Good evening, everyone.

I'd like to call the special meeting of October 9th, 2023 to order.

Marcella, do you mind doing roll call?

Councilmember Condi.

Councilmember Malone.

Councilmember Nielsen.

Councilmember Solario.

Vice Mayor Paneda.

Mayor Weiss.

Here.

And Councilmember White has an excused absence tonight.

Perfect.

Thank you, Marcel.

Ron, item two, please.

Thank you.

First up is our uh director of finance and budget, uh, Renee Weatherless.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Um, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce um our newest accounting specialist, Terry Chavez Ronaldo.

She's joined the accounts payable and the payroll team this year in August.

Um, she brings over 30 years of accounting experience.

Most recently, Terry worked as an accountant slash office manager at a law firm.

But for the past 10 years, Terry has volunteered her time to serve low and moderate income residents of Avondale with income tax preparation through the services of the volunteer income tax assistant program.

So first 30 days, or no first one 90 days, much different than working in a law firm?

Very different.

Good different?

Good different, yes.

All right, perfect.

Thanks for being here.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor Council.

I'd like to introduce you to your newest municipal security officer.

This is Philip Washington, who comes to us from the city of Glendale, where he spent 22 years as a police officer there.

Uh spent most of his time in patrol and ended his career as an SRO sergeant with them uh before joining our ranks.

So he's an Arizona native, and he's here to be introduced.

How are you doing, Mayor?

Council.

Good.

How many years in Glendale?

Uh 22.

Wow.

Thank you for your service.

Thank you.

Glad to have you aboard.

And before anyone asks, because I know everybody's asking behind my back, and you too.

Six seven.

And yes, I play basketball.

I would never I would never ask that question.

I know it was good.

Burning question on your mind.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Next up we have um Chris Lopez, our director of neighborhood and family services.

Good evening, Mayor Weiss.

Chris, how tall are you?

Just for the record.

It depends on what shoes I'm wearing.

Just for the record.

Did you say 6'3, Chris?

Yeah.

6'3, good.

Okay, got it.

All right.

Mayor Andy's objecting.

Our HR director says that's an inappropriate question.

Good evening, Mayor Weiss, Vice Mayor Pinetta, members of council.

I'm uh pleased to be here before you this evening to introduce a few of our newest uh department members.

I'm gonna begin here with uh Giovanna Marquez.

Giovanna Marquez is a customer service rep.

She um serves our community through our front desk at the resource center.

Uh she joined the city after managing a staffing agency, and her hobbies are shopping and supporting the Arizona Cardinals.

Giovanna was in the office early this morning and she couldn't be here tonight, but uh we're thrilled to have her on our team.

Um also we have Jacqueline Guerrero.

Jacqueline is here with us this evening.

Uh she joins us after working with the city of Phoenix for their early head start program.

She enjoys spending time with her on her parents' ranch and cooking with her three children.

Next up, we're gonna introduce Adam Stone.

Adam is the newest member of our homeless outreach team.

Um he's our homeless outreach specialist.

He joins Avondale after working for the city of Las Vegas, where uh he also worked as an outreach specialist there.

His hobbies are uh drag racing.

You should see his beautiful blue truck.

Also uh new to our team are three drivers for our senior center program.

Um the first one is Fortino Garcia.

Um he's been married for 41 years and enjoys dining out with his wife.

Um he's also a sports fan and uh plays softball, and he joined us from the city of Phoenix.

Uh Fortino starts early in the morning transporting seniors, so he can be here this evening.

The next individual is Lakonda Pullard Hall.

She's a driver with us.

She enjoys watching pickleball when she's not working.

Her hobbies are reading, and she joins us from uh an organization called Right at Home Company.

And then finally, uh Mara Isabella Soto is also a driver with us.

Um she enjoys being a foster parent, and she's done that for over 20 years.

Her hobbies include woodworking and ice sculpting.

And Mirabel was also up early working this morning, getting our seniors back and forth uh to and from the center.

Chris, thank you.

Thank you both for being here.

Thank you to all of them.

Appreciate it.

All right.

And Kirk Beatty, our uh director of public works, our interim city engineer, and whatever else you ask him to do.

This is Kirk.

Hey Kirk, hang on a second.

We we didn't applaud for the first two groups of people.

Oh, so let's do that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ron.

Uh good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

It's my pleasure to introduce to you some employees that have joined public works in the last quarter.

Some of those folks are early risers, so you're gonna meet them on a video in just a few moments.

However, I do have employees, two employees here today to meet you in person.

They've been off duty since about noon today, so they came back to to have a chance to be seen in person.

Yurio Carrillo and Nathan Street.

They're both street maintenance workers levels one.

They joined us last Monday.

Yurl is a graduate from Aqua Free High School.

Uh he has previous experience in the electrical landscape maintenance fields.

His primary duties with our department will be to, he's in the streets division doing uh landscape maintenance, sidewalk repairs, and road repairs.

Nathan is a graduate from Apollo High School, also with previous experience in manufacturing, part-time experience as a recreation assistants here with the city of Avondale, and four years in the United States Marine Corps as a heavy equipment operator.

His primary duties also will be landscape maintenance, sidewalk maintenance, and some street maintenance.

As you know, our street maintenance division is a very busy group doing a lot of variety of tasks, and we're certainly glad to have both of these gentlemen here with us on our team.

And if there's no questions, I will go to the video.

Hi, my name is Draven Smith.

Uh, I started on September 5th, and I'm an environmental technician.

Good afternoon.

My name is even street.

I am a street maintenance worker working for public works on the street.

Hello, I'm Walter Gonzalez.

I'm uh distribution operator with the public works.

Um, and I've been here about a month now.

My name is Tyler Winchin.

I'm a collections operator for public works for the city of Avondale.

I've been here currently four months.

Okay, good afternoon.

My name is Yurio Caprillo.

Uh I'm a public workers maintenance one currently working for public works, City of Avondale.

Hi, my name is Lake Powell.

I'm a wastewater operator, and I started a couple weeks ago.

Hi, hi.

My name is Anthony Sandoval.

Um, my job title here is water distribution operator for public works.

And this is day one.

I'm Gable Sanchez.

I work for Solid Waste, and I've been here like a month.

Hello, my name is Tel Cioasta.

I am a wastewater treatment operator.

I've been here about a year, and I look forward to retiring from the work and excited to learn more.

Thank you.

My name is Jan Michael Vaughn.

My position is Salawa's operator.

And here for that's our newest members.

So you can't get a better name for a water reclamation operator than Lake Powell, right?

Yeah.

Well, we have a streets person with the last name streets, so we're gonna try to that is true.

So thanks.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Welcome aboard.

All right, Mr.

Mayor, Council.

Next up is our chief of public safety, Chief Nanegate to um provide a proclamation for code compliance month.

Thank you, Mr.

Corbin.

Good evening once again, Mayor, Vice Mayor Council.

We're having our co-compliance unit come down here for the reading of the proclamation.

But before we get started, I thought we all needed a little history lesson tonight.

If you don't know the history of code enforcement in the United States, the first code uh building code was enacted in 1788 from the old town of Old Salem, North Carolina, and it was written in German.

So as the code involved and the codes involved and the laws evolved, uh, 1865, the city of New Orleans was the first city that allowed public inspections of buildings.

So that continued to evolve to where we are today with uh your most professional code compliance team that you have.

And rumor has it they're in the running for the code compliance unit for the state of Arizona.

So hopefully in a couple weeks, I'll have more information.

I can share that as well.

But with that, Mr.

Mayor, I'll let you read the proclamation.

Whereas co-compliance officers provide for the safety, health, and welfare of residents in Avondale, through the enforcement of building, zoning, housing, environmental, property maintenance, and other city codes and ordinances, and whereas CODA compliance officers have a highly visible role in our community through interacting with a variety of state officials, county officials, first responders, and residents.

And whereas code compliance officers often have a challenging and demanding role in ensuring a safe and inviting community through enhancing Avondale's living and working environment.

And whereas code compliance officers provide quality education and excellent customer service to the residents and businesses in Avondale.

And whereas co-compliance officers are dedicated, well trained, and highly responsible individuals who take their jobs seriously, are proud of their department and local government within which they serve and are committed to provide promoting life safety, healthy communities, and improving neighborhoods in the course of their daily jobs.

And whereas we recognize the many valuable contributions made by the code compliance officers throughout our country and extend our heartfelt thanks for their continued commitment to the city of Avondale in public service.

Now, therefore, I, Kenneth Weiss, by virtue of the authority vested in me, as mayor of the City of Avondale, Arizona, to hereby proclaim the month of October 23 as Code Compliance Month, Code Compliance Month in Avondale.

Congratulations.

If I could take a short moment, I'd also like to recognize Stephanie Robinson, who's in the back room, who's been our code compliance manager for the past couple years.

As you know, she's moving on to bigger and better things in the city of Prescott Valley as their new neighborhood and family services director, opening a new department there.

But also, we were talking about professionalism.

I'd also like to recognize uh Claudia Rojas, our one of our code compliance.

This last week, she was recognized by the National Association of Co-compliance Officer as co-compliance officer of the year for the United States.

So here's her award.

All right, well, congratulations.

Thank you.

So tell us a little bit about that.

How did that come about?

Um, well, I have to thank my team, my supervisor, Stephanie Robinson, Josh, Federis, and my whole team for I guess nominating me.

I'm very honored and glad to be part of this wonderful team.

And I couldn't be happier.

Were you surprised when you found out you won?

Very surprised.

How did you find out?

There.

Yes.

And where was that?

Where was there?

At the conference.

Here locally or somewhere else.

Good for you.

That's awesome.

Yes.

So your luggage was a little bit heavier when you had to go home because of that big trophy, wasn't it?

Yeah, I've been polishing.

We're proud of you.

We're proud to be proud of all you.

We honestly know how difficult your jobs are on a daily basis.

And I don't think the community fully understands what you do.

I think they understand when they have a complaint in their area.

And we've seen we get emails, we get notifications of things that are happening in certain parts of the city and the response that people have after it's taken care of.

And they are there truly grateful.

So thank you to all Stephanie.

It's going to be sad.

It's the second time I've had to say goodbye to you.

But good luck to you, and at least we all have a place to stay when we go to Prescott.

That's going to be awesome.

Thank you all.

I appreciate it.

Thanks, Chief.

Thank you.

Next up, Mr.

Mayor is our fire chief, uh, Larry Rooney, uh, to provide a proclamation on fire prevention week.

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

Tonight we are recognizing fire prevention week with a proclamation to highlight fire safety in our community and increase the education of our citizens and the importance of preventing fires in their home before they cause harm to life and damage property.

This year's National Fire Protection Association 2023 campaign for fire prevention week, which is this week, started yesterday, Sunday, October 8th, all the way to Saturday, October 14, 2023, is cooking safety starts with you.

Unintended cooking is the leading cause of cooking fires.

So we're we're asking you if you leave the kitchen, turn off the burner.

I encourage all of you to go to the nfpa.org website yourself and see the many safety messages, tips, lessons for both kids and adults on how to prevent fires from happening in the first place.

Lastly, I would like to take this time to invite the entire Avondale community to our Avondale Fire and Medical Annual Open House that will be held on Saturday, October 28th, from 10 to 2 at Fire Station 175, located at 12495 West Van Buren.

There will be a lot of activities for the entire family.

So come out and learn about fire safety and uh meet uh the firefighters that serve our community.

Chief, thank you for that.

Whereas the city of Avondale is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living and visiting our city, and whereas fire is a serious public safety concern both locally and nationally, and homes are the locations where people are at greatest risk from fire.

And whereas home fires killed more than 2800 people in the United States in 2021, according to the National Fire Protection Association, and fire departments in the United States responded to 338,000 home fires.

And whereas children under five face a higher risk of non-fire burns associated with cooking than being burned in a cooking fire.

And whereas residents who have planned and practiced a home fire escape plan are more prepared and therefore be more likely to survive a fire, and whereas working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying and reported home fires by almost half, and whereas City of Avondale's first responders are dedicated to reducing the occurrence of home fires and home fire injuries through prevention, protection, and education.

And whereas the 2023 fire prevention week theme, cooking safety starts with you.

Pay attention to fire prevention, effectively serves to remind us to stay alert and use caution with cooking to reduce the risk of kitchen fires.

Now, therefore, I, Kenneth Weiss, by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the City of Avondale, Arizona, do hereby proclaim October 8th through the 14th, 2023 is fire prevention week, and ask citizens to check their kitchens for fire hazards and use safe cooking practices during fire prevention week 2023 and to support the many public safety activities and efforts the city of Avondale's fire and emergency services.

Thank you, everyone.

Thanks, Chief.

Thank you.

And I and I know Marcel, we're gonna do pictures for everyone after, correct?

Correct, Mayor.

Okay.

So no running off, folks.

No running off.

All right, Mr.

Mayor, up next is our director of development services, Jody Novak, to talk about the proclamation for National Community Planning Month.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Uh the American Planning Association, which represents all city planning professionals in the United States of America, proclaims October every year as National Community Planning Month.

Um, it's important to promote what city planning divisions and development divisions and community planning agencies do for current zoning and land planning for the community as well as the long-range vision planning that occurs within every city to promote both the growth and development of a community long term.

And so we're honored to be here this evening to bring forth our deputy director of planning, um Catherine Lorbeer, as well as the individual planning staff that we have here tonight, which is uh Cole Hunger, Joshua Orton, Sylvia Willam Marcour, and Michelle Sumerdla.

You ready?

Yes.

Community Planning Month, October of 2023.

Whereas change is constant and affects all cities, towns, suburbs, counties, boroughs, townships, rural areas, and other places, and whereas community planning provides an opportunity for all residents to be meaningfully involved in making choices that determine the future of their community.

And whereas the month of October is designated as National Community Planning Month throughout the United States of America and its territories, and whereas the American Planning Association endorses National Community Planning Month as an opportunity to highlight the contributions sound planning and plan implementation make to the quality of our settlements and environments.

And whereas the celebration of National Community Planning Month gives us the opportunity to publicly recognize the participation and dedication of the members of planning commissions, city councils, and the public who have contributed their time and expertise to the growth and improvement of the City of Avondale.

And whereas we recognize the many valuable contributions made by the professionals within the City of Avondale Planning Division and Development Services and Engineering Department, and extend our heartfelt thanks for the continued commitment to public service by these professionals.

Now therefore be resolved that the month of October 23 is hereby designated as Community Planning Month in the City of Avondale in conjection in conjunction with the celebration of National Community Planning Month proclaimed this ninth day of October 2023.

Congratulations.

So is there a pizza this week?

What's going on?

What are some of the festivities?

Determined.

It's Monday.

We have a whole month.

Oh, that okay, never mind.

That's right, you got a whole month.

So let us know when there's going to be Donut Day.

Okay.

Craft Beer Day, sorry.

Somewhere else, obviously, but that would be awesome.

I think that's inappropriate.

But is Donut Donut Day works for everyone?

I know Ron's giving me a look.

Donut Day and Pizza Day would be great for the city council too.

We'd love to come see you guys.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Ron, are we gonna have a talk after?

We are okay, good.

We are city attorney will be present.

Um Mr.

Mayor, thank you.

Uh up last for our for our pre-meeting is uh a presentation by Pierre, our director of managed marketing and public relations, and one of my favorite historians, one of your longest serving employees, everybody knows Pier.

Uh less welcome Pierre.

How many years have you been with us now?

Um 23, 23 years.

So good evening, Mayor and Council.

Um I'm here tonight to um update council about some awards we recently received, and I'm joined here by members of my team, a few members of my team, as well as um folks from the police department who uh also participated and won some awards.

So just some background.

We are members of the city um city county communications and marketing association, also known as 3CMA, and that is a national uh group that um is a professional organization for public communicators.

3CMA recognizes that effective public communication is vital to local government and our success because information that communications does is helps link residents uh to the essential information that they need to access services and be a part of your community.

Um so each year we take part in the annual Savvy Awards.

Um we've been successful over the years as our awards cabinet will will demonstrate, and we take great pride in in being a part of these um annual savvy awards because they recognize outstanding local government achievement in communications, public sector marketing, and resident government relationships.

So I want to give you some um so this year we received uh two first place savvy awards and two second place silver circle awards.

And let me talk a little bit about the um savvy awards, which are the first place awards we got.

So this one was one that we submitted on behalf of the Avondale Police Department.

And if you're a fan of the Avondale PD social media, you know they are the best, hands down in the country.

Um the person behind the camera is um someone who has done an outstanding job on their social media, and that is Sergeant Jenny Chavez.

She is so the one that we submitted for one best use of humor.

It was a series of uh social media tips on how to get out of a speeding ticket and other traffic tips.

Um, and it was it was very well received by um the judges.

And um the other savvy award we got was for um graphic design for the new Avondale Police Patch.

And I'm gonna let Chief uh Espinosa Chief Espinoza see for a few minutes.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Um thank you for having us.

Really quick.

You may recall that this is what our patch looked like uh up to a year ago, and uh it really didn't have or scream Avondale at all.

Uh so with the aid of our team, we seek their input, and uh we gave that input to Nolene Richardson, and she was able to create this uh patch which truly screams Avondale from the uh Estrella Mountains to our connection to the track with uh with the checker flag.

So uh thank you to Nalene and uh Pierce team.

And then on our second place awards, we uh received two Silver Circle Awards, uh one for the category of communications and marketing plans.

Um one of the things that our department does is we do quarterly marketing one-on-one trainings for our entire city to help all city departments um you know do their own marketing for the city.

So uh we work hand in hand with them, so that won an award, and we also received a silver circle award under Best Publications for our Avondale new employee guide that came out of the innovation team.

Uh Krista Wilson is our graphic designer for that, and she worked with HR and the innovation team to put that new employee guide together to help uh new employees uh navigate their way through the city when they sign on.

And with that, that's all I have.

Thank you.

So is there gonna be money in the budget next year for expanding the presentation case?

Oh yes.

I'll have to put in a supplemental.

There will be a supplemental.

I don't know if there will be money attached, but there will be supplemental.

So you you've done this, the savvy awards.

When do we start competing?

Uh we've always competed since I joined the city in 2023.

We may not have won the first couple of years, but every year after that, we've consistently come home with something.

Has it gotten more difficult to win?

It's very difficult.

There were over 800 entries this year from 200 and something jurisdictions.

So we were uh in with tough competition.

It's very hard.

And you're about to tell us that locally that we had the highest amount of awards of any city in the West Valley, which is great to hear.

I I do want to say uh uh this was something that I was really proud of last year.

Um, when we submitted uh our awards in the history of three CMA, it's never happened for the category and graphic design.

We tied first place uh a three-way tie, and it was all Avondale for first place.

So that's never happened before.

And I I was really proud of my team for that.

Thank you.

So, Council, I'm gonna ask for a motion to adjourn, but just remember that we're gonna meet down in the pit to take pictures and allow everyone else to take pictures.

So the six o'clock meeting is probably gonna start about 6 15, I gather.

Can I get a motion for adjournment, please?

I see a motion by Councilmember Nielsen, a second by Councilmember Condi.

Please vote.

And Mayor Weiss, Councilmember White is on the call, so she did join just a few minutes late.

Okay.

Um, but for the regular meeting, we we just need to test the audio at this point.

But she can hear.

Max, do you want to uh put your she said she voted yes for this item?

So I'll fix that for the record.

Okay, and we'll do a cutout of you for the picture.

I'd like to call the regular meeting of October 9th, 2023 to order.

Would you all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

And I would ask you to keep in your thoughts and prayers all those who are suffering in Israel now, and uh thoughts and prayers for our leaders who are gonna have to make some very difficult decisions over the next few hours.

Thank you.

One nation under God's justice, thank you, everyone.

Marcel, do you mind doing roll call?

Councilmember Condi.

Councilmember Malone.

Councilmember Nielsen, Councilmember Solario.

Councilmember White.

Here Vice Mayor Paneda.

Mayor Weiss.

Here Marcella, do we have any uh cards?

Mayor, I have not received any requests to speak for tonight.

Thank you.

Item number three is consent agenda.

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

Hearing and seeing none.

Can I get a motion on consent agenda, please?

I have a motion from our vice mayor, a second from councilmember Nielsen.

Please vote.

Councilmember White, how do you vote?

All right, yes.

Thanks, Max.

Thank you, everyone that passes 7-0.

Ron Item 4A, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Council.

Next up, we have a presentation by Keith Falstrom, your assistant director of finance and budget on short-term rentals.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Today we're going to talk about short-term rental regulation.

It is our estimate that there are about 445 short-term rentals in Avondale.

And this is based off of some site called Air DNA, which provides uh short-term rental research.

So about a year ago, uh the legislature passed a bill that allowed cities to regulate uh short-term rentals.

Previous to that, the legislation or the statute said that we could not.

And so uh the primary means of regulating has been uh requiring a license or permit for short-term rentals, and most of the cities in the metro area have moved forward and requiring a license.

And the statute provides very specific options for what we can include and not include in our regulation.

I'm going to go through those.

So the options include requiring notification of neighbors, requiring the owner or operator to include a license number on their advertisements, requiring liability insurance, uh performing background checks on applicants, and also providing background checks for sex offender background checks on guests, and then there are options for the penalty for violation and for the license fee.

And I'm going to go through each one of these and say what our options are, what a recommendation is compare to what other cities have and the pros and cons, and I will pause after each one to get your feedback.

The point of this meeting is to give to get guidance from you as we finalize a draft of the ordinance for short-term rental regulation.

So first is notification of neighbors.

So the statutory option allows us to require the owner or operator to notify all single family residential properties adjacent to directly and diagonally across the street from the vacation rental or short-term rental.

Our recommendation is to require this notification.

Most other cities do require this notification.

The con is that the owner operator would need to get a license, then notify their neighbors, and then provide an attestation that they notify their neighbors before they could rent.

So it's an extra step for the owner or operator.

So I will pause here to get any feedback if to see if you agree with the recommendation or whether we want to go in a different direction.

So yeah, Keith, I think we're gonna have some questions.

So this is a not permission, it's a notice, correct?

And that's what the verbiage will correct.

So if as a neighbor, if I'm notified, what is my next step if I want to inquire about the properties that to contact the city, or is it to contact the owner themselves?

Well, Mayor Vice Mayor Panetta, it would be just a notification that they would be providing emergency contact information, their license number, some basic information and letting them know that it's going to be or is or will continue to be a short-term rental.

Thank you.

How does that does it specify how that notification is to be?

Because I've got the or I've got the state ordinance in front of me, and I'm just trying to find it quickly.

Is it in writing?

How is it done?

Uh Mayor Weiss, it is in writing.

Uh, they would need to, and then they would provide an affidavit to us as to how they how they communicate it.

There are certain options as to what they can do, how they can communicate it.

And this would pertain to existing and new short-term rentals.

Yes.

Mayor Weiss, it would.

Anyone that wants to have to be licensed for a short-term rental, which would be required with this ordinance would need to uh perform this before they rent it as a licensed short-term rental.

Veronica.

Well, Pete, uh, thank you.

Um do we currently have any short-term rentals, and if so, how many?

So Mayor, I'm sorry.

Councilmember Malone, it is estimated that we have about 445, I believe.

Okay, 445.

And how many are they all licensed?

Or we're still trying to make that process.

Uh Mayor Weiss, Councilmember Malone, we do not have a requirement for license right now, so this would be a new requirement.

Okay.

Thank you.

Max.

Any questions?

No.

Thank you.

So as we go through this, council, does anybody have any rejection?

Yes.

I'm sorry, Curtis?

Sorry.

For short-term.

Is there a definition of that?

Is that like a uh the RBO, or is it is it like four days, one day, five days, twenty days, six months.

Is there what are we looking at with you with that?

Because of the notification, I mean, for a week one, you're gonna notify that there's somebody you know they're just gonna have a party, or another one that's gonna be there for six months.

So, Mayor Weiss, Councilmember Nielsen.

Uh a short-term rental is a renting it for less than 30 days.

Less than 30?

Yes.

Mr.

Mayor, if I can clarify though, this is a one-time notice that it exists.

This is not a notice for each rental.

So, and they will give us an affidavit saying they made the notification.

We will not be a part of the process of the notification.

So on the application that they fill out, they will be required to check mark that they notified their neighbors per our city ordinance one time at the initial.

We only have uh it'll will come up later, but I think eight days to approve their request, seven.

We have seven days to approve their uh license application.

So we're not going through and checking, and you'll see this repeated throughout the options you're gonna hear tonight.

So it's really them checking the box saying we notified the the neighbors.

So it's really them checking the box saying we notified the the neighbors city does place no part in the notification nor their response because remember we can't deny the application.

This this that we cannot this is it's automatic.

Um it's just really letting them know the emergency contact just in case something were to happen, and that they're gonna have a short-term rental in their neighborhood.

So I guess the only and I spent a good part of the weekend going through previous laws, current cities, and then what's here today.

The only loophole in this, and it's not really a loophole is people buy and sell houses all the time.

So a new neighbor coming in may not have any information which may determine whether they buy a house next to a short-term rental.

And I think it and Chief, I I think from what I hear, we haven't had a lot of issues in the city of Avondale, but I think it's also responsible for government to be proactive instead of reactive in cases like this.

Is part of this, and I don't know how we would do it, but how would we notify a prospective person or someone who buys a new home?

Airbnb is down the street from me right now.

I sell my home, and the person coming in buys my home.

How are they notified that there's an Airbnb there so that can determine whether or not they choose to buy that house?

There's no there's no way for that, is there?

Mayor, right now there is not a mechanism we can look into having a means of posting those that have a license with the address, if that is and I think this is more of as we make progress on this policy.

I think this is more of a thing for future legislative things, but yeah, Mr.

Mayor.

So we want to be careful not to um overextend ourselves.

Um, and uh the law only allows us to require one notification.

They have the same tools available to them as as uh Keith did when he was doing his research.

You can go online, look them up.

It'll be a public record at some point once we get all the applications processed, so they could request that.

There are things we can do, but we will not be notifying or participating in the notification uh to new neighbors.

Uh you said once, is that once a year or just once?

Once, Mr.

Mayor, uh council members, it's once.

That's what the state law allows us.

Okay.

So there's no updates.

And that's the law.

I mean, that's so our goal tonight is we don't want to be the test city for lawsuits on this.

We don't.

It's a but I think what we want to do is we want to align ourselves and walk up to that line without going over it.

And I think I see Liz sitting in the audience.

We'll work with legislators next year and Arizona League of Cities and Towns to see what other things that we can do.

They've made some progress on this, but what else there is?

Tina.

Thanks, Keith.

So I know like as a realtor, there's tools that we use when we have our buyers links that they can check, you know, whether it's Fisher's on the ground or you know, the um crime rates in the area.

Are we able as the city just to have a link to whatever that link is you look to determine that 445 anywhere on our website, not giving the information, but just say if this is you know, this is something in our city.

If you're I guess it if it's a material matter to you, we want to make sure that we can provide some type of um direction for them to find if there's how many are in the city or the address of ones that are located because you know people are purchasing a home.

I think that's important to know some of that activity that's happening.

Um, partly because I've heard other cities talk about um, and I don't know if we've had that issue here about trash.

So, for example, if somebody has rented the home for the weekend and um the trash doesn't come until Thursday, they're having to you know watch this trash outside, you know, for four days until trash day comes.

So I think for us as a city, if we're able just to provide a link, you know, just to say, you know, the click here, this will take you to the homes that are registered in Avondell as um monthly rentals, Mr.

Mayor, Council members.

Um, I want to keep us on track.

Um, we need to um get direction on the ordinance, and then we'll talk about some implementation and different tools we can do once we figure this part out.

Um we could probably absolutely put a link on there.

Very curious, so we're not gonna be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of that data and change of ownership and those kinds of things.

But if if tonight I um in December, we'll be coming back.

I think it's December, we'll be coming back to council with uh legislative priorities, and so some of this stuff for legislation might be a good time to talk about that, and then once we get this implemented, we can talk about what it looks like on our website.

But if we tonight kind of get direction on the ordinance and then we can go from there.

Real quick, Keith, what what was that website that you found this information?

Uh the one that we found was air DNA.

Air DNA.

Yes.

So tonight, let's make the sausage, let's decide to make the sausage and we'll figure out later on how they go about the process.

So thank you, Mr.

Mayor, because we'll be bringing the ordinance back, and so it'll be there'll be more opportunities for questions and direction because we're not you're not approving the ordinance tonight.

Um the lovely lady to my left and her team uh get to draft it later.

Um, but tonight we just need to kind of get the the fill in the blanks.

Good.

Okay.

Keith, Max?

All right.

So we're all good with this, obviously.

So go ahead.

So the next option is uh we can require that when they advertise and primarily then advertise on the main marketplaces, which is Airbnb and VRBO.

And we would re be able to require them to include the license issued by the city on their advertisement.

That allows us to quickly see that they are licensed, and uh icon would be the owners do need to update any license any advertisements that they have with that license.

This seems to be a pretty broad consensus of requiring this.

Any issues with this, folks?

Max, you okay with this?

Yes, I think this is vital.

Thank you.

All right.

Next is requiring liability insurance.

We can require up to 500,000 in liability insurance.

Our recommendation is to require something of note is that Airbnb and VRBO, they when they were going through those marketplaces that they include or that comes with a $1 million liability insurance.

So the burden, it would not be a large burden on the owners or operators if they're going through those marketplaces.

And again, most of them, most other cities are requiring this.

So let me know if I'm getting into the weeds here.

So any of the requirements that you're presenting to us today that are required under the new Arizona statute.

If the owner of that property doesn't do any of this, and maybe this is a later discussion.

What are the penalties?

What recourse does a city have, if any?

So Mayor Weiss, these other cities they require they for this requirement on the application, they have a check mark where the owner or operator when they apply for the license is verifying that they understand that this is a requirement that they are complying with that requirement.

If we find out that they are not required or they're not complying, then we can suspend the license for up to 12 months.

Okay.

Mr.

Mayor, you're not in the weeds at all and stuff like this, uh, because we're actually gonna have a slide that talks about violations as well.

And I won't jump ahead.

Everyone good with this.

Max, you're good with this.

Thanks, Max.

Yes.

All right.

Next is having background checks for the applicant.

So this is the owner or operator that would be applying to operate the short-term rental.

Uh the statute says that the city may deny the license if the owner or operator is a registered sex offender or has been convicted of certain felonies.

Uh the cities generally uh require an attestation of the applicant that they comply with this.

The reason for that is as uh the city manager mentioned earlier is we only have seven days to process the application.

So the attestation is that they comply with this requirement, and if we find out afterwards that something is not that they were not forthcoming on their applicant, then we could suspend their their license for up to 12 months.

So for this sometimes background checks can be challenging when you're doing employment background education, things along that line, to pick any information back.

But honestly, DPS and FBI, they connect to websites where the information is pretty much instantaneous.

So the seven days I guess it could be, but I think honestly, for the information that's out there, and RPD has a has in has that has those those lengths.

So I don't see this as being a big deal.

I could see where once in a while it might be an issue.

But Mr.

Mayor, I'm not following you.

Um so we would not be able to use PDs, their full system.

This wouldn't be a proper use of of some of their systems to just check on random people, is basically what this would be.

So we would be if you asked us to verify this, we would be using a public resource like anybody on the internet would.

We have 480 something people who will have uh a few days to get registered and we'll have seven days to turn it around it would it would be a significant burden for city and uh for staff to have to verify that we have that all the owners were not on any registered list.

So it's not that the information is difficult to attain on the website on because the because the FBI and DOJ have websites that we can utilize it is the labor process on our end to get that correct okay correct.

Well mayor this is why all the other cities that we found require an attestation on the application saying that they comply with that requirement.

So on here um like you said we'd be using just like a basic agency I work with that and I can tell you it's in some counties um especially in some areas like Yuma and all the other areas like Benson and all that it takes up to two weeks to get back that stuff.

So I mean that's why I was looking at the seven days it it takes a while we use three different agencies for background checks when we do that and very seldomly is stuff back within seven days that's why you we lose our window of opportunity of capturing an applicant.

And the hope is is that not all these applications are going to come in at the same time as new people come in as new houses come in and houses drop off will have that ability I'm okay with the attestation because there's again we're gonna get to the penalty phase later on so is everyone okay with this is the state uh mayor is the state going to deny a license if there is anything found in the background because I believe we're just a part of the process the state is the ultimate decision maker Mayor Council oh go ahead.

Mayor this would be a or council member white this is a city license and the city would the statute allows the city to deny the license if they do not if they are a registered sex offender or have been convicted of these felonies.

So it would not be a state decision it would be a city decision.

Yeah Mr Mayor Councilmember White um the the state will not be reviewing uh anything they're not involved so I think the attestation works just because some of the speed bumps we'd have to go over but I think as we get better at this and we and and I again as other cities are learning we'll learn also you talk to your colleagues kind of go from there.

All right so the next one is guest background checks and so there's a an option to require sex offender background checks on guests so we are recommending require most of their cities do require this burden would be placed on the owner or operator there is an exemption if they are using a marketplace that does this check for them then they would not need to do it themselves.

So I don't know in all the time that I've rented from Airbnb which is probably a handful of times that I've ever had to fill out a form or or kind of do that.

So I'm okay with this because again what we've seen some of the horror stories across the country are predators coming in and using these homes for this type of thing.

So I'm assuming council doesn't have any objections to this max you're okay with this I'm okay with it I'm concerned though that's not what happens um in hotels and if they're buying it on a site where you can like purchase a hotel room or this type of property it might slip through the cracks.

Yeah so I I think we take one bite of the apple at a time and as we figure out some things we go forward but this this requirement may I think we're talking about Airbnb and BRBO and some of the smaller ones but you're right if I go on hotels.com today and I rent a room they're not going to check that but I think we do all we can to protect the community but thanks Max that's a great point.

Keith all right next is we're talking about penalty amounts so statute allows some some limits for violations the first violation can be up to five hundred dollars or one night's rent whichever is more so this covers if you have a property that is renting for a whole lot per month or per night the violation can be more than the 500 and then for the second violation is one thousand dollars or two nights rent third violation is up to three thousand five hundred or three nights rent uh most cities are requiring or just mirror the statutory limits uh Mesa does simplify theirs of five hundred one thousand and two thousand uh phoenix also simplifies theirs to five hundred one thousand and one thousand five hundred our recommendation is to just mirror the statute of the statutory max folks are we okay with that Max you're okay with that yes sir thank you ma'am all right and then we come to the license fee amount so the fee in statute can be uh a fee not to exceed the actual cost of issuing the permit or license or 250 dollars whichever is less our recommendation is to go with the 250 dollars for the new and renewal which mirrors other cities uh a caveat is that the ordinance our practice is that in code we reference the fee schedule that is adopted by council each year and right now in our fee schedule we had put fifty dollars for new and twenty five dollars renewal so we would need to update that fee schedule we're okay doing the two fifty and then two fifty Tina yeah

Our recommendation is to go with the 250 dollars for the new and renewal, which mirrors other cities.

Our practice is that in code we reference the fee schedule that is adopted by council each year.

And right now in our fee schedule, we had put $50 for new and $25 renewal.

So we would need to update that fee schedule.

We're okay doing the $250 and then $250.

Tina?

Yeah.

Max?

Yes.

Thank you.

Chris.

So money comes to the city.

We got to have an account for it.

We got to have something from budget and whatever else.

Do we have to add some additional time just to uh budgeting finance to keep track of what that is?

That girl be and use used for what?

So Mayor Weiss and Councilmember Nielsen uh accounting would set up a code so that we could keep track of the revenue that we receive, the revenue would go into the general fund.

Thanks, Kate.

All right.

So that is all the options.

So just to go through the proposed calendar, is that on October 23rd, we will come before you with an ordinance drafted based off of this feedback that we've gotten.

Uh, that would be on the consent agenda after that meeting, after the ordinance is passed, we would do a notice to increase fees so that we could do the 250 dollar application and renewal.

Uh that needs to be a notice needs to be put forward at least 60 days before the ordinance to pass the fee.

Uh it does not obligate any certain amount.

Um and then during this fall, we would be developing the system and administrative procedures of how to implement this uh ordinance in January of 2024.

We would ask, we would bring forward an ordinance to update the fee schedule.

And then in January, we would start advertising to people saying this program is coming, and then the effective date would be February 1st of 2024, and our system would be open for licensing.

Uh currently it is proposed that we delay the penalties until May 1st, 2024 so that it gives people time to license so that we don't uh have a rush of 445 all at once.

Let's not overwhelm the team.

Council, are you okay with that?

Mr.

Mayor, can I um can't believe I'm doing this uh but um is consent agenda okay?

Um, or do we want some more discussions uh on some more details for this?

Council members, and I will not be here, I'll be um out of town on that thing, but I think council members have the opportunity to pull something off a consent agenda if they have a question.

But if it meets there and you meet with every council member, you and your team, so that there be there will be questions, and those questions can get answered.

But if there's a public discussion, then there's a public discussion.

Council, we good.

Yes.

All right, and that concludes my presentation.

I'm open for any other questions.

Thank you for that.

I I I do have one more thing that I want to ask as a requirement.

And as part of this code, it says that cities may enact this to protect the public's health and safety, including rules and regulations related related to fire and building codes, health and sanitation, transportation or traffic control, da-da-da-da-da.

We require we require hotels in the city of Avondale to put up fencing for pools.

Um, and that is there's two reasons.

Obviously, the guests who stay there and the people who may wander onto the property from outside.

We have rules and regulations for residential homes for pool fencing or pool barriers, depending on the age of the occupants of that home.

I guess I want to see what is the city's ability to require short-term rental properties that have a pool currently to require some kind of pool barrier because you never know who's going to stay there.

And if an if air if an owner of a property comes in and gets a permit for a pool to require them to if they're an Airbnb or VRBO, short-term rental, that they have to put up a pool fence.

We put that requirement on hotels.

We put that requirement on residents every day.

So legally, does that fall under the Mr.

Mayor?

Not to answer it legally, I'll let her continue to think about your question.

But the house would be regulated not by short-term rental, but by our housing ordinances.

So there's no exception to get out of our fencing requirements because you're a short-term rental.

So it's already covered under our normal building code.

So whatever is currently in our building code for residential homes, multifamily homes, it would all still be in there.

There's no exemption.

Um that's actually one of the issues with short-term rentals.

You have to treat them like the house that they are.

So if it's a single family home, they would be required to follow the single family home rules that any other family would have to follow.

So I'll give you an example.

And if you and they I think I know where you're going at our last house, Sherry and I had a pool put in.

The girls were older than the age, I think it's maybe six, I'm not sure the age of an Avondell.

They were older than six when we got the building.

We got the pool permit, the city came out and we had to fill out a form.

We weren't required to put up a pool fence or some kind of pool barrier.

If I still own that home but wanted to short-term rental it out, the city has no idea.

I mean, they're gonna know that I'm gonna short-term rental law because I'm gonna go by all the rules.

But if there's an existing house, if there's an existing pool in a residential home that is not required to be fenced, and it's turned into a short-term rental.

What is the city's process for going out there and requiring that?

And would this ordinance change to do that?

Because what I'm guessing, Ron, is that somebody something would fall through the cracks.

Right, I I'm following you, Mayor.

Um let us discuss this uh and um get back to you.

Um, but I I'm gonna give you my my gut.

We you're not allowed to treat short-term rentals any differently.

This statute was uh created very uh narrowly to define what we were allowed to do as a city.

This would be an additional requirement, this would be an additional inspection, um, those have fees.

Um I don't know.

Um let us talk about it, but uh but I and I and I'm fine.

All I'm gonna ask you is that when I look at their requirement that says we're allowed to protect the public's health and safety, including rules and regulations related to fire and building codes, that is not an undue burden burden.

We're not, I guess what I'm saying is we are not doing something different for the short-term rental that we wouldn't do.

But we are we only inspect it at the at the construction, we don't go back and inspect it later or change the rules.

So if they're not selling the house, if they just have changed the use and the same owner is renting out their bedroom or uh uh whatever else they might be, there we wouldn't force anybody else to come back and do that.

Um let us let us talk offline.

Uh um no, and that's fine.

Because like if it's not the health and safety because it's outside of the home and outside of the perimeters of the home, even though somebody's gonna come in and rent that.

Um I think that's I don't think we can do that.

Well, ms Mr.

Mayor Council, we wouldn't we wouldn't lower the rules for short-term rentals, but we I don't know that we would increase the rules.

We would they would the rules need to be consistent.

But again, I I'm speaking off the cuff.

Let us go back and let uh the people smarter than me who understand the law a lot better than I do uh take a look at it.

If um if uh our city attorney's office feels like we can make the rules different for short-term rentals, we may um put this on regular agenda and we'll talk about it uh in two weeks.

Um but but I'll I'll let I'll let council know.

And I and again, I and I appreciate that.

And I again I don't want to cross a line that makes us a test case for the legislature who hates cities anyway.

Yeah, they have to take out uh uh insurance policy or something like that.

You can you go back to that slide?

It's like $500,000 per the liability insurance.

I think that $500 liability insurance that that short-term rental um puts on there covers anything that happens right?

No, and I and I appreciate it from the money standpoint.

I I I get that, it's no different than any other damage that was happened.

I get it.

I understand where you're no, no, and I and I don't think you're being insensitive to this at all.

I think you're looking at it from all aspects, and I appreciate that.

But again, we should be proactive in how we approach this and not reactive.

And I just want to put the thought in your head, if we can't go back and regulate a pre-existing home that was an Airbnb that was turned into an Airbnb that had a pool.

Okay.

Yeah, we'll uh review this.

Um we'll talk also with the planning and our code enforcement and change of views.

We'll look we'll look at it uh from all angles, uh, Mr.

Mayor, and get back with you.

And Max, I don't want to forget you.

What any thoughts?

Yeah, thank you so much.

Um, Mayor, I was just taking a look at the SB 1168.

Is the licensing requirement seven days?

Is that a city requirement, or is that something outlined by the the state's legislation?

Mayor and council member white, it is within the state statute that lives it to the seven days.

Okay.

So with with that in mind, I just want to revisit the the background check um for the applicant.

It seems that uh making sure that the applicant or the or the operator owner um hasn't been convicted of a felon or a felony or or a sex offense.

That that seems like a high bar.

We may have homeowners who are felons who who want to be able to have an Airbnb.

I can't say that I'm in the position of judgment.

Is our are we aiming to say that if we have a registered sex offender or felon, they cannot have the short-term rental.

Is that what I'm I'm hearing?

Mr.

Mayor, Council members, I'll let uh Keith explain.

It's only certain felonies, um, but I don't remember what they are.

Keith, do you sorry?

I would defer to uh yeah, mayor counsel, um it would be felonies.

I I I and and maybe I can help with my my concern.

I'm concerned because if I own a home and I'm a felon, um I I just don't feel like I'm being given the same rights as somebody who owns a home who's who's not a felon who can have an Airbnb.

I I guess I just want to make sure I understand maybe that the difference between what felonies would apply here.

Um yeah, I did I do get it with the sex offender, but let's say we have an applicant who's not a felon who's who's not a sex offender, um, and they they attest that they'll you know check all of the people that stay in their place.

But I you know I could I could go get an Airbnb tonight.

I I don't think they'll have enough time to check my background to find out if I'm a sex offender or not.

So I I I guess it's great to put these procedures in place, but we do actually have to have a real way to validate what we're doing, or else it's a waste of time.

And mayor was council member white.

Right now, the thought is that the applicant would need to attest that they are not a registered sex offender or and have not been convicted of certain felonies.

Uh right now the statute says that we may deny, so the default is that we will deny, but they may appeal that denial.

Mr.

Mayor, if we could have the list, yeah.

Uh mayor counsel.

So for the licensing part, um Max, can you hear?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Uh it would be that the owner or owner's design is registered sex offender, has been convicted of a felony that resulted in death or serious physical injury, or has been convicted of a felony use of the deadly weapon within five years.

That would be owner or owner's designee.

And then the background check would be more general.

So it's it's it's not a it's not a drug use, it's not a it's not robbery, it it's it's the serious of crimes on those.

And again, as Keith said, they would have the right to appeal.

Because I can tell you, and Max, I appreciate you bringing up, I can tell you that when we would do background checks, people who have very similar names, that information gets crossed quite a bit.

So having an appeal process for the homeowner would be important to me.

Thank you.

Tina question I have Keith, I don't know if this is something that you talked you had already discussed.

Are we able or have other cities are they putting a cap or a max on the amount of short-term rentals they allow in each city?

Uh Mayor Weiss, Councilmember Condi, I do not believe that that is allowed by statute.

Okay, thank you.

And I think this there's two parts to this discussion.

And I don't want my words to be used against me in the legislature, but there's two parts to this discussion.

One is the reasonableness, if that's a word, of having neighbors know who is in the houses by them.

Okay.

But that's not unreasonable.

And I think this goes a long way to protecting neighborhoods.

And again, I don't think we've had a lot of issues, but again, being proactive versus reactive.

The other part of this discussion is that we struggle as a growing city providing affordable housing, workforce housing, starter housing for new residents and current residents, and having that housing gobbled up by corporations who may come in and want to buy a lot of our property because Abendale is still a relatively affordable city in many cases.

I think that's something that the legislature has to deal with on that end.

The only thing we can deal with on our end is what we're doing right now.

And I think let Ron, let you and your team come back on the 23rd.

Keith, you and your team do, Renee.

Answer our questions as best as you can.

And again, there's examples from every other city that's here, so they've laid the groundwork here, and we'll make this ordinance our own.

But let's see what comes back on the 23rd.

And if you guys are satisfied, then it stays on consent.

And if you need to pull it, you pull it and you ask questions.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, if you wanted to hear from Chief Espinoza on uh the short-term rentals, he did some research.

Um, I thought you guys, just in case you wanted to hear about that.

I do appreciate that.

Chief, thank you.

Keith, thank you for this.

Renee, thank you.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

Uh, we research uh all short-term uh rentals from October 1st of 2022 to October 1st of 2023, and we had a total of six criminal costs for service associated with short term uh short term short short-term rentals.

Sorry.

Um, one was an assault, the other five were uh loud music.

Okay, Mr.

Mayor, but go ahead and and of the five loud music, they all responded with the uh one one call.

That is correct.

All five complied with uh the officer's request to turn the music down.

And then Mr.

Mayor, if I could also have him explain one of the benefits to this ordinance is they'll be required to provide us the owner or contact information.

So if we do have a problem or an issue, PD can get a hold of the data here at the city, and now we'll have uh a quicker, easier way to get a hold of the the right person to help fix whether it be the trash or loud music or those kinds of things, uh, we'll be able to address it, Chief.

That is correct.

If we have a chronic uh home where we continue to go on a regular basis, we will be able to uh uh through our investigative process learn that hey, this is a short-term rental, we'll be able to have access to the list of all the short uh term rentals that in our city, and we will immediately notify uh Keith and his team.

In addition to that, if we is just the first time that we respond to a call for service, but it's uh a significant uh call, we will also do the same and notify uh Keith and K and his team.

Chief, thank you for the information.

Thank you.

Council, any other questions?

Keith, Ron, do you guys have enough direction?

We do sorry, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh council, we do, and we'll come back and again we'll follow up.

Sounds like mostly on the pool issue that needs to be addressed unless there was something else that that uh was needed.

Mayor.

My other question is since you said it is to be treated like a home.

What about like ADA requirements?

Are there any ADA requirements when you're talking about like businesses like these that adhere to city that also or is it strictly whatever the I'm not aware, Keith?

I'm not aware of any ADA requirements.

Um Mayor Weiss, Councilmember Solario.

I'm not aware.

I know that the reference that uh the city manager is has talked about is that we have to be consistent with the zoning and other uh requirements with the type of of residence that it is.

Okay, so Mr.

Mayor Council, like you've alluded to earlier, we would love for the legislature allow us to regulate them like a hotel and have the same requirements as other businesses in our community, and but we're not quite that far just yet.

I I I think the I right I think when we look at the clause that was put in there for public health safety, including rules and regulations related to fire and building codes.

I think that's the one that probably is very vague.

It is, it was it's a poorly written statute, it really is.

But I again I look at that and I say, what is the city's obligation to protect the public when they're in our city?

And I don't know if Airbnb or VRBO ask for any kind of questions when it comes to do you require special accommodations because of a disability.

I don't know that.

But what is the city's obligation to that?

And what are the rules that the legislature have laid down that allow us to do that, or do they not allow to do that?

So I think you probably have two questions now, which is pools and ADA requirements.

That's a great thought.

Before we give 20 more requirements, let's let's get through that.

Um, can I get a motion to a oh sorry?

Summary of current events, uh, five minutes.

Uh just want to say for the public, Sherry's Jerry's working right now.

Um, Cherry and I have been married for 30 years today.

Um she saw my face.

She's she's a saint.

Um Sharon I got married.

We actually have two anniversaries.

So when we the Wednesday before we got married, uh my mom went into the hospital and was read last last rights.

And the priest who read my mom last rights actually married my wife and I in the hospital room, so my mom could see it.

So we go back and forth on anniversary, so we celebrate both.

This is the day we we celebrate obviously most, but it's a um it's been a very special relationship, and she has I always tell people she's kind of the co-mare.

Um she's been by my side all these years, and especially during a council and mayor and um is my sounding board.

So uh just want to put that out there.

Council members, anything happened this last week that you want to share with council, Max.

No, sir.

The only thing I would say is that we had a lot of good events that Parks and Rec did this week.

The uh event at Alamar was outstanding.

Um, a lot of people turned up, a lot of cute dogs.

I know they got adopted by our parks and rec team.

Do you want to you adopted one dog?

One dog?

She now has five.

Um we have a bunch of NASCAR events coming up in the next month, um, and the focus of Avondale will be on there, and um it's gonna be in pretty incredible time for us as we go forward, very busy for our team.

But um I think it shows that Avondale can be on a world stage with the best of them.

So that's awesome.

So thank you, everyone.

Can I get a motion to adjourn?

I have a motion for Councilmember Malone, a second from Councilmember Condi.

Please vote.

Yes, thank you, Max.

Councilmember Malone.

Thank you.