, and then brought everybody else in.

So, you know, from from the awareness that you brought to the Milte Cayo, all of your support, you know, it's it's um it's been immeasurable, and just know that you've moved mountains and all you guys have.

So again, thank you so much.

Thank you for your continued support, and uh I love my city, and uh it's because of all you also.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate that.

It's always good to hear good news.

Item number four is consent agenda.

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

Councilmember White.

I'd just like to have item G removed.

Item G.

Thank you, ma'am.

Can I have a motion?

Uh member this can be a voice vote.

Can I get a motion on the consent agenda minus item G.

I'll make the motion minus item G.

I second.

I have a motion from our vice mayor, a second from Councilmember White, Marcella.

All those in favor say aye.

ID posts.

Passes unanimously, thank you.

Councilmember White.

Hi, uh Mayor.

I was uh I reached out to our team just because we have something um happening with RPTA um transfer of ADA mini bands for rewide services, and I believe Harold is here um from our public sport department as our transportation director to just share a little bit more information that I think the public needs to hear.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Um here to give a little more information and in context in regards to agenda item 4G.

So before I go a little bit into these four vehicles uh that we would be receiving from Valley Metro, I want to give just some uh background information as to why these vehicles would be critical for our operations.

Um on your screen, you'll see uh some numbers in regards to our ridership.

Um as you can see, pre-South Avondale uh expansion, we were hovering about the 2,000 riders per month.

Post uh South Avondale expansion, we've been hitting 6,000 and above.

Uh whereas in April of this year, it was a highest ridership of 7,296 passengers.

So it's remarkable.

Great it's it's the system is working really well.

Additionally, we're moving into uh new service hours, 6 a.m.

to 8 p.m.

starting July uh this next Monday, July 8th.

And we're gonna be starting Saturday services on October of this year as well.

And for some additional context, um we currently uh the current 12 hours a day requires 10 vehicles to be out on the streets every day for a total of about 10 and a half hours.

So frankly, these vehicles are out every single day.

So what does that mean in regards to our fleet?

Currently, uh we have uh two Chrysler Voyagers uh that are ADA compliant, so they have four seats and one ADA seat.

Four Chrysler Voyagers have no ADA uh seating, but it can seat five individuals, and our two large RAM Pro masters they can see eight people with one ADA uh seat.

So as you can tell, we have eight vehicles that are currently part of our fleet.

But as I mentioned in the previous slide, we need about 10 vehicles out at any given time.

So our provider of services transdev is assisting us with this and unanticipated growth that we've had in our in our system.

So we have one Chrysler Pacifica that's being rented at this moment, and then a Ford Fusion, which is a little small sedan that helps with the relieve uh to do some reliever work for us.

So Valley Metro with this uh resolution would provide us four slightly used Chrysler Voyagers.

Uh they are ADA compliant, so four uh four seats and one ADA seat, which will bring our vehicle from eight vehicle count from eight to twelve, which will provide much needed relief to our fleet.

Um the great uh thing about this is that as a no cost to the city of Avondale would also increase decrease our operating costs a tiny bit uh with uh with our contract with Transdev to operate WeRide.

Uh we would just be responsible for the upfitting, you know, putting sure we put all the markings, the uh the bike rack, uh, and the maintenance of the vehicle moving forward.

Uh these vehicles are part of the paratransit system uh within uh Valley Metro that they're no longer utilizing, so they want to make sure they're being used well, and we were lucky enough to be uh selected to utilize these vehicles.

So we're really grateful for Valley Metro for this opportunity.

Thank you for that.

Councilmember White, any comments?

Um I I wanted to first thank uh council for allowing me to serve as a part of the board of Valley Metro in order to be able to help these types of um developments happen.

I think when we look at paratransit and those types of rides, you want to decrease the cost.

Um and we ride is filling that gap.

I know the larger percentage of rides that we ride has is really taking folks to our medical corridor, which we're looking to expand.

Um so I'm really grateful for that.

Um I did want to make sure that council was fully aware and got a chance to see that brief presentation because the increase in ridership was very large, very quick, um, and see if there were any questions because a lot of people don't realize it, but Avondale is accessible.

Avondale is accessible, and we want the public to know that.

And so sometimes people highlight a lot of other things about Avondale, but we're accessible.

Um so before we go any further, Mayor, if I just wanted to make sure we all knew this.

And thank you.

No, and I appreciate you bringing this up.

Um, this is great for our city.

We talk about the success of We Ride, and we always kind of juggle priorities and budget issues, and this really does help.

So um, Council members, any other comments?

Seeing none, Marcus, do you mind making the motion?

Yes, I move to adopt resolution 1079-0724 authorizing accessible vehicle use agreement between the city of Avondale and Regional Public Transit Authority.

Contract number one zero six-29-2025-00-mt relating to the transfer of ADA minivans from RPTA to the City of Avondale for rewrite services and authorize the mayor or city manager, city attorney, and city clerk to execute the necessary documents.

Awesome.

Can I have a second?

It's Chris, I'm giving it to China.

We have a motion from Councilmember White, a second from Councilmember Condi.

Marcella.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll do a roll call vote.

Councilmember Condi.

Aye.

Councilmember Malone.

Aye.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Hi.

Councilmember Solario.

Hi.

Councilmember White.

I Vice Mayor Panela.

Aye.

Mayor Weiss.

Aye.

Thank you.

Passes unanimously.

Ron, item 5A.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Next up is Sylvia from uh our planning development services to present on the rezoning application for our fire station.

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

My name is Sylvia Willem, and I am a part of the Development Services Department.

Very nice to meet you all.

Um the item before you this evening is the Avondale Fire Station number 171, rezone application PL-23-0349.

The purpose of this item is for City Council to hold a public hearing and consider a request to adopt ordinance 2017-0724, approving a city initiated request to rezone city owned property for multifamily R3 to Old Town Avondale Business OTAB zoning district.

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

The site on the current screen is located between 5th and 6th streets facing Belmont Drive, and it is outlined in red.

It is about 1.8 acres in size, and it was annexed into the city's corporate limits on December 15th, 1946.

When it was annexed into the city's corporate limits, it was zoned multifamily residential R3.

It is currently being used as the existing fire station number 171.

On the current slide are a couple of photos of the site and the existing fire station.

The first is looking south from the corner of Fifth Street and Belmont Drive.

The second is looking north from Fifth Street.

The general plan designation of the property is Old Town.

The surrounding general plan land designations are as follows.

To the west, south, and east is Old Town as well.

To the north of the existing fire station is public civic and open space and parks.

And north of Western Avenue is also Old Town.

In terms of zoning districts to the north and east of the site is OTAB.

A1 to the bottom southeast corner, and R3 to the south and west, including the site itself.

The rezone request is to rezone the property from multifamily residential R3 to OTAB, Old Town Avenue Business Zoning District, which is shown in the aqua green color on the map.

The architectural rendering demonstrates the view southwest from Western Avenue.

The site will be significantly improved with roof height variations, public art incorporation, and vast landscaping.

The design will also feature masonry walls with red earth tones and gray accents.

The architecture also reflects modern design and it promotes pedestrian activity.

In terms of analysis, public uses including utility buildings, structures, facilities, and equipment are permitted in the OTAB district.

The proposed zoning district OTAB is more suitable than R3 for the existing proposed use of the property.

And by rezoning, the property will also be brought into zoning conformance.

Additionally, the proposed rezoning furthers several goals in the general plan.

The public buildings services and facilities element, where goal number one mentions providing effective and efficient public safety services in Avondale will be met.

And goal number five, which focuses on designing, constructing, and maintaining public buildings with a sense of pride in the community, will also be met.

Finally, the proposed rezoning results in compatible land uses and uh adequate infrastructure to support the proposed use presently exists or will be constructed by the city.

Regarding the public participation and noticing process, a neighborhood meeting was held on April 9th at our resource center of this year.

Um there was one attendee from the general public.

Two comments from the public were also received via email, and there were no comments via Avondale Connect.

The neighborhood meeting attendee was a neighbor to the fire station, and they had questions regarding uh the aesthetic of the building, if public art would be incorporated, if there would be interruption to services, and if there would be any more fire trucks added to the fire station.

There will not be interruption to services.

There will not be additional fire trucks added to the fire station.

Um as far as a timeline of the project, it is expected to start in December of this year through January 25th, and it'll take around a year to be finalized.

The two comments received via email asked clarifying questions, and they were neither in support or opposition of the project.

One citizen inquired about the existing police substation and how the new construction of the fire station would impact this site.

They were informed that the Avondale police substation will be located at 50 Northwest Felix Junior Way adjacent to the Avondale Resource Center.

It is currently under construction.

Another citizen asked if the dormitory rooms that will be added to the fire station were for public use, and they were informed that they will only be used by the firefighters.

On June 26th of this year, planning commission was held.

They passed a motion voting 6 to 0 to recommend approval of application PL-23-0349.

No questions were raised.

And with that, staff recommends that city council adopt ordinance 2017-0724 approving application PL-23-0349.

A request to rezone city-owned land located at the south of the southwest corner of Western Av and 6th Street from R3 to OTAB zoning district.

Thank you for your time.

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

Thank you for that.

Are there any questions on this?

Councilmember Conde.

I just have a question and a comment.

Sylvia, is this your first presentation to council?

Yes, it is.

You did an excellent job.

So I just wanted to say thank you for doing such a wonderful job.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Nervous?

A little.

I couldn't tell.

Council, anyone else?

Can I get a motion on this item, please?

Mayor, this is a public hearing.

Oh, I'm sorry, it isn't on my it doesn't show on my thing.

Public hearing.

Sorry, I will open up the public hearing.

I'm gonna go ahead and open the public hearing.

Is there anybody in the audience or a line who would like to speak on this issue?

Marcella?

Anyone?

Thank you, Mayor.

I have not received any requests to speak.

Thank you.

I'm gonna go ahead and close the public hearing.

Council.

Rafaels always keep me on my toes, which is awesome.

Uh can I get a motion?

I have a motion for Council Marshalio.

Second.

I'm giving it to Veronica.

Or split it.

Can we split it?

All right, split it.

Uh Councilmember Malone.

Marcella, will you do your thing?

Councilmember Conde?

Councilmember Malone.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Aye.

Councilmember Solaria.

Aye.

Councilmember White?

Aye.

Vice Mayor Fernanda.

Hi.

Mayor Weiss.

Hi.

Marcel, I apologize.

It says council will hold a public hearing, so I apologize for that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Correct.

Ron, item 5B.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Council.

Up next, we're going to hear from Ted Flores, who will introduce our next speaker.

And this will be on the Judicial Advisory Board recommendation on the reappointment of our Judge Jennings as our presiding judge.

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

This evening I would like to invite Judicial Advisory Board Chair, the Honorable John Burkholder to discuss the reappointment evaluation and recommendation for the reappointment of Craig Al Jennings as the presiding judge of the Avondale Municipal Court.

Mr.

Burkholder.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilmembers, I'm Judge Burkholder from the presiding judge for the Bluckeye Municipal Court.

It's been my privilege to chair the Judicial Advisory Board for this term.

What brings us here tonight is the reappointment of Judge Jennings.

Let me give you a little bit of background.

Judge Jennings was appointed 10 years ago on July 7th, 2014.

He's now served as a decade for as your judge.

He has completed five terms.

Each of those two year terms has been as a result of recommendations of the Judicial Advisory Board.

He is now seeking his sixth term, and which was advised to the city on January of this year, which then led to the judicial selection or judicial advisory board board being brought in to conveyance and doing our thing.

So the first thing we started doing is back in February of this year, we started beginning our process of gathering information, which includes doing surveys of both litigants or customer users, use court users, clientele that are there in the court, the private attorneys that appear as well as court staff.

Those surveys were done out electronically and in person, handed out in the courtroom.

That process begins, and then we also did that in the month of April.

We then in the month or in June 5th, there conducted a grilling or an interview of Judge Jennings with some predetermined questions as well as some off-the-cuff questions based upon the packet of information he provided to the board.

After that meeting, the board convened.

We reviewed everything.

Having already previously have talked through the survey results, having talked through his answers, talked through his material that he had presented to us.

As a result of that, uh the board by unanimous agreement uh is recommending to you the reappointment of Craig Jennings for another term as the presiding judge for the city of Avondale.

Let me just add this.

Um most of you don't know who I am, but I have been on the bench for over 28 and a half years in the criminal justice system for over 34 years.

During that time, I rub shoulders with many judges across the state.

One of the unique things about your judge, he's very qualified.

He is one of the best judges out there.

Um I've seen him grow and I've seen him develop over the last 10 years, and that's exciting to see the growth and development of him.

You as a city are privileged and should be excited to have him as your presiding judge.

I believe my personal sentiments from the discussions within the judicial advisory board is in total agreement with those comments to you.

I'm available for any questions that you may have about the process or about any information that's been provided to you.

Your honor, thank you for that.

Thank you for the work that you've done on this, and thank you for your comments.

Are there any comments from council on this?

This is um just uh for questions.

We will adjourn into executive session and have that discussion here a little bit.

Any comments now or do you want to reserve those for later?

Looks like there's no questions.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Next item is summary of current events from mayor and council.

Anyone?

Yes, sir.

This past week I had the opportunity to attend two different water meetings.

One of them was on Rio Reimagine and at the MAG office.

And after all these years since 2012, or even back even earlier in 2022 in 2005, they've decided that they now need to work with all the little unif uh little groups that have been doing things along the Rio River for whatever so they're gonna get somebody to pull all of that to part together because they've got the lower Gila River, they've got this, that, and the other, and address what they want to do with 55 miles river to make it nicer so that we can have something maybe like Tempete Town Lake, but not quite that way.

So just to bring you up to date on that, and then the other one I attended was uh the MWA meeting.

Just the uh work that had been done this past year by AMWA.

Over 94 water bills were introduced.

They pulled those together and whatever else, and whatever submitted notes that's done and taken care of.

They're already starting to do some vetting for getting the legislators to understand what water is all about and how they can how they can actually work with their constituents in the area and pass that information back on.

So um Warren Tinney was gonna try to get a hold of city managers andor mayors or something to make a first attempt in the next couple of months to let you know enough snow so that we can put that trickle down to where it needs to be trickled down to.

Perfect.

Thank you, Chris.

Anyone else?

Uh Councilman Malone, I know that you did a change of Luke Air Force Base.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Um 56.

Fiderwing?

Yep.

Ceremony for the change of command from one uh for your general to the next.

That one's pretty exciting.

My husband served in the military, so I've never seen that before, so that was kind of awesome.

Um yeah, and we get to have a new partner with uh our new general.

Do you know when he comes on board?

It's a he?

Today.

Today, okay, perfect.

Tina, did you have some?

No, good thing.

Um Max.

Um, I just wanted to thank council city managers office of Avondale for allowing me to represent the city at the National Black Caucus of locally elected officials summer meeting in Chicago.

Um, I think the the main concern we're finding in our constituency group is housing and making sure housing um inventory is up at a at a rate where the people who want to come into our communities and live can afford it.

However, we verbalize that and make it happen.

Um, I just got to hear how other cities and municipalities did that and also um had the opportunity to really learn from people who are just far more tenured.

I did a mobile tour and got a chance to um go by Obama's home.

So um that was really interesting, but I I really appreciate the learning and the opportunity to just kind of sit with like minds and and we all have the same issues across the country, kind of, and and make sure that I could commiserate and learn and contribute.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

So my only thing is, and it was an email that the I think the city manager sent out last week regarding the Supreme Court's ruling on homelessness.

Um I think it's gonna change kind of the way cities look at this.

I know we'll get a debrief sometime in the near future on that.

Um, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's changes that will happen um in the valley and with individual cities on that.

So um again, we try and do the best job that we can at a local level, but there's some things that are out of our control, but we'll figure it out as we always do.

Uh, can I get a motion to adjourn to executive session, please?

So moved.

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

Marcella?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Thank you.

Have a good night.

For those who are watching on Zoom, that concludes our city council meeting.

Thank you.