Whoa, quiet.

Okay, I'd like to call to order the special council meeting of May 15th, 2023.

Margaret, can you please do roll call?

Councilmember Condi.

Councilmember Malone.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Councilmember Solario.

Councilmember White.

Here.

Vice Mayor Pineta.

Here.

And Mayor Weiss.

Here.

Thank you.

Ron Item two, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice Mayor.

Uh, first up is uh Larry Rooney, our fire chief, making a presentation uh introducing two employees.

Chief.

Thank you.

Mayor and Council, it's my pro pleasure and privilege to introduce you to the two newest uh paramedics for the Avondale Fire and Medical.

Um first is uh Brendan Weiss, which is no relationship to the mayor.

Um and the annex is Jose Guzman Alvarez.

And uh I just wanted to show you because it they were in a program for about a year, and uh uh along with doing their own jobs and everything else and taking care of their families.

And uh they uh not only did well, uh Brendan here got the uh paramedic of the class.

He came out on top.

So uh wanted to introduce him to you and and just uh um say thank you to your time and and uh we appreciate it.

Thank you pretty much.

Is there is there anything they'd like to add?

This is the this is the time where I say you can feel free to ask them any questions.

Well, first and for first and foremost, as Chief Werner mentioned, uh aside from your daily uh position uh and the busy lives that you hold, the fact that you're out getting additional education uh to help you with your uh position uh says a lot.

And so is there anything that you want to add into what you've learned or uh something that you've taken a little nugget you took away from the training.

No that makes it really easy.

All right, well, I appreciate you all being here tonight.

Thank you so much.

Uh Mr.

Vice Mayor, next up we have uh Corey Lariva.

I probably get that wrong every time.

He's our assistant director of Parks Rec introducing one of their new employees.

You did great on the last name.

Uh good evening, Vice Mayor, members of the council.

Tonight we are Brian and I are excited to introduce Mark Foote.

Uh Mark joins our team with an extensive recreation aquatics and project management background.

He has worked for the cities of Chandler and the City of Mesa.

He holds his bachelor's degree in Parks Recreation Management from ASU and his MBA from GCU.

He is the first member of Avondale's Aquatics Division and will be serving as the leader as our aquatics supervisor.

Uh so with that excitement, uh Mark is also a data home to four kiddos to include three daughters and one son.

So and the opportunity to asking questions.

Let's let's use it.

Sure.

Well, thank you for being here tonight, Mark.

So with your former experience working for other municipalities, what is something you're looking forward to with uh with a fresh uh you know perspective on something brand new coming to our city that you can provide to all of us.

Oh man.

Uh just being able to build something from the ground up, you know, with a pool that's about half done at this point, um, being able to jump in and start fresh and really build something impressive and desirable.

Well, thank you.

And our residents are really looking forward to that.

Uh we were at Alamar for the Fiesta a couple weeks ago, and that was the talk uh of a lot of the community members there of how they cannot wait for this pool to open.

So um good to know that it's in good hands and with somebody who is uh looking forward just to as much as our community members are, so thank you so much.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Mr.

Vice Mayor, I do want to go on the record saying it's half done, doesn't mean there's an opportunity for change orders.

No change orders.

We're done.

We're opening.

Next up, Mr.

Vice Mayor is our police chief.

Chief uh I forgot already, Espinoza.

You're up.

Sir, sir, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, good evening, vice mayor and council.

Uh it is my pleasure to introduce you to the newest members of the Avondale PD family.

I'm gonna have them uh each come up to the podium.

They're gonna state their name, they're gonna describe your current assignment, and they're briefly gonna tell us why they chose Avondale.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Sabrina Medina Feigna.

I am with the records clerk, and this opportunity was just a great career move for myself.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Araceli Garcia.

I'm a records clerk as well.

And it was a great career move for me from Goodyear to Avondale.

Oh, okay.

Good evening.

Uh Daniel Vasquez, senior management analyst in I just came from Finance and Budget over to PD, so I've been here with the city for six years.

Thank you so much for being here.

Appreciate it.

Good evening.

I'm Alyssa Taylor.

I'm a park ranger, and I came here because it's a small community and I enjoy teaching kids how to fish.

Oh, well, we have plenty of opportunity.

Hi, I'm Daniela Gazy.

I'm the center coordinator at the Southwest Family Advocacy Center.

And I came there just I've always uh wanted to work with people and help people in their most time of need.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, um Toby Story.

Um I'm currently assigned to the patrol and uh I came here just because I was uh raised in Avondale and want to get back to my roots.

What high school?

Uh I actually went to Varado High School out in Buckeye, but I used to live in uh down alpha Harrison here in Avondale.

So okay, it's still all for you strip.

So yeah, you won't worry.

No, we're thanks for being here.

Hello.

Tevin Forrest, I'm on patrol.

Um the reason why I want to uh chose Avondale is because as an outsider I want to see what it's like to be see what it's like in Avondale.

So I did it right along and communication the what they had with the public.

That I want to be part of that, so yeah, that's what I'm so I'm here.

That's it, that's a great viewpoint.

Appreciate it.

Hello, Abigail Whitman.

Uh I am assigned to a patrol officer.

The reason why I wanted to work for Avondale is because I grew up in Avondale.

Uh I went to Westview.

Uh so go nights.

Uh so I thought it was just a good opportunity to give back to my community as much as they gave to me.

So thank you.

Appreciate your service.

Hello, Robert Simington.

Um currently working out of a uh patrol squad, and um I went to All Free High School, so I've been in Avondale.

Been in Avondale, my family's been in Avondale forever, so I wanted to come back.

Thank you.

Thank you for serving your community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Mr.

Vice Mayor, Council members.

Next up is uh Kirk Beatty, our director of public works to intro his employees.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council.

I have a pleasure of introducing several employees from public works that are new.

First, I'd like to introduce Amber Hughes.

Amber is our new water conservation coordinator.

She joined us a couple weeks ago and she's already making a great impact to the department.

Um she brings a tremendous amount of experience in water conservation and education.

She mostly recently worked for the University of Arizona's Project Wet, which is uh water education and uh communication program that Avondale sponsors and also participates in.

Amber was a high school teacher for 15 years in science.

She holds, she's also a master gardener, she's smartscape trained, she has two bachelor's degrees, one in science and biology and one in secondary education and two master's degrees, one in a master's of natural science of plant biology, environmental resources, and a master of arts in administration and leadership.

Please welcome Amber.

Thank you.

Very, very busy there, huh, Amber?

So what made you take the transition from education to the public sector?

Or I guess it's the same thing, but government.

Yeah, it is kind of the same.

Going from education into the University of Arizona in education, it was kind of a natural meeting for this because working for the Water Resource Research Center, I think they made me really realize much more about the lot of the issues here.

And then looking at what Avondale is doing with water, and I part of my area was in Avondale.

So going to the schools with a groundwork education conservation program was all West How Schools.

So I was already out here in the high schools and teaching some high school students about groundwater and how to save groundwater for the schools.

And we have saved you know a couple million gallons by coming out here just showing them how to change aerators and changing everything out in schools.

So that's just kind of a natural transition right into this work with the cities and what they're doing.

And I like what you guys are doing on that.

Well, thank you.

I'm glad you're part of the team.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

So our next employee is Tom Aikins.

Tom is an environmental coordinator.

He's overseeing the city's stormwater program.

So his primary role is to make sure that the water that collects in our streets and running runs into our storm sewers and down into the river complies with our municipal separated storm sewer system or MS4 permit, which is our permit that's issued by the Arizona Department of Water Quality.

Tom joins us from the city of CTEC, Washington.

So he knows a little bit about water and storms and it's rained.

He's got an AA in business management from Eastern Gateway Community College.

He's a national pollutant discharge elimination system certified stormwater inspector and was a part-time instructor for the Washington Environmental Training Center.

His wife, uh Janine and him moved down here to join us here in Avondale, and uh have two growing kids and a cat.

So please welcome Tom.

How long Tom have you been?

What's the what's the separation between uh Washington and Arizona?

Uh how long has it been since you've been in Arizona since leaving Washington?

I came to we moved in on uh November 28th.

Oh okay.

So I'm sure everybody already told you, right?

You're in for a treat.

Uh that's okay.

You're gonna be just fine, and we appreciate you being on board.

Thank you so much.

Oh, a funny uh funny note.

I think it was early January, and uh it snowed where they live up in surprise, and his wife is like, I thought we came to Arizona to get out of the wet weather.

So maybe he brought some of that with him.

Um next, I'd like to introduce by video some of our early risers that couldn't be here this evening.

I've been here for two weeks, and I work on the solid waste department.

My name's Austin Hodge.

I work at the wastewater plant as a senior mechanic, and I've been here for a month.

Equipment operator with City Adventale.

And I've been working here for approximately about a month.

Uh my name is Daniel Perez.

I'm a uh senior wastewater collection operator here with the city of Avondale, and I've been here three months.

Um my name is Johnny Nanthala.

Uh it's my third day here.

Um I work for public sanitation and I'm loving it so far.

Uh my name is David Silva.

I'm an equipment operator, and I've been with public works uh since February, so about four months.

Good morning, my name is Cesar All School, and this is my third day here, and so far I'm loving it.

Hello, my name is Daniel Manriquez.

I'm an equipment operator.

I just finished my first week.

I came originally from the city of Glenda.

So I'm looking forward to starting my career here and developing.

Hello, uh, my name is Zachary Simmons.

Um I am the new wetlands operator uh here at the uh the city.

Uh this is uh my first day here uh working with public works, um but I've been with the city for uh just over a year.

Hi, my name is Josh Wrangle, I'm a new employee here with the city of Avondale.

I am a water treatment operator.

Uh I've been in the industry for uh quite a few years now.

Um I'm a military veteran, army of eight years.

Uh been here for going on three months, and uh we're gonna turn three months into 20 years.

Uh thank you for having me, and I certainly appreciate the opportunity.

Uh Mr.

Rice Mayor, next up is our fire chief Larry Rooney.

Good evening, uh Vice Mayor and Council.

Tonight we will be recognizing one of our fire crews.

If they haven't started already, why don't they come on up?

Um several times we are on calls that are faced with uh difficult uh situations that do not have positive outcomes.

Tonight we would like to share with you a difficult situation that had an amazing outcome.

The child was born in Avondale on 1221, 2020 during a global pandemic.

It was 1 a.m.

in the morning in a backyard tool shed, and the mother was just at 23 weeks.

The baby was delivered weighing just one pound at birth.

At 23 weeks, there is only a 55% survival rate.

The crew of engine 173, Chris Fire, Travis Lambert, Tim Lambert, and Brandon Russell delivered the baby, stabilized both patients, and then transported them to a Brazo hospital.

Fast forward a couple years.

The adopted mother had a request to have her daughter meet the firefighters that saved her life and to say thank you.

On March 22nd of this year, her request was fulfilled, and the meeting with the crew took place.

With the help of Alyssa Williams of Avondale Digital Communications Coordinator, we were able to capture this meeting so we can share it with you tonight.

So if we can show the video.

Patient information, the PTI that we received was that mom and mom was in the back of a shed.

Um it was actually a shed.

It had like garage tools, lawnmowers, that type of stuff back there.

So it wasn't an ideal location to deliver a baby, but uh we do what we can and make the best of it.

All three of us rode into the hospital.

So normally one or two medics will ride in uh for continuity of care, making sure that we're taking care of you know the patient and the baby.

But because she was such high risk, so premature, um all three of us wrote in, plus the ambo medic wrote in, um, treated the patient, the baby, the mom, um, and transported uh code three to uh a Braza West Hospital.

So she left the hospital um not being really good at eating, having some lung problems.

She had a hole in her heart.

Um so over the next couple of months, um, some of those resolved.

Um others we learned were more significant over the last two years.

You know, she's had her challenges, but she meets them all.

Two years later, we get uh I get a phone call from uh one of our training captains, uh Cassie, and she says, Hey, do you remember this call?

And I was like, Oh no, what what what am I gonna hear?

And she's like, Well, her name's Frankie, and she's alive and well and she's doing amazing.

She has a great spirit, she's been a little fighter since the beginning, and and I told her that.

I told her she's she's a spunky little kid, and she fought from the beginning.

She fought as a one-pound, two-ounce little newborn, and she's still a spunky little thing.

Uh, knowing that you know, she was as premature as she was, she was such high risk, and that we were able to, you know, make a difference in her life, and she's here with us, so that's amazing.

That's from you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Yeah, you did good stuff.

Yeah, it's a beautiful picture.

Hey, thank you, Avendale.

We're excited to uh maintain a relationship with the firefighters who helped save Frankie.

Um, this is Frankie, and I'm Emily.

Thank you.

Well tough story, tough beginning, great ending, or not ending, but great uh result to this point.

And you know, while it may be something that um not the specific circumstance, but uh the sense of emergency that you guys deal with on such a daily basis or at a consistent basis that most of us will never see or or work with, uh, is just tremendous.

And so uh, you know, I'm sure in terms of response, uh, many of us uh feel uh I think grateful that you were there that evening and you were able to help uh not only at that instance but to be reunited again.

That's a really awesome opportunity that um you'll be able to capture over time and even equate it to your personal life, as you mentioned with your own child.

So uh just thank you so much for being there, and we really appreciate it, and Chief uh you're gonna have a great crew here just as you do with with all the others, and we really appreciate it.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

We appreciate it, and we appreciate them.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Ron Rick uh next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice Mayor.

Next up is our director of public works, Kirk Beatty, uh, to introduce our proclamation for national uh public works week.

Good evening again, Mayor Vice Mayor and Council.

Next Sunday, May 21st begins National Public Works Week 2023.

Uh this is a program that was federally recognized in 1962 by President John F.

Kennedy, where he issued a proclamation designating the third week of May as National Public Works Week.

Each year, the American Public Works Association creates a theme for National Public Works Week, and this year's theme is connecting the world through public works.

This theme highlights the way that public works professionals collect connect us physically through infrastructure and inspirationally through service to their communities, whether it be as first responders or doing the daily work of their duties with pride.

The public works industry encompasses many areas, including but not limited to streets and transportation, utilities, fleet services, building maintenance, solid waste and recycling, and incorporate city, county, state, and federal programs, as well as the consulting and contracting community.

In Avondale, public works related services are provided by the public works department as well as members of the facilities, engineering, and parks departments.

So I'd like to recognize and honor them as well this evening.

Your public works department employs 116 full-time staff providing and supporting city services 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

This week provides an opportunity for the public works department to educate others about the work that we do.

So we'll be conducting some employee tours next week, and then we'll also be recognizing and celebrating and thanking the men and women of the public works industry that make life civilized for all of us.

So with that, Vice Mayor, I'd be honored if you would read the proclamation before you this evening.

Thank you, Kirk.

Okay.

Whereas the City of Avondale Public Works professionals focus on infrastructure facilities and services that are vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of Avondale.

And whereas these infrastructure facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public work professionals who are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector, who are responsible for rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens.

And whereas it's in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children in Avondale to gain knowledge of and to maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities.

And whereas the year 2023 marks the 63rd Annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association, Canada Public Works Association.

Now, therefore, I, Kenneth Wise, by virtue of the authority invested in me as mayor of the City of Avondale, Arizona, do hereby designate the week May 21st through 27th, 2023 as National Public Works Week in Avondale.

I urge all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies in the activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and quality of life.

Thank you so much, Kirk.

Thank you, Council.

Mr.

Vice Mayor, now we have the uh Citizens Water Academy recognition and uh uh oh assistant director of public works, Eric Bay will make that introduction.

Ron, uh uh just for a second, are we gonna pr present this to Kirk?

Yes, sir, we're gonna do it.

Oh yes, sir, we're gonna do pictures um together, so we'll do it right after this presentation to save a little time.

Sorry, sir.

Okay, thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council.

It is perfect that this item was placed directly after the Public Works Week proclamation.

And that's because we get to immediately celebrate a success of the Public Works Department, and that's the completion of the 2023 Citizens Water Academy.

Now, the Academy is an annual event held by Public Works where we invite in inquisitive residents and we teach them about water in the city of Avondale.

Uh the Academy uh this year was a series of five nights held over five weeks, and we taught water resources, water conservation and sustainability in night one, water production, water distribution, and water quality and compliance in night two, wastewater collection and storm water in night three, the water reclamation facility and the aquaculture center in night four, and then in night five, we had presentations on our CIP program, utility rates and fees, uh the recharge facility, and the Crystal Gardens wetlands.

Now, the Academy is designed to be actively engaging, so we had staff presentations, we had demonstrations of equipment and infrastructure, and we had tours of several public works facilities.

I was privileged enough to be the MC, the Master of Ceremonies for the Academy, so I got to attend all five nights, and I got to see the enthusiasm of the participants firsthand every night.

And as MC, all the participants have heard me talk enough.

So I'd like to invite a couple of them up to give their perspective on the academy now.

And first up, I have Daniel Shu.

Thank you.

Only take about an hour.

Thank you, Eric.

Um Vice Mayor and Council members, I just was really happy to get the opportunity to come up and say a few things about the uh Academy.

And thank you for providing the opportunity of these academies to the uh citizens because it's it's really good stuff.

I just have to say that.

Um the academy just was so thorough.

It it covered everything.

Water treatment, wastewater treatment.

Um I just I I learned a ton, and and my goal was to go out and share it with my neighbors and friends so that they know some of some of the good stuff, Eric was on the billing, because today is the first day in 22 years I looked at my water bill, and I could understand it.

So wow.

But anyhow, um it was just very, very thorough.

We learned everything, every operation of water treatment and wastewater treatment.

And and I can't go without uh giving a big high five to the city staff.

It's uh the city staff has been unbelievable.

All the way from the public works directors through the Eric and all the way down to the wastewater treatment operators and the water treatment operators.

Everybody is just so knowledgeable, so friendly, and and they're willing to give you any information they've got.

And it the city staff has just been tremendous.

So they need a big round of applause, I think, because they really worked hard.

Thank you.

Thank you, Daniel.

Appreciate your words.

Thank you, Dan.

And next up, I have David Garrison.

He took everything I was gonna say.

Vice Mayor and Council, thank you so much for having us here today.

Um I'm a product of Arizona, born and raised, spent most of my time in Yuma County.

So we have the Colorado River right there.

Um believe it or not, Newman County uses like four percent of that water, right?

Now I'll go somewhere else.

So we uh started by learning about paper water and what that is and physical water and what that is.

And I feel a lot better about Arizona.

I feel a lot better about Avondale than some other places, uh because we have a department, we have a public works that they are fully aware of what is going on.

Um I thought we were going to be read this doomsday, like it's happening, the drought is here.

Yeah, it's here, but Avondale's got it on luck.

And so I'm very proud to say that we live here.

Um what Mr.

Shu said, the staff we have working at the city of Avondale are so proud.

Uh no matter what they do, whether they're scrubbing things we don't want to know about out of the pipes or they're handling all the paperwork day in and day out.

Uh not a single person that talked to us was down and out.

No one didn't smile about their job.

When someone asked a question, they were ready to answer.

And that's something that um I've experienced throughout Avondale, but with this water academy, I mean, shockingly, water can be exciting.

So I appreciate the opportunity to go through it and thank you to the other classmates of mine, and I hope to be involved with more of these.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, David.

And finally, I believe we're gonna invite up all the Citizens Academy participants for a photo, but City Manager will see what order we would like to do that in.

If it pleases the council, uh we'd love to have our pictures taken down in front with the academy.

And Vice Mayor, I know that we have one uh council members who attended this program.

She may want to say something.

Council member White, would you like to share some of your uh information?

Just a few brief comments.

Awesome MC Kirk, the job that you do over with public utilities.

I just can't imagine the water academy was so beautiful.

I I'm gonna go through everybody's name, so I don't want to disrespect anybody.

I just want to bring everybody up.

But those people who are special to me, I'm staring at you, you know.

I'm thinking about you guys are amazing.

Our staff is amazing.

I learned so much about water, and people feel safe living in Avondale knowing that we have access to clean water.

So I want to just bid you all continue the awesome work that you're doing, and thank you so much for having 70% of our water here.

Thank you so much, Councilmember.

So uh uh class, come on down, let's get your picture taken with counsel if you'd be so kind.

And then we'd like a picture with the public works team right after that with the proclamation.

Okay.

If I can have you this way, is that you like too.

Sir, talk if I can have you.

Yep, right is that one.

Uh JK, can I have you in the window right next to Mr.

Garrison?

I believe it's a little bit more.

A little bit more.

Yep, all the way.

Right there.

Beautiful.

Um I think how you want that four and a half.

I think that's a great law.

Beautiful.

Okay.

I think sir, all the way to the back if I can have you.

Right there.

All right.

Okay, I know we move.

Stay there.

If I can have your shoe again this way, right there.

Beautiful.

All right, big smiles.

Three, two, one.

Stay there.

Water.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, project what does that mean?

Oh, in the back.

I love the C T there's more.

Okay.

Go for the wrong.

Yes.

Yep, you already know.

All right, everybody take two steps forward.

I see you, I see you, I see you, I see.

Perfect.

Can I have you come around to the swing?

Can I have you come around this way?

Um I told people.

Yes, can I have you right in mind?

If I can have you right here, please.

Yeah, I see it.

Right here.

I will have you if I can squeeze you right in this row right here.

Yes.

See you.

Trees, I need to see more of you.

Okay.

All right.

Everyone look right over here, big smile.

Uh and then if Perk, if I can have you kind of hold it out a little bit.

Yeah, right there.

Solid.

Beautiful.

All right, look right over here.

Big smile.

Three, two, one.

Okay, three, two, one.

One more.

Beautiful.

Congratulations.

Um, if we could have uh the uh uh fire department that received the uh recognition I uh chief, if you could bring them on up, uh council would like a picture with them, please.

You're gonna get me in trouble.

Trying to keep straight face.

I can't have the four of you guys, right?

Or then take each one, so the two one step this way, two of you, one step that way, two like that, and then solid.

When then if I can have you have a schmidge more.

Actually, how's it like you in this one over here?

Perfect.

Okay, very schmidge.

All right, big smiles.

Three, two, one.

Congratulations, guys.

No.

Thank you, everybody.

Appreciate that.

All right, next item on the agenda is adjournment.

Can I please have a motion and a vote?

Got a motion by Councilmember Malone, seconded by Councilmember White.

Please vote.

And Mayor Weiss, how do you vote?

Thank you.

Okay.

We will break for about five minutes.

So we'll start here at about six.

Oh no, we have plenty of time, don't we?

So we'll start at 7.

Sorry, 630.

15 minutes, sorry.

We'll we'll start again at 6.30.

No, m Mr.

Vice Mayor, we usually start at 6, so we don't have to take a break.

But if you want to take just five minutes, then let's just take five minutes.

Okay, so we'll then we'll meet back here at 617.

Thank you, sir.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'd like to call to order the regular city council meeting of May 15th, 2023.

Would you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of reflection?

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

And two by the way, or we'll just stand one nation under God and this little liberty and justice.

Thank you.

Item one is roll call.

Margaret, can you please do the roll call?

Councilmember Condi?

Councilmember Malone.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Councilmember Solario?

Councilmember White?

Here.

Vice Mayor Pineda?

Here.

And Mayor Weiss.

Here.

Item two is unscheduled public appearances.

Looks like we have two blue cards here.

So we'll call up.

Are there any others, Margaret, that you've received?

There are no others.

Okay, thank you.

So we have uh Dr.

Gary Wagner.

Is he here this evening?

No.

Okay.

Uh next up, Charlotte Kurtz.

And if Charlotte, if you wouldn't mind just um providing us with your address, we appreciate it.

Sorry, if you can just say another mic.

That's okay.

11401 West Lower Buckeye Road.

Thank you so much.

And I thank you all for your time this evening.

Uh I'm addressing an issue on Lower Buckeye about the construction there.

Uh they have uh they're going to redo the street, which is great.

We need that done.

But they did not send us any information about uh how they were gonna do our ditches, and we have a private area where we irrigate for our farm animals.

We're considered what they call raceway ranchos, and we have like farm animals and you know, goats and chickens and all that good stuff that you raise out there and you know, gardens and everything.

But we can no longer irrigate because they have destroyed our ditches.

And I tried to irrigate on Saturday, and I had four hours.

I only got one side, and it's busting out the ditch because the ditch is is uh is uh excuse me, is is dirt.

And uh I guess when the um engineer made the plans for the street, he did not take into consideration that we can't put a curb against dirt, it's not gonna hold.

And the project manager down there is named Luke.

I've talked to him, and he told us, oh, we're gonna put it in like I said, a curb.

Well, we can't do that.

Like I said, that's not gonna sit with loose dirt.

And every time we try to irrigate now, all of us along there, we're losing our water on the street.

It's not going into our yards.

And uh this was um not presented to us in time, I'm sorry to say the project was is uh T0173.

And the only information I received was a small card that said they were you know putting in a street light on you know Abendale Boulevard, which we do need, and they were widening the road, which is fantastic, but then they said they were making some uh improvements on the east side.

Well, that was all that was said to us.

We can't get our mail, we can't get our garbage picked up, we can't get our cars in and out, which is I'm I'm willing to put up with that, but the the irrigation part is really serious, and that's why I'm here to talk about.

And I appreciate you listening to me on this subject.

I appreciate you being here.

And I believe staff or city engineer will be reaching out, correct?

Um that is correct.

If uh Eric could raise his hand, ma'am.

That's our city engineer.

Uh he'd be happy to talk to you after this and um help you out and see what we can do.

Okay, thank you all very much.

I appreciate your time.

Thank you again for being here.

The next item on the agenda is the consent agenda.

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

If not, if I can get a motion and a vote.

Got a motion by councilmember Conde, a second by Councilmember White.

Please vote.

Mayor Weiss.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item passes 70.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice Mayor.

Uh 4A public hearing uh resolution 1026-0523.

Live communities Avondale, minor general plan amendment.

This is gonna be presented by Michelle Samardiya, sorry.

Smyrna, our senior planner of development services.

All right.

Um thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Tonight I'm presenting Live Communities Avondale, application PL 22-0054, and application PL 22-0049.

The purpose of these items are to review a proposed minor general plan amendment in rezone for Live Communities Avondale, conduct separate public hearings for each item, and take action on each item.

The site outlined in red on the left, it's located at the southwest corner of 99th Avenue and Indian School Road.

It is currently vacant and it's around 17.92 acres in size and was annexed into the city limits in 1981.

And on the right, um, this is the zoning vicinity map that shows the surrounding zoning districts.

Um to the north, there's commercial and residential developments.

These are in the city of Phoenix, and then east of 99th Avenue.

This is vacant land currently being used for farming also in the city of Phoenix.

And then to the south and the west, this is the Parkside Village PED where single family homes are currently under construction.

And here are a couple of photos of the site.

The first is looking northwest from 99th Avenue, and then the second is looking southeast from Indian School Road.

The first request is for a minor general plan amendment to the 2030 general plan to amend the land use designation from mixed use to high density residential and local commercial.

So on the map on the left, this shows the current designation of mixed use, and then on the right, this shows the proposed designations of high density residential in the brown, and then local commercial in this coral color.

The high density residential area will be around 14.62 acres, and then the local commercial portion is about 3.29 acres.

The second request is to rezone the site from the existing park side PAD to a new PAD called the Live Communities PAD, which does have underlying multifamily residential R4 and community commercial C2 zoning.

The rezone will allow for apartments with 333 dwelling units and future commercial uses.

The PAD will utilize the R4 multifamily residential development standards with the following deviations.

The first is a reduction in garage parking.

So this development does exceed the covered parking spaces by 71 spaces instead, which does meet the intent of the city's covered parking requirements.

The second is a reduction in private open space.

So this project does provide for um balconies that range from 74 to 88 square feet, which does meet the intent of the city's private open space requirement of 80 square feet.

The third is reduction in landscaping.

The applicant's narrative says the reduction must allow for healthy root growth and proper spacing.

And the applicant also did indicate at the planning commission meeting that this request was made due to an open irrigation system on the site.

And lastly, the applicant is requesting to add a greater separation between the principal entrances and exits for three-story buildings.

And now I will walk you through the site plan.

So this is the multifamily portion here.

The main entry will be on Indian School Road, and then the secondary entry will be on Parkside Boulevard.

Nine three-story multifamily buildings are proposed.

There will be a centralized pool in clubhouse.

Over here, we have a dog park and hammock area.

And then the covered parking areas are denoted with the X over them.

In terms of walls and fences, along the south boundary, there will be a six-foot block CMU wall, and then view fencing along the other portions of the multifamily site.

And then this over here is the multi excuse me, the local commercial pad for which we have no plan submitted yet.

And then access to this pad will be from a driveway on Indian School Road and 99th Avenue.

And here's some renderings of the apartments.

So this is a rendering of the apartment uh the view from Indian School Road, and then this is the pool area and the dog park.

In terms of the analysis for both requests, the proposed general plan amendment and rezoning will result in development that's compatible with and complementary to the existing uses in the area.

There is a small amount of land left in Avondale to accommodate high-density residential projects such as this one, and this will allow for more housing options in Avondale.

The project does not significantly alter land use patterns since the existing mixed use general plan designation and the mixed use component in the existing PAD, they already allow for a mix of commercial and residential in a village setting.

The project will meet the C2 standards and R4 standards with the requested deviations I previously mentioned.

Both requests meet all the required findings as listed in the staff report.

And lastly, it is consistent with many housing and commercial goals in the general plan.

Both of which have indicated that there is sufficient capacity.

Um of last year in May 26th.

There were two attendees aside from city staff, and the discussion topics were traffic and management of the apartment.

We did not receive any comments on the city's Avondales Connect platform, and we did not receive any other comments for this project.

The Planning Commission voted four to zero to recommend approval on April 19th.

Some of the commissioners did ask about the landscaping and the traffic study for this project, and there were no speakers on the item.

And with that, um, for item 4A, staff recommends approval of application PL 22-0049 Live Communities Avondale, a request for a minor amendment to the general plan.

And then for item 4B, staff recommends approval of application PL22-0054.

Live communities Avondale, a request to rezone the site.

And as a reminder, we do need separate uh public hearings and motions for each item.

And I'm available for any questions.

So I just kind of go ahead and open up the public hearing on the general highway 4A.

Thank you.

We have not.

Thank you, Michelle.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I did have a couple of questions.

I know what the neighborhood meeting, it said that there was questions regarding traffic, and I don't think the results of the traffic study had been done yet.

And my question is um, because I know Indian school is a very busy street, and I was wondering if you can share in regards to if uh DCL lane was warranted.

Thank you, Vice Mayor and Councilmember Conde.

Um I can have our city engineer come up for more information.

Um, but I do have some notes on this project.

So um on Indian school road, no deceleration lane was sorry, I use talking, but I closed for the public hearing reopened.

Is that correct?

So we can continue and then close it after this, or you can close it now and we can continue the staff discussion.

Up to you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you.

So we'll close the public hearing and open it up for council comments.

Apologize.

So Mr.

Mayor, uh Councilmember Conde, we confirmed with the uh city engineer this morning that it was not warranted, a D cell lane was not warranted.

Um we can bring them up here if you'd like to discuss it more, but yeah, the traffic study was completed and and it wasn't warranted by the traffic flow.

I I guess my main concern is, you know, um again, because Indian School Road is a very busy road, and it's a gated community, is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

Okay.

And so that's my concern is just you know, if for some reason people can't get into the gate, whether if they don't have a card or a code to get in, you know, I'm just concerned about that backup um onto Indian school.

Mr.

Vice Mayor, Councilmember Conde, uh one other thing.

Tonight you guys are not approving the plat here, you're not approving the uh layout, and that'll be done administratively, so we'll take that into account when we review this one final time when it's ready for final approval, and we'll double check with our engineering team to make sure that the the best options made available.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Councilmember Malone.

Yeah, I do have a question on um just to piggyback off of Councilwoman Conde's um question.

How many um because we don't have a D selling plan for uh this project, how many um how many cars can queue in to try to get into the gate?

Um thank you, Vice Mayor and Councilmember Malone.

I'd have to defer to the city engineer on that one.

Uh good evening, Vice Mayor, Council.

Um would you mind repeating the question for the Mr.

Sure.

Um on the project here off of uh the main entrance.

Since there's not going to be a desell lane off of Indian School, I'd like to know how many cars can queue in into the gated community.

So in case they were locked out or that it has like three or four cars, will that three or four car cars fall into Indian School Road?

Is there enough sufficient room for cars to kind of queue in if somebody forgot their code or was visiting and having to wait or whatnot?

It was my understanding that we didn't.

That's that's the county maintained roadway.

Can you speak to that, please?

Uh good afternoon, Vice Mayor and Council members.

Um Indian School Road on site front is all uh county.

Um I reviewed this project when I was at county.

Um they have a um signal at uh parkside boulevard uh for the traffic to come in into the site.

And also their main axis uh they will have a left in bay in the middle of the roadway to make in.

And the westbound, uh sorry, eastbound, they have two access point.

One is the parkside boulevard, they can make the uh the right in, and also they at the main access they can make the right in.

So and this is basically a uh a community, they probably generate about uh hundred to hundred and fifty peak hour trips.

And those tips can be accommodated with the existing layout, the proposed layout.

Okay.

J just so I understand, so there's not a D cell lane, but there's a turning lane going from the east um going on Indian school eastbound to turn into this development.

Uh from yes, towards the westbound to make the left in, they will have the center to the left and lane.

Okay, so if they're going this way, westbound to turn in, they'll have it.

But going eastbound on Indian school road, they will not, they'll just have to turn in.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Okay, so is there enough queuing inside their gated commun before they get into the gated community?

How many cars can kind of go in there like and I'll I'll give you an example.

I go into uh a gated community, one of my friends that I visit, right?

If I if she's in there, there's like only three of us can get in there.

So I have to wait, and there's cars behind me, and they'll f they'll flood into the street if she's not giving me the code or letting me in fast enough.

And I just want to see will that happen here in this instance for Indian school.

It it we get they have two access points.

One is the the parkside boulevard, another one is the main access.

The parkside boulevard is not gated community, and it's a signalized intersection.

The one you see it on the on on the on the west side of this this project.

Whoever is heading east, they could take that access to get into the community.

And the gate, I mean, they have not talked about in the impact study that that they will have a uh gated that access point and it will be closed.

Um so that is something that they need to talk to the county to look into.

Okay.

And the main access point here.

Will they have will their gate be closed to during the peak hours?

That we did they never talked about us in the in the traffic study.

Uh I believe we have uh is it the client here?

Yeah, may I wrote it?

Yes, please.

Thank you.

Person with all the answers.

Yeah.

And if you could just state your name and address for rec the record.

Yeah, my name is Brian Greathouse.

My address is 1850 North Central Avenue.

Our firm represents Live Communities and their business partner development partner here, vintage partners.

Um I wanted to highlight for you one thing here.

Can you see my cursor on your screens?

So the the gates off of Indian School are here and here.

There's no gate up here, so there's plenty of queuing all the way through here.

There's parking spaces down here.

In the event this ever gets congested, someone could turn around here and just head out.

Thank you for answering that.

I appreciate it.

Yeah.

I have no other questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Councilmember Malone.

Councilmember Silorio.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Nielsen.

No, I don't have anything.

Thank you.

Councilmember White?

Vice Mayor Penetta.

I just wanted to acknowledge this plan has a lot of parking, so that's uh something that I think is really important for folks moving into the area.

So I think that this is pretty solid.

Thank you very much for all the work that you all did.

And Mayor Weiss, do you have any comments?

No comments, Vice Mayor.

Okay, thank you so much.

Okay, well, I appreciate the information from all of the council members.

Is there any council member who would like to make a motion on this topic?

This item.

I don't see.

Oh, here we go.

So we got a motion by councilmember white, seconded by councilmember Malone.

All those in favor, please vote.

Or I'm sorry, all the can you please vote?

Did you want to call on the the mayor?

Oh yes.

Mayor, how do you vote?

Aye.

Thank you.

So so we the item is passed at seven to zero.

Thank you so much.

K4B.

Mr.

Vice Mayor, there's no additional presentation if you want to open up the public hearing and and we'll go from there.

Thank you so much.

So at this time going to open the public hearing on agenda item 4B.

Are there any um requests to speak, Margaret?

There are none.

And is there anybody in the audience who wishes to speak on this item?

Okay, hearing none, we'll close the public hearing.

Can I get a motion and a vote?

Okay, we got a motion made by Councilmember Malone, seconded by Councilmember Solorio.

Can I please get a vote?

Mayor Weiss, how do you vote?

Thank you.

Aye.

Thank you, Mayor.

So it passes 7-0.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for investing in our city.

Thank you.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice Mayor.

Next up is 4C, an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Avondale Professional Firefighters Association, local 3924, presented by Andy Musquita, our new Director of Human Resources.

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

The item before you is proposed as a proposed amendment to the memorandum of understanding with the Avondale Professional Firefighters Association local 3924.

To provide some background on March 31st, 2022, City Council approved the MOU with APFA effective July 1st, 2022 to June 30th, 2024.

The MOU outlined wage increases for fiscal year 2024.

In 2022, the city began a classification and compensation study for positions across the organization.

As part of that study, the market data indicated that number one firefighters are significantly behind market, and number two, fire engineers and captains are slightly behind market.

Looking at this particular table, you'll see three different columns.

The first one indicates what the current hourly rate is by step for firefighters.

The second one indicates what was agreed upon through the MOU for this upcoming fiscal year.

And the third column indicates the amendment that's before you today.

The proposed amendment increases firefighter wages by approximately 4%, which is roughly 2% more than initially negotiated under the current MOU.

When factoring in the proposed increases to each step and anticipated step movement among current firefighters, each eligible firefighter will receive a total approximate increase of four to nine percent.

Next, the proposed amendment increases fire engineer wages by approximately three percent, which is roughly one to two percent more than initially negotiated under the current MOU.

When factoring in the proposed increases to each step and anticipated step movement among current fire engineers, each eligible fire engineer will receive a total approximate increase of three to seven percent.

And lastly, the proposed amendment increases fire captain wages by approximately three percent, which is roughly one to two percent more than initially negotiated under the current MOU.

When factoring in the proposed increases to each step and anticipated movement among current fire captains, each eligible fire captain will receive a total approximate increase of 3%.

In summary, this proposed amendment is to revise the original salary schedule for fiscal year 24 by increasing wages for firefighter, fire engineer, and fire captain, effective June 26, 2023.

Total increases will range from 3 to 9%, which will be more like more closely aligned with market data and upcoming salary increases of other city staff.

As far as funding for this amendment, the proposed salary costs have been included in the tentative budget previously approved by city council.

And APFA President Ryan Tessing, I believe, is here this evening.

Um and his association fully support the amendment, and we look forward to vigorous negotiations in the fall with them for the next MOU.

That concludes my presentation.

I'm happy to answer any questions the council may have.

Thank you so much.

Council at this time, I'll open the floor to comments.

Councilmember Condi.

Thank you.

No comments at this time.

Thank you.

Councilmember Malone.

No comments at this time.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Solorio.

Councilmember Nielsen.

No comment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember White.

No comment.

Mayor Weiss.

No comments, sir.

Okay, appreciate that.

So at this moment, can I get a motion and a vote on this item?

Got a motion by Councilmember White.

Seconded by Councilmember Solorio.

If we can please vote.

And Mayor Weiss, how do you vote?

Aye.

Pass a seven to zero.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Ron, next item, please.

Sorry about that, Mr.

Vice Mayor.

Next up is 4D.

Update on our park development and improvement projects presented by Brian Hughes, our director of Parks and Rec.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

Happy to be here tonight to give you an update on our uh some of our projects that we're working on.

Uh before we begin, I do want to just recognize uh Stephanie Rodriguez in the audience.

She's the vice chair of our Parks and Records Recreation Advisory Board Board.

So thank you, Stephanie, for staying.

I know you probably came for the water thing, though.

So Kirk.

So let me begin here.

So we've got several projects in various stages of design and development, and all projects are in our five-year capital improvement plan.

Uh staff wanted to provide you an update on five key projects that we're currently working on, and one associated with the federal grant conversion that's still in the planning stages.

First update is on the Mountain View Community Center renovation.

Um this project is currently in construction and we're hoping for completion in early fall.

Um when we did the uh public feedback public input for this facility uh almost two years ago now.

Some of the top uh things that folks were looking for were game room, indoor fitness classes, adult and youth special interest classes, and a banquet and party room.

And so this uh layout um that we came up with pretty much uh achieves all those things.

Um look on the the bottom left is a multi-purpose room that can be used for fitness classes or can be set for tables for parties, things like that.

Uh the Navy blue uh chairs section is our esports room.

Um this is uh really big with uh teens and kids now.

Um we're seeing a lot of other municipalities uh build these.

Uh City of Goodyear actually has one in their new uh uh recreation campus.

And so um this is gonna be a very popular room.

Um we do have a game room with traditional games, pool table, foosball tables right there in the top middle, um, a small meeting room for uh meetings, uh whether that's neighborhood associations or staff meetings, things like that, and then an arts and crafts uh room, uh the green tables there, and that can be used for not just arts and crafts but a lot of other different um functions as well.

And then an arts and crafts room, the green tables there, and that can be used for not just arts and crafts but a lot of other different functions as well.

There's also a large lobby area with the yellow tables there in the middle, and the pink chairs has a like a little gathering spot.

So we're optimistic that this might be a place for teens or community members can gather in the afternoons or early evenings or even on Saturdays when we're open.

And then there is small office space there along with renovated restrooms and things like that.

So some other feedback that we got when we interviewed kids from the Boys and Girls Club.

Technology programming education was big.

So again, the game room, esports room will help with that because not only can those computers be used for games but also for other functions, a rock wall, which unfortunately was not going to work in this facility, and then a study room.

So again, a lot of these rooms will be able to double for those purposes for the kids.

So pretty excited about that.

The original building was uh built in 1979 and has been used for a number of different things over the years, but it's getting a complete facelift, both interior and exterior of the building.

So really excited about uh what this is going to look like.

Here's a rendering of the the front as it's uh proposed, and then just uh some furniture layouts uh for the different rooms.

The orange being uh I believe the arts and crafts room, the the blue bottom left is game room, and then the lounge furniture out in the lobby area.

Next project is the Civic Center Park Development.

Um, this project is uh pretty much 100% uh complete with design.

Um we're uh this is part of the conversion project from the old Coldwater Park.

So as you recall, that was a 10-acre parcel, uh Civic Center and the proposed Donna Telepark that I'm gonna talk about later.

Those two parts combined would help with that uh conversion and put us in compliance with the National Park Service.

Um, with this particular project that we started uh again designing a few years ago, um kind of a minimalist design, wanted to see more shades and uh shade trees, uh some turf in there, not a whole lot.

Um, but then there's also um uh seat walls that are shaped like stacked books that complement the kind of the library right next door, and then um it'll also improve connectivity throughout the campus.

There'll be a sidewalk around the uh perimeter and then also through that'll help connect uh folks from civic center to the library to the park to the aquatic center down the road.

So really uh excited about that.

Um item on there that we wanted to note um there was a water feature in there, but um that was more of an aesthetic water feature and do the drop preparedness uh plan that we've implemented recently.

We decided to take that function uh that piece out so uh it'll be replaced with a uh a seat wall similar to the other ones.

Uh there is also a location in there for public art and a food truck alley.

We'll be able to pull in food trucks right there next to the uh Civic Center Library for some functions there.

We'll also help uh complement other uh activities that we plan at the Civic Center throughout the year.

The next project is the sand volleyball complex at the boulevard.

We've been talking about this project for a few years.

As a reminder, it has five competition grade sand volleyball courts.

The two on the ends are typically going to be used for kind of league play and things like that.

But the the center court there is uh a little bit more high profile, so when the tournaments kind of get to the end, um that would be what we consider maybe a championship court.

Um so pretty excited about uh this project, which we hope to get kicked off here in late summer.

Um, one of the things in the center plaza there that's a little hard to see, but there is a restroom facility there that will be able to serve the entire boulevard uh complex.

So if folks are wandering around the lake or they're there for an event as that uh area continues to grow, they'll be able to uh use those restrooms without having to maybe bug a business or go into the ASC.

Um so those will be available during hours, obviously when the uh sand volleyball complex is open, but also uh other times throughout the day and evening.

Uh just a reminder this project also had a grant from the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority for approximately 165,000, which we started with last year, but then paused the project.

We're able to keep that grant and move forward with that once we get this project back on track here in a few months.

The next project is Mountain View Park.

Um this is a kind of a little infill project where the old water tank was on the northwest side of the property.

You can see the uh the blank area there right now.

Um water cleared that site uh last year, and uh we've been working on just a very simple design to kind of fill that space in.

One of the big uh things that we hear about when we're over there is more shade, more picnic areas, and restrooms.

Corey and I happened to be there one day, and a woman got out of her minivan with about six kids, and she went and the kids climbed all over the playground and they and we asked her what would you like to see?

And restrooms was the number one thing.

They'd like to stay a little bit longer, but they need a place for the kids to go to the bathroom.

Plus long-term rentals that we have in the evening on the more sports field part of that complex.

Um those folks uh would like to stay a little bit longer too, but the restrooms will help.

Um, is back in 1970, this also received a land and water conservation fund grant, and so it's um subject to the same provisions that this needs to be a park in per in perpetuity, and that we need to maintain uh some of those same features that that grant funded back then, and restrooms was one of those items.

Um this project is currently at 90% complete and undergoing uh review in engineering services, so we're hoping to kick this one off with construction later this fall.

Um the last item on this one is that it does include replacing the playground, and uh we're hoping to do that uh at the same time.

Um we are also utilizing some uh community development block grant C D V G funds for this project.

Um so it'll help us uh uh do a little bit more than what we would have been able to otherwise.

Dennis D.

Consini Park.

Um this one is an update to kind of the existing facilities.

Um there are a couple cool things that we're gonna be able to do, but um, this is a project that was included in this past year's budget.

Uh it was a million dollars in ARPA funds plus 200,000 for design.

What we're really doing here is upgrading the irrigation system that's underground.

Um that system is old and failing, so that needs a repair.

Um we're also upgrading um some of the picnic remadas that are out there.

Those are old stucco and red tile roof that are deteriorating and falling down.

So we'll be replacing those Ramadas.

And then the one thing that is a little bit uh of an add to this particular project is um the sidewalk connectivity throughout, which actually helps us with ADA compliance.

The kids can get from the parking lot or the boys and girls club to this playground to the basketball courts to those picnic romadas along an accessible route.

Um so we did get some public feedback again a few years ago when we were uh putting these projects out there.

Um the number one feedback was Ramadas, um, another one was uh volleyball, and then interactive fitness structures.

Um we're gonna look at we've got a couple of amenities in here that we might swap out.

We are showing uh concrete cornhole boards in there and concrete um ping pong tables, and we think we might swap those out for some of the interactive um fitness structures that you can place along the pathways since that was one of the items that uh folks looked at.

Um the boys and girls club feedback was an obstacle course, in-ground trampoline, and uh real lava in the playground area.

So we're gonna hold back on the real lava too.

Um probably not gonna make it past risk management.

Um, but that was uh the feedback, so we're glad the kids were involved.

When we get a little bit closer on replacing the actual playground structure here, we'll probably go back to the boys and girls club and ask those kids what they're looking for since it's been a few years.

Um this is the last project we're uh gonna give an update on, and this is Donatella Park.

Um when we were working with the National Park Service and Arizona State Parks and Trails to replace cold water, they asked us to uh reach out to the public and kind of get some design ideas that we could submit as far as what we might be looking for in that area.

We were able to do an online survey with 118 responses, and the top priorities were playground, shade trees, and picnic remadas.

Um we ask our uh consultant to do a couple conceptual designs with that, and concept A here kind of has that.

You can see the trees and the walking path around.

There's also a very cool picnic grove through that provides a lot of shade and um and a pathway through.

Um in addition to that, we also uh put in a playground and a half basketball court and then a restroom and minimal parking there.

Um, this being a neighborhood site off of Palm Lane just east of Avondale Boulevard.

A lot of people are probably gonna walk to that area, so parking is not as essential as it might be at a community park, but there are enough spots there to uh to allow for folks to drive over there if they wish.

Um again, we did get the same feedback on this particular park as far as restroom.

People do want a restroom on site, even though it is a neighborhood park, and you might be able to walk back to your house, but um if you're having a good time or you're doing a picnic out there, you might not want to do that.

So both concepts do uh show a restroom and limited parking.

Um concept B, very similar.

Um does not have the shade grove and picnic grove through the middle, but does have the walking path with trees around the perimeter.

Um this one um does show pickleball courts, which aren't necessarily a good idea in uh neighborhood parks just because of the noise that those uh generate.

So um although we pickleball is very popular, this might not be the best location for it.

Um but again, these right now are still just conceptual designs.

Umce we get approval, full approval from state parks and National Park Service to move forward with the whole conversion.

We'll go back out for more public input on this particular um project.

Um again, we just needed something initially for some some concepts to share with them.

And I think um even even moving forward, if we do need to change this um significantly and we get completely different feedback from we did last time.

Um we we still have the opportunity to do that, but we were able to include this in our uh our uh presentation to uh state parks.

So again, lots of opportunities still to help uh program this.

We do want to make sure that we're talking with the Pendergast School District who owns the whole site to the north of that to find out what their plans are with that site so that we can make sure it complements uh the project.

So um let's see.

And that is all I have on those projects, but happy to be happy to answer any questions you guys may have.

Thank you, Brian, for the presentation.

And I'm sure uh many of us here uh can attest that having this and this information for community members when they reach out to us is very important.

So if uh we can get some comments from the council members, we'll start with Councilmember Conde.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Brian.

Thank you for the presentation, because I had so many questions on what we've been doing with the park and you know the community members as well.

Um just gonna take it from um the top.

So in regards to the mountain view um remodel, so there's a banquet party room.

Will that be available for rent for the community?

Do you like have Quintanitas or okay?

Correct.

Do we know what the occupancy is gonna be in there?

Um I don't know the occupancy on that.

Um it's each room is um a different size, but we can make it so they can either run an individual room or the whole complex when we do that.

We're gonna be working on our uh fee schedule to um uh I think we actually have a lot of the fees in place.

We did that as part of last year's in anticipation of opening earlier, but um it should be um easy for those folks to rent those spaces.

Perfect, great, thank you.

And then the Civic Center, I know you um uh kind of showed the food trucks, you showed Ramada and Shades.

Are we gonna be putting water fountains there for for community to use?

Uh Vice Mayor, Council Mayor Condi, we are putting an outdoor water fountain there.

Um I believe the the style that we're gonna stick with moving forward is the kind that you can do a bottle filler with.

Most people are traveling around with either a plastic bottle or a permanent bottle, and that seems to be uh something that's easy for those folks to fill up and take with them.

Perfect.

And then um so my same question for the sand volley boy know we're gonna be putting um restrooms there.

So water fountains and like bark bike racks there.

We're gonna have both of those.

Okay.

And then um I guess for all the parks, are we gonna be able to put the little trash for dogs so that way when they we have the little plastic bags and they can dispose of the dogs?

Yeah, Vice Mayor.

Councilmember Conde, um, we're gonna make sure we have MuttMet stations in all our parks moving forward.

Um dogs on a leash are legal, you know, legal at all our parks, and we want to make sure that if you bring them that they have an opportunity to pick up after their pet.

So perfect.

And then um Mountain View Park, shade, restroom mark, water fountain, same kind of questions.

Um and then the D Consini Park with all of the renovations that we're doing, are we gonna still be able to do um have all the rides there for Billy More days?

Uh mayor uh mayor, Vice Mayor, uh councilmember, we do uh plan to be able to do that.

Um might be a little bit different layout on that, and we might have to take advantage of maybe four street a little bit more, but the plan is that we still do those functions there.

Got it.

Thank you.

And as far as Donna Telepark, um I just want to just say thank you because I know a couple years ago we've had people from the community.

I didn't know there was gonna be a park there.

They were the ones that told me.

And they were wanting to make sure that um you know some of the things that you mentioned, having a basketball court for the kids to go use and having restrooms and so you know having that public input is is definitely important because that community is definitely engaged.

And so inviting them to the table and be being part of the process.

I just want to thank you guys for being mindful of that.

No problem.

Great job.

Thank you.

Mr.

Rice Mayor, if I can interrupt real quick.

For the record, I um we answered all of her questions the affirmative.

We want to make sure for the record that it's a verbal yes, not a head nod.

That way for in the future we can look back and let you know that we said yes.

Sorry.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Malone.

Thank you, Brian, for the presentation.

I do have a question.

I think Tina answered um asked most of them, so I do want to go back to D.

Consini Park.

Um that will we have ADA parking?

Uh Vice Mayor, Councilmember, you we do.

Okay.

Um is it going to be like one or two?

And the west side.

Okay.

Perfect.

And we currently have that now then.

We do.

Uh what we need to improve on is the sidewalk connectivity.

Perfect.

And then sand volleyball tournaments that we're assuming we're going to have.

Who's going to manage that type of uh programming?

Will it be us, uh the city that's going to do the tournaments?

Uh Vice Mayor, Councilmember, it will be us.

We actually did put some uh funding in the budget last year uh again for sports programming for us to do some of those.

Uh we also anticipate this to be um uh highly rented by either schools and or some of the teams that utilize the ASC for uh indoor volleyball.

Perfect, thank you.

And last but not least, the Donatello Park.

So in that neighborhood when I'm out there, um that has been such a um subject um that when we would walk there, we would just go to the end of the road and it's just land, right?

So I know that those neighbors are going to be very excited with uh having Donatello Park.

I do have um want to kind of um cheer on having um what is it called?

Pickleball?

Because I have a couple of uh my residents that live on uh the northern side and they say they have to come all the way to festival fields to do pickleball, and there's nothing on the north side.

They're like, can you just change fest uh friendship parking?

I think I've talked to you guys about that, and I'm like, no, that's for tennis, I think.

So if we could do uh pickleball, I know I I don't know how loud it is.

I'll probably have to go out there one morning and just kind of see how loud it is for the for the residents, but that would make people on the north side very happy.

Well, Vice Mayor, Councilmember, um just as a reminder, in the budget for this year we actually have planning for I believe eight to twelve pickleball courts at Friendship Park next to the tennis courts.

So we'll be starting design on that.

Oh, well perfectly that should answer that question.

So that we don't even have to do pickleball there.

Thank you.

I will uh reach back out to those uh members that have reached out to me.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

I look forward to all the projects being completed.

Thank you.

Mr.

Vice Mayor, I I hate to do this, but I want to Okay, because I also don't remember that's just the design next year and the build is the goal for a year or two after that.

That is correct, Mr.

Gordon.

Yes, I just for setting expectations of design for those pickleball carts are next year.

It'll be a couple of years before they are actually built.

2025 ish.

Sorry.

2025-ish.

We'll know more during next year's budget.

Is Renee looking at me?

Renee, that's an ish for 25.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Solorio.

Hey Brian, thanks for the presentation.

Uh really good.

Um I personally just like parks.

I'm not that sporty in any way.

So I personally like parks to walk through and you know, spend the time there, maybe take the dogs or take my nephews out for a walk or something.

Um but the Stan Otalo Park will be great because it would be really close and you know, to between the grandparents' house and where they live.

So this will be a really great place to have them run out the energy there.

Um thank you for just a thorough, you know, update on what's been going on.

And um I'm not I'm not too sure what pickleball is, but I'm gonna learn.

And I'm gonna find out.

So I might be a fan, so I might be rooting on like uh with be with Veronica's people on how to do that.

That's it.

Thank you.

Councilmember Illison.

Brian, just back to the Civic Center library one there just a minute.

The food trucks.

I don't see uh our I don't know, are the food trucks gonna come in there?

I don't see a driveway to go in there.

If I do when all those little trees there, if they got a back out, how do they get in and how do they get out of there?

Or is that what that whole area is about there?

Vice Mayor, Councilmember Nielsen.

Um the existing uh uh sidewalk that goes through that area just uh uh south of the library is actually probably about twelve foot wide right now.

So we'll be uh just uh enhancing a couple of those areas so that uh they can just pull straight through.

In one side out the other.

Um we'll be having some uh enhanced electrical plugs and things there for them to plug into if they need to.

Um and so it should uh allow for them kind of in that uh beige turf area or beige area is where maybe the lines might extend out into when the trucks are in there.

Just so there's a way to get in and out without having to back out over kids in the way or whatever it might be.

Absolutely.

And the other one just I guess I have to put my water hat on and make sure that as we look at all these parks, we want to make sure they're nice and taken care of, but we want to make sure that we're conserving as much water as we can to make sure that whatever is planted there, whatever is taken care of, and we watch that as part of sustainability.

Absolutely.

Um Vice Mayor, Councilmember, we are looking at again a smart irrigation system and then making sure that all the plants and things that we're putting in there are are uh as low water as possible, but provide that shade that everybody really wants.

So thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember uh White.

Thank you so much, Vice Mayor Paneda.

Thank you, uh Brian, for an awesome presentation.

Um I'm looking at each of the parks, and I'm very excited about the outdoor entertainment everybody has, and I'm really excited about the Mountain View Community Center.

It's going to be very nice on the inside.

What I didn't see that I was really looking for throughout the plan is really some designation of where active Avondale trails are going to be connected through all of these projects.

And so that's really a high expectation for me and a lot of community members.

Um I do see a lot of trails and walkways, and that's really great.

But I think that if we really are aiming to do active Avondale, we have to have that designation right there on these maps so people can see these trails shall connect to these existing sidewalks.

So I I think this is phenomenal.

I um I can envision us having our trail maps out there anyway.

I just don't think we see it on these renderings.

So I look forward to seeing that in future renderings.

Um Vice Mayor Councilmember, um, all the sidewalks that we're adding are ultimately part of that old whole active transportation plan that we adopted.

Um some of these renderings were done before that plan was finished.

Um but uh again with the with the sidewalk connectivity ties into our whole multimodal trail plan.

Um we saw new sidewalks at uh Deacon City, we see them here at the uh Civic Center project.

Um obviously the everything around ASC connects into a sidewalk system.

So um so I uh I can assure you it's there um and we'll make sure that it's uh highlighted when we uh update our maps.

And will we uh I know this is in front of ASC, but will we get sidewalks up Avondale Boulevard to help people who are going to that beach volleyball court that might live south of uh Van Buren because there's still no sidewalks that I see out there.

Um Vice Mayor, Councilmember, um I believe um I I'm 99% sure those are in the active transportation plan.

I don't know how far, whether they were short-term, long-term um or medium uh in that plan, but we can take a look at that and follow up with you.

Thank you very much.

Excellent work.

Mr.

Uh Vice Mayor, Councilmember White, I guarantee there will be sidewalks there.

Um that's um a lot of that's private land or land that we'll be leasing out, and the developers when they develop that area will be putting in sidewalks.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Corbin.

Thank you.

Um Mayor Weiss.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

You know, these investments span the city, and I think that's important for our residents to understand.

When we surveyed them a few years ago, we asked them what they wanted.

Um active uh trails was one of them.

But they also asked for parks and some other recreation amenities in their areas.

And I'm glad to see we're investing in in the facilities that have served the community really well and in building new ones.

So I'm excited about the plan and uh I look forward to uh seeing it built out.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you.

And just last couple of comments from me, because a lot of them have already been mentioned by uh the other council members, is uh just the diverse uh opportunities, whether it be outdoor, uh whether it be active or whether it be programming indoors with the mountain view um new facility and uh and a lot of the mindful um choices that are being made, especially in regards to water and the fact that the water feature has been removed uh for other things.

I I really really enjoy uh hearing that we will have the food truck alley.

Um I know that Avondale has been very receptive to the uh food truck community.

Um I've heard that by the owners of those food trucks, several of the owners of those food trucks, considering that many other municipalities may are are not as welcoming.

Um I'm really glad that not only we are supporting it, but providing an actual area for them to set up in addition to uh whether it be the different power uh um types of power that's needed out there and being able to provide that to them.

So really grateful that uh to that.

And in the last comment in regards to Donatella, uh I'm in favor, and I know it could change, but concept A would be something um that I would like to see happen, and I really am happy to see the parking that was added.

So because otherwise the parking would then take up a lot of the residential area and uh so the parking is very important to me.

So thank you so much for your presentation.

Okay.

Oh, councilwoman McCartney.

Thank you.

Um I remember when I was little, we lived across the street from a park and they had um people the kids can go check out like basketball or football.

Is that something that we might be able to add so that the kids that maybe don't have those types of things that they can check it out and go across the street to Mountain View Park to use it there?

Yeah, Vice Mayor, Councilmember Conde, we're looking into ways that they might be able to check stuff out, whether that's the community center or possibly the libraries down the road.

Okay, great.

And then how many staff do we anticipate being at the New Martin Mountain View Recreation Place?

Uh Vice Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember, we're planning to put two full-time over there and then um have a lot of part-time staff that helped man that uh that facility.

Great.

Okay, thank you, Brian.

Thank you, thank you, Brian, for the presentation.

Thank you very much.

Presentation.

Okay, can I please get a motion to adjourn?

We got a motion made by Councilmember Condi, seconded by Councilmember Malone.

We all vote.

Mayor Weiss, how do you vote?

Uh Vice Mayor, before I vote, I wanted to say thank you uh for taking over on the short notice.

For those of you who don't know, I was leaving church yesterday, uh, was taking a call and tripped over a curb and wrenched my back.

So I am in the semi-horizontal position right now.

So I reached out to Mike and Ron this morning, and Mike uh stepped in to take uh tonight's meeting on short notice.

So I really do appreciate and uh uh I vote aye to adjourn.

Thank you so much.

Okay, everybody have a good night and appreciate it.

See you next time.