Avondale City Council Strategic Planning Retreat – October 15, 2025
Avondale City Council Strategic Planning Retreat: October 15, 2025
The Avondale City Council convened a full-day strategic planning retreat on October 15, 2025, from approximately 8:00 AM to after 1:30 PM, to gather input from community and industry leaders on economic development, healthcare, human services, natural resources, and to set the stage for a two-day workshop. The meeting featured panel discussions, an economic development update, and an economic outlook presentation. Council members and staff engaged in extensive Q&A, focusing on workforce development, affordable housing, healthcare access, and strategic land use.
Consent Calendar
- No items were presented for consent.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made.
Discussion Items
Economic Development & Housing Panel
- Panelists included representatives from Estrella Mountain Community College (Jonathan Roblis), Brookfield Residential (Eric Toon), Southwest Valley Chamber of Commerce (Jeff Campos), Valley Partnership (Clark Princell), and Westmark (Centra Hoffman). Key themes included workforce development challenges (construction workers in West Valley dropped from 72% to 45% post-pandemic), the need for skilled labor, and public-private partnerships (e.g., Alamar Park 50-50 cost split). Panelists emphasized early career exposure through internships and programs like WestMEC, flexible development processes, and maintaining high design standards for housing and commercial projects.
Healthcare Panel
- Panelists from Phoenix Children’s Hospital (Cliff Liu, Dr. Christina Conrad), Dignity Health (Tony Houston), and Arizona Complete Health (Martha Smith) discussed pediatric and adult healthcare needs. Dr. Conrad noted over 50,000 pediatric ED visits in Avondale in 2024. Tony Houston highlighted a statewide shortage of over 3,000 hospital beds. Martha Smith warned of potential federal Medicaid cuts leading to a $2 billion state shortfall. Panelists advocated for early health promotion, peer support programs, and collaboration on opioid addiction and chronic condition prevention.
Human Services & Nonprofit Panel
- Representatives from A New Leaf (Kathy Dunolfi), United Way (Sam Labus), and First Things First (Delaney Russell) outlined priorities: early literacy, housing/homelessness prevention, food insecurity (1 in 5 children and 1 in 7 seniors in Maricopa County experience food insecurity), and workforce development. Delaney Russell highlighted the Avondale Family Resource Center as a model, serving 11,000 caregivers in one quarter. Challenges included child care affordability (average infant care $11,000–$15,000/year) and transportation barriers. Panelists called for stable funding and expanded wraparound services.
Natural Resources Panel
- Experts from the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (Warren Tenney), Maricopa Association of Governments (Matt Poppen), Arizona Game and Fish (Bobby Lemerrow), and the Audubon Society (Ty Soupley) discussed water security (Colorado River challenges, groundwater limits), air quality (PM2.5 from wood burning and consumer fireworks – worst in the nation on Jan 1, 2025), open space conservation, and habitat restoration along the Gila River. Recommendations included early land-use planning, natural infrastructure for flood management, and preserving farmland near the river corridor.
Economic Development Update (Jen)
- Economic Development Director Jen presented key metrics: population nearing 100,000, 235,000 vehicles daily on I-10, and a 30% increase in household income (7th highest in the U.S.). She outlined target sectors: financial services, healthcare, advanced manufacturing (semiconductor suppliers), technology, retail/entertainment, and hospitality. Specific initiatives included the Boulevard RFP (mixed-use development), Old Town redevelopment (518/328 W. Western Ave.), the Avondale Tech Park for R&D suppliers, and attraction of a micro-hospital. Council members emphasized maintaining high standards, creating attainable housing, and building generational wealth through head-of-household job creation.
Economic Outlook (Rounds Consulting)
- Economist Luis provided a national and state economic overview: U.S. GDP growing at 2.3% but Atlanta Fed projecting -2.8% for Q1 2025; inflation near 3%; risk of recession by end of 2025 due to tariffs and uncertainty. Arizona faces housing affordability challenges (80% price increase since 2020) and potential Medicaid cuts up to $7.5 billion. For Avondale, he noted 90% of workers commute out and 90% of residents work outside, creating an opportunity to reduce leakage by targeting high-wage industries. He advised budgeting for uncertainty and focusing on community investments.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken. Council members provided direction on keeping high development standards for the Boulevard, supporting demolition of 518 W. Western Ave. (old resource center) for redevelopment, and prioritizing job creation, attainable housing, and workforce development. Staff will incorporate feedback into the strategic plan for the second day of the retreat.
Meeting Transcript
Marcella, can you do roll call? Thank you. Councilmember Condi? Here. Councilmember Garcia. Here. Councilmember Solario? Here. Councilmember Weiss. Here. Councilmember White? Present. Mayor Paneda. Here. And Vice Mayor Nielsen has an excused absence today. Thank you. Yeah, you you're up. Yep, Mr. Mayor, you're up. Well, good morning, everybody. Thank you for uh being here this morning. This is uh an important uh milestone not milestone, but an important opportunity for all of us to engage this morning uh as a as an organization to kind of set the tone for what will occur over the next few years, and uh in order to do that, uh the body of the the council um is here this morning to uh listen and to observe and to participate in this strategic planning process. I'd like to thank our consultant team uh for helping us and assisting us with the with the process and our guests this morning, our panelists uh who are going to be presenting some information. Um but uh I look forward to an uh an excellent day to really take everything in as um we push forward and turn that information into output for our residents, and I really look forward to it. So thank you again for being here, and thank you to Coldwater Coffee uh Bakery and Coffee uh for the excellent breakfast this morning. And uh I will turn it over to is it Anisa? It is, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Hi, Mayor and Council. Again, thank you all for joining us today. Thank you to our panelists for joining us today. Uh we've prepared a series of panels for you, um, including representation from important areas such as health care, natural resources, human services, um, and economic development. We want to again thank our panelists for volunteering their time with us today to share their perspectives on the current state of their industries and what future challenges and opportunities uh lie ahead in the next five years, especially as we go through the strategic planning process. Uh we'll close the day with an update from our economic development director um and an economic outlook from rounds consulting. So we hope today sets the stage as the council continues the strategic planning process and just thank you all for uh your time here. And I'll pass it over to our consultants just to introduce themselves and let you know a little bit about them. Good morning, Mayor, members of council. I'm Nancy Hetrick with Jen Janae Janik and we are members of the consultant team that will be with you for the next couple days. Tomorrow will be the day that we really spend time thinking about and strategizing for the next uh three to five years for the city. We're really looking forward to that. Today will really be an opportunity to whet your appetite for those conversations that will occur. Uh I've been working um doing management consulting with local government since 2006, doing a lot of strategic planning and facilitation work um across the West. Uh, and delighted to have the opportunity to work with all of you tomorrow when we all go live and we get into a real workshop setting. Uh it should be really good conversation. So looking forward to it. Thanks. Well, we have just a few minutes before our first panel begins. I know we're still waiting on one panelist, so if we want to wait till 8 15 and give her a few minutes. By the way, Centra's last minute, so this uh this wasn't originally on her agenda, so uh hopefully we'll give her a little bit of grace.
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