Take this opportunity to make council aware of a new recognition program.

So, as you know, most people don't think about their uh the services that the city provides.

They turn on a faucet and clean water comes out of the tap.

The

trash gets picked up like clockwork on the same day of the

week.

Potholes in the street get fixed as soon as it's reported.

There are parks to play in, libraries to check books out, and pools and splash pads to enjoy when the weather's beautiful.

And

when there's an emergency, police and fire personnel are on the scene within minutes.

You just saw our code compliance team who are out there every day keeping our city safe and beautiful.

So

the goal of Cities and Towns Week, which is celebrated annually by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, is to raise awareness of local government services, introduce residents to their elected officials and city staff, and connect them with the programs and resources their city and town provides.

So throughout

the week, we will be highlighting many of the programs and services we deliver as a city on our social media platforms starting tonight.

Councilmember Solorio mentioned she saw something that Fountain Hills did.

We're going to be doing something similar.

Shout out to my team that worked on that video.

There are also other videos that we will do to promote uh things that our economic development department does to bring new business to Avondale, the wonderful programs that our Parks and Rec uh team provides through sports events and programming, and as well as the work of our Avondale Police

and Fi

Medical.

So this week, we will also launch a new initiative called Avondale for You, which is a service recognition.

Here in the city of Avondale, our city leadership takes pride in recognizing the hard work and dedication of all city employees through various means, including our Avi Star program, which is a peer-to-peer recognition, and the City Managers Excellence Awards, which is a prestigious award recognizing our top performers in the organization.

So

how

it works is Avondale for You is an external facing initiative providing residents and visitors a way to recognize employees who go above and beyond while carrying out the city's values of being helpful, kind, and professional as we serve the community.

And they can do this in a couple of ways.

One is through fillable business cards that can be dropped off at counters throughout our facilities or handed out to those we come in contact with.

And

with that, if there are no questions from the mayor and council, I'd like to turn it back to the mayor to read the proclamation for Cities and Towns Week.

Thank you.

Thank you, Pierre.

Vice Mayor Nielsen, would you be, would you please read the proclamation?

I would love

to.

Proclamation Cities and Towns Week.

Whereas the citizens of Avondale rely on the City of Avondale to ensure and enhance a high quality of life within our community.

And whereas cities and towns across Arizona work around the clock 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deliver essential services such as fire protection, police and emergency medical response, ensuring the safety and well-being of all residents, and whereas citizens and towns in Arizona also provide vital programs and services that enrich the daily lives of residents, including parks, utilities, street maintenance, sanitation and recycling, libraries, community centers, and recreational opportunities.

And whereas the City of Avondale remains committed to its core purpose of making lives better by delivering outstanding services and programs that our residents depend on and value.

And whereas the City of Avondale is proud to be an organization whose employees embody the core values of being helpful, kind, and professional.

And whereas it is the responsibility of city of the City of Avondale officials to ensure open, transparent and accessible accessible government through consistent and effective communication with residents using a variety of avenues and means.

And whereas, through active participation and collaboration among citizens, community leaders, local businesses, and municipal municipal staff, we strengthen our shared commitment to maintaining the exceptional quality of life that uh defines Avondale.

Now, therefore, on behalf of the city, uh Avondale City Council and the City of Avondale, hereby proclaim October 19th through 25th, 2026 as Arizona City and Towns Week, and encourage all residents to celebrate and recognize the vital services and contributions provided by cities and towns throughout our great

state.

Thank you so much, Pierre.

Ron, next item.

Thank

you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Up next, we have our proclamation for community planning month, presented by uh Jody, your development services

director.

Good evening,

Mayor and Vice Mayor and Council members.

Um, I am happy to present Community Planning Month, which is a national recognition for the professional planning profession.

Um, city planning is a profession that helps grow cities, uh, balances land use and development, makes cities look beautiful, and really just focuses on the pattern of the development that each community wants and feels based on our adopted general plan and any of our strategic goals and our area plans that we have in place.

The

numerous development projects occurring in our community are shaping Avondale as you can see everywhere that you go and drive through our city, and wanted to recognize our planning team as an integral part of that development process.

We certainly work with multiple departments here in the organization that

are

extremely important to all the development and the city planning that happens.