23 special meeting to order.

Marcella, do you mind doing roll call, please?

Councilmember Conde.

Councilmember Malone.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Here.

Councilmember Solario.

Councilmember White.

Here.

Vice Mayor Paneda.

Mayor Weiss.

Here.

Welcome back, everyone.

Ron's wearing a sharp new suit.

Look at that.

Speaking of Ron, Ron, item number two, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

We have first a presentation by Jody Novak, our director of development services, introducing two new employees, or one.

One new employee, and going to talk about the second.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm going to introduce first Cole Hunger.

We're very pleased to have him join our planning division team here as a planner.

Cole joined our department this past June.

He came from the city of Casagrande, where he worked in the planning development department as an intern following getting his master's degree at Arizona State University recently.

He had originally done his bachelor's degree in San Antonio and uh Trinity University, made his way back to Arizona.

He's highly motivated.

He's very eager to learn a lot of stuff about planning and development and working with our team and uh grow his career with Avondale.

So we're very happy to have him on board.

Um and he's moved up to downtown Phoenix, so he's getting closer to the West Side.

Welcome, Cole.

Jody said you moved back to Phoenix.

Did you grow up here?

Where'd you grow up?

Uh Phoenix, Scottsdale.

Welcome back.

Um, and Sylvia Willem Marcore is another new planner.

Unfortunately, she's not able to be here this evening, but I'll do a quick introduction for her.

Her photographs on the screen.

Sylvia also joined our team just this past July, um, where she had worked previously for a private development firm learning how to do zoning case application submittals for a developer.

Um she as well has a bachelor's and a master's degree in urban planning, both received from Arizona State University.

Um she is local and lives here in the West Valley.

She as well is an eager learner, and she's really wanting to contribute to a lot of building, growth, and development in Avondale.

So we welcome her joining our team too.

And you're happy with the new talent?

Yes, very much so.

Yeah, we have a good a good team and a good group so far.

There's a lot of learning and training that's occurring.

Thanks, Jody.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Ron.

Mr.

Mayor, next up we have Renee Weatherless, our director of finance and budget, introducing her new team.

Good evening, Mayor and Vice Mayor and Council.

Um I have the pleasure of introducing four new employees within our department.

So the first tonight is Christina Baker.

She's our our new senior budget analyst.

She's a senior uh seasoned public servant with a unique background.

Okay.

She's a seasoned public servant with a unique background in finance and administration.

Most recently, she served as the city clerk for the city of San Marino California, small city in Los Angeles County.

And prior to that, she worked in Washington, D.C.

managing IT service agreements for the U.S.

Department of State.

Christina has a master's of public administration with the finance concentration from Cal State Fullerton, and she's driven by a strong public service motivation.

Thank you.

Okay.

Our next employee is Vianca Garcia.

She is our new customer service representative.

She was originally introduced to the city through the use of a contracted temp agency.

But Vyanga quickly proved herself and applied for and accepted a full-time position with the city in July of this year.

And she has an extensive background in customer service, having worked in health care and has a degree from Australia Mountain College.

Our next employee is Monique Torres, who is a new senior customer service rep, also hired in July.

She has prior utility experience, having worked for both APS and SRP, and is a key team member of our utility building, serving our Avondale customers.

And lastly, with Elizabeth Viewas, our new revenue analyst.

She has worked came to us from the city of Phoenix, where she was there for about seven years and working in the audit and accounting division.

She was hired in June.

She has an MBA from Grand Canyon University with an emphasis in accounting.

So welcome.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Next up, we have a presentation by Jeff Sheets, our Director of Information Technology.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm happy to introduce Bill Kellins tonight.

He is our new GIS tech with his primary focus being on in development and engineering services, working on exhibits from them.

So he originally originally came from the suburbs of Chicago.

Moved out here in 2019.

Started as a permit drafter for doing fiber optic cabling permits.

And then while he was doing that, went to uh graduated Sim McCumlaudi with his bachelor's degree in GIS from where else but ASU.

So he's been here about a month, and uh he's worked um through the city of Phoenix um as well prior to coming here.

And uh you know he uh likes Star Wars and uh so he has all that good knowledge, so he fits right in with the rest of IT over there.

So I'm happy to introduce are are there any Star Trek fans in your department?

There's a few.

Are they are they outcast?

Are they in a corner somewhere?

No, there's kind of two different groups.

Okay, one side we each go to our side of the room.

No, because Star Trek and Star Wars are very different in their approach.

So we're good.

So we're in Chicago.

Okay, Oaklaw.

So it says here, it says William, do you go by Bill or William?

Okay.

When is the next like lunch with Star Wars and Star Trek discussion?

Oh, make sure you get the invite.

Please, that'd be great.

Love that.

Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor Nix.

Hold on, hold on.

Are you are you laughing at Star Trek or are you laughing at Star Wars?

Let's just do that right now.

I'm not uh I'm laughing at the whole concept that we're uh that we're giving IT a hard time for liking Star Wars or Star Trek.

Just um very sad.

I don't hear you asking anybody about Marvel or uh DC or any of the other real entertainment out there, but um we'll uh we'll go with that.

We all have our favorites, sir.

We all have our favorites.

Um sorry, next up is our police chief, uh Chief Espinoza is gonna talk about some promotions.

Good mayor.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

It is my pleasure to introduce you to our latest promotions.

What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have each employee come up to the podium and briefly tell us how long they've been with the city and why they chose Avondale as uh their employment.

First, with us is uh Al Bates, who was recently promoted to the rank of assistant chief.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council.

So my name's Albert Bates.

Uh I've been with the city for 17 years.

Uh prior to that I was with the city of Mesa for seven.

Um why did I make Avondale home?

Basically, when you think of home, you think of family, and when I think of family, I think of Avondale.

Uh, the community that we work with and the employees that I get to work with every day is why I'm here and it's why I plan on staying here.

So thank you.

Next, we have uh Will Penny, who was recently promoted to the rank of sergeant.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council.

I've been with Avondale uh 14 years and some odd months.

Uh chose Avondale, honestly, because they were the first PDA to call me back.

Um I stayed because I blood, sweat, and tears.

This is my family, so it's not just something that the chief said it's it's true.

So thank you.

Next, we have Manny Rios, who was recently promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

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

Corbin.

He's my gym buddy.

He's in the gym every day at 3 a.m.

Um the reason I chose Avondale as home.

Uh I've been with the city of Avondale since 2015.

Um, and it flies by so fast.

I love the city.

Um we've had a lot of growth in the city.

Uh my family's back there, we live here.

Um, so I think everything that we do has a profound impact on the city of Avondale, um, which is why I teach the officers here.

Um, treat everybody like if it's your family.

I love the aspect of servant leadership that all leadership in the city has, and I'm excited to be part of the leadership team, and I thank you all for the opportunity and having hired me, and now I get to mold the future of officers here.

Thank you.

You're right, you're right, man.

It goes by really quickly.

I remember my first ride along um as a council member in 2006 was with Chief.

Are you sergeant or a beat office?

Mayor, I was an officer at that time, I believe.

It was my first ride along.

It was at midnight driving along and going up on Dysert Road and everything.

So yeah, it does fly by, but congratulations.

Next, we have Nicole Mendes, who was recently promoted to records supervisor.

Hello, good evening.

Um, I've been with Avondale for five years now.

Um Avondale was the first city that I applied for, and I am happy to be here.

Um, it's definitely from the very first day I felt it was a family-oriented department, and I am very excited to be in my new role so I can do some good change.

Thank you.

And last but not least is Angela Destin, who was recently promoted to uh communications manager.

Good afternoon.

I'm Angela Destin.

I've been in this role as an interim since about December last year.

Um, I stay in Avondale because I fall in love with our city, our department.

I absolutely love working with my team in the department.

Ron.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Now we have another presentation by Chief.

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

It is truly an honor to be here today to recognize four individuals who will be receiving a life-saving awards for two separate incidents.

Historically, these types of awards are presented during our yearly awards banquet, which is usually celebrated in the spring.

However, rather than waiting an entire year, we decided to present these prestigious awards here in front of you today to assist me uh in presenting those uh awards.

Officer Benavidez, who is uh our PIO.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Counsel.

The life-saving award is given to an officer or citizen for performing extraordinary acts of courage that result in saving a life.

The following two stories and the officers involved demonstrate that policing is not for the faint of heart.

When presented with the challenges and chaos, these officers and this citizen use their physical strength, their mental wit, and the emotional tenacity to save a person in desperate need.

And knowing themselves as we do, they likely went home unimpressed by their own actions, prepared to do it all over again at a moment's notice.

First, on the afternoon of April 23rd, Avondale police received a call to check on a person who was walking in and out of traffic in the area of 99th Avenue in McDell.

The person appeared disoriented and had a bloody face after reportedly walking into a pole.

Officers Phil Cerrito and Omar Menares were dispatched to the call.

On their arrival, this the disoriented subject was located submerged under the water of the nearby canal system.

Officer Cerrito and Menares quickly located the safest and surest point in the canal from which the person could be rescued.

The person was face down in the water in a paired lifeless.

Officer Cerrito began removing his vest and duty belt while a witness, Mr.

Cotton, jumped into the water to help.

While holding on to Officer Cerrito, Mr.

Cotton pulled the victim toward the canal embankment.

At the edge of the water, Officer Menares grabbed the victim and with the help of Officer Cerrito pulled the victim up and out of the water.

The victim was unconscious and not breathing.

Officer Menara's urgent urgently performed chest compressions, and after several minutes, a pulse was felt.

Shortly after Avondale fire arrived on scene and continued emergency care.

The victim regained consciousness and was transported to a local hospital for further treatment.

By the quick actions and selfless teamwork of Officer Cerrito, Officer Manaros, and Mr.

Cotton, the make the victim made a full recovery to life.

Second, in the early evening of May 25th, the Avondale Police Department received an emergency call.

A small child was reportedly drowning in a pool at an apartment complex in Lichville Park.

Officer Robert Simington was the nearest officer in the area, and he arrived first on scene.

When he arrived, Officer Simon saw a woman performing chest compressions on a small child.

With no immediate access into the pool area, Officer Simonson jumped the fence and reached the woman and the child.

The child was unresponsive and not breathing.

Officer Simington immediately took over life-saving measures by performing chest compressions.

The child showed a sign of life as it appeared to be regurgitating.

Officer Simington rolled the child onto his side to clear his airway and then continue chest compressions.

After more chest compressions, it sounded like the child was gurgling water, and Officer Simington again wisely rolled the child to his side to let water run out of his mouth.

Shortly after the Goodyear Fire Department arrived on scene and continued the emergency care.

The child was transported to Phoenix Children's Hospital in extremely critical condition and placed into the intensive care unit.

On May 31st, just several days after the incident, the child was upgraded to stable condition and released from the hospital.

Avondale police learned from the hospital that the child made a full recovery to life.

There's a saying to think on your feet.

It's a saying to express one's ability to make decisions quickly and accurately.

In these stories, Mr.

Cotton and the officers not only thought on their feet, but they relied on training, experience, and a deep seated belief that there was no danger too hectic or too fast that could keep them from saving a life.

With that, we give well deserved recognition to Mr.

Cotton, Officer Cerrito, Officer Manaras, and Officer Simington, the life saving award.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council.

If we could get pictures, then we'd appreciate it.

I have a motion by Councilmember Nielsen, a second by Councilmember Salario.

Any further discussions?

Seeing none, please vote.

We are adjourned till seven o'clock.

Thank you, Council.

Thank you for everyone.

I'd like to call the regular meeting of hang on, folks.

Forgot the date.

Monday, August 21st, 2023 to order.

Would you all please stand for a pledge of allegiance and a moment of reflection?

I pledge of the flag of the United States of America.

And to republic stands.

I would ask you to keep in your thoughts and the prayers all the people who are suffering in Hawaii.

Thank you all.

Marcelo, do you mind doing a roll call, please?

Thank you, Mayor.

Councilmember Condi.

Councilmember Malone.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Here.

Councilmember Salario.

Councilmember White.

Here.

Vice Mayor Pineda.

Mayor Weiss.

Here.

We've already done the statement of participation.

We have two people who'd like to speak on unscheduled public appearances.

Paul and Dan, do you guys want to come up?

Paul, are you going first?

Or we'll tag team it on that, but Paul.

Gentlemen.

Mayor, Vice, Vice Mayor, Council, City Staff on that.

Paul Lemon, I live in uh Garden Lakes.

And the member of the Sustainability Commission.

And my partner.

I'm Dan Shu.

I live in Coldwater Springs.

And I guess I'm the current chairman of sustainability commission.

Not sure how that happened, but it happened as I turned out.

Yeah.

There you go.

So we're here really to thank the council and the city staff, Kirk, for uh the subject of recycling and the recyclables.

I know you've seen it on the agenda.

Um the cost has just gone crazy and the expense to the city is extreme on that part.

And every city is in the same boat, and we understand that.

Uh but we appreciate the support to cover the gap uh that's gonna be there.

And I think we all realize too, it's probably not a short-term gap.

We don't we don't control the price of the materials coming back, but we need the support of the council in the city uh for sure in the short term to cover that gap.

Um personally, uh I can't imagine uh uh living in the city without recycling, to be honest.

Um it's really is a part of me, uh, part of my family and everything else on that part.

So uh I would encourage us to we probably have to think long term as to you know choices on that part, um, covering the expense.

We don't know what the tools are, uh, but I I would ask if if changes are needed that we involve the public uh because I know uh other cities have done that before they've made changes and they had get the the citizens together and find out theirs.

I I truly believe the citizens would uh approve a rate increase, which is probably needed going forward on the on the subject on there, but I I would really encourage the council and the city to take on that project uh because I I think we want to hear that before we uh do away with an important program like that.

I I don't I don't want to be redundant, but I know that all of you people and past consuls and past mayors and vice mayors have all been really supportive of recycling, and uh I'm hoping that in the future we get that same support.

I'm I'm here as long time resident to urge you to really work in every which manner you can uh to try to retain the recycling effort because it's it truly is an integral part of a sustainable city, and uh I like Paul, I would very much miss it.

Um I'm just just hoping that we can get something uh public opinion would be a big thing that we could get to try to fortify that it's it's valuable and we need it.

I understand the cost, it's the same thing.

The the costs are horrible, it's a bad situation.

But somehow we got to find a way around it, and I'm just I'm just here to ask that we keep thinking about that.

That's all.

Gentlemen, thank you.

I saw Ron over there taking copious notes, so I would say stay tuned.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for all you do on the committees.

Item number three is consent agenda, or are there any counselors who wish to have an item removed for separate consideration?

Seeing and hearing none, can I get a motion, please?

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

Any further discussion?

Seeing none, please vote.

Consent agenda passes 7-0.

Um, one thing before we get to um the regular agenda, there's an item five uh that was added, and that was in consultation with the city attorney and the city manager, just to kind of get council members it up.

Let council members have an update on kind of what they're working on, what they're doing, something that falls out of the normal agenda items.

Um, so we'll do that after, and um something that we want to keep on doing for a long time as long as the council sees value in it.

So Ron item uh number four A, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, Council.

We have a public hearing and on an ordinance 2055.

I don't have my glasses on, I'm gonna read a wrong.

Let me just let Catherine do it all.

Catherine is our deputy director of planning, she's here to give you a presentation and read the right numbers.

Hi, Catherine.

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

So item 4A is a public hearing to consider several proposed amendments to the zoning code.

We first adopted our zoning code in 1951, and the last update you approved was in June.

So tonight we are updating the code again, and it is to be responsive to our customer needs and to remove some outdated content.

We're also reflecting some changes we've had in policies and procedures.

We are also ensuring that certain types of group housing are consistent with state law definitions and requirements.

So I'm going to walk you through briefly each of the amendments.

So first in our development review procedures, we are reducing the number of application types that require pre-application review.

We are adding a new section to the code for reasonable accommodation for that process to assist persons with a disability.

In our administrative relief section, we're clarifying which standards an applicant may request relief from, and again, we're removing some outdated notification procedures.

Under public notifications, we are adjusting the application types that require that provide notification to school districts, and this is to ensure that it occurs early on in the development review process.

In our definition section, there are several new and revisions to various definitions.

Just a few are group home, sober living home, kitchen incubator, and urgent care center.

In our single family and multifamily zoning districts, we're adding some uses to the land use matrix, and we're revising when certain uses are permitted, when they're permitted with conditions, or they're permitted with a conditional use permit.

Then under that section uses permitted with conditions, we're adding some standards to some of the uses, for example, adult daycare in the home, community residential setting, group foster home, and sober living home.

In the section uses permitted with a conditional use permit.

Again, we're adding and revising some of the standards specifically for adult daycare center and child daycare center.

In our multifamily districts, we are revising the amount of garage parking to 25%, and that is so that it is consistent with the adopted amount in our design guidelines.

In our commercial zoning district, in that land use matrix again, we're adding the word center to the term adult daycare, and we're also replacing the term emergency medical care facility with urgent care center.

In our Old Town Avondale Business District, we're adding that use kitchen incubator to the matrix.

We're amending the clear distance for sidewalk cafes to five feet so that it complies with the American with Disabilities Act.

And again, and we're removing a reference to an outdated document.

In the employment district, the boulevard district, and the major sports and entertainment district.

Again, we're replacing emergency medical care facility with urgent care center.

And then in historic Avondale infill overlay, we're removing that reference to that outdated document.

And lastly, in our design requirements for non-residential districts, we're making it clear that roof ladders are considered part of mechanical equipment, so they need to be screened from view.

We're clarifying vehicle overhang, and we're also removing an outdated requirement for a maintenance schedule and manual in our landscaping section.

We did complete all the required notification and posted information on Avondale Connect.

To date, we not have have not received any comments or questions.

One of the questions that came up was about the name change for emergency medical care facility, and staff explained that urgent care center is a more commonly understood term.

So that was the reason for the change.

So staff along with the planning commission is recommending approval of application PL 22072 for the reasons set forth in the staff report, but I do have a following recommended edit to the definition of group home.

So this was an oversight.

This highlighted text that you see will make this definition consistent with language in the definition for community residence home.

And sober living home, we've defined that separately and it has its own standards.

Just so you know, we are continuing to explore what other definitions might be needed in our code.

And we will bring back any possible code amendments in um in the future.

So I'd like to thank you, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Catherine, thank you.

Let me go ahead and open this up for a public hearing.

Is there anybody in the audience or online who'd like to speak to this issue?

Thank you, Mayor.

I have not received any requests to speak.

Okay, that being said, I'm gonna go ahead and close the public hearing.

I think as we go forward on this, and council feel free obviously to jump in.

I think what we've seen in the news over the last couple months are issues with sober living homes and what we've seen with our with the native population.

Um I'm glad we're clarifying some of those statements and some of those criteria.

This language on the sober living homes, and can you go back to the one screen that you showed us, Catherine?

There's other cities that have kind of paved this way with language and other things.

How much do we rely on language from other cities to put this together and how much of this was kind of organic to the city of Avondale?

I thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Um we did um refer to other a look at what other cities had done in the valley, uh, but more importantly, we relied on our legal team to look at what is actually in state law so that we were consistent with both state and federal laws for fair housing and the like.

Lisa kind of referred to you.

So with the news that's happened in the attorney general of Arizona kind of looking at these more in depth.

What do you think is going to happen with this law?

What do you think is how do you think that will impact cities and what role do you think cities will have in if that law does change being a part of it?

I think uh mayor, council, vice mayor.

Um, the issue that the attorney general's office is primarily looking at is investigating some of these facilities, uh requiring the state to uh implement and look into what they're doing.

Uh there are no proposed laws on the books right now, as we know of, but we will continue to evaluate that.

Mr.

Mayor, if I can just add so what our rules change, we now um can regulate them.

We'll now know where they're at, we'll know how far apart there are requirements in there now that we're regulating them.

The city of Avondale regulated at one time.

We stopped regulating them, and now we're gonna regulate them again.

The biggest deal is um it'll give us a mechanisms to investigate to take care of issues as they arise.

Uh the last follow-up I had with our chief of police and others is we currently don't have any issue homes.

Um, if you remember, we had a resident, a few residents come speak to council three months ago, four months ago, a while back.

That one's been resolved.

Uh they moved out.

There's a lovely family living in that uh house now that I periodically see.

Um so things are currently without issues in the city of Avondale, and this will allow us to address them if they arise.

Council would be are you satisfied with kind of where we're at on this?

I don't see a lot of pushback on this, but I kind of want to okay.

Yes, the numbers are shipping.

What is garage parking 25% mean?

I don't know what that means.

Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilmember Nielsen.

So 25% of the overall parking that they are required to provide needs to be in a garage.

Thank you.

Mayor, I just wanted to thank and acknowledge the updates for Americans with Disabilities Act.

I think that's very conscious of us to do that as a city to ensure we have that written into our code.

Thank you.

Um I just want to ask what is kitchen incubator.

Because it came up twice on there.

You see, correct me if I'm wrong, Catherine.

You kind of see it happening in Gilbert and Chandler now, where it's it's a set of either one large commercial kitchen or shared space where chefs can kind of apply their wares and test out menus and and then maybe there was a facility in downtown Phoenix at the it was the old grocery store in downtown Phoenix, and it was a kitchen incubator that was there for a couple years.

The El Dorado, I can't remember what it was called, but it got sold.

So kind of that allowing kitchen incubators, so it would be um an example.

Uh a chef, a local chef who's working at a hotel or resort who who wants to try their menu out, a kitchen incubator would give them space to go ahead and do that along with other chefs.

Okay.

Yes, thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Uh we called it an educational facility.

So again, yes, it has a commercial kitchen, and they can offer uh restaurant business training.

Thank you.

Mayor, I just uh to about the incubators.

I was at an Arizona Community Foundation, um, I guess focus group, and what I learned at that was there are none in the West Valley at this point, none.

So I think being able to allow that to happen in Avondale is awesome.

Thank you.

Yeah, I I think I think you you've seen it happen in Phoenix, but I think you you see Gilbert and Chandler doing it now, and I think they're the test bed to see how that works.

But I think there's I think you have a lot of talented chefs, a lot of talented cooks who want to take that next step in their career, but coming up with a million or two million dollars is obviously out of reach.

So to be able to do this, also I think it makes sense with the culinary education program at EMCC.

It gives them real world experience in this, and I think it's something that you you see other cities across the nation, they're doing it in a mobile setting.

I think that's something we could obviously do here.

But I'm excited that's part of what we're doing.

Um, can I get a motion on this item?

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

Any further discussion?

Seeing none, please vote.

Thank you, Council.

Passes 70.

So the summary of current events, uh, next item.

It's some cities have this, some cities don't.

But I think it's important for council, um, even though we talk to each other, we text um just to say hello and see what's going on.

I think it's important kind of who you're meeting out with the public, kind of any interesting things that have come up, and kind of maybe what you're working on.

I know we have uh Arizona League of Cities and Towns next week, so we'll have some stuff to debrief from that.

I had a meeting with uh an organization in Avondale, and they're right next door to the old Avondale City Hall in Sonic on Central Avenue called STARS, and they deal with adults anywhere from probably 18 to however old, and it's uh people who are dealing with mental health issues, bipolar schizophrenia, depression, and then obviously some cases of substance abuse, some pretty severe.

And this facility allows them to kind of get back into a functional state.

Uh working in an organization type thing, and uh Sandra's helping with organize some things.

Uh Chief Espinoza, they want to meet with kind of Avondale PD just to kind of introduce themselves.

We're gonna do a tour of Phoenix Raceway, they want to come to a council meeting, they kind of want to do a small version of a Citizens Academy.

Um but Sandra has the information on the contact there.

If you'd like to go talk to them or be a part of it, they're really cool people, and they are it was interesting because what they what they said and what we we know happens, but they said, you know, I've made one mistake in my life due to drugs, or I've made one mistake in life because of a mental state, and I am now bound with that shackle for the rest of my life.

So getting a job is very hard.

So there's job training there, their societal skills, but it's just a really cool thing uh to be a part of.

So if you want more information, talk to me or Sandra.

Anyone else?

Anything interesting happened this week, Tina?

Um, we had taken two months off with our interfaith council, and so tomorrow we're excited to start back up again, and we already have a presenter.

Um actually, it's going to be um Arizona Justice Center, who'll be presenting tomorrow.

And when you spoke about stars, they actually came to the Interfaith Council and before COVID, I had toured them and we were connected with them.

And um, it's really just about being out in the community again, kind of seeing what those needs are, reaching out to businesses and nonprofits to see how we can partner with them.

Um I always tell everybody we don't all have to do the same thing, but we should all be doing something, whether you're a faith-based community, nonprofit business.

Um, so we're on the right track.

But I'm excited to have um council member Nielsen um co-chair with me, the interfaith council, and um yeah, excited to be back.

Good deal.

Thank you for sharing.

Anyone else?

Curtis.

Go ahead.

I just want to thank you so much, Mayor.

I uh want to acknowledge you and all the work that you did with Meg.

I had the opportunity to be with you when uh Governor Katie Hobbs sign um what will be 400 E going to the voters a few weeks ago as a member of the Valley Um Metro Board of Directors.

It's really a big heavy lift that you had worked on for many years now, turning over Matt.

So I just want to acknowledge you publicly here.

I also want to acknowledge Kurt and what they do over in public works.

Thank you so much for allowing Matt to support me in Valley Metro as well as Harold.

Um, Matt actually recently had an interview with Axios News to talk about We Ride and how We Ride is expanding because we all know Zoom is gonna go away on the first of the month.

We ride will be free for Avondale residents from the top of October all the way through mid-November.

But microtransit is on the rise, and we're just very very proud that Avondale was one of the um first starters there.

We're getting about 70 some odd riders per month.

Uh good year's getting about 60, I'm sorry, per day.

Um, good year's getting about 60 some odd riders per day.

Sorry, but surprise, surprise, surprise is new, and they're about a hundred and twenty-one riders per day.

So it's something that we need out in the West Valley.

I just want to acknowledge uh publicly our public works department and their connection to transportation.

Kurt, you guys are doing a wonderful job.

I appreciate everything Matt and Harold are doing.

I have them as my closest contacts, not to say everybody else isn't doing a great job, but they really support me and sure that I have everything I need as I sit on the board as well as Liz Alvarez, wherever Liz is.

Thank you so much, Liz.

We really love you.

Thank you.

So that reminds me, thank you.

Um Kirk, they want to talk if possible if public works or Matt could talk to uh stars about We Ride, just because a lot of them use public transit and they're just want to get some more information.

The the event down at this old uh auto dealership in Phoenix for the Prop 400 signing was uh was history making.

And whatever the public decides to do next November, they will do.

Um but we're gonna make it very hard for people to vote against this.

But I think you saw support from the governor.

Uh the governor will be in uh Avondale over the next week and um meeting with people, so that'll be exciting.

And just it was it was the next step.

I said this to Lupe Contreras.

It to not have Prop 400 continue would have been a disaster, especially when you look at Avondale and the N SR 30 and what that means for development for us in the future.

So I'm glad you were a part of it.

Uh Gloria?

Or no, Curtis, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm one more thing on yeah.

They asked for a blue rides, so Chief Espinosa Valley Metro is hoping that at some point in the future we'll have an officer or two who might be interested in riding um the Valley Metro, the three, I think, and on uh on Van Buren and the 17 on McDowell to just be able to jump on and off the bus.

I don't know how we'll coordinate that, but blue rides is something Valley Metro would like to do as well.

Thank you.

I just think to take the opportunity to say what wonderful things we have going on.

Patty and I went over to Alba Freya Food Bank, and I hate to admit it, but it's the first time I've been there in 15 years, and I was utterly amazed at what they do over there.

50 food boxes a day.

They've got places for shower, a shower, you can get 16 people in and a four-hour shift.

It was just amazing what's available there and taking care of the the residents and citizens of the the area.

We were impressed.

Thank you, Avondale.

Uh, this weekend, uh, Councilmember Malone and I volunteered with the West Valley Mavericks Association and we did Child Spurry, which um they have different uh programs that they do throughout the Valley where they're able to.

I know one of them is the Mercy Care Um, the Mercy Centers, I say, and they do the child, what is it, child the week long child or summer long, I'm sorry, child like uh reading, and they're able to get a gift card to do back to school shopping, and they get a hundred dollar 150 dollar gift card, and they get to go with the volunteer to go shopping to do back to school.

So that was really nice to be able to be a part of that.

I know a huge thank you to um our first responders because we had some uh fire association folks out there.

We also had some PD presence, and it was nice to see that to see everybody come together and go with the kids and local community as well.

Some partners were there.

Avondale Toyota was there.

Um they thought they were just there to give away coloring books, and they got recruited to go shopping with kids, so it was really fun to do that.

It was kind of like a precursor to shop a cop shop with the cop.

And then, secondly, I'm on the um federal board for the transportation.

And Liz, I just want to thank you because you always keep me current with everything that's happening, and I share the ideas that we get and the updates that we get with um the folks down there, and the and they're actually putting like mark she said they're putting markers on certain things like the Prop 400e that you were part of, as well as our cool asphalt program in Old Town, and they're able to keep a beat on us.

She said to see what we're doing.

So, thank you for always having me prepared for that.

I totally appreciate it.

So, as you're saying this, and Gloria, it's Ron and Lisa are are flashing five minutes, and uh because it's so can we change this in the future for up to?

Yes.

Are we okay still, Lisa or no?

Are we gonna okay?

Vice Mayor or for the next one, you get the lead.

Well, everyone remember that Veronica gets the next one.

Do you want to you want to go after that?

Okay, yeah, because it's it's it it's bad when the city manager is doing this with the city attorney.

Can I get a picture there?

And by the way, they do have a bet about who's gonna win Arkansas or LSU with the homecoming game, and Ron has been talking trash all day about Arkansas beating LSU.

I just I just want to say that.

Um, can I get a motion for adjournment?

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

Any further discussion?

Seeing none, please vote.

We are adjourned.

Thank you, everyone.