Oh bad from the scale here.

Madam Clerk, you good.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Eloy City Council meeting.

Today is Monday, March twenty third, and the time is approximately six twenty PM.

Madam Clerk, may I have a roll call, please?

Councilmember Vladaska.

Here.

Councilmember Curtis.

Here.

Vice Mayor Terengo.

Here.

Councilmember Schneider.

Here.

Councilmember Garcia.

Present.

Councilmember Golindo.

Here.

Here.

May we all please rise for a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance led by myself?

All those wishing to address the city council may do so by signing reform provided by the city clerk identifying the topics or agenda items.

Action as a result of public comments regarding non-agenda items will be limited to directing staff to study the matter, reschedule the matter for further consideration, and a decision at a later date.

Speakers shall be limited to three minutes.

And first on our list is Ms.

Sykes.

Please state your name in the city where you live.

The mic might be a little high for you.

My name is Deborah Lee Seekis.

I live at 1474, North Barry Drive, Eloy.

I am reading the statement tonight on behalf of Kevin Green, retired Illinois EPA pollution project protection manager.

He was unable to be here tonight.

I've been meeting with residents concerned about the proposed Free Point ecosystem plastics paralysis plant.

At a city council work session in early February, two environmental groups shared information about ongoing regulatory and technical issues at Free Point's Hebron Ohio facility.

The Hebron plant had been cited several times for air permit violations, such as excess particulate emissions, improper benting of processed gases, and not reporting pollution control malfunctions in a timely manner.

These violations are part of a continuing issue with emissions control and compliance.

The Ohio EPA may pursue enforcement against the facility.

You are also presented with data indicating that the plastic paralysis industry faces challenges related to operational reliability, compliance with safety standards, and long-term economic viability.

Technical problems such as equipment breakdowns, inconsistent product quality, and difficulty processing real-world plastic waste have led to shutdowns, bankruptcies, and plant closures.

Over the past decade, multiple plastic paralysis facilities in the U.S.

have closed due to technical and economic difficulties, including facilities in Nevada, Utah, Oregon, and Texas.

We thought the ongoing compliance issues at PrePoint's Hebron facility, coupled with the broader instability across paralysis industry would raise red plagues with you about the viability and safety of the Eloy project.

Heating plastics at high temperatures, even with little oxygen poses health and environmental risks by releasing hazardous air pollutants.

These facilities can also produce hazardous waste.

I ask the city council to reconsider Pre-Point's proposed facility and discuss additional emission controls and monitoring with the company to ensure safe, transparent operations.

Once permitted, this facility could operate for decades.

If problems occur, the community, not the company, bears the health risk.

Clean air is vital.

Please prioritize clean air, transparency, and accountability.

Thank you for addressing this council, Ms.

Sykes.

Next up, we have Mr.

Achu.

Please state your full name and where you live, sir.

Ralph Anthu, Eloy.

And I'm joined today by a lot of concerned members of our community.

On March 9th, the Pennell County Air Clarity.

Excuse me, Ralph.

Could you please move the mic up so people online can hear you?

Yeah.

Can you start my time again?

Okay.

On March 9th, the Penell County Air Quality District held a hearing regarding the Free Point Ecosystems permit because so many red flags were raised.

The City of Eloy had an opportunity to insist that the new permit include additional safeguards and continuous emissions testing with public reporting on the findings.

The City of Emoy failed to participate.

Keep in mind that Free Points Hebron plant is still experiencing serious environmental issues, and after one year has not yet been able to operate at full capacity.

Within a stone's throw of UI homes and schools.

Since you do not protect the community, I have to wonder if any of you bothered to read it.

You were warned that FreePoint's Ohio facilities history is filled with emissions, environmental and required reporting irregularities.

You were made aware of ongoing investigations opened by the Ohio EPA, and you still turn the blind eye and deaf ear to it all.

We put our trust in local government, and you failed us by not demanding continuous monitoring for toxic and potentially deadly emissions.

Even if you fell for Free Point's unsubstantiated assertions that all those Ohio problems were resolved, you still should have insisted on continuous monitoring to assuage public concerns.

Spot checks are both inefficient and ineffective.

If a free point incident causes or worsens a single cancer or a child's hizometic condition, that will not be an accident.

Nor should we blame Free Point alone.

By failing to act, the fault will be directly on the shoulders of VR's mayor, city manager, and city council.

With all the attention this city council paced all their issues, I wish you'd have paid the same amount of attention to the serious health risks posed by FreePoint ecosystems.

Sadly, over 90% of UI residents are unaware of what's coming to their backyard.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

As usual for addressing this council.

Next, I have a Miss Greg's Greg's.

Mayor, members of council, thank you for having me.

My name is Rochelle Giles, and I am with Goodman Schwartz Public Affairs out of Phoenix, Arizona.

I'm here on behalf of my client FreePoint Ecosystems.

The Freepoint team presented earlier this year to Council on its advanced recycling project.

I'm here today to share additional information and updates regarding the air permit modification that has just received a public hearing.

Regulation of the Clean Air Act is delegated by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency to each state, and the ADEQ has further delegated permitting and enforcement of these regulations to Pennell County Air Quality Control District.

The proposed Free Point Ecosystems Facility in Eloy was granted an air permit by Pennell County in December 2022, and a modification of the permit was submitted in November 2025.

As presented previously, this project is permitted under a Class II minor source air permit, meaning emissions are below Title V major source thresholds.

This permit includes enforceable conditions such as required control devices, throughput limits, and emissions caps.

The permit modification also reflects a decrease in the total VOC emissions and adds record keeping and reporting requirements to demonstrate that more than 70% of input plastic is recycled.

This is an established regulatory process that has included public notice, a public comment period, and a public hearing.

In fact, although it was not necessary, FreePoint Ecosystems volunteered to hold a public hearing during the air permitting process because their team believes community questions should be heard and addressed.

This facility would be subject to regulations and policies from numerous agencies, including U.S.

EPA regarding the Clean Air Act and Toxic Substance Control Act, the U.S.

Department of Transportation, Arizona and Department of Economic Environmental Quality, Arizona Corporation Commission, Penell County Air Quality Control District, Penell County Public Works, and the City of Eloy's Public Works Fire Department and Planning and Zoning Division.

FreePoint has and will continue to comply with all that has been and may be asked by any overseeing agencies in the permit and approval process.

Public participation has been an important part of this review and has transparency.

We, as has transparency, we understand that you, as local leaders and community members want to fully evaluate this process.

As discussed, we'd be happy to host Mayor and Council members, anybody who is interested from Mayor and Council who wish to participate in a tour of the Ohio facility, so you can see the operations firsthand.

Ask questions directly and gather additional context.

Lastly, we believe that public scrutiny and careful review of the project are appropriate, and we want to make sure that council is fully informed.

Our Ohio facilities regulatory history is a matter of record with the Ohio EPA, and Free Point is in daily communication with the Ohio EPA to align on best practices and resolve any issues, including those we identified and self-reported.

In Arizona, the question before regulators and you as elected officials is whether this project meets Arizona's permitting standards and conditions.

That review should remain focused on the permit terms, the emissions limits, and the required control measures and oversight tools available to you as regulators.

Thank you for your time.

I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them.

We can't do questions, but thank you for addressing this council.

That was very informative.

Thank you.

You are welcome.

Is it helpful to have a copy of my testimony?

Perfect.

Thank you.

Next up, I have uh the Rena Noble.

Okay.

Uh Sheila Porter.

Hey we go.

Please state your name in the city where you live.

Thank you very much.

I'm sorry.

Um it's Sheila Porter, and it's 1122 North Fairway at the village of Grand Valley Ranch.

Can you hear me well?

Is that good?

Okay.

Okay, um, I'm here to talk about the plastic factory as well, and I agree with everything everyone said.

Some of the things that um, you know, in terms of like the air pollution coming down the road, because there's different kinds of environmental dangers that we're talking about.

We're not just talking about air pollution in general, we've got a concentrated area, which is our neighborhood, which is already overrun with this new truck stops.

You know, there's idling state laws, trucks are not allowed to idle for over a certain period of time by state law.

My husband runs a trucking company, so I know a little bit about that.

But um, you know, already in our neighborhood, halfway down at night, our eyes burn um from the admissions, they shouldn't be idling the way they are.

Um, I'm really concerned about the additional 30 to 60 trucks that they have planned to come down our road that would be stopping at the stop site at Toltec, which would have more emissions.

I've got, and we don't have to I don't have to list all of them.

I do have all this printed off for you, but there's an entire list of health risks, cancers, hormonal problems, lung issues that are caused from those emissions.

They're petroleum chemicals, so they do cause those problems.

So these people did touch on those environmental issues.

But in addition to the air quality, one of the things that, as just a regular person, we say, Well, what are environmental issues?

What are they?

Oh, we're worried about them.

What are they?

Um, environmental issues.

For example, you've dealt with um a hell for what the past five or six years from PFOS.

We know that the state's been filing lawsuits, and these are PFOFs, just so you know, phenols are PFOFs, and plastic companies leach PFOFs into the water.

We are independent from the Colorado River.

We're very fortunate because we have an aquifer.

We will not be fortunate once that aquifer is further polluted with PFOS that they don't uh the EPA only recognizes certain PFs, and if they're not listed on that list, then they're they're um unidentifiable until after the damage is done, for lack of a better way of explaining that.

So we've we've spent I don't know how much you've spent trying to correct our water problem.

That will get worse.

In addition to that, um, you know, the phenols cause infir to infertility, sterility, damage to sperm counts.

We're increasing the neighborhoods, and we've had developers coming.

All of those children will be at risk because of the transgenerational nature of those chemicals.

That next generation won't be able to reproduce, or they will have intersex children, gender issues because that's what females do, that's what they do.

Um, I have a whole list of all of the different health things, some of the National Institute of Health pages, and we can go on and go on, but they cause terrible gender issues and fertility issues and transgender issues and intersex issues that people shouldn't be subjected to.

The children moving in here will have to deal with that.

Um, once you have a generation of people who can't reproduce, you have redistribution, you have biofarm lands that will be polluted with the same chemicals that are in the water now because now they're in the soil, and then the government, the government takes that farmland.

That's what they do, that's what they're doing in Michigan.

That's what they're doing in Illinois because now it's contaminated farmland.

That is what will happen here.

We'll have a land redistribution plan that we never saw coming in to be 15 years.

Ms.

Parter.

You have three minutes.

Oh my three minutes.

Okay.

Same guys that did that also did the concentration campaign all experiments.

Just want to tell you that.

Thank you so much for addressing the council.

Leave that right over there.

Even though my list is ended, is there anybody else who would like to come up to address the council?

Okay, seeing none.

Wait a minute.

Well, DG forgiven me.

I wonder.

Ms.

Porter.

No, the next one of uh Lenora Noble.

I called you before Lenora Noble.

Yeah, I did.

Yeah.

Okay, come on up.

Hold on up.

Absolutely.

Yeah, you do.

I spoke to you the last time about Free Point as well, but I want to just highlight a couple things.

Because in my in my estimation, I I would like for you to hold back a little bit and to really investigate, do your homework, ask those questions to more of the community members.

I'm one of those people who has come to all your visioning meetings, all the things you want to talk about to make Eloy better.

And I did that before I ever moved here.

And I moved here with that condition that knowing and reading about Eloy, that this would be an absolutely wonderful place to be farmland, quiet, um, people who are involved in your community.

But my concern is that you have to really take a look at input versus assumption, and that one of the challenges that you have is really visiting and asking residents, and if you haven't done that since the last two weeks that I talked to you, and actually asked that question about our chemical plant being here and the concerns that they have and how that can be resolved, they were not ready to meet that decision.

And one of the reasons I'm here before you is because I have been a principal and I have had to deal with some emergency situations that we weren't forwarmed with.

But if we hadn't made those incident response plans based on some of the activity in the area, especially from our circle and our earthquake, we would not have known how to respond to it.

And once those particulates are in the air, they're there to stay.

No different than the palavrays.

That's a problem, and we all have to get you know, get our Zircheck in so we're not sneezing and crying the whole time.

So I'm just asking to really take a second look at the air quality environment that's going to happen around here.

And that um that until you absolutely know what those self-contained conditions are within that plant and what that standard of care should be in our community, that you not allow that the meeting go through.

And it doesn't hurt to take a little more time to be careful about that final decision because once here, it will always be here for a long time.

Even if they're not successful, we're gonna have to, or somebody's gonna have to dismantle that system and clean it up.

Um so really it's about safety, security, and quality of life, and I just want you to know that that's my position.

Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Noble, for addressing the council.

And this council appreciates everybody who comes up here and states their mind.

It helps us think, it helps us formulate our decisions, and we thank you truthfully for all of that.

So, anybody else have anything?

All right, moving on.

Reports and announcements.

You know, you may have got some.

We were awarded 295,000 from ADOT for safe routes to school study for Eloy.

Staff is now working on selecting a consultant to move forward.

We were also rewarded $94,000 for a transit feasibility study right here in Eloy.

This is going to help us understand what direction we should take when it comes to public transit.

When I first came to Eloy, one of the first questions I asked was where is the bus stop?

The answer was we don't have one.

I've always believed that a community that can't move can't grow.

Public transportation opens doors, whether it's for parents getting to work or appointments or students getting to CAC.

I'm really looking forward to see what this study shows.

So be prepared.

You're probably going to get something in the mail about this in the very near future.

And I like to say uh big shout out to the Sun Corridor MPO for uh helping push this along for us.

On Wednesday the 11th, we held a joint council meeting with planning and zoning to work a session to discuss the air park master plan.

There were a lot of good ideas brought forward by the different groups.

This is a long process, but we are it's important that we get this right.

And I think the steps that we're taking to do this, we will get it right.

On Monday the 16th, I attended the AUTAC Regional Transportation Advocacy Council.

We reviewed a number of transportation related bills currently moving through the legislature.

There are a lot of ideas out there.

There's just not a lot of funding.

But you know we're gonna keep pushing.

That same day, we also held a council work session here in City Hall on the Bataglia Sidewalk project.

I'm happy to say we do have a plan in place.

It may take a little time, but coordinating this sidewalk with the new sewer that's supposed to go in is the smartest way to do this.

This will be, you know, put a sidewalk in and bust it up to put a sewer in and have to put the sidewalk back.

On Wednesday, along with several council members, I attended the core civic community quarterly community luncheon at Robeson Ranch.

The mayors from Castle Ground and Florence were also there.

Warden Klein did a great job showcasing the La Palma facility.

While I was there, I spoke with the educators and agreed to come back to speak at an upcoming graduation.

They have a whole slew of inmates, customers, whatever you want to call them.

They're that actually got their GEDs, and I think that that's a wonderful thing.

They're trying to move forward with their lives.

And I'm going to go speak at their graduation because any opportunity to give back, count me in.

Then I met with the Panel Regional Transportation Authority.

PRTA.

This was a very contentious phone call we had.

The main topic was that 40 million dollars and leftover transportation tax funds here in Panel County.

My position is simple.

Those funds should stay in Panel County where they were collected.

And they should benefit all communities fairly.

This is going to be an ongoing discussion, and I will keep everyone updated as things develop.

Because certain entities want to keep the money, certain entities want this money to go back to the state and to their general fund, because that's just disappearing money, if you ask me.

But I would like this money was collected in Panell County.

I would like to keep it right here in Panel County.

And today I met with the Arizona League of City and Towns.

And we were talking about all the bills moving through for legislature at this time.

And just to give you an idea how much goes on here, there are currently 2,0121 bills that were introduced.

Twelve have been vetoed and three have been signed.

Yeah, it sounds like a lot.

There's a lot going on.

If anybody's interested in any of these bills, they can go right to the to the website, the Arizona League, and you can pull up all the bills, any of the bills, or you can search it by topic if you have a specific bill you have an interest in.

So that's it from me.

Let's go to council members on my left.

I just have uh one event that you hadn't talked about yet, Mayor.

As on the 10th, I was able to visit with the senior center at the uh Talltech Community Center.

Wonderful time spent having lunch with these seniors, and I was able to explain the Lions Club Vision Program and pass out vouchers for those that uh you know that were interested in you know getting eyeglasses and stuff, and then I did share your commitment there that if they made their appointments together, that you would provide transportation for them to their appointments.

So I did end up giving uh over 20 vouchers out.

Thank you, councilwoman.

That's gonna go a long way, and that's you know, helping people is what it's all about.

Mr.

Garcia.

Well, I do have uh in addition to what you mentioned, just one project coming up Wednesday as Project Connect from one and five p.m.

at Pierre Park, and it helps the residents who may need several different assistants, local resources housing assistants.

I believe the Lions Club will be there.

Lions Club will not be there, take that back.

Uh we were scheduled too, but we all have to work.

Uh and it just helps the people who need that help only one place.

Just one thing, and then I'll ask McKenzie.

You want to talk about the uh Thursday meeting on the uh uh planning, the new uh general plan.

Yes, I'm gonna put it okay.

I'll default them to McKenzie.

Okay, before I go over to city manager announcements, I gotta call out one of the city manager's staff.

Mr.

Anchondo, you installed that water fountain over there and didn't say anything.

We now have a water fountain in the park that actually gives out really good cold water.

Thank you, sir, for getting that that taken care of.

I walked through there the other day and went, where'd this come from?

Nice job.

Thank you.

Thank you and your team for getting that done.

All right, city manager announcements.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, members of council.

So we've got a couple items on my docket.

So first up, uh, as I state, you know, the last several meetings we've had, we're in our 60-day review period for our general plan.

So similar to a lot of the concerns you heard earlier, this guiding document is going to get guide the development and the growth of our city over the next 20 to 30 years.

So please make sure that you go on there, you comment on our general plan, um, invoice your opinions.

If you want to see things that are implemented in the general plan, this is your last chance to really get that input scene and input it into that general plan.

So that's available on our website.

There's gonna be a tab there that says general plan.

You go to that, you can upload your comments.

Those will be reviewed by staff as well as our consultant that's managing the project.

Uh following that, we also have this Thursday, as Dan was stating our general plan immersion lab.

So this is gonna be a really cool event taking place at City Hall this Thursday, March 26th.

It's gonna be from 11 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

And it's gonna be like a virtual reality session with uh it's like a 360 degree or 180 degree virtua center.

It's gonna show you what the city is gonna look like at full build out over the next several years and the basically in the different activity areas that we have within the city, looking at downtown, the air park, and then some of our areas are industrial areas, things like that.

So we highly recommend that if you're interested in seeing what you could look like.

That's a great opportunity for you to come down to City Hall and take part in that.

This Saturday, we have March 28th from 7 a.m.

to 9 a.m.

We have the Penal County Animal Control Vaccine, and it's a drive-through clinic, and so you have to keep your animals in the vehicle.

Uh cats will need to be in a cage and your dogs will need to be on a leash.

Uh, but these are very busy clinics as well.

We host them about every month.

So when you go there, just make sure you account for having snacks, treats, waters for your dogs, uh, because there is gonna be wait times.

The last time we had it, it was extremely busy, and they continue to get busier uh as we have them.

And then last up, probably the most exciting one is we have the Elo Easter egg hunt.

So that's gonna be coming up.

That's gonna be next Friday, April 3rd.

It's from 1030 a.m.

to 1 p.m.

at Jones Park, and the egg hunt begins at 1045.

So it's the eggs go in like literally a minute.

I think last year we had like 400 eggs and they were gone like instantly.

So if you have any children, small children that want to come to that event, make sure to go.

And then I believe too, Paul, uh, that we're looking for some vendors to participate as well.

That their submissions that are so available that if you have a business and you want to have a vendor booth with games and stuff with the kiddos, uh, to reach out to our uh community services department and make sure you have that available.

But that is all I have, Mayor, unless there's any questions from council on any of the items I briefed John.

Any questions?

Did he okay?

He spoiled it.

Yeah, so we're gonna have uh Richard Rosales from APS.

Uh the community liaison he was actually had to leave because the um work session took a little bit longer than it was expected.

He had a meeting aid run to encourage, but the city of Eloy did receive a hundred and forty thousand dollar grant uh to basically do a gateway project in our downtown.

So if anyone in the community remembers when the dust bowl and the old veteran center was demolished, we are now going to be evaluating a plan and putting a plan in place to put something there that's more like a landmark for Eloy, a gateway into our downtown.

Uh and so Dan Simon has made some pretty cool concepts.

I know we have some more work you must to kind of has to do on that, but yeah, we're gonna pass that on to a later date to have Richie come in and state that, but I'll take the credit for it.

So sure.

That's a half a million dollars we got.

Just one more comment, Kenzie.

You said the ver virtual tour is going to be from I had it written down.

It's uh 11 to 6.

We're not committed to that whole time, right?

We're not gonna be able to do that.

No, no, it's it's like a cut, it's a come in, and there's gonna be I don't know the timing, it's like 15-10 minutes per session, and I don't know how many people can be in there.

Fifteen people, 15 minutes, so yeah.

Okay, thank you, Mr.

McKenzie.

Moving on, item number seven, consent agenda.

All items listed with an asterisk are to consider to be routine matters and will be enacted by one motion and one roll call vote of the council.

There will be no loose separate discussion of these items unless a council member saw request, in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda.

At this time, anybody from council wish to remove any items from the consent agenda.

Hearing none, I'm looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

So I'm doing a second.

Second.

Madam Clerk.

Councilmember Garcia.

Yes.

Councilmember Garlindo?

Yes.

Councilmember Madraska.

Yes.

Councilmember Curtis?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Tarango.

Yes.

Councilmember Snyder.

Yes.

Mayor Sutton.

Yes.

That moves us to item number eight, business.

Possible discussion window action on the following.

Item A, authorization to utilize the Panama County JOC contract 23828ROQ with Ellison Mills Construction LLC for civil construction services to proceed with phase one of the Pataglia Road Sewer Line Upsizing Project.

Guess that will be you, Mr.

Cookie.

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

This project is included in the city's fiscal year 2526 capital improvement plan.

And represents a critical investment in our wastewater infrastructure to support both existing demand and future growth.

This project will replace the existing eight-inch sewer line with a new 24-inch line along Bataglia Road between 11 mile corner and Sunshine Boulevard.

The current line is operating at or near capacity, increasing the risk of backups, system failures, and especially as development continues in the area.

This project will be completed in two phases.

Phase one including includes design and construction to extend the current sewer upgrades on 11-mile corner road, approximately 900 feet south of the Taglia Road, then continues to Curry L Street.

Phase two will extend from Curriel to Sunshine Boulevard and will be brought back to the city council for approval at a future meeting.

The total estimated project cost is 5.5 million, with 3 million allocated to phase 1 and 2.5 for phase two, including contingency.

Funding will be secured through a utility bond uh utility obligation bond, which will be presented to council at the last meeting in April.

This approach allows engineering costs to be recoup recouped prior to bond insurance issuance.

Thank you, Cookie.

I for one am very excited this project is coming to fruition.

I really am.

And the quick we get this done, quicker we get that sidewalk in, right?

Yes.

Council, any questions on my left?

On my right.

Cookie, thank you.

Thank you.

Great presentation.

Thank you.

All right, this time I'm looking for a motion for the authorization to utilize Panal County Jack contract with Ellison Mills at LLC for civil construction to proceed with phase one of the Pataclier Line Sewer Upsizing Project.

Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Madam Clerk.

Councilmember Garcia?

Yes.

Councilmember Golindom?

Yes.

Councilmember Valdraska?

Yes.

Councilmember Curtis?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Tarango.

Yes.

Councilmember Schneider?

Yes.

Mayor Sutton.

Yes.

Yeah, wonderful thing.

All right.

If there is nothing else, this brings us to my favorite part of the meeting.

Item number 10.

Do we have a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Do I have a second?

Second.

All favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Thank you, everybody.

Have a safe trip home.

We all