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Record of Proceedings

Surprise City Council Work Session Summary – September 15, 2026

City Council — Tuesday, September 15, 2026
BodySurprise, Arizona
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, September 15, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 53:50

Original source
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1:42

All right.

1:43

Good afternoon.

1:43

I'd like to call this uh work session Tuesday, September 15th to order.

1:47

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

1:49

Mayor Starter.

1:50

Present.

1:50

Thanks, Mayor Greenberg.

1:51

Here.

1:52

Councilman Haney.

1:53

I'm here.

1:53

Councilman Duffy.

1:55

He is an excused absence.

1:58

Councilman Melton.

1:59

He also has an excused absence.

2:01

Councilman Hastings.

2:03

Thank you with us.

2:05

Councilman Jed.

2:07

Here.

2:07

Thank you.

2:08

We have quorum.

2:09

Thanks.

2:10

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

2:16

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

2:21

To the Republic for which it stands.

2:23

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice.

2:36

Apologies.

3:00

Hey Jeff.

3:02

How's everybody doing?

3:03

Good.

3:04

How are you, sir?

3:04

Good, good.

3:06

Earl, I see you're going to Chicago.

3:08

Yeah.

3:08

Sometime soon.

3:10

I should know that.

3:11

You told me on an email.

3:14

I've been watching you.

3:18

So uh all right, well, we want to just give you a uh thanks for the opportunity to be able to speak to you today.

3:23

We want to just give you a little update on what we've been doing and uh kind of talk about the relationship that we have with the city of surprise.

3:30

So all right, so we're gonna just go over um an overview of the last couple of years that you guys have been.

4:06

Okay, so over the last two years, we're gonna give you an overview of um the membership growth that we've seen with surprise-based businesses um getting involved with the West Valley Regional Chamber.

4:18

So here is a graphic.

4:19

So before our partnership with the City of Surprise, there were 19 businesses involved.

4:24

Um last year in 2025, we had 35 members joined from the City of Surprise.

4:31

And then this year we've seen even more growth so far.

4:35

Um that number says 48, but after today we are at 49 new businesses from the City of Surprise joining and getting involved with our organization.

4:47

And here is some of the data.

4:49

So we currently have a hundred and two active chamber members from the City of Surprise.

4:55

Um, and then 48 new members.

5:03

We have shown up and either led or attended ribbon cuttings in the City of Surprise 40 plus times in the last two years.

5:14

You guys have your process.

5:16

So we simply majority of the time attend, but during that July frame, when when you guys aren't able to do that, we do go and we lead them when necessary.

5:27

And then we have had 30 chamber events in the City of Surprise since our partnership began.

5:33

That involves our midday mingle, which Cliff Yoder, our surprise guy, leads every Tuesday or every first and third Tuesday of the month at the Brookside Bar and Grill.

5:44

The least we've seen is about 30 attendees.

5:47

And the most we've seen is 90.

5:49

And that was our very first one.

5:52

But today, Cliff, you said there were about 45.

5:55

45 today and three events ago of 70.

5:59

So very good.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Economic Development█████████████████████████████████████████████49%
Arts And Culture█████████████████████23%
Budget Equity Analysis████████████13%
Community Engagement█████5%
Procedural████4%
Personnel Matters███3%
Education Safety███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Surprise City Council Work Session – September 15, 2026

The Surprise, Arizona City Council held a work session on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. The council heard a Chamber of Commerce update, reviewed the FY2026 financial status report through June 2026, and received the annual Surprise Arts update. A quorum was present; two council members were excused. No formal votes were taken.

Discussion Items

Chamber of Commerce Update

  • Chamber representatives reported 49 new businesses from Surprise have joined or gotten involved, up from the previously reported 48, and that 102 active chamber members are based in Surprise.
  • The chamber reported a 20% overall membership increase, adding 287 members, with totals of 1,100 members, 10,000 people gathered across 100+ events, and 33,000 in media reach across all platforms in the past year.
  • Three chamber board members are based in Surprise. The chamber has launched a President's Leadership Council under its foundation, with about 20 participants, including Chanel Coons of Desert Lights.
  • Upcoming chamber events include a board and council dinner at Sun Health Colonnade next Wednesday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., with nearly 20 regional council members registered, and an event at HeadWright Brewing Company in Surprise.
  • Council Member Patrick Duffy attended the chamber's meeting last month and expressed satisfaction with the chamber's work.
  • The chamber cited Avondale and Goodyear as comparable cities at a higher level and noted it handles ribbon cuttings for those cities. It also offered to host its training academy at Spark Surprise.
  • A council member asked how the chamber would support Spark Surprise and City Center as it starts up, and requested information comparing city investments in small business organizations such as the Arizona Small Business Association and Westmark with the benefits local businesses receive. The chamber acknowledged some benefits are not directly quantifiable and offered to look at investment data.
  • The mayor thanked the chamber, saying Surprise's numbers were close to tripling what they had before, and asked for future comparisons with other cities and Surprise-specific engagement breakdowns.
  • A council member complimented networking events such as Midday Mingle for encouraging business leaders to support one another and build community, not just generate leads.
  • A council member stressed the city does not operate in silos; while initially concerned the chamber work might contradict the city's Economic Development team, he now wants the partnership to complement existing economic development efforts and support small businesses.

FY2026 Financial Status Report

  • Finance Director Simmons presented the year-end financial status report through June 2026, including major revenue and expenditure trends.
  • Simmons said the report uses the departments' January estimated budgets to forecast the ending fund balance for the next fiscal year.
  • He stated that a $5 million budget was higher than it should have been and that staff are currently analyzing which departments account for the $1.1 million figure.
  • In an FTE discussion, staff explained that vacancy savings are one-time: once a position is filled, the next fiscal year includes a full year of salary expense. Public safety hiring and training timing, plus employee benefit selections, make forecasting difficult.
  • Council and staff discussed using six months of vacancy savings for one-time capital projects rather than committing it to ongoing revenue, since the savings disappear once the position is filled.
  • The council asked to set up a follow-up meeting to continue the discussion.

Surprise Arts Update

  • Staff presented the annual Surprise Arts update, highlighting the launch of the Roots of Creation Festival and the Surprise Arts Presents series.
  • Staff reminded the council that consultants had said spring 2026 shows were very unlikely, but the programs launched. The first Surprise Arts Presents performance, featuring Sons of Serendip, is scheduled for September 26.
  • The arts program reported a 100% increase in newsletter followers, noting it previously had no newsletter or social media.
  • Public art traffic cabinets have expanded significantly since the last update. Artwork is sent to fabricators locally or in other states depending on cost and quality.
  • The community was offered seven public art options and selected Expressions in Full Bloom by Taysha Harrison, part of OLA, a multi-city West Valley project. Public art is concentrated at City Center.
  • Surprise Arts provided 400 complimentary tickets to veterans for Surprise Arts Presents shows and supported 97 professional artists, arts organizations, and small businesses.
  • Staff described the Roots of Creation Festival as different from a typical vendor/booth arts festival. Staff said for now programming will be done twice a year.
  • A council member asked about arts membership cost and signup information.
  • Council members praised the public art at the pool and baseball facility and noted that volunteers came from across the valley, which helps increase viewership through word of mouth.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes were taken during the work session.
  • Council directed staff to set up a follow-up meeting on the financial report details, including FTE vacancy savings and possible one-time capital project uses.
  • Council requested future chamber updates include comparable metrics with other cities and more Surprise-specific engagement data, while continuing to coordinate with the city's Economic Development team.
  • The Surprise Arts update was received for information; no formal action was taken.

Meeting Transcript

All right. Good afternoon. I'd like to call this uh work session Tuesday, September 15th to order. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Mayor Starter. Present. Thanks, Mayor Greenberg. Here. Councilman Haney. I'm here. Councilman Duffy. He is an excused absence. Councilman Melton. He also has an excused absence. Councilman Hastings. Thank you with us. Councilman Jed. Here. Thank you. We have quorum. Thanks. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. To the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice. Apologies. Hey Jeff. How's everybody doing? Good. How are you, sir? Good, good. Earl, I see you're going to Chicago. Yeah. Sometime soon. I should know that. You told me on an email. I've been watching you. So uh all right, well, we want to just give you a uh thanks for the opportunity to be able to speak to you today. We want to just give you a little update on what we've been doing and uh kind of talk about the relationship that we have with the city of surprise. So all right, so we're gonna just go over um an overview of the last couple of years that you guys have been. Okay, so over the last two years, we're gonna give you an overview of um the membership growth that we've seen with surprise-based businesses um getting involved with the West Valley Regional Chamber. So here is a graphic. So before our partnership with the City of Surprise, there were 19 businesses involved. Um last year in 2025, we had 35 members joined from the City of Surprise. And then this year we've seen even more growth so far. Um that number says 48, but after today we are at 49 new businesses from the City of Surprise joining and getting involved with our organization. And here is some of the data. So we currently have a hundred and two active chamber members from the City of Surprise. Um, and then 48 new members. We have shown up and either led or attended ribbon cuttings in the City of Surprise 40 plus times in the last two years.

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