The mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council welcome you to the Avondale City Council meeting.

As a courtesy to others, please silence all phones.

Anyone wishing to address the council regarding items listed on the agenda or under unscheduled public appearance should complete the request to speak form online at www.avondaleaz.gov slash request to speak.

Or complete a blue card that is located at the back of the council chamber and hand it to the city clerk prior to consideration of that agenda item.

When your name is called, please approach the podium and give your name for the public record.

Please limit your comments to three minutes.

If more than five requests to speak are received, comments may be limited to one minute.

A countdown clock will be easily visible on the speaker's podium.

If your comments concern an item not listed on the agenda, Arizona open meeting law restricts mayor and council actions.

If your comments concern item that is not listed on the agenda, mayor and council may respond to criticism, request that staff review the matter, or request that the matter be scheduled on a future agenda.

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

Good evening, and thank you all for actually at this moment in time.

Would you all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence?

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

One nation under God.

Councilmember Weiss here.

Councilmember White.

Present.

Mayor Pineda.

Here.

And Vice Mayor Nielsen has an excused absence tonight.

Thank you so much.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

And Council.

Up next is we're gonna hear from Keith, our assistant director of finance and budget to introduce two new employees.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Uh Keith Falstrom, I'm the Assistant Director of Finance and Budget.

I'm here to introduce two new employees for us.

First is Greg Litchie.

He is our new budget manager.

He worked for the City of Avondale for about 10 years in accounting.

He left for three years to the City of Buckeye, and then we got him back.

So we're happy to have him here.

And then next is Luisa Parfila.

She is a senior customer service representative helping our utility customers.

And she came from Arizona Water Company where she had 18 years of experience.

So we're excited to have her here.

She started about two months ago.

Interesting.

Well, welcome to the team.

Seeing as that our list is a little shorter this evening, just quickly.

I think we had a really good culture for the employees.

And it's been it's just great to be back.

Well, thank you so much for being here and choosing us once again.

Appreciate you being here.

And only two months that you've been here, but what is something that uh you've come to realize being a part of the Avondale team?

Uh I think everybody just helping each other and uh being nice and just teamwork.

A lot of good teamwork here.

I like that teamwork.

Well, thanks again for being a part of Avondale, and uh we appreciate you being here.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Tonight I'm excited to introduce uh two new employees for IT.

Uh first we have uh Michael Jocelyn.

He's joined the city, he's been here two weeks.

Um so he joined us as a GIS technician.

So Michael comes to us um from the city of Yuma.

He's been there two and a half years.

Um and he was there, he helped map water and wastewater um assets and assisted in their asset management.

Um he's worked on other GIS projects with Southern California Edison, PGE, and Washington State Department of Transportation.

So Michael is a U.S.

State's Navy veteran and a graduate of University of Arizona.

Nice.

And uh Pranit Mari joins us uh as a as a network analyst.

And uh Pranif comes to us with eight years of experience doing network engineering, uh, where he supported large scale infrastructure, focused on reliability, scalability, and security.

Um he's been with us about five months as a contractor prior to joining us as an employee, and he's contributed to key infrastructure projects um such as uh uh installing new network equipment at traffic signals and intersections and working closely with the public works and traffic teams.

So uh we're looking forward to everything he can do for us as well.

So same question for both of you.

Um give us one fun fact about yourselves that you like to share that was not provided to us by Jeff.

Um well, nothing really I just like uh you know, like going hiking with my dog on the weekend, stuff like that.

Any specific area of town that you like to go?

Well, I just moved here, so uh I've been out to uh bike tanks last week.

Don't forget about the estreas as well as Monument Hill.

Okay.

And Pranit, the same question for you.

Uh one fun fact is I like to go hiking, and guess I'm in the right spot.

Okay, well, he can maybe share with you some good spots, and maybe you guys can go together.

Thank you for being here, and more importantly, thank you for joining the Avondale team.

We appreciate you being here.

Thank you.

Next up, uh, Mayor is our uh marketing public rec uh relations director, uh Pierre.

Uh, not introducing a new employee, but uh celebrating an internal promotion.

Good evening, Mayor and Council, and it's my pleasure to introduce Gabby Babinski, our new management analyst for the marketing and PR department.

And as Ron mentioned, she is not new to the city.

Um prior to transferring to the MPR team, Gabby spent three years with the Office of Public Safety, where she created programs such as the Avondale FIA and Medical Citizen Academy and Camp Hero, which is an innovative program designed to introduce high suit high school girls to the fire service.

Um Gabby was also a driving force behind the development of the Avondale One Campaign, Alphentanal Prevention Program.

Uh Gabby has a master's degree uh in business from Embry Riddle and holds advanced PIO certification.

Uh before starting with the city, she worked in various sectors, including tribal government, college athletics, and health clinics.

And in her new role with uh MPR, she will help to manage the hundred-plus projects that we have in our list at any given time.

Uh uh help with administrative support, manage the gift shop at the visitor and conference center, as well as provide social media and marketing training to our uh teams.

And she will support the critical public information and emergency communications functions here in the city.

And I know you always ask for the fun fact, so we'll get ahead of that.

Okay.

Um she plays semi-pro volleyball, and she often gets mistaken for a firefighter in the city.

And yes, she's actually driven a fire truck.

So Gabby can say first of all, welcome uh internally to the team.

I mean, it's uh it's uh it's an easy jump for you, I'm sure, not only logistically, but obviously obviously a lot of what you were doing with um public safety translates well to marketing uh for many reasons, and I know that many of us up here have worked with you and have seen the wonderful work that you've done.

Uh but uh personally, I know that you mentioned semi-pro volleyball.

Did you play in college?

And I think I've asked you that question before, but let's I would look for all of us to hear the answer to that.

I did play in college and I coached for a second too.

So that's right, and you coached.

And so what can you say correlates between team sports and working with the city of Avondale?

Um I would say, especially with the marketing department, it's very collaborative.

Um so that teamwork I've really brought it into this role so far.

So uh it was a pretty easy transition with this team, especially because women's sports now I'm on an all-women's team.

It's a little bit back to my roots.

So, thank you again for being here.

We're glad that we didn't lose you to somewhere else, and more importantly, that you'll be helping uh with the marketing team.

And uh I know that your skill set and your experience will do well here, and uh we just can't thank you enough.

So thank you so much and congrats on the promotion.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ron, next item.

Mr.

Mayor and Council, up next is we're gonna have our proclamation on breast cancer awareness month, and Ted Flores, your assistant HR director will kick us off.

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

Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer for women in the United States and remains a second leading cause of cancer deaths.

During October, the city recognizes the extraordinary strength of individuals diagnosed with breast cancer and the commitment and effort invested in finding a cure.

At this time, I would like to welcome those in attendance who have been impacted by breast cancer to stand to be acknowledged.

At this time, I would like to turn it over to back to the mayor to read the proclamation.

Read the proclamation.

And so I hate to put the spotlight on you, but I just want to make sure uh that I acknowledge that.

Okay.

Whereas breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed form of cancer for women in the United States and remains the second leading cause of cancer death among American women, and whereas memography mammography, an x-ray of the breast, is recognized as the single most effective method of detecting breast changes long before physical symptoms can be seen or felt.

Early detection and improved treatment are believed to have significantly reduced the number of deaths caused by breast cancer.

And whereas researchers, scientists, and numerous nonprofit organizations are dedicated to discovering the cure for breast cancer.

And whereas during the month of October, we acknowledge the extraordinary commitment and effort invested in this cause, and whereas we recognize that over two and a half million Americans are breast cancer survivors, and that gives us hope of a better future.

Now, therefore, on behalf of the Avondale City Council, the city of Avondale, Arizona, hereby proclaims October 2025 as breast cancer awareness month and extend our deepest respect for survivors and those advocating for prevention and a cure.

Thank you.

Ron, next item, please.

Mr.

Mayor and Council, up next, we have a prop proclamation honoring the life of Ron Ross, a longtime Avondale resident.

I would like to invite our friend and our former mayor, Ken Weiss, to introduce uh the family.

Uh, you're going to hear a proclamation that tells a brief story of the Ross family, not just Ron Ross, but Guadalupe Ross, the family there, uh a longtime residents of Avondale.

I first got to know Ron Ross five years ago when city leadership in Avondale, City Council, and myself worked with the governor's office to keep open the American Legion in Avondale.

Ron Ross was a driving force in that.

For those of you who knew Ron, you know that he was incredibly persuasive.

So might say irritating, but incredibly persuasive.

We're able to keep the American Legion open and keep those veterans going to a place that they love and a place where their friends and family were at, or else they'd be at home by themselves during the greatest pandemic that this nation has seen in a hundred years.

At that time I got to know Ron, and in the next couple years I got to know Guadalupe.

And we would sit and talk and he would tell me stories of Avondale.

And that inspired me to reach out to Mayor Pineda and Councilmember Weiss and see if we could do a proclamation for them.

Mayor, when you get done with the proclamation, if you wouldn't mind giving Guadalupe about three minutes just to kind of tell the story of the Ross family to put things more in perspective.

Of course.

Okay, I'd like to read the proclamation now.

Whereas Ronald Raymond Ross was born on August 8th, 1949 in Phoenix, Arizona, and passed away peacefully at his home on June 8th, 2025, at the age of 75.

And whereas Ron was a lifelong Arizonian who grew up in Avondale and Yuma, graduating from COFA High School in 1967 before proudly serving his country in the United States Army from 1969 to 1971, where he was honorably discharged.

And whereas following his military service, Ron built a successful career as an insurance agent, earning numerous accolades and was admired for his professionalism, integrity, and strong worth ethic, work ethic.

And whereas Ron devoted much of his life to public service and community involvement, contributing his time and talents to the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Committee, the Tri-City West Chamber of Commerce, and the Billy Moore Days Committee.

And whereas as a proud member of the American Legion Post 61 in Avondale, Ron held many leadership positions, including commander for five years, where he supported veterans and strengthened community ties.

Now, therefore, on behalf of the Avondale City Council, the City of Avondel, Arizona, here do hereby honor and celebrate the life and legacy of Ronald Raymond Ross, and extend our deepest condolences to his family, along with our gratitude for his service and lasting contributions to our community.

Thank you so much.

But yeah, we enjoyed our time here when we uh moved.

My dad took a job in uh the White Wing Ranch in Dayton, Arizona.

Uh we did come back for Little League as my brother Ron and Larry played little league in Avondale.

Uh my dad didn't want us to lose the connection here.

Uh, therefore, when we moved back to Avondale, we practically knew everybody.

Uh Ron was a great supporter of all the uh activities and things that went on.

He worked uh the Billy Moore days for 25 years as the chairman, so we have a long history there.

Uh this is his son uh Kyle, and uh we just want to make sure that uh we appreciate what you've done uh for Ron.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Guadalupe.

We appreciate that, and thank you so much, uh, Mayor Weiss for bringing this to our attention and uh honoring Ron in that way.

Mr.

Mayor, if uh if the family and the former mayor wanted a picture with council, we'll do that after this next uh uh proclamation or this next uh speaker.

Thank you so much.

Okay, so Mr.

Man Council up next is our exceptional student of Avondale recognition, our Avi Star Student Award, and I believe Donna, yep, will be making the presentation uh to recognize the the children in our community our students.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council.

It's always a pleasure to come before you to um recognize uh these wonderful and beautiful students and things that they are doing here in the Avondale community.

Um I have Mariela Gonzalez, youth and community engagement coordinator here with me that will be um translating um in Spanish this evening.

Um students, as I call your name, please approach the podium to accept your um award, and then you're welcome to take a seat.

Um the first student that I would like to recognize is within the Avondale Elementary School District.

Um her name is Arleth Salea Lujan.

Our leth attends Alicio C.

Felix and is a fourth grader.

Our leth consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic by giving her best effort in everything she does and never gives up.

She works very hard in class to achieve her academic goals and takes great pride in her progress.

She also shows commitment to her attendance goals, making it a priority to be at school every day and ready to learn.

Her kindness and loving nature shines through in a way that she treats all of her classmates and teachers with respect and care.

So Arlet Arlet constantly a fuerte ethical and rinde.

Arles is an excellent compañera of the equipo, disputed to collaborate, comparing ideas and celebrities of the service, yes, assisting appointment or each other in the class.

The next student is within the Pindergas Elementary School District and attends Rio Vista Elementary.

Giselle Rico Yorita, she is an eighth grader.

Giselle is truly a remarkable student whose leadership, dedication, and passion have left a lasting impact on Alicio C.

Felix.

Giselle is a change maker and a role model and a voice for others.

She serves as the chief science officer.

She has championed innovation and brought STEM to life, not just in the classroom but across the campus.

She is a member of the Superintendent's Student Council.

Giselle has demonstrated thoughtful leadership and advocacy.

As a proud member of the National Junior Honor Society, she has exemplified the pillars of scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship.

Whether volunteering time, mentorship to others, or maintaining academic excellence, Giselle continues to rise to every challenge with humility and with heart.

Giselle continue enfrontando that's a humility and corazon.

Victoria is a dedicated student athlete leader and a scholar who gives her best in everything she does.

Victoria has excelled in track and field and girls' volleyball.

She has placed in district competitions, served as varsity volleyball captain as a junior.

Victoria has been active in National Honor Society, Black Student Union, and Psychology Club, where she serves as a secretary and was a founding member of the club.

As a president of the Civic Action Club, she has led efforts to strengthen civic engagement on campus.

She focused on making civic engagement meaningful across her peers and her school.

She organized a visit with Anna Tovar, a respected public servant whose story of resilience and dedication to community has inspired students across the campus.

Victoria took the lead in creating a space for dialogue, encouraging her classmates to ask questions and see themselves as change makers.

She continues to build on that momentum by planning voter registration drives to help students to take steps towards becoming active and participating in democracy.

And I just want to comment and applaud these students for all of the wonderful things that you're doing here in the Avendale community and thank all of the teachers and school administrators that are here this evening and uh families and friends to support these students.

So thank you for pouring into them.

Are there any members of council that would like to share any words?

I say this all the time, but again, I know that you students work hard and we'll work hard regardless of awards or and recognition.

And it sounds like we got some real leaders here.

And so hopefully you'll come back here to Avendale and share with us uh, you know, your expertise and your leadership skills, and maybe even serve here on council one day.

So keep it up, keep up the good work, and thank you for making Avondel proud.

We appreciate you all.

Thank you.

Okay, we're gonna move on.

We're at item three, uh unscheduled public appearances.

We do have one card.

Uh Julie, is there any others aside from this one?

Thank you, Mayor.

That is our only request to speak tonight.

Okay, if I can ask uh Stephen Alt to come to the microphone, please.

Mayor, council members, good evening.

For those of you that don't know me, my name is Stephen Alt.

I'm the president of Avondale Police Department United.

We're currently eighty-two members.

Uh, and we're growing every week.

Tonight, I'm here to represent the members and my friends that are sitting behind me and the friends that couldn't make it here to send you a message of gratitude and a message of thank you.

As super chief over here instilled in me.

Going from good to great is about getting the right people on your bus.

And myself, and my friends behind me, we're passengers on this bus.

Now Chief Memo over here, he's sitting at the door checking tickets.

City manager here, he's driving this thing.

And he's driving it great.

But it is you all that have designed this bus.

Okay.

And in recent years, when retention and recruitment has been extremely difficult when it comes to law enforcement, it is through the compensation and benefits packages that you guys have presented us to make us the cutting edge and the leading law enforcement agency.

I want to share an example of your officers in action.

Last week they investigated a traffic fatality.

Not only did our officers respond and handle that accident professionally.

From contributions from this association.

Within less than 24 hours, we were able to present to her almost $1,700 to lessen the financial burden when the Air Force was still making arrangements.

These are the compassionate officers that work for this department.

These are the officers that serve with excellence.

Now at the end of this meeting, you guys are going to vote on further compensation.

Things that are going to make it so our retention and our recruitment stay.

So our turnover, which is now at all-time low, remains that way because of the culture that the Avondale Police Department has.

What I ask you to do is transport yourself from these council chambers to the lobby of a discount tire shop.

As you walk in that tire shop, you're going to walk up to a sign that says these are the good ones.

As you move closer to the counter to make your selection, you're going to pass another sign that says, These are the better ones.

As you get really close to make your selection, you're going to stand next to the last sign that says, These are the best ones.

We thank you for your continued support, the ability to make us the best ones to serve the citizens of Avondale.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And I did it before the buzzer ended.

So thank you so much.

Ron, next item, please.

Mr.

Mayor, I believe next item will be our consent agenda for consideration.

Are there any members of council who wish to pull an item for separate consideration?

Seeing none, we have a motion from Councilmember White, a second from Councilmember Weiss.

Please vote.

Okay.

Item passes.

Thank you so much.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

I uh have the honor or the privilege of introducing our economic development director to talk about a very exciting project coming to the city of Avondale that just to be clear would not have happened without the work of Jen Sheryl and her team.

So uh without going too far off topic, let me just start with a big thank you and a pigsue.

Uh I mean uh a good job to to the team.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

So I'm excited to present tonight the evolution and the journey of the Boulevard, which actually sounds like a movie documentary name.

So if it was a movie, it would be a blockbuster because there have been so many successes along the way and really exciting things ahead that we're going to talk about tonight.

But first it started with council.

Council had a long-range vision of creating a vibrant, dynamic, mixed-use destination with a strategic approach of the work live and play concept.

It also serves the Boulevard as a tourism gateway as we welcome a number of tourists every day that come into Avondale for various events, whether it be NASCAR in a few weeks, American Sports Center, there's a lot of tourism activity in addition to community gathering at the Boulevard.

But the transformation of the Boulevard did not, it does not happen overnight.

So if we look back through the last couple or 10, 17, 20 years, it has actually been a result of very strong collaboration, a solid vision, and strategic investments.

All right.

So with that, let's talk about what we've seen in the past, kind of a look backwards.

We're also going to see where we're currently at, and then we're going to talk about where we're heading.

So the history of the boulevard.

It was conceptualized in 2007, originally called the City Center as a multi-use, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, connected city center.

It initially included more than 400 acres of land along Avondale Boulevard between I-10 and Van Burium.

And Avondale City Council vision included retail restaurants and mixed-use development.

In 2018, the city center was changed and officially dubbed the Boulevard.

The district is reduced to 356 acres of land to create a more impactful area broken up into six sub-districts.

Since the conception of this area, oops, we welcomed four hotel four hotel developments, four multifamily housing developments, and more than 20 retail and restaurant establishments.

All right.

So communities thrive best when they feel connected.

So this is a flashback of the original vision of the boulevard by Norris Design.

So this is a flashback of the original vision of the boulevard by Norris Design that really reflects that walkability and integration of all the parcels.

And that creates sustainable development over time.

And you can see our city owned assets, how they integrate with the other private public partnerships.

Current vision of the boulevard.

So I want to highlight for a moment a couple key strategic parcels that are reside outside of the black line, which is the boulevard boundaries.

Just to kind of give a little emphasis on some of those parcels are economic drivers for the boulevard and will help with the continued success.

The first is the Avondel Tech Center, which is directly west, and it's on the blue top blue on the north side.

This is a huge job creator with advanced technology and manufacturing and high tech industries, state of the art.

So one day we can have jobs for was it Giselle and Victoria and the students you saw earlier.

We would love to keep these jobs in our city and give them opportunities.

Just south of there is Fuse 623, again, density that is going to support the boulevard amenities.

And then we have future commercial, the yellow right below on the southern side.

Across the street where it says future commercial on the south side of Van Bern, which is in the Boulevard boundaries, that is a medical office complex that we're currently working with.

And it is going to offer a gastro surgery center.

If you move now a little bit north to the Boulevard Village Shopping Center, we are very excited about this opportunity.

And I did get permission from the developer who has this land under contract.

It is Peterson Group.

So Peterson Group, we're working with on a really cool retail commercial development.

They are known for their development at the promenade at Scottsdale and Franklin Wright and recently Trailhead at 83rd and Happy Valley.

And then North, the Avondale Lifestyle Center, we're working on a cool outdoor, indoor recreational eatertainment.

So there's a lot of activity on that side.

And then, of course, when you now move on the east side of Avondale, the green you see, and we're going to talk about that in greater detail is the city owned assets.

And then we have future commercial on the north and an Avondale Business Innovation Park that we're also working or having putting that in motion.

So a lot you can see of activity currently occurring in the boulevard.

But we want to take a look back, and this is a really good reflection of all the successes and milestones along the way.

So from 2006 to 2009.

The Hilton Garden Inn in Homewood Suites by Hilton Constructed, just south of I-10 opened in 2007.

City staff worked with consultant groups to design the implementation strategy for the area.

And then in 2008, the City Center specific plan was adopted.

Between 2010 and 2015, we welcomed American Sports Center and a retail liner to complement it in 2011.

In 2012, Culver's Drive-Through Restaurant Pad was developed.

And in 14, the Park and Ride Transit Center was completed east of Avondale on Roosevelt.

2016 to 20, we adopted a new specific plan area called the Boulevard.

2019, the City of Avondale purchased several parcels of land in the Park Avenue district.

In 2019, residents in by Marriott opened.

And in 20, council approved a land sale of four acres in the boulevard, which is the re the retail line of shops, which is just directly south of American Sports, and I'm looking at Cheryl as a phone or friend.

East, West, excuse me.

And so we're going to be looking at a new restaurant and bakery and some other amenities coming to that development.

City Council approved a $5 million investment to create the Boulevard Lake in amenities, which is a really important investment because tonight you're going to see how that is going to be integrated into our new projects.

And in 2020, Phoenix Children's Sports Therapy opened.

Oh, and the list continues.

2021 to 25, the Boulevard Lake opened, as well as Lamb's Market, Dutch Bros, Boulevard parking garage was completed, which is a tremendous asset in the Boulevard, as well as Tap 2, and then in 2023, New Penny Cafe opened, Soda Bomb, which is now Ivory House, and then Avita Institute opened, Starbucks opened, the village at the Boulevard opened, and then in 2024, a new great amenity, which is a huge huge draw is the Sand Volleyball Courts in 2024, as well as Alta Avindal Open, giving us some good density to support the area.

So the request for proposal that we recently issued was really designed to select solicit proposal ideas from developers to make sure that we find partners in alignment with our vision.

So we get one chance to do this right.

One chance to make sure that we deliver something intentional and meaningful, because this is kind of the last pieces as we look at the build out for the boulevard.

So it was important that we engage with partners who have executed successful projects before, so they're well experienced and well capitalized to take our vision and make it a reality.

So with that, we attracted a creative and innovative developers, which I'll introduce.

I have right behind me.

And just from a date perspective, we opened it on February 2025 and closed it in April.

And as I mentioned, as we delve into the build out, we we always say in economic development, we're building for the generations, not just today, but for for the time.

So here comes the next build out.

So in purple, we have Blueprints Capital.

So Norm Brody, can you wave your hand right behind me?

Norm is the project developer who we are working with on that south side, so the hard corner at Van Buren and Avondale in purple, as well as the amenities around the lake.

So you see office space, Great Lawn.

I'll get into more details with that.

And then the two acres in front of American Sports Center as well.

So we're working with Norm on a great unique project for these three parcels.

Then I have behind me, Tim and Ty Witten.

You can wave, stand.

They're our development partner for the embassy suites full service hotel and conference center, which is on the north side next to our parking garage off of Roosevelt Street.

Thank you.

All right.

So now I'm gonna focus on Blueprints Capital for this presentation because there is another presentation following that will get into this deal structure and details for the embassy suites and Witten Development.

So Blueprints Capital, right away, we saw we had a shared vision with them because they did a really good job at Verdi at Cooley in Gilbert at Cooley Station that really takes an integrated mixed use approach with not only connectivity but activation of the common areas or the grass areas.

They do a really good job of programming their space to attract the community to enjoy the asset.

So they have quality restaurants and retail, and you just feel like you're when you go there, you don't have you can walk, you don't have to move your car, you can do a lot of different things at one time, and feel like you're entrenched in the community.

So that is something that really for us resonated.

And Blueprint specializes in that.

And so once we saw their amazing project, we um are definitely looking forward to what they can bring to Avondale, which you can see on the right side picture is the conceptual design.

So as we begin preliminary discussions with Blueprints Capital, they're looking at bringing about 138,000 square feet of retail restaurant and office space to the boulevard.

And it's broken down into and again, these are preliminary because as we get in and we start discussing and talking and seeing tenant interest, things might fluctuate, but this is what we're originally or what we're looking at at this time.

Okay.

So with a public-private partnership, there's contributions and development opportunities for each side.

So looking at the estimated city contribution, I really want to emphasize estimate because we just started those discussions, is reimbursement of infrastructure.

Um we have to build out some of the roads to connect these the development space, and so Blueprints Capital will construct public improvements in the City of Avondale would reimburse upon certificate of occupancy.

Phase one, what we're looking at is completing 114th Avenue to Filmer Street, completing Filmer Street east-west from Avondale Boulevard to Park Avenue, and then constructing the Great Law Play Area stage that would be used for programming and activation to bring in like the yoga and the different kinds of markets and different events.

I'll get to that in a moment.

What kind of events that they can produce?

Phase two would be Park Avenue extension to Van Buren Street, because this is a two-phase strategy or plan.

The total estimate costs is 6.6 million.

The public benefits from the development is Blueprints, as I mentioned, would be activating that space, the Great Lawn, more than 50 with a commitment of more than 50 public events annually.

And Blueprints Capital will commit $2.5 million to produce the events over seven years.

The economic impact, more than $5 million in net new Avondale sales tax generated over the next seven years.

$9.5 million of net new property taxes over seven years.

And the economic impact overall is at 40 million dollars over the next seven years.

So this is just a highlight of the blueprints capital, how the phasing approach looks with phase one in purple, which is the restaurant, about 10,000 square feet of restaurant in front of American Sports Center, the office building, and then a lakeside restaurant surrounding it, along with the improvements.

And then the Great Lawn, you can see in the north or the corner my directions, eastern corner.

And then the blue is the second phase.

However, we're getting strong tenant interest.

So we might be moving up the phase two sooner than we anticipated because it will be dictated by tenants who commit early on or pre-lease.

So that you're you might see some of these the phasing in in tandem.

Okay.

The timeline.

So with a large-scale project like this, multiple parcels, a lot of construction, a lot of development, due diligence, pre-leasing, marketing conditions, all that jazz.

Um we have a preliminary timeline with a purchase agreement execution around early 2026.

Site plan design reviews semmodal mid-2026.

All city plan approvals, mid-2027 with a closing date on our land.

It is a purchase transaction mid-2027 with commencing construction around late 2027.

Phase two, again, site plan design review, early 2028, all city plan approvals, early 2029, closing early 2029 with commencing construction mid-2029.

But I have a feeling all these dates are going to change because we're going to be finding tenants sooner than later.

I just we're already this economic development team's on fire.

Um's group has done a great job, so we'll come back to you with timing when we solidify it a little bit more.

And the future of the boulevard, just again a bird's eye view of the integration of how we're going to see movement from the Great Lawn and Lakes area into the hard corner and then a c of um and how the parking and streets will flow.

So movement's really important.

Again, it's very intentional and thoughtful when these developers are coming in trying to figure out how to um best connect the community in this development.

Okay, I'm gonna play.

There's a video.

I'm trying to figure out how to that really reflects and demonstrates the activation at Cooley or at Verdi at Cooley Station.

And it's um oh, so that gives you a really good um preview of what Norm Brody and his group do.

Oh, Amelio's here.

I also want to introduce.

He's part of the team as well.

I know most of you know Emilio over here.

Um they really do a great job of activating and programming these events.

They also are long-term um holders on these properties, so the intent is to be partners for the long range, and we really are excited to um be working with them on this project.

So at this point, I really want to make sure we're aligned and we'll appreciate any feedback, thoughts, questions you may have at this time as we start to navigate through the next steps.

Thank you so much, Jen.

Uh, great presentation and great information.

And before I make my comments, I will look to council to provide theirs.

Any members of council wish to provide some feedback?

Okay.

Uh Councilmember Connie, you too.

Okay.

All right.

Oh.

Councilmember Connor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Jen, for the presentation and really breaking down how much we've done because it's been done in little bits and pieces, and sometimes I forget.

Okay, we really did do get a lot done.

So thank you for for that presentation.

But I also don't want to lose sight of what we had discussed as a council before this.

Um, and it's probably something, you know, um, you know, we just want to give your input.

You know, we wanted to make sure that it was a walkable place, you know, a place where you know people can walk to or ride their bikes or roller skate using the trail on Van Buren to go have you know a brunch in the morning, and that was kind of the vision of that.

So I just want to make sure we don't lose sight of that and making sure that you know we have that retail there for folks to be able to grab some dinner, go do some shopping.

Um, and having that um sports complex is huge.

I know my daughter goes there, and when there's tournaments, I know families oftentimes maybe want to go grab a buy to eat while they're waiting for their next game, or um, you know, go enjoy a beer or whatever, uh or shopping.

So I think the vision is still there, but I don't want to lose sight, you know, what was important for us when we had this discussion about paces for folks to sit, you know, having shade, and of course, parking is so important.

But I saw that there was a lot of parking, but I don't want to lose that path, that trail, that connectivity, um, and just an aesthetically pleasing place with trees and um shade.

Those are just some of the things I don't want to lose.

Um, and one thing that I want to mention um with Mayor Paneda is back when this was happening, I remember that him and his wife Olivia would go bike riding.

And Olivia had mentioned starting a bike club with people getting their their bike cruisers out.

So those are the things that we envision that I envision is having those types of things um available to our community.

And you know, there's so many um apartment communities, housing in that area.

You know, it's just so nice for folks to not have to jump in the car, you know, just to kind of walk there or pull their kids in a wagon, you know, just to go for a walk there.

So um, you know, I'm sure we're gonna be able to have a little bit of input as things move forward.

So we'll kind of have those discussions.

But those are just some things I just wanted just to remind us you know us all of what we had talked about in the past.

But I'm really excited um that we have someone that's going to um take the lead and bring forth some of these great ideas.

So thank you.

Thank you for the feedback.

Thank you.

Councilmember Garcia.

I love to eat, I love to shop, I like to go listen to music.

And so this seems really good.

And I think about um sitting it for the strategic planning when we did it, and this is exactly kind of like what we spoke about.

Um I love the bike trail and all that stuff, and I think that's mentally, I think that's incorporated because I've been to the one um in Chandler and Mesa because they have places to walk and to sit and to eat outside and stuff like that.

And I want to make sure that we also attract really good places to eat because just because we have the space doesn't mean we're gonna get the type of food that I want to eat specifically, like a really good steak.

Um so um I want to make sure that we keep that in mind when selecting the right kind of people into the area because just because we built something doesn't mean the right people are gonna be attracted to it.

Thank you.

Okay, Councilmember Solorio.

Jen.

Jen, thank you so much for this.

Thank you to the um economic development department.

Um more importantly, this I think when I see this, it's so good to see this come to fruition and see the vision out there because I don't know how long ago, maybe Jody remembers, but I was part of her ad hoc committee and seeing this on a whiteboard and seeing this as a slide of what things would look like.

Now, yes, some things have changed, um, but the vision is still there.

It's what the residents have been asking for, the folks that bought their homes.

Um I have a family member who owns a home in Matamine, and um it's really what they kind of sold him on when he was it was his first day walking into that community, and they said this would all be built out and walkable.

That was one of the things that they sold to being a gated community and coming and having that accessibility.

So to see it, you know, put together in the different phases, so excited for it.

As you know, I have worked there for 18 years on that side of the hospitality sector.

So to see it grow, um, it's just amazing.

It just like blows you away to see all the different plans and to see that really come together.

And it's been many years.

I don't know how many years ago was that, Jodi.

Uh we worked on it in 2018, and it was adopted in 2019, so about five years or so.

Yeah.

Thank you, Jen.

Thank you, everybody in economic development.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Either either of you.

Okay, Councilmember Weiss.

Thank you, Jen, for your presentation, and thank you for being here tonight and um supporting us um in this development.

One of the things that I did see was all the shade.

And so that is so important for us.

There was one section that had um a park.

It looked like a park.

Yes, the Great Lawn area.

Yeah, and then there's another one to the south of it.

Yes, there's some additional equipment.

So lots of places for people to go walk, sit in the shade, bring their families, and um, yeah, I'm now I'm sad that I've moved away from there because that's where we live.

Now we are up have to drive down there, but that's okay.

Um anyway, thank you for being here tonight, and thank you for um your vision.

Mr.

Mayor, can I I want to make a correction so we don't leave with the wrong impression.

Jen, can you back up a couple slides?

Right there.

So that green lawn to the set was to the south to the bottom of it, that's not gonna be a park.

That is currently not our property.

Um it is owned by the uh the um developers that own the property just north of that.

And so um that that's gonna be originally, I think council contracted for a hotel.

The Avid, I think was gonna go there.

Oh, I thought you were talking about the Great Lawn.

I apologize.

No, they're they're talking about the South.

That's why I wanted to clarify.

Oh, yeah, the one on Avondale Boulevard.

We put that there because we didn't we don't know what's gonna be there.

Um, but it's not city property.

Um, and um where it is zoned, uh Jody correct me for hotel.

Um, and so um, but that's just a placeholder.

Um they're doing off-site improvements on that as we speak.

You see the tractor and the digging holes out there there right now.

But I didn't care.

Yeah, I didn't want to leave the impression that that's gonna be another park that will be developed into something.

Uh through the mayor, uh city manager.

I wanted just to clarify it has zoning for commercial right now.

The site plan is approved for a hotel, and we're working with Jen's team on uh what ultimately will come to fruition on that property, but there's options.

Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, uh Mayor.

Thank you, Jen, for the presentation.

Um, of all of us, I live in the community off of 111th Avenue, right behind that.

So I truly did buy my house um for this and have waited since 2008 when I made that purchase to see all of this stuff um come to fruition.

Thank you for increasing my property value.

But um I when I take a look at this, I will say some things as call-outs.

I know it definitely have to stick with that walkable community.

Um you have a couple of meat eaters here, so council member uh Garcia spoke truth to power.

We do need like a steakhouse in this area.

We don't have a fine dining evening restaurant, especially not that people could walk to.

Um, and then um we we also um have had quite a few accidents where um we have people on two-wheeled um uh vehicles or bikes, um whether they're electric or not.

But we want to preserve some spaces for biking and walking in there.

I see it done already.

Um, and one thing that we maximize in the boulevard that I hope that we can continue to do with any additional intersections that we have to put in there, we should use traffic circles because we're gonna keep it a community-oriented space.

The traffic circles that exist there right now make it really smart.

Um, the back street that goes behind the um sports center, it's one way um each way.

So if you're on one half of the street, you're if you're on the south, I'm sorry, the west half of the street, you're going south.

If you're on the east half of the street, you're going north.

I mean, those type of intelligent design cuts down an accidents and makes people remember that we have a lot of families out there.

So I just want to continue to um thank those folks.

Blueprint, thank you so much for being here.

We'll hear the next proposal as well from Witten during the next item.

But we really appreciate you guys investing in Avondale and uh making our place beautiful.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I mean, this to me, this is uh the beginning, the spark, if you will, of what's to come for Avondale.

Avondale has lagged behind, as mentioned by some council members in different uh in different uh types or in different ways in regards to uh what we have, what we don't have, but where we're headed with this project to me just demonstrates that commitment to our residents of what they not only um are looking for, but more importantly, what they deserve as part of their community and having a uh a center like this, a heart, if you will, to um come together uh to celebrate whatever milestones they've achieved, more importantly, have a nice meal.

What I like and what was mentioned earlier, and I believe by you is that this is our last um or at least on the boulevard, that this is an important piece of property, we get one shot at this.

And what I would assume and I believe is that we're not just slapping fast food restaurants here, no drive-throughs, none of that, because again, that's what council has been looking for.

That's what the residents have been looking for, and this fits the bill.

I also just um cognizant of the fact that the uh presentation also included the dollar amount regarding our investment as a city six point six million dollars.

And while that is uh a lot of money, I just also want to communicate that one of the things is as being mayor and being out there in the community, specifically uh speaking on behalf of Avondale's future and and progress is how we lag behind Goodyear in some respects uh to development like this.

And what I often communicate to them is that Goodyear long ago prepared and they invested, I believe upwards 30 million dollars into shovel ready pieces of property so that this these type of opportunities could come, and we see that those are happening now.

If we can do that for a fraction of 30 million dollars to bring something like this to fruition, I think that the residents will see this as not only worth it, but as a true investment and not an expense.

Uh and so for that reason, I'm I'm very excited.

We can get to the particulars on uh some of the comments that have been made with council in regards to the walkability factor, which I know is important.

I know for me specifically, making sure that restaurants are utilizing the lake uh as an amenity to me is so important, but we'll get to that.

Uh but for tonight, in terms of comments, I think you've heard that the support uh from council as the direction.

I'd like to also thank uh Blueprint uh for taking on this opportunity.

And we saw what you've done in Gilbert, and uh we we look to Avondale as being another jewel in your portfolio.

And so I look forward to future discussions.

And I know we're not voting on anything tonight, but I I truly believe that you hear the passion behind all councils uh voices, and more importantly, um just pushing forward with a project like this.

And so um thank you, Jen, for your for your presentation.

Thank you for your economic development team.

I, for one, know just how hard you guys work um and uh what you guys are doing to make Avondale a better place for everyone.

So thank you so much, and um I look forward to future discussions on this project.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

Just one point to add, we are definitely focusing on diversification of restaurants.

I I did write that down, but the tenants that we are receiving strong interest are actually in alignment with the residence survey that we did, and we'll probably do another resident survey.

Um so we definitely take that feedback seriously from your constituents who recommend restaurants, and we are actively and I'd say aggressively going after them.

And I would say, Norm, we've got a couple of really good ones that I can't wait to share.

Which one?

So I just want to make sure you know we are we are continuing to seek resident input, and um we heard you on that that point.

And uh and then in terms of next steps, we're gonna take all this feedback, collect um collect it, internally discuss, meet, and then start working on um agreements with Blueprints Capital.

So we'll we we'll be back here soon with with an agreement.

Can't be soon enough.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Jen.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Oh, yeah, I'm back again.

Could we just take uh like two or three minute break really quickly?

Your meeting, sir.

Okay.

Uh for Council Member Garcia just needs to step out for just a second.

Ron, uh item B, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Up next, I probably ought to read the title and then I'll say what I want to say.

But the Boulevard Web Avondale Investments LLC, formerly went in development and Inc.

full service hotel presentation, no some intent to enter into development tax incentive agreement presented by uh Jen, your economic development director.

But I'm excited about what we're getting ready to uh present, which is uh full service hotel with convention center space.

We're very excited to welcome them to Avondale.

Good evening, Mayor Council again, me again.

Um this is really exciting.

This is actually this next project is a great example and outcome of the RFP process that we discussed in the previous presentation.

It's definitely gonna amplify the boulevard, and so we are thrilled to bring this project forward.

Um I already introduced you, but again, I just want to point out Tim and Ty Ty Whitten with Witten Development, our um partner on this incredible full service, 180 room hotel, conference center, six stories high with 10,000 square feet of conference over 10,000 square feet of conference and meeting space.

Um, just to get oriented, this is going to um locate just north of the parking garage off of Roosevelt Street.

And uh again, full service amenities, restaurant, room service, and we're very excited about the rooftop bar.

It's beautiful.

It's definitely elevates the profile of the boulevard with incredible views of Astralia Mountains.

It's position positions Avondale within the Boulevard as a premier destination.

This is important because it puts us also in a competitive position to attract some of those shows, conferences, events, trade expos that you're seeing go to other resorts or conference space in the area.

Now we have that opportunity to capture that business.

And with our tourism manager, Nikki Taylor's Nikki behind me, wave your hand, I don't know, Nikki's way in the back.

She gets so many leads, hundreds of leads that now she gets to work on placing at the new embassy suites.

All right.

And last but not least, it's really good to have a successful partner.

The wittens have done a really great job in this hotel sector space and have delivered incredible product.

So we are looking forward to working with the Wittens.

Okay, so why are we here tonight?

There's a couple things.

There's a couple sequence of events and phasing I want to discuss.

The first process is like a two-step process where we, when we bring a development agreement forward to council, per state law, we do have to issue a notice of intent.

So tonight you will be taking action on a motion recommended for the notice of intent.

So pursuant to state law, before the city can enter into an economic development tax incentive agreement, the city is required to adopt a notice of intent.

The NOI must be adopted at least 14 days before approving the agreement.

So we will come back in two weeks with the development agreement and the lease to purchase.

The NOI must include two findings.

The proposed tax incentive is anticipated to raise more revenue than the amount of the incentive within the duration of the agreement.

In the absence of the tax incentive, the retail business would not have located in the city in the same time same time, place, and manner.

This statute requires the findings to be verified by an independent third party, and we did hire rounds consulting to conduct the third-party economic impact analysis.

And so that study has been provided to you, and it also is attached to the notice of intent for adoption.

Okay, so there are three timeline milestones again with following the sequence of events with November 3rd being the adoption of lease and purchase and development agreement, or the action to be brought forward.

And then while between now and January, there's a lot of behind the scenes pre-development, pre-planning, due diligence.

That is typical activity that occurs when we're in an agreement like this and preparing for development.

In January, we have two outside dates, January 31st, the site plan design revive review submittal is due.

However, just like the other project, we're rocking and rolling over here.

So this most likely will come into the city prior to January, but again, for the agreement purposes, we did set a couple outside dates to keep everybody on track.

But Tim would say, and if you have any questions, he could definitely join later, that he's ready to roll.

Ready to go.

He's up, we're already moving moving fast.

November, all city plan approvals and lease would commence because that's when construction will begin.

And that's when we will activate and make the rent or the lease agreement effective.

So to walk you through the scope and timeline.

This is a 7.5 year lease to purchase.

Phase one, in that first 18 months between November and April 30th, we're at $1 because that is like the construction, dirts moving, we're getting it ready.

We're not operational yet.

So construction.

Phase two for three years between May 2028 and April of 2031, now they're operational.

They'll have a certificate of occupancy, they'll have the option to purchase, and they're in a rent of at 120,000 a year.

And then they have phase three, if they have not yet exercised their purchase option from May 1st to 2031 to April 30th of 2033, then it goes up, which is these are market rates adjust to 180,000 a year.

But the agreement and the terms that we have negotiated and are committing to is that the developer will purchase this property within the seven and a half year lease at $18.75 a square foot, which is estimated to be $2.9 million.

It's estimated $2.9 million because we're still finalizing the site plans and the serving and the legal description that will give us the exact square footage.

Okay, so by the numbers.

This is a hundred and fifteen million dollar evaluation project at completion.

We anticipate $12.2 million of direct revenue to the city of Avondale over 10 years.

And this again came from the economic impact analysis by the Rounds Consulting Group, $12.2 million.

One to nine ratio means that for every one dollar in the city obligations, Avondale taxpayers will receive over $9 in benefits.

So we're going to break down city contributions and then public benefits.

On the city contribution side, we're looking at reduced reduced building fees, about a 50% reduction in development, review, and permit fees.

Another is a development impact fee cap, 50% in lieu for impact fees.

This does exclude water and sewer, not to exceed $400,000.

Construction sales tax reimbursements only on the unrestricted city construction sales tax, which is at 1% is the unrestricted, not to exceed $200,000.

And then the lodging tax reimbursement, so as they're scaling up and going operational.

The 2% hotel tax or bed tax, as you might have heard, is in addition to the existing sales tax that's on the room already, which is 2.5%.

So this is the 2% on top.

We're looking at years 1 to 3, 100%, which is estimated at $536,000 in reimbursement, and then the conclusion in year four and five at 50%, which is a hundred and seventy-eight thousand dollar estimated reimbursement.

The total estimated city contributions, $1.3 million.

Here are the public benefits.

Annual access to the conference center.

The city will have up to 30 free event free event days per year in the conference space.

So for example, mayor state of the city or workshops or meetings.

This also could be assigned to strategic partners as well, like the chamber or GPAC.

Estimated value over five years is $750,000.

Conference center discounted rentals.

This also is being offered, so 30% discount for Avondale businesses and nonprofits for the conference center space.

The 30% discount for Avondale businesses and nonprofits estimated over five years is $150,000.

Then we are looking at a $20% discount for Avondale residents booking private events in the conference space, an estimated value over five years at $250,000.

In addition, there are opportunities for branding and marketing, which is really important because city branding and visitor information will be integrated into the conference center FOIA.

We also have the option to place our Discover Avondale video on the televisions.

You know, when you walk in the hotel room and the TV's on, surprise OBS, Avondale.

So in-room digital advertising valued at $50,000 a year for five years is $250,000.

So that's that's really exciting to us.

Hotel providing $300 square feet of prominent retail space for the sale of Avondale branded merchandise, valued at $6,000 a year.

So you know we like our merch here, so all the shirts and pins and hats would be part of this retail space.

And over five years, that's $30,000.

So the total estimated direct public benefits is $1.4 million.

All right, why does this project matter?

It absolutely, like I mentioned earlier, and of course, as we're talking about building out the boulevard with all the integration and assets and elevating our profile and attracting more people.

We already have so many visitors and with the American Sports Center and the ancillary events happening in our city, as well as a lot of you know employment around the density we have.

It just made sense for a full service hotel because it will strengthen us as a regional destination.

It will deliver long-term community and economic benefits, and it enhances Avondale's visitor and business attraction efforts.

This is really a big part of our tourism strategy and initiatives to diversify our hotel product and offer higher quality amenity.

Okay, so I have mentioned this before.

There is no way that one person could bring a project of this magnitude to fruition.

So I want to take a moment and acknowledge some people in my in a in just a quick shout out thank you session.

First, my assistant director, Cheryl Covert.

Cheryl has worked incredibly hard on this, Dale.

Can't even express how many hours.

All the behind the scene magic.

I want to thank so much for Cheryl.

Nikki Taylor in the back.

Big shout out to Nikki who brought this amazing opportunity forward to us.

She's our tourism manager, but she also got business attraction when I came on board, so she has a twofer.

And she's doing great doing both the tourism side and the business attraction.

So we're very thankful.

City Attorney's Office.

Jodi Novek.

Jodi and her team are incredible.

This is now a gift from me to you, Jodi.

It goes into her shop next.

And we're very grateful for um all of her team's effort and and she's been already helping us problem solve and get this in motion.

Kim Moon, big big hands uh for Kim and her team.

She's already out there today with the Wittons and looking at the half half street improvement.

So thank you, Kim, as well as City Manager's office.

Their incredible support and helping us problems off.

So Ron, Katie, Dale, Tracy.

And Tim, Lisa's not here tonight.

Ty, we are so grateful for your partnership.

Thank you so much.

We can't wait to work with you and deliver this incredible product.

So thank you.

And Mayor Council, a tremendous thanks to you for all your support and vision.

All right, with that said, let's move on to next steps.

October 20th tonight, we are going to put the motion forward for the adoption of the notice of intent.

November 3rd, we're looking at the action uh bringing our action on lease to purchase agreement as well as the development agreement.

They will go together.

And then tonight, I will read the recommended motion, and then if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

And I can also bring up Tim to answer questions as well.

But the motion, the recommended motion is to adopt a notice of intent to enter into an economic development agreement that includes the rebuild of rebate of sales tax with Web Avondale Investments, LLC for a proposed full service embassy suites hotel, and authorize the mayor or city manager, city attorney, and city clerk to execute the necessary documents.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for the question.

Are there any questions from council?

Okay, Councilmember Solorio.

Okay, uh comments.

Jen, thank you again for bringing and everybody in economic development for bringing um a product, a service as good as this.

I know I had a brief minute to share with the gentleman as a 18-year hotel veteran who has worked in this industry to be able to see a project like this, because we do not have an embassy suites on this side of the valley.

That, you know, as I shared with Jen and I've shared with other people and people on the council as well.

We see those sales leads come in for all those big name retailers, and we have to turn them away because they have to go to Phoenix.

But a product like this brings those people here and brings jobs to Avondale.

And I couldn't be more excited, the hotel year and the Hilton person in me to have an embassy suites.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Garcia.

Um, thank you for the presentation.

Um it is so refreshing to have something new in Avondale.

Um when I worked in North Scotts, still at a business when we were looking at conferences areas.

There was nothing in the West Valley but the wigwam.

And uh and the what is it, the one at Westgate?

Renaissance.

The Renaissance.

And it's now people will be coming here with their conferences with their balls with their galas and everything.

And this looks way prettier than the other ones.

So I'm very excited.

Hopefully, it looks just like the pictures, but it's gonna bring in a lot of revenue and as well, it's it's gonna bring those people just like uh Councilmember Solario said, it's gonna attract a lot of businesses to come over here.

So thank you guys so much for doing this.

Thank you.

Jen again, knocked it out of the park.

I mean, at the end of the day, uh Councilmember Garcia just said it that you know this pretty puts us on the map.

If we're looking at the region as a whole, wigwam renaissance, things of that nature is where you would host these facilities.

What I really like is the focus back on the community uh and the win that we earn that they earn as a result of discounted rates or even the use of maybe as part of that 30 um event uh opportunities that we have.

And so be able to share that back with the community.

I think um is is wonderful.

So I appreciate it.

And even before you finished, we had a couple of motions uh come up.

So let's just go ahead and get this uh done.

We got a motion from Councilmember White, a second from Councilmember Solorio.

Can we please vote?

Okay, item passes.

Congratulations and thank you all for investing in Avondale.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Council app next, you're gonna hear from Brian, our homeless services manager presenting the Avondale Strategic Plan for Homelessness.

Good evening, Mayor Council.

I'm excited to be here today to bring you our final plan to address homelessness in the City of Avondale.

I'll begin with a concise background and then the plan's guiding principles.

I'll define the outcomes that we will track, and for each outcome, I will show the specific strategies that move it.

I'll close with our next steps and ask counsel for approval of the strategic plan homelessness resolution.

The strategic plan for homelessness resolution.

Just as a reminder before we start, the city's goal is always to make the experience of homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in the city of Avondale.

First, I'd like to share the context of our work at this point.

Since 2022, Sonar has engaged 329 individuals through 7,343 unique engagements.

This reflects a sustained outreach, follow-up, and casework across the city.

From those engagements, we have had 179 individuals positively exit and their homelessness.

These figures establish the baseline for how Sonar has operated to date and frame the scale of the work that is addressed in our plan.

Of the 179 exits, 36% of those were to permanent housing, meaning affordable housing with supports.

When we were working on the plan, we set a vision for our team.

That vision states that the states where the destination is, that every resident, that every resident safely and healthily is housed with a fair chance to thrive.

That Avondale is a community where everyone has a safe, healthy place to call home with equitable opportunities for prosperity, well-being, and happiness.

The guiding principles function as the decision rules across our program, contracts, and communication.

A place called home keeps housing solutions central.

You can't end homelessness without a house.

This principle defines home as the precondition for health and stability and is not an optional support.

Everyone deserves and benefits from a place called home.

People first defines our service conduct, how staff, contractors, and partners interact with residents experiencing homelessness by acknowledging the universality of the risk.

Homelessness can happen to anyone.

This calls on us to deliver services with truthful communication, reliable follow-through, persistent engagement, and consistent standards across our techniques.

It's a conduct standard for every interaction and relationship within the system.

That stewardship starts with us.

This principle directs us to treat public resources as a trust.

Decisions must be evidence-based, transparent, and performance must be measured with data.

In practice, that means collecting and analyzing data to show collective impact across partners and publishing what we track so that you and our residents can see our progress.

The plan names the tools for this transparency: a public-facing dashboard, regular utilization of a regional uh homeless information management system, policy updates, demographic reporting, and coordinated integration of the AVY system.

Responsible storytellers, this principle uh commits the city to elevate first person first stories as we as part of how we lead the work.

The goal here is influence, to deepen public understanding of the causes and hardships, surface resilience, and point to the supports required to overcome barriers so that the community backs the strategies in this plan.

Sonar's role in honoring and sharing these stories is explicit.

These five outcomes are listed together in the plan's overview of strategic outcomes section and define how progress will be judged over time.

To achieve these outcomes, the plan organizes the city's work into six goals.

I'll briefly talk about the outcomes.

We are looking at accomplishing a 25% increase in the number of positive positive exits from homelessness.

I defined those earlier.

A 30% increase in the number of connections to treatment, 50% increase in the number of family connections to permanent housing.

Families are defined as any unit with one adult and at least one minor child, and a 50% expansion in the number of supportive service partnerships, bringing more uh services to the to Avondale and the West Valley to ensure that people who are housed stay housed.

And then ultimately a 25% reduction in the number of people experiencing homelessness at any given time.

Goal number one is to ensure sufficient housing.

This is a supply question.

This aligns housing pipeline to what Avondale actually needs.

The plan calls for preserving affordability through home repair, supporting supporting affordable and supportive production with community housing development organizations and housing authorities partners, and pursuing population focused options such as veteran housing where feasible.

The emphasis on is on meeting current and projected needs for all residents so that exits are possible when people are ready to lease.

We can't put somebody in a home if that home is not available.

In practice, this goal underpins reductions in overall homelessness and improves family placements by ensuring appropriate units exist.

Goal number two is to provide support to prevent eviction.

This is a prevention goal.

The goal interrupts housing loss before it becomes homelessness, and the plan identifies directs the city to identify and strengthen existing funds, partnerships for emergency assistance, eviction prevention, and housing related legal assistance.

It also names landlords as a central and essential partner and calls for structured engagement and an education.

The intent here is straightforward.

Keep households housed so that entries into the system are rare and brief.

Goal number three facilitate connection to temporary shelter.

This is about speed and about time.

The plan calls for local low barrier options such as family bridge housing and iHelp to give outreach a reliable destination the same day or as quickly as possible.

With predictable referrals and documentation with predictable referrals, navigation and documentation can begin earlier.

That shortens the path to lease up.

This measure is practical.

Less time waiting, more people moving through permanent housing.

Number four is to refine the citywide response.

This goal is about consistency.

It's about doing the same effective thing every time and showing our results.

Standard response expectations and encampment protocols reduce variability and hasten solutions.

Diversion options route eligible cases out of the homelessness and justice system pipeline.

And the data upgrades, such as a public facing dashboard, HMIS policy, demographic reporting, and AVIWIS integration make the system's performance public and easier to manage.

Consistency improves flow and reduces those repeat episodes of homelessness.

Goal number five is to expand supportive services.

This is about access.

The goal grows service network where it affects housing results.

The plan focuses on partnerships and behavioral health and transportation and a workforce so that people can access services that meet meet both personal and financial needs.

By formalizing this partnership and aligning them to identified gaps, the city strengthens the supports that make placements possible and sustainable.

The result is more verified connections to treatment and service network that is better able to support positive exits.

And finally, number six, connect to permanent housing.

This goal is about stability.

The goal carries people from temporary programs into permanent homes with the right supports.

The plan expands case management for families and individuals and integrates workforce readiness, financial literacy, transportation, child care planning, life skills, benefits access, basically how to make a home and keep it stable.

It positions these functions as part of the housing pathway, not as add-ons.

This is central to ending homelessness.

The intended effect is higher exits to permanent housing and fewer returns.

We know that the only predictor of homelessness is a past experience of homelessness, and this will lead to better outcomes for families.

Upon approval, the neighborhood and family services department through the homeless services division will implement the strategies as written in the plan.

We will track progress against the five outcomes, altering them as we meet those successes, setting new outcomes, and providing regular updates to this council and to the community.

Mayor, member of council, on behalf of the staff, I respectfully request your approval of the strategic plan for homelessness resolution as presented.

Approval adopts the plan's outcomes and goals as the city's framework and authorizes staff to move forward with implementation and public reporting consistent with the document.

On the screen before you is the staff's recommendation to opt adopt the resolution to adopt a resolution on adopting the strategic five-year plan for homelessness.

And before I close and before you I ask for your uh approval, I'd like to thank you for your investment and your intention and your attention and steady support that has strengthened my work and the work of our community.

Every step you have affirmed our staff's work, our partner's work, and the neighbor, and we are able to stand with our neighbors in Avondale.

Our plan is a shared commitment to turn that support into visible progress, fewer people losing housing, more families returning home, and a city where every resident is treated equally and with dignity, dignity.

We honor your trust by doing the work openly, measuring what matters and staying focused on what on outcomes for all Avondalers.

Thank you.

I'll take questions.

Thank you so much for representation.

Have questions or comments?

Councilmember Conde.

Thank you, Mayor.

Brian, thank you.

Thank you guys.

Thank you, neighborhood and family services.

Um, you know, since I got on council, that was one thing back in 2017 that we knew that that was happening, you know, the unsheltered population, you know, down in our river bottoms.

And you know, Chris, you and your team just really took the lead in creating this sonar and bringing Brian on.

And I couldn't be more thrilled about the work that you guys are doing.

And one thing that I always just share people with people is that you treat them with dignity, and that makes a big difference.

So I want to thank you for all your successes, and thank you for you know coming along when someone invites me, you know, Family Promise did their ribbon cutting and happy to be there.

You know, but that's a great way for us to make connections because at those places we're meeting people that have housing to help people that are battling um substance abuse, right?

It's not a big organization, but it's a small house.

So really being out there connecting and uh networking, finding those additional resources is so important.

So thank you for always for coming and supporting when I go.

Um another thing I on under the goals, um there was landlord outreach and education.

So is that something new?

Is this the first time that we're starting this?

Um it hasn't been a strategic response.

So the plan calls on us to engage landlords.

So the team, we have a small but mighty team.

There are five of us along with the rest of neighborhood and family services.

Um a big piece of placing someone is that negotiation with landlords.

Oftentimes families are coming in with services and guarantees to pay.

So it's educating our landlords on what that system looks like, but also building uh a team of partners in those landlords so that we have a place to place families and we have identified units and strategic partners that you you can't house somebody without housing.

Um so it's thing it is education that's happening in other cities, another part of the country, so we're looking to replicate that in Avondale.

Um I know one thing being um my background in property management.

When I used to work at a with um a specific company, we provided all of our property man the apartment companies themselves is a list of resources.

So before we send out a five day or when we send out a five-day notice, these are a list of places that they can go to get assistance, whether it be Salvation Army or would it be um surrounding churches.

So those those have department communities have to have buy-in as well.

You know, so we want to try to keep those folks in in their house because once it's a five-day once it goes to court, all those fees start accruing, and then now they're owing five or six hundred dollars in addition to their rent.

So really trying to avoid that.

So, you know, thank you for educating, thank you for connecting with the landlord because that's an important important piece, you know, because we want to definitely try to keep folks in those apartments if we can.

Yeah, thank you.

And it's important to note that we being housed in neighborhood and family services, we sit with the CAP team, and their job every day is to help families avoid that eviction process.

So we have a built-in partner with those relationships that exist, and we also have funds to help to help assist those families.

So uh if we get the name of a willing landlord or a willing uh property manager, we we call them until their phones ringing off the hook to get families placed there because we know that we can work with them.

So it's a very important part of the puzzle.

Well, thank you for the great work that you guys are doing.

Keep it up.

Thank you for your support.

Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, Brian, for the presentation.

I uh wanted to take a look.

I'm reviewing the slide on the sonar success, and it looks like over 54% of the people that we interacted with positively exited homelessness.

So that's really commendable that we can get half of the people off of the street in Avondale.

That's something to really celebrate.

So to you, Chris, the entire sonar team, I really appreciate everything that you're doing there.

Um, because we're just not as learned as um you all are, with the 7,343 engagements.

Talk to me a little bit about, or can you give us a real bird's eye view of what does each engagement look like?

Because it seems like uh a lot of touch points for a few people.

Yeah, so uh when we talk about thank you, Councilmember White for your comments.

Um, one of the things that we talk about when we do this work, we don't always have a home identified when we start engaging with people.

So the only resource that we have is time.

So we direct the team to invest time.

And so there's those engagements look less like an outcome for a service contact, but it is time building trust to get to know somebody's story.

Um it is consistency over time.

So that that number is large, not just because it takes that much time to move somebody out of homelessness, because it takes that much time for humans to develop trust with each other, especially when somebody has been disconnected from services or had uh trauma impacts that brought them to the point of homelessness.

So that number really reflects the investment of time that the team puts in to individuals to learn them to gain their trust and to really have that follow-through.

I appreciate that.

18% of those folks that we were able to serve um went into treatment.

How are we able to monitor their outcomes to make sure they did not go back into homelessness?

Yeah, so one of the one of the data points that's not on that that outcome is the return.

So we um we oftentimes it takes several so going along with that engagement number, oftentimes it takes several encounters or several experiences before we can get somebody to a point where they're trusting the system or they are connected with the right treatment provider.

Um so oftentimes we don't know if somebody goes to treatment, especially if they go to treatment outside of Avondale or outside of the state, often we don't know.

Um and that's one of the you know, one of the things that we cope with as a team to invest all of this time into somebody and get them to someplace, and it's like letting a uh a bird fly out of the nest, the baby bird out of the nest.

So oftentimes we don't know.

Um we do know when they touch the system someplace else in Maricopa County.

Um we can see that, and we have reports that do that.

And then one of the numbers we're trying to impact is if we connect somebody with the right treatment, they can work on their housing from there and they don't return.

So we're trying to reduce the risk of returning back to homelessness.

So that number uh we've had great success.

There's a member of our team, Adam, who has been remarkable using his own experience to be able to get people into treatment and really connecting with people.

Again, that's a question of the time and trust.

Well, you definitely have my support for this strategic five-year plan and all the work that you do to remedy um the unhoused uh population here in Avondale.

Thank you.

Other members of council.

Thank you, Brian, again for this report.

Interesting parallel between the discussion tonight in regards to investment of of taxpayer funding to bring, you know, these uh beautiful amenities to the city of Avondale.

But it's also we we can't forget the investment that we've made also to to fight the this challenge that exists in regards to homelessness and other things.

And one of the things that I also would like to call out is, and I think um Councilmember Condi alluded to it in regards to resources, is just how much your team, Chris's team, this department as a whole, utilizes so many grant opportunities and partnerships uh that don't necessarily require us to dig into our own pockets to make some of these things come to fruition.

And the last comment that I'll make is that I love the strategic plan.

I I I approve of how it looks, but I also want to be um transparent and communicate to you that while these strategies are laid out and are nice and clean and they lead to nice goals and objectives.

That I also, just as I would with economic development in regards to being aggressive, is it is to uh try in terms of being innovative and creative on other strategies they may not have a nice clean goal or objective tied to it.

It's okay to swing the bat and miss.

And so if if in addition to the strategic plan, utilizing staff and your expertise in this area allows for you to try different things.

I I hope that you and the team will go for it.

Um, because again, um I want to make sure that we do have this balanced approach between you know celebrating successes of beautiful development, but also doing what we can to fight off these sorts of challenges that we experience or that that uh individuals are finding here uh in our part of town and in the Southwest Valley region.

So that's all I have to offer.

And the other time, yes, Mr.

Mayor, if I may, please, Mr.

Mayor and Councilmember White.

Um I want to uh just uh point out, because I think it gets lost sometimes when you looked for what is the engagement looks like, what are those contacts look like?

Each month we do a monthly stat report of throughout the city on lots of pages.

I think it's 10 pages, super long.

The last page, the last bullet is always a story on a homeless internet action that the sonar team has had, usually a success story, whether it's a three to five year contact that we finally got a home for the individual or or uh a veteran we were able to finally get through and make a connection.

So look for those little uh nuggets of uh good stories that happen at the end.

In addition, Mr.

Mayor, uh speaking of uh other strategies, uh your leadership team meets uh twice a month, and we work with uh the uh um police department, the fire department, the public works department, um code enforcement, and many others to address uh issues related to homelessness and other issues in the city.

And we're um we don't miss a whole lot, but we do take lots of swings at trying to address the issues in the city.

But uh Brian and uh Chris, uh important part of those meetings and teams as we try to address uh those less fortunate in our city.

I appreciate that.

And I more importantly, I appreciate the communication uh being provided here tonight because again, you know, as clean and as neat as these things are, I know that there may be somebody where in any department they may be coming up with something that uh doesn't necessarily apply to the strategic plan, but I would hate for it to be missed if it could uh you know be a benefit to the community.

So thanks for sharing that.

And I'm and I have no doubt that that's exactly what's occurring.

We do not do this work alone, right, Ron.

So thank you, sir, for letting us know.

I just get to give the presentation, but it is there's an entire city and runs team behind us encouraging us to make those stretches.

Well, appreciate it.

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

If the rest of the council can vote.

Okay, item passes.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor and Council, up next uh we'll hear from um Andy, your HR director regarding the mid-year public safety salary adjustments.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

The item before you tonight is for council to consider a request to implement changes to the salary step plans for police officers and sergeants, transition lieutenants and fire battalion chiefs from a traditional market range to a step plan and add two additional full-time lieutenant positions.

The first portion of my presentation will cover officers and sergeants.

And as I begin, I want to provide a little bit of historical context for how we arrived at the current pace structure for both of these roles.

So in November 2022, council approved the following changes to ensure market competitiveness with an effective date of January 1st, 2023.

For officers, we reduced the officer step plan structure from 16 steps to nine steps.

We removed the training step from the step plan, and we implemented a progression of 5% between each step.

For sergeants, we reduced the sergeant step plan structure from 10 steps to six steps.

We implemented a progression of 5% between steps, and we ensure there was no overlap between officer and sergeant pay.

Since implementing these changes, officers and sergeants have seen cost of living adjustments each year, like other employees to ensure the step plan structure keeps pace with inflation.

Additionally, those eligible received one-step movements within the scale unless they were at the top of their range.

In preparation for a fiscal year 25, it was noticed that the police recruit rate was lagging our West Valley market comparators.

Therefore, decision was made at that time to collapse both the recruit and step one rates to ensure at market competitiveness at the entry-level rate without impacting the step structure, um, especially since the remainder of the plan at that time was still competitive.

What this meant is that the hiring rate for recruit matched the step one rate.

So essentially recruits that were receiving a higher rate upon hire without waiting for academy uh were able to receive a higher rate upon hire without waiting for academy graduation date to be bumped up to the higher rate.

That helped us in recruiting uh applicants, especially when we have a lot of uh other agencies in the West Valley that are vying for the same individuals that just allowed us to ensure that we were competitive with those rates and they weren't sidestepping Avondale to go apply for another agency.

Um council will also recall that HR engaged with a third-party consultant to conduct a citywide compensation study in FY25, um, which also included officers and sergeants as part of that review.

So at the conclusion of the study, our general compensation philosophy was to focus on those job titles that came back at 5% or more below the average market uh midpoint to identify for market adjustments.

When drilling down a little bit further on officers and sergeants, we determined that officers were lacking the market midpoint average by roughly two percent.

So therefore, there was no change required based on the market data, and this is a uh the city's compensation philosophy.

What we did see is that sergeants were lagging the market midpoint average by a little over five percent.

Therefore, a five percent market adjustment was applied to the step plan structure for FY26 to support market competitiveness.

Market adjustments were implemented in July of 2025, along with COLA increases and eligible step movements.

Uh as you can see, our turnover trends have been moving in the right direction for officers since we begin to implement changes to the step plan structure over the last few years.

Uh so much so that I'm happy to report that we currently have zero officer vacancies as of tonight, based on offers that have been accepted.

I believe the the last group of um of officers started today, and and I believe we have a couple more uh this week.

So when this presentation was uh developed, we had start dates pending, but they have since accepted uh positions.

We do have two authorized overhires remaining open, so we'll continue with our efforts in recruitment and retention to make sure that we have a suitable pipeline ready for uh any future vacancies that may come available.

I just want to uh one point of of note in reference to sergeants, the percentages when you look at the turnover rates seem relatively high.

However, the turnover rates are primarily associated with retirements in that particular category.

Um given recruitment indicators and movement in the West Valley law enforcement market at the beginning of this fiscal year, there was sufficient justification for us to explore a market survey of our West Valley comparators to ensure that the momentum that we've gained isn't negatively impacted by not keeping pace with our comparator agencies.

So therefore, HR conducted a market survey of our West Valley competitor agency, a comparator agencies in August of this fiscal year.

Uh and just to note our comparator agencies were Buckeye, Glendale, Goodyear, Fioria, and Surprise.

So before you are the overall market survey results, uh and the following conclusions were made based on the survey results.

So the rate for recruit currently lags the market average by nearly five percent.

The minimum for officer currently lags the market average by over 9%, while the midpoint lags a market average by about 5.5%, and the maximum lags a market average by almost 3%.

Avondale is the only comparator agency that has a nine-step pay plan.

Almost all other agencies have an eight-step pay plan with one agency who has a seven-step pay plan.

For sergeants, the minimum for sergeant currently lags the market average by roughly nine percent.

The midpoint lags the market average by five and a half percent, and the maximum lags the market average by a little over two and a half percent, so two and three-quarters percent.

Uh the number of steps within the sergeant step plan structure for comparator agencies was mixed.

However, six steps was the most common.

Therefore, it's reasonable to conclude that our current structure aligns with the market.

So uh two other agencies in addition to Avondale had a six-step pay plan, and then it was spread out amongst the remaining three agencies.

Uh, one was at three steps, one was at four steps, and one was at five steps.

So, based on the survey data, our recommendation tonight is with an effective date of January 5th, 2026, align the rate for police recruit with a market average of $34.23 per hour, reduce the number of planned steps from nine to eight, maintain the current five uh percent progression between each step, and increase pay rates for officers based on the proposed new rate for their current step assignment.

Uh the visual in front of you shows what our current step plan is and what the proposed is in blue.

Um budgetary impacts are uh 1.36 million dollars of on uh three 1.36 million in ongoing dollars, um, but for the remainder of this fiscal year, um it would be roughly 680,000 for this uh portion of the recommendation.

For sergeants, our recommendation is effective January 5th, 2026.

Align the step one rate for sergeants with a market average of 5551 per hour, align the max step of the plan, which is step six with a market average of 6676 per hour, realign the progression difference between each step to 3.8%, and increase pay rates for sergeants based on the proposed new rate for their current step assignment.

The budgetary impact is 167,000 of ongoing dollars, and for fiscal year 26, it's roughly 83,000 to implement this recommendation.

So before I go uh forward with the next uh portion, I just wanted to pause here in case there were any questions about um officers or sergeants at this point.

Any questions for counsel this time?

Okay, thank you, Andy.

So during our review for officers and sergeants, we also surveyed market data for lieutenants to ensure we understood what impact any potential salary structure movements would have for this group.

So to give historical context, the FY25 compensation study determined that the midboy the midpoint for lieutenant lagged the market midpoint average of our comparators.

So, like sergeants, a 5% increase was applied to the market range for FY26 to support market competitiveness.

For lieutenants, the survey data indicated that the minimum salary for lieutenant lags the market average by nearly 19%.

However, the midpoint only lags a market average by about 3.5%.

Avondale currently leads the market average for maximum lieutenant salary by roughly 7.32% and is the highest in the West of our West Valley comparators.

As far as salary structures, some agencies have lieutenants on a step plan while others have them on a traditional grade assignment.

Currently, Avondale has lieutenants assigned to grade 19 on the city's compensation plan, which is highlighted in the table.

Um so you'll see the min mid and max of the current uh salary grade.

Based on the survey data, our recommendation is to effective January 5th, 2026, place lieutenants on a five-step pay plan.

Use the current salary range midpoint for step one of the pay plan, given how significantly Avondale is lagging the market average for minimum salary, keep the current maximum as step five top of the pay plan since Avondale is leading the West Fall the West Valley market.

Keep the current maximum as step five top of the pay plan since Avondale is leading the West Fall the West Valley market.

Implement a 4.66 progression between each step.

Place incumbents in the closest step relative to their current salary.

However, they wouldn't go down in salary.

It would be the next step that's closest to their current to their current rate.

The budgetary impact is 23,000 of ongoing dollars each year, and for FY26, it would be roughly 12,500.

So again, a visual for you is our current uh grade 19 min and max uh for lieutenants, and then our proposed five-step pay plan.

So I'm gonna switch gears a little bit and talk about staffing within the patrol division.

So the patrol division currently consists of 10 patrol squads, including four lieutenants, ten sergeants, and seventy-two officers.

The four lieutenants are responsible for patrol coverage as well as various ancillary duties, including oversight of the FTO program, the traffic unit, Litchfield Park Detail, and the community service officer program, with only four patrol lieutenants managing both patrol operations and these additional responsibilities.

Coverage is limited.

So as part of this overall recommendation, um, our recommendation for new positions is effective January 5th, 2026, authorize the creation of two new full-time lieutenant positions.

Um budgetary impact would be 300 and slightly over 314,000 of ongoing dollars, and for FY26 would be roughly 157,000.

So the final portion of my presentation this evening is in reference to fire battalion chiefs.

Because fire battalion chiefs are internal comparators to lieutenants, we believed it was appropriate to include this group as part of our market survey to ensure internal equity.

So during the FY25 market study, battalion chiefs were tracking below the market average midpoint.

So similar to lieutenants, a 5% increase was applied to the market range for FY26.

For battalion chiefs, the survey indicated that the minimum salary for battalion chiefs is nearly 10% below the market average, while the current midpoint is slightly above 4% the market average midpoint.

The maximum salary is roughly 15% above the market average, which again similar to lieutenants.

We were a leader in the West Valley for the max range when compared to our West Valley comparators.

As far as salary structures go, again, similar to lieutenants, some agencies have battalion chiefs on a step plan while others have them on a traditional salary grade.

And like lieutenants, battalion chiefs are currently assigned to grade 19, which is highlighted in the table before you.

Based on the tenure of current incumbents, they're placed competitively within the current range.

Um therefore being more aggressive with placement isn't necessary in this particular case.

Because the maximum of the range is significantly is significantly leading the West Valley market.

We don't need to be as aggressive and accelerating movement through that step plan in order for them to reach the max of the range sooner.

So overall, um the approach accounts for current salaries being competitive and taking a conservative approach to movement through the range again because we are a leader at the top end of the pay scale.

So again, here's a visual of the current salary range and proposed step plan.

And so overall, just in conclusion, the staff recommends that salary that I'm sorry, that council approve the proposed changes to the Avondale Police Department salary step plan for police officers and sergeants, unauthorized associated pay increases.

Two, the transition of lieutenants and fire battalion chiefs to a salary step plan and authorized associated pay increases, and three, the creation of two additional full-time lieutenant positions.

The recommended effective date for these items is January 5th, 2026, which is the first pay period and calendar year 2026.

If approved, it's expected that salary savings will be used to offset costs in this fiscal year.

However, if this amount is not sufficient, a future agenda item would be submitted requesting council's authorization to transfer contingency funds.

The ongoing costs associated with these recommended changes will be included in the FY27 balance budget along with any council approved COLA and/or merit step increases.

At this time that concludes my my presentation, and I'm happy to uh answer any questions you may have.

Are there any questions from council at this time?

Councilmember White?

Thank you so much.

I appreciate your presentation, Andy.

So just quick math gave me $942,000 that we're gonna have to move.

Where's that coming from today?

Mayor, Councilmember White.

So for today for FY26, it would come from any salary savings that uh the city has.

What is the salary savings year to date?

I might have to uh get information from our financial uh team.

I'm not sure if if we have that.

Um I'm not sure how readily available that number is.

Mr.

Mayor and Councilmember White.

Last year we ended up with about four million in salary savings.

So we're anticipating having uh plenty to cover.

If uh needed, if um uh the police department itself were not to have enough salary savings, then we would come back to council for a contingency out of your contingency funds.

Uh no budget you know adjustment upward.

It'll it'll come out of uh contingency funds, uh given that it's a mid-year adjustment.

Um for next year, it's already included.

We've added it to our five-year projection.

So when council meets in two weeks, we begin our budget discussions for FY27, and we have these numbers already included in a balanced budget.

Thank you so much.

I just wanted to also go back to the step um information that we have.

So we're shrinking the steps, it looks like for officers and sergeants to go from nine steps to eight steps, is that correct?

Um Mayor, Councilmember White, that would be correct for officers.

So going from uh nine to eight steps for officers and we're keeping the the six steps for uh sergeants.

So just because I'm unlearned in this area, um, is it um is it traffic, the traffic unit that gets the different elevation or field training or CAT SWAT, the event, the CSOs.

How do we determine?

I I have no idea how that happens since I'm not involved in the HR aspect.

How do they go from one step?

Is it by picking up like an extra affinity that they do or what?

Um Mayor, Councilmember White.

So the step movement is based upon um it begins once they graduate from the academy and complete probation, they move a step at that point, and then every uh subsequent year, if there is authorized uh merit increases or financing for um step movements, the officer with uh with a meets expectations performance evaluation would move through that scale uh each year.

So ultimately, an officer who has um eight years of service as a sworn officer would then reach the top of that scale.

Mr.

Mayor and Councilman White, just to be clear, when the change was made uh right before I joined the city, uh we place every officer, you guys place every officer in their years of service.

So the year of the step matches their years of service.

Uh Mayor Councilmember White, you asked about cats and all the special assignments.

We uh sometimes uh a lot of those have special assignment pays, and that would be on top of this.

This is just the base salary.

So that uh doesn't go into the step plan, it goes into special uh assignment pay.

Thank you.

No further questions.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Silario.

Andy, thanks for the presentation.

Thank you to you and everyone in your office, because this is deep efforts here to kind of go through different cities, and I know it takes the time.

Thank you, Ron, for your input.

And um of us, you know, do ask for certain direction.

And um thank you, Ron.

I appreciate that because I know it's also hard work for your office.

And thank you to Chief, and thank you to those that are here tonight because um public safety in general, whether it be fire, police or the ones that are out there.

So happy to see this happen.

Councilmember Garcia.

Um, thank you so much for the presentation.

Um, as somebody who has experienced not being home on holidays, um, who has given up family events, um, working weekends.

I know that you chose this job, but you're sacrificing for our safety, and you don't deserve this.

You deserve so much more.

And there is not enough that we could give as a community to you guys for everything you guys do.

So thank you guys so much for putting this together and making sure that we are competitive and that we get the best officers here and that we retain the best officers in Avondale because everyone that I've met here, um I was researching two weeks ago for somebody like different police departments, and I was kind of sad that they were like, well, I don't want to go to Avondale because their salary is less.

And I was like, but we're the best.

And they were like, well, but good year, you know, everything's always compared to good year.

So now being competitive to them and knowing that we have the best available and we have the best chief who he really does stand for his officers.

He really advocates for them.

Um I'm really happy this is happening now, and that we're able to have this available for the future officers because we just hired what I think that class was like 10 new officers that just uh started today.

So hopefully they stay here and don't leave in about two weeks when we scare them off.

Councilman Rukandi.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Andy, for the presentation.

I guess this question would be for city manager and Andy.

I know that this um increase is supposed to start in January 2026.

Is there would we be able to consider starting it maybe sooner, maybe December, so that way they can enjoy a larger check for the holidays.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, Councilman Conde, oh um, I appreciate your generosity.

Um they would, yes, they would enjoy it.

Uh I guarantee you that.

But um our budget's in the position right now that this uh is stretching our uh capacity to manage the city and do uh the things for the whole city.

Um, you know, we have the vacation sellback program that is citywide, firefighters, public works employees, and those also come out of salary savings.

And so we're um uh uh we're we're a capacity um for personnel costs.

Uh I could not in good faith recommend an earlier date.

That was my original plan when we began uh this discussion.

Um but looking at the numbers, uh Councilmember White asked a great question about affordability, and and I I uh I can look you guys in the eye and say we can afford this.

Uh much more than that, though, would stretch uh our capacity to continue to not only take care of the police department but all the other wonderful employees here at the city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Andy, for the presentation.

It's been a lot of it's already been said here tonight.

Uh, but you know, uh in regards to capacity and the constraints that we have to work under through the budget.

I think being competitive and more importantly, as a council, uh, really, and I use this term twice already tonight in regards to investment, but investing in our public safety and what they bring to our community uh is important.

And so that it's it's it's of of importance to make sure that we are as competitive as we can be here in the West Valley.

In addition to that, I do want to commend our Chief Espinoza and Chief Rooney in regards to creating that culture, that environment, as was discussed uh earlier under um unscheduled public appearances of the uh analogy of the good, the better and the best.

Not only do we have the best in uniform, but more importantly, uh the best in leadership.

And I just want to make sure that uh that we convey that while we are working under those constraints, that we are investing in making sure that we can pay our public safety members uh what we can uh and when we can do a little bit more that we make sure that we do that to the to the degree of which that we're making this decision tonight to make sure that we are competitive and that uh paired with the culture that you want to call Avondale a place to call home uh as an employer and being a part of the Avondale team.

And so I just thank council for for investing in our public safety, our officers and our firefighters, um, and uh uh city manager uh Corbin for you and your team and working with Andy and his team to make sure that this is occurring.

Um I'm very grateful for this.

And so again, thank you for choosing Avondale to call home.

And um, I see that we have a motion from Councilmember Solorio, a second from Councilmember White.

The rest of the council could please vote.

Okay, item passes.

Thank you again so much for being here.

Thank you for protecting our residents, all the members of public safety.

Okay, Ron.

Oh looks like we have some of your current events.

Are there any members of council cake?

Councilmember Solorio.

Uh I had the opportunity to attend the Dreamscape Learning Environment Virtual Reality Lab at Westview High School.

They did a ribbon cutting, uh, the Dreamscape program, because you don't know is a virtual reality program that is done at ASU, and they're starting to bring that type of virtual reality and tying it in with learning at different schools here.

Avondale, uh Westview is the first high school to do it.

I did find out today that November 19th is one is the ribbon cutting for the Dreamscape Lab at um Garden Lakes Elementary School.

So it is nice to have those things uh come here.

And um I was I received the invitation from Devin Del Palacio, who's very involved in our community.

It was so great to be there and um saw um Stephen Calles and a few of the other people that were there and just seeing the learning and the amount of just knowledge that kids now have.

That's like the computer lab back when I was in school.

I mean, it was the computer lab.

Now you put on a virtual reality headset and you're like in a whole mind space so it's great to see.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Garcia well I attended um the Billy Moore days and let me say how big it's getting that I couldn't find parking but I did eventually but that's a good thing.

So thank you guys so much for everything you guys did.

I ate at all the vendor things with my son we got one thing out of everything.

That was wonderful and I also attended the Air Force ball at Luke Air Force Base.

I would love to see Avondel support Luke Air Force Base more.

We were the only city not fully represented but uh mayor was also there so that was really nice um I really love that we were there and we were um being able to see what they're doing and how they uh are involved in all all the communities wonderful so thank you.

Councilmember White Thank you so much I had the opportunity to attend the West Valley um regional chambers um legislative breakfast that was a great time to be there with members of the council I also participated in Billy Moore days and later on that Saturday got super busy as we've kicked off the race weekend celebration I had the opportunity to support as an accelerator track laps for um charity with the Phoenix Raceway charities and then later that evening I attended um the uh sneaker ball hosted by um the Phoenix Alphas and Arizona West Valley alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta and we were able to provide um $2500 in funding to the Miracle House to continue their service um to veterans and to their children.

Thank you.

Okay just I attended pretty much every event that was listed up here a second ago but I just wanted to reference the Luke Air Force ball and the reason why I wanted to reference that is I was um uh fortunate I actually got to sit next to General Birkland and him and I were able to speak a bit about what was referenced earlier regarding the airmen that was killed and I want to make sure that I pass on the message that he provided to me to our public safety members which is that you are a top notch group and that he couldn't believe how quickly uh that you all um you know took charge and were able to assist uh this wife who was in need who experienced such a tragic event um and um as a result uh we'll be moving forward in figuring out a process to deal with a situation in a scenario just like that uh where unfortunately there may be a death of a service member um and uh how the air force responds and works with uh other agencies and municipalities in the valley but he was just so appreciative of all of you especially those who participated as well as the the chiefs and um wanted to make sure that I communicated that back to you so luckily I have this platform to do that so thank you so much for coming again for next item is adjournment I got a motion from council member white uh second for council member conde please vote we are adjourned please drive safely home and thank you for being here tonight I was gonna say oh I didn't even say yes we didn't noted