10282025 REGESCMINUTES.PDF

Minutes

Rio Salado Enhanced Services Commission A r
October 28, 2025 r a

Tempe

Minutes of the Rio Salado Enhanced Services Commission meeting that was held on October 28, 2025, 8:30
am in person at 31 E. 5th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281 in the CD - Conference Lobby Room and with a hybrid
option by Microsoft Teams

Members Present: City Staff Present:

Craig Hayton, Chairman, Com. Svcs. Director Ryan Levesque, Dep. Comm. Dev. Dir. of Planning
Tara Ford, President, Director - Public Works Mike Baxley, Dep. Comm Dev. Dir of Building Safety
Yesenia Felix, Vice President Commission/Area 1 Rep Shawn Wagner, Dep.Com. Sves. Dir Parks & Rec
Lisette Camacho, Treasurer, Deputy City Manager Alex Jovanovic, Dep Com Svcs Dir Parks & Rec.

Jeff Tamulevich, Sec. of the Commission/CD Director Roger Hallsted, Administration Manager, Comm. Dev.
Nick Woodruff, Landowner Member/Area 2 Rep Ryan Lang, Administration Manager, Comm. Dev.
Ted Rabban, Landowner Member/Area 3 Rep Sarah Adame, Executive Assistant, Comm. Dev.

Maggie Soffel, ASU Member
Barbara Haris, Public Member
Michael Martin, Downtown Tempe Authority Member
Mark Clounch, At-Large Residential Property Owner
Guests Present:
Members Absent: None
None.

Meeting commenced at 8:30 am
Agenda Item 1 - Consideration of Meeting Minutes:
August 19, 2025, Regular meeting minutes

Mr. Craig Hayton called for a motion to vote on approval of the regular meeting minutes.
MOTION: Jeff Tamulevich, Sec. of the Commission/CD Director, motioned to approve.
SECOND: Nick Woodruff, Landowner Member 2, seconded the motion.

VOTE: Approved 9-0

AYES: Craig Hayton, Chairman, Com. Sves. Director
Tara Ford, President, Director - Public Works
Yesenia Felix, Vice President Commission/Area 1 Rep
Lisette Camacho, Treasurer, Deputy City Manager
Jeff Tamulevich, Sec. of the Commission/CD Director
Nick Woodruff, Landowner Member 2
Ted Rabban, Landowner Member/Area 3 Rep
Maggie Soffel, ASU Member
Barbara Haris, Public Member

NAYS: None

ABSENT: None

Agenda Item 2 - Public Appearances

None.

Agenda Item 3 - Announcements

Jarett Brock has moved on and is no longer a sitting member on the board as Vice President Commission/Area 1
Rep. His replacement is Yesenia Felix.

Roger Hallsted is retiring as of October 31, 2025, and his replacement is Ryan Lang.

Barb Haris is resigning from the board. She will be replaced after the mayor's appointment of Pam Goronkin.

Agenda Item 4 - Budget Update — Roger Hallsted

Expenses year to date are higher than the average monthly expenditure rate
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The Security portion of the budget is over 66% expended. The DTA Lake Security payment is paid in full at the
beginning of the fiscal year, which is why expenses are so high. This is a normal expenditure pattern for the security
payment. Our insurance payment has been paid but the rate has also increased year to date. A draft budget was
created in preparation for FY2026-27. Staff explained in this new budget that he is accounting for another current full-
time employee, and the electricity expenses to be decreased by a small amount. Overall, there is a 10% increase in
the budget. Gave commission the option to review decreasing the less CFD fund balance adjustment in the new budget
and suggestions of where the commission can review for cutbacks to the budget moving forward in this upcoming
budget for FY 2026/27. The fund balance should be between 15 - 25% of the current year’s budget.

Agenda Item 5 - Town Lake Operation - Craig Caggiano
The lake water quality level is at normal range for operations and activities. The water releases associated with recent
rain did not impact the lake operations or recreations.
The Water quality is good for the next full body contact event scheduled for November and the lake water quality is
within parameters.
Updates on the dam hydraulic cylinder maintenance, the rebuild of 8 cylinders associated with 4 gates is completed
and a CIP is initiating to rebuild remaining 8 cylinders, associated with 4 gates.
Routine maintenance schedule:

o Weekly water quality testing

o Lake surface and adjacent aquatic areas (upstream and downstream) twice per week
East Control building (south of loop 202, north of the lake at confluence of Indian Bend Wash and Salt River) had
additional security improvements installed to reduce impact of future vandalism or entry.
Tempe Town Lake Marina electrical maintenance:

o Repair and replacement of damaged boat power pedestals

o Returning Marina electrical to original condition

o Any improvements identified to be investigated

Agenda Item 6 - Community Services & Special Events - Craig Hayton, Shawn Wagner, and Alex Jovanovic

Arizona Cycle Boats was approved by Mayor and Council at the Oct. 16" meeting. It should be set up to start with
guided tours and food around the lake early 2026.

The city is getting ready to update the special events city code and it should be posting soon. There will be some
reengagement meetings with the community about the code and the changes coming soon.

November

1/1 Walk to Save Animals Tempe Beach Park

11/1 Red Bull Chariot Race 6" Street

11/4 Neighborhood GAIN Various Parks

11/8 Collegiate Triathlon Championship Tempe Beach Park

11/9 2" Sundays on Mill Mill Ave.

11/11 Veterans Day Parade Mill Ave. / Tempe Beach Park
11/14 ASU Lantern Walk Hayden Butte Preserve (A Mtn)
11/15 ASU Homecoming University Dr. & ASU Campus
11/16 Ironman Arizona Tempe Beach Park / Streets
11/29 Fantasy of Lights Opening Night & Parade Mill Ave.

11/29 Native Holiday Market Arts Park

11/30 & 31 Mill Music Sessions Hayden Flour Mill

December

12/5 &6 Grass League GL Championship Grass Clippings at Rolling Hills
12/5 -7 Festival of the Arts Mill Ave.

12/13 Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade Tempe Town Lake

January

1/11 2 Sunday Mill Ave.

117 & 18 Rock n Roll Running Series AZ Tempe Beach Park

1/24 Unity Walk Tempe Beach Park

1/24 & 25 Tempe Blooms Mill Ave / Ragsdale-MLK Park

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Parks and Recreation facility and maintenance crews have been very busy with helping clean up after the storms
(microburst) with public and private properties throughout the city. The city infrastructure did not experience too much
damage overall. Most of the damage occurred at Kiwana’s Park and Mitchell School.

Agenda Item 7 - ASU Updates - Maggie Soffel
Novus Updates
co Salt & Straw is now open, showcasing their Halloween flavors.
o ASU is working on programming the park space. Sun Devil Athletics has been incorporating some of their
events into that space:
o Moonlite Madness was hosted there
o The Hockey Team meet and greet event.
o ASU's marching band makes a tour through the area on game days.
co The restaurants are starting to use the park area, and Catellus arranged for a band the weekend of October
17 to play. This created a nice pre-game experience.
o The community is starting to reach out for events.
co The park is open for reservations via the Novus website.

McCain Updates
o Architects are still working on schematic designs. Meanwhile, the asbestos removal is almost finished and
moving to site prep and building demo. This should be completed this spring.
o Exhibits and programming are continuing to be developed in that space.

Rio Reimagined Updates
o Scoping of RIO vision plan is wrapping up by the end of the year. Directions by the leaders of the RIO
communities, including Tempe, on whether to move forward with the scope of work is anticipated in early
2026.
co The Maricopa Association of Governments’ active transportation planning study for the RIO study area is
underway, with community engagement planned for this fall/winter of 2025.
o No updates for the new social impact organization for RIO. It’s still in the early stages.

Agenda Item 8 - Downtown Tempe Update - Michael Martin
34 Quarter Update:
© 169 street-level businesses are currently downtown. 8 new businesses opened in the last quarter, 4
businesses closed.
o 40% of open businesses are food/beverage
o 67% are independently owned
o 27 current street level vacancies

= New businesses:
Arizona Pizza Co. (Marina Heights),
Gio's Coffee (414 S Mill Courtyard),
Prince St. Pizza,
Rite Yah Sah (Veteran's & College),
Last Rodeo Boots & Hats,
Willie's Taco Joint (in Vib Hotel),
Method Wellness & Fusion (above Devil's Hideaway, old Rula Bula),
Crystal Hoarder (inside Candle Chemistry),
Proof Bread,
Hayden House Cafe (Hayden Ferry Lakeside, was Silo)
eck/coming soon:
Rush Bowls, Green Corner (both on college),
Novel Ice Cream (Walker House)
Several others with letters of intent or signed leases that have requested not to be public
yet.
Military banners will be up in November, holiday lights will be installed on lampposts this year (instead of
trees), new floral hanging baskets are being installed along Rio Salado, 5 Street

=» On

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o Events

o 24 Sundays on Mill, first of the season on November 9 from 10 am - 3 pm. Theme is Multiculture.
featuring 9 cultural performances, over 75 local makers/artists, free mini golf, a Kid's Market, Dreamy
Dubs VW car showcase, art projects, live music & free bike valet from Tempe Bicycle Action Group.

o Fantasy of Lights Street Parade +Tree Lighting will be on Saturday, November 29 from 4 - 8 pm
(ASU v UA game is on Friday this year). Parade steps off at 6 pm, Tempe Sister Cities is the Grand
Marshal, tree lighting ceremony approx. 7 pm & Photos w/ Santa until 8 pm

o Fall Tempe Festival of the Arts, December 5-7, 2025 - over 300 artists, Arizona Wine & Spirits Tasting
presented by BMW, live music & more.

co Fantasy of Light Boat Parade, Saturday, December 13 from 4 - 9 pm at Tempe Beach Park featuring
40+ boats, holiday market, love music & entertainment, Santa, beer garden, food trucks and
fireworks

o Tempe Blooms, January 24-25, 2026 - all over downtown - so much bloomin' fun! Blooms won the
Award of Excellence from the International Downtown Association at the annual conference in
Washington DC in September.

o Always find the Inside Scoop of what's happening downtown at www.downtowntempe.com

o Mill Ave Construction
o Work on Varsity Tavern SE 5th Street and Mill corner began October 6th and will run through
approximately mid-November.
o Work on the 3rd St SE corner will began approximately October 6th and will wrap up the week of
the 27th.
o 4th Street is OPEN!

o UPCOMING WORK

o The last corner of the project, NE corner of 5th and Mill, will most likely begin mid-November once
they are finished with the SE corner.

o Gateway signage will be installed between University Dr. and 7th on Mill and will require a 4-day
closure of Mill between 7th and Uni. Pushed to approximately March.

0 Ifall goes well, hard scape will be finished by Christmas (aside from gateway sign) with only finishing
touches such as trees, mulch, sealing around pole bases, cleaning, installing artwork etc. left until
the end of February.

o Full Mill Ave paving will fully end the project next summer 2026.

Agenda Item 9 - Public Works/Transportation Updates - Tara Ford / Eric lwersen

Mill Avenue is going well and is ahead of construction. There will be a brief pause at the beginning of the year when
the work is done. After the pause, Public Works will come back to complete a full Mill Ave overlay, repaving the street.
However, during this project's excavating, there have been and will continue to be a lot of discoveries that are aging
and need to be re-reviewed and reconstructed for stability and future use. The paving of the street is anticipated to be
complete by the summer of 2026.

Agenda Item 10 - Public and Private Development Update - Jeff Tamulevich, Ryan Levesque, and Mike Baxley

Building Safety has been handling a certain number of issues with various buildings/structures around the city due to
the storm (microburst) including finding alternative housing for some residences that lost their homes. Expected to be
a long-term process to resolve the damage.

Private Development currently doesn’t have any active cases in this area but are working with Novus. Novus is working
to add another component to the corridor located on the NW corner of Rio Salado and Rural Road. This is the east
section of the development area phase that will revoke the original PAD of that site and incorporate it into the master
plan of the Novus Corridor. This process will create more future projects in this east section of the Novus Corridor.
New high rise broke ground in the area of 7 street and College right next to the current high rise that is being built
called “Astria.”

Upcoming soon, a Downtown Historic Core plan study which will evaluate both the historic element assets in the
downtown and create ideas and visions on how Tempe can grow.

The city is taking some time to clean up the Flour Mill and are assessing the equipment inside the mill. The city is
working on some great ideas on how it could be used in the future,

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Announcements
Next meeting is the 4" quarter meeting and the annual meeting on January 20, 2026.

Meeting adjourned at 9:36 am

Prepared by Sarah Adamevand Ryan Lang
Reviewed by: Ryan/Lang’and Jacgb Payne

b

Jeff Tamulevi
Community Development Director
Secretary of the Commission

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