Avondale City Council Regular Meeting - October 15, 2025
Avondale City Council Regular Meeting - October 15, 2025
The Avondale City Council held a regular meeting on October 15, 2025, at 5:54 PM. Present were Councilmember Conde, Councilmember Nielsen, Councilmember Solario, Vice Mayor Paneda, and staff. Councilmembers Malone and White had excused absences, and the Mayor was absent. The meeting included introductions of new employees, proclamations, recognition of a youth soccer team, a presentation on the Citizens Water Academy, and a detailed presentation on the Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness.
Consent Calendar
- The consent agenda was passed unanimously (4-0) with no items removed for separate consideration.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No unscheduled public appearances were made.
Discussion Items
- New Employee Introductions: Several departments presented new hires: Development Services (Ben Carr, Dawn Jacob, Carter Evans); Public Safety (Carlos Cano, Sgt. Paul Wilson, Joshua Perez); Engineering (Raul Zazuetta); Parks, Recreation & Libraries (Ali Modrell, Gina Gerard, Alexis Romo); Fire & Medical (Alvin Galvez, not present); and Public Works (Adam Balowski, Jasmine Oropesa, Tracy Wallace, Tommy Estevio, Javier Machuca). Each newcomer was welcomed by the council.
- Proclamation – National Public Works Week: Vice Mayor Paneda read a proclamation declaring the week of May 19–25, 2024 (as per the original transcript) as National Public Works Week in Avondale, honoring the city’s public works professionals. Staff from engineering, public works, and parks departments were recognized. The council thanked the department for their 24/7 services.
- Recognition of 2010 Girls Soccer Team – AZ Real West Valley: The team, which practices at Friendship Park, was recognized for winning the state championship for the second consecutive year. The coach noted the team’s national ranking and upcoming trip to Hawaii for regionals. Vice Mayor Paneda read a proclamation declaring May 20, 2024 (as per original transcript) as “2010 Girls Soccer Team from AZ Real West Valley Day.” Councilmembers congratulated the players and parents.
- Presentation – Citizens Water Academy: Eric Bay (Public Works) presented highlights of the 2024 Citizens Water Academy, a five-session program that graduated 15 residents. Graduate Janet Eason shared her positive experience, noting the academy’s impact on water conservation habits. The council commended staff and invited residents to sign up for the next academy in April 2026.
- Presentation – Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness: Brian, Manager of Homeless Services, presented a 161-page, five-year strategic plan developed with consultant Public Works LLC. The plan outlines 76 recommendations across several categories: increasing affordable housing, preventing evictions, providing temporary shelter, enhancing law enforcement training, and boosting resilience to climate heat. Key data points included: unsheltered homelessness in Avondale rose from 5 (2014) to 45 (2023); evictions in Maricopa County doubled from September 2023 to February 2024; and housing supply has not kept pace with population growth. Councilmembers discussed the need for better-paying jobs, landlord engagement, job training, and diverse housing options. The plan will be refined and implementation steps will be brought back to council.
Key Outcomes
- The consent agenda was approved 4-0.
- Proclamations were issued for National Public Works Week and the 2010 Girls Soccer Team (using the original dates from the transcript, though the meeting date is set to 2025-10-15 per instructions).
- The council directed staff to further assess the 76 recommendations in the Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness and return with a finalized implementation plan.
- The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:15 PM (estimated) with a 4-0 vote.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call to order the regular city council meeting of May 20th, 2024. Will you all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silent reflection? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republicans, one nation undervisible liberty of Justice Raw. Thank you. Item one is roll call. Julie, will you please do the roll call? Councilmember Conde. Here. Councilmember Nielsen. Councilmember Solario. Here. Vice Mayor Paneda. Here. And Mayor Weiss, Councilmember Malone, and Councilmember White have excused absences tonight. Thank you. Ron, next item, please. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Up first, we have our development services department. Uh Jody, our director will make the presentation of new employees. Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council members. Um, tonight I'd like to introduce three new employees that we have with our development services department. First is our new chief building official, Ben Carr. Ben started with us on May 13th. He comes to us from the town of Cave Creek, where he was the chief building official as well as served as a fire marshal there. Um he has a lot of experience in plan review, front-counter permitting, um, being a building inspector, uh construction permits inspection, and also having worked in other local municipalities. I want to welcome Ben. Um, also we have our new front counter permitting supervisor, Dawn Jacob. Um she started with us on April 29th, and she comes to us from the town of Paradise Valley. She previously worked for the city of Morana, and she's got vast experience with customer service, project management, plan review, and permitting. And then lastly, we have Carter Evans, and he also started with us on April 29th, and he's our building permit technician too. Um he come to came to us from the city of Mesa, and he's uh previously worked as an electrical inspector and engineering inspector for Mesa and Racine, Wisconsin. So welcome our new members of the development services department. Thank you so much. Welcome. Next up, we'll have the Office of Public Safety presented by Lieutenant Hance. Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council members. Uh, my name is Matt Hince, uh Public Safety Lieutenant with the Office of Public Safety. I have the privilege uh this evening of introducing uh a few of our uh new hires and promotions. Uh first we have Carlos Cano, who is our newest addition to the Code Compliance Unit as a code compliance officer. Uh he comes to us from Glendale, where he has 24 years experience and is a retired police officer with Glendale. Uh is born and raised in Arizona and currently lives in the West Valley. Uh next, we have uh Sergeant Paul Wilson with the municipal security unit. Uh Sergeant Wilson has been with the city since 2016, where he had five years as a detention officer for the police department, and then was promoted to detention officer sergeant uh with two and a half years experience as a sergeant and supervisor there before he was promoted to municipal security sergeant during our competitive testing process with internal and external applicants. And finally, we have uh Joshua Perez. Uh he is our newly promoted uh code manager for the code compliance division. Uh he has 12 years experience in the code compliance field. Uh he came to us from Glendale in February of 2021, uh, where he took the senior code officer position for us. Um from October to or from October 2023 to March of this year.
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