City Council Policy Meeting - December 9, 2025
City Council Policy Meeting - December 9, 2025
The City Council convened on December 9, 2025, for a policy meeting featuring district updates, community event announcements, and a comprehensive presentation on the newly adopted Energy Access Plan. The session highlighted the severe energy burden facing Phoenix households, particularly due to extreme heat and rising costs, and set a goal to increase participation in low-income energy programs by 25% by 2030.
Consent Calendar
- The meeting proceeded directly to council information and agenda items; no distinct Consent Calendar vote was recorded in the transcript.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Councilman Robinson: Expressed support for the presentation. Asked if energy burden is a year-round issue; staff confirmed it is continuous, though summer is most critical. Proposed including Phoenix Fire and Police departments as partners to identify residents in need.
- Councilwoman Hernandez: Expressed full support for the bilingual community engagement process. Asked for confirmation that the city uses the national 6% income threshold for energy burden (confirmed). Expressed concern that only two of the six proposed plan actions align with the top community-identified solutions (financial bill assistance). Asked about federal funding impacts on weatherization programs and requested a commitment to explore direct city-funded financial assistance in future budget cycles. Expressed strong support for data centers not passing costs to residents in high-burden districts.
- Councilwoman Pastor: Expressed support for the plan as a broad framework. Urged the administration to establish a concrete timeline for community outreach and workforce development partnerships immediately. Expressed concern that the plan does not fully reflect the hierarchy of solutions identified by the community; requested a transparent mapping of community feedback to plan actions to build trust. Advocated for addressing the "gap population" between low-income and middle-class residents.
- Vice Mayor O'Brien: Expressed support for the internal and external collaborations and the definition of low income (0-200% of the federal poverty line). Recommended establishing interim goals rather than just a 2030 target. Expressed enthusiasm for workforce development and multilingual outreach.
- Councilman Waring: No specific comments recorded in the public comment section of the transcript.
Discussion Items
- Energy Access Plan Presentation: Chief Sustainability Officer Carla De La Chapa and Energy Manager Dr. Carlos Aguilar Hernandez presented the plan, which outlines actions to reduce energy burden (defined as >6% of income spent on energy) for 82,000 households. The plan focuses on six actions: expanding weatherization assistance, strengthening community-driven planning, expanding multilingual education, improving solar access, scaling workforce development, and supporting sustainability advocacy.
- Councilman Robinson's Inquiry: Discussed the potential role of fire and police in identifying residents facing utility crises to improve referral processes.
- Councilwoman Hernandez's Inquiry: Discussed the alignment between community feedback (specifically the desire for direct bill assistance) and the finalized plan. Staff clarified that while the current plan focuses on program access and utilization, the city is open to discussing direct financial assistance in upcoming budget exercises.
- Vice Mayor O'Brien's Inquiry: Clarified the definition of "low-income" (0-200% poverty line) and requested interim milestones for the 2030 goal.
- Councilwoman Pastor's Inquiry: Discussed the need for a transparent link between the six community-identified solutions and the six plan actions to ensure accountability and community trust.
Key Outcomes
- The Council unanimously approved the Energy Access Plan with a roll call vote of 8-0.
- Adopted Goal: Increase participation in low-income energy programs by 25% (an additional 18,000 households) by 2030.
- Next Steps: The administration will work to establish interim goals for monitoring progress and explore opportunities for direct financial assistance in the upcoming budget process.
- The Mayor adjourned the meeting after confirming the vote count of "passes eight zero" (8-0).
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. It is December 9th. We are so pleased to join you for a policy meeting. I will call this meeting to order. Will the clerk call the roll? Councilwoman Guardado. Here. Councilwoman Hernandez. Here. Councilwoman Hodge Washington. Councilwoman Pastor. Councilman Robinson. Councilwoman Stark. Councilman Waring. Vice Mayor O'Brien. Here. Mayor Gallego. Here. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll begin with council information and follow-up requests. And I'll go first to Councilwoman Guardado. Thank you, Mayor. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who attended our annual annual and Farazzo event last month. We give away almost a thousand turkeys. Your presence made the event truly special and memorable. Thank you to everyone who came out, including Chief Ludan from the Phoenix Fire Department, Phoenix Police Volunteers, and our incredible partners at United Phoenix Firefighters. APS, Southwoods Gas, and Sprouts. Thank you for your support and your participation. We're thrilled to invite the community to join us in celebrating the activation of the new traffic signal at 91st Avenue and Campbell Avenue, happening tomorrow, December 10th at 10 a.m. This milestone is a result of strong collaboration with our neighbors, including the Western Enclave Block Watch and the Pennergas Elementary School District. Together we identified the need and brought this vision to life. This celebration marks the shared achievement, and we can't wait together with residents to honor the power, our partnership, and progress in our district. And moving on from great things in the district, we also want to talk about this upcoming Christmas. Once again, we want to invite everyone to our fifth annual very merry Marybell. We are delighted to invite you to our upcoming events, Mary Mary Mary Bell at the Marybell Community Center this Saturday, December 13th at 4 starting at 4 p.m. Join us for a joyous celebration filled with amazing food, music, performances, toys, and raffles. Mark your calendars and come and celebrate with us. We will have a present for everyone of almost every age will be doing amazing raffles. We will be we'll have Santa there for kids to be able to take pictures with him. So we're very excited, and at this point, uh we have over a thousand toys and all of the slugs slots have been filled up between Alhambra and Cartwright. So we're very excited for this upcoming event, and hopefully we'll be able to report on how it went next month. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much, Councilman, and congratulations. I had a bet with the Las Vegas mayor that the uh losing mayor would have to wear a jersey of the winning team to a city council meeting. So this is a an Asia. So congratulations to Las Vegas Aces for winning the championship. Although I'm so incredibly proud of the Mercury. It was supposed to be a rebuilding year, and we went all the way to the finals. Very excited for next season. And you can tell the Las Vegas mayor.
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