05 12 26 City Council Meeting Minutes
Extracted text (via pymupdf)
131922 characters
1 TOLLESON CITY COUNCIL MEETING ACTION MINUTES TOLLESON CIVIC CENTER 9055 WEST VAN BUREN STREET, TOLLESON, AZ 85353 ZOOM WEBINAR ID: 840 6967 9194 TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2026 6:00 PM Doors open to Council Chambers at 5:45 PM for public seating. The public may be asked to temporarily relocate if an executive session occurs. The public will be invited back into Council Chambers when the Council returns from executive session. Members of the public may also participate in the meeting via Zoom Webinar (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84069679194) with a computer or cell phone. A. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Rodriguez called the Tolleson City Council Meeting to order at 6:00 PM. B. INVOCATION/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Invocation was delivered by City Attorney Pierce, and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Council Member Laborin. C. ROLL CALL City Council: Mayor Juan Rodriguez, Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis, Council Member Christine Chavira, Council Member Clorinda Erives, Council Member Adolfo Gámez, Council Member Linda Laborin, and Council Member Cruzita Mendoza. Department Directors: City Manager Reyes Medrano Jr., Deputy City Manager/Employee Resources Director Wendy Jackson, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Artz, Chief of Social Impact George Good, City Clerk Crystal Zamora, Development Services Director Jason Earp, Field Operations/Parks & Recreation Director Randy Babchuk, Fire Chief Michael Young, Library Director Mandy Carrico, Public Safety Director/Police Chief Rudy Mendoza, and Utilities Director Jamie McCracken. City Representative: City Attorney Justin Pierce D. FINAL CALL TO SUBMIT SPEAKER REQUESTS 2 All citizens and interested parties wishing to speak before the Council regarding non- agenda items or during a public hearing shall fully complete a Speaker Request Form and submit the form(s) to the City Clerk prior to the meeting being convened. Citizens must complete one form for each item they want to address. Speaker Request Forms are located at the entrance of the Council Chambers. For Zoom participants, click the chat button, and enter your name and the item you would like to address. Submissions should be made no later than the Mayor announcing the “Final Call to Submit Speaker Requests”. All speakers will be limited to 3 minutes unless otherwise noted by the Mayor. Speakers are not required to disclose their identities or personal information. You may also submit an online speaker request form at https://www.tolleson.az.gov/speakerrequest at least one hour prior to the meeting. E. CALL TO THE PUBLIC (NON-AGENDA ITEMS) This is the time for the public to comment on non-agenda items. Members of the Council may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on the agenda. Therefore, pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.01.H, action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to (1) responding to criticism; (2) directing staff to review the matter; or (3) asking that a matter be put on a future agenda. F. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES AND PROCLAMATIONS – FOR DISCUSSION 1. Proclamation declaring May 10–16, 2026 as Police Week and recognizing May 15, 2026 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in the City of Tolleson, honoring the courage, dedication, and selfless service of peace officers who work tirelessly to protect the community, while remembering and paying tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. – Rudy Mendoza, Public Safety Director/Police Chief Mayor Rodriguez proclaimed May 10–16, 2026 as Police Week and recognized May 15, 2026 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in the City of Tolleson. 2. Proclamation declaring May 17–23, 2026 as Emergency Medical Services Week in the City of Tolleson, recognizing the vital public service provided by emergency medical services personnel and honoring their dedication to delivering lifesaving care. This year marks the 52nd anniversary of EMS Week, with the theme “EMS Week: Improving Outcomes, Together,” and the City encourages the community to recognize and appreciate the contributions of EMS professionals. – Michael Young, Fire Chief Mayor Rodriguez proclaimed May 17–23, 2026 as Emergency Medical Services Week in the City of Tolleson. G. BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR – PUBLIC HEARINGS AND ACTION ITEMS H. CONSENT AGENDA – ACTION ITEMS 3 Items on the Consent Agenda are of a routine nature and are intended to be acted upon in one motion. Council Members may pull items from Consent if they would like them considered separately. 1. Approve Regular City Council Meeting Minutes of April 28, 2026. (City Clerk Department) 2. Approve Claims and Bills Report for the period of April 22, 2026 to May 5, 2026. (Finance Department) 3. Adopt Resolution No. 2643 of the Mayor and Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, authorizing the submission of a grant proposal to the Tohono O’odham Nation relating to economic development and other priority areas established by the Nation, and authorizing the acceptance of any resulting grant. (Development Services Department) 4. Adopt Resolution No. 2642 of the Mayor and Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, authorizing the City to enter into the Arizona Water and Wastewater Agency Response Network (AZWARN) Mutual Aid Agreement for emergency mutual aid services related to water and wastewater utilities, including the sharing of personnel, equipment, and resources during emergency situations, and authorizing the City Manager to execute the Agreement. (Utilities Department) Vice Mayor Davis moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1. through 4.; the motion was seconded by Council Member Laborin. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye I. REGULAR AGENDA – ACTION ITEMS 1. Adopt/Deny Resolution No. 2641 of the Mayor and Council of the City of Tolleson, Maricopa County, Arizona, adopting the tentative estimates of the amounts required for the public expense for the City of Tolleson for Fiscal Year 2027; adopting a Tentative Budget in the amount of $247,153,697; setting forth the receipts and amount estimated collectible for the fiscal year; the various purposes; giving notice of the time for the hearing of taxpayers, for adoption of the budget and for fixing tax levies. (Finance Department) Vice Mayor Davis moved to adopt Resolution No. 2641; the motion was seconded by Council Member Erives. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye 4 Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye 2. Approve/Deny funding recommendations from the Community Grant Council Subcommittee for the City of Tolleson 2026 Community Grant Program, as follows: Angel Babies – $4,687.50 Cornerstone Community Development Corp. dba Mercy House Community Center – $4,687.50 Gervonni Cares, Inc. – $4,687.50 Homeless Youth Connection, Inc. – $4,687.50 Mitchell Swaback Charities, Inc. dba Harvest Compassion Center – $4,687.50 Revolution Ministries – $4,687.50 Teen Lifeline – $4,687.50 Tolleson Community Coalition – $2,500.00 (Requested Amount) Trellis: $4,687.50 The City of Tolleson Community Grant Program provides direct monetary grants to help nonprofit organizations with projects and activities that provide health and human services which improve the quality of life for Tolleson residents. (Community Grant Council Subcommittee) Council Member Gámez moved to approve the grant funding recommendations; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye 3. Adopt/Deny Ordinance No. 630 N.S. of the Mayor and Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, amending the Tolleson City Code, Chapter 11 Wastewater, by amending Article 11-2 Applications, Permits, Plans and Inspections, Section 11-2-2 Wastewater Discharge Permit to remove the 12-month limitation on industrial wastewater discharge permits in order to provide flexibility in permit durations consistent with federal pretreatment program requirements, providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances, and authorizing all actions necessary to carry out the purpose of the ordinance. (Utilities Department) 5 Vice Mayor Davis moved to adopt Ordinance No. 630 N.S.; the motion was seconded by Council Member Gámez. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye J. WORK STUDY AND PRESENTATIONS – FOR DISCUSSION 1. Discussion regarding proposed parking lot upgrades to the City-owned property located at 9210 West Van Buren Street. – Jason Earp, Development Services Director K. MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER’S REPORT OF CURRENT EVENTS – FOR DISCUSSION 1. Library Department Update – Mandy Carrico, Library Director 2. Parks & Recreation Department Update – Randy Babchuk, Field Operations/Parks & Recreation Director 3. Tree City USA Designation – Randy Babchuk, Field Operations/Parks & Recreation Director L. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:47 PM. Pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.01 and A.R.S. § 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the Tolleson City Council and to the general public that the Council of the City of Tolleson will hold a meeting open to the public. Council Members of the City of Tolleson will attend by telephone/video conference call. Note: The City Council of the City of Tolleson, by a duly passed motion, may vote in public session to adjourn to executive session on any agenda item in conformation with A.R.S. § 38.431.03 for legal advice from the City Attorney. Arizona law prohibits any City resource, including staff time, equipment, and anything of value to influence an election. This prohibition applies to Call to the Public at the Council Meeting. You may discuss a City issue but do not “advocate” for a specific candidate or ballot measure. Additionally, soliciting petition signatures or campaign contributions or distributing campaign materials is prohibited on City property. The City appreciates your efforts to help the City comply with state law and avoid using taxpayer monies to influence an election. 6 Zoom’s live transcription feature can provide automatic captioning by clicking on the Closed Caption (CC) button during the meeting. THE CITY OF TOLLESON ENDEAVORS TO MAKE ALL PUBLIC MEETINGS ACCESSIBLE TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. With at least two business days advance notice, accommodations can be provided at this meeting for individuals with vision, hearing and/or speech disabilities, including a transcriber, large print, an interpreter, an assistive listening device, etc. Please call the City Clerk at (623) 936-7111, or TTY users may dial 711 for Arizona Relay Service (AZRS), to request an accommodation to participate in this public meeting. The City will try its best to accommodate any last minute requests. LA CIUDAD DE TOLLESON SE ESFUERZA PARA HACER TODAS LAS REUNIONES PÚBLICAS ACCESIBLE PARA INDIVIDUOS CON DISCAPACIDADES. Con al menos dos días laborables de previo aviso, se pueden proporcionar adaptaciones en esta reunión para personas con discapacidades visuales, auditivas o del habla, incluido un transcriptor, letra grande, un intérprete, un dispositivo de asistencia auditiva, etc. Llame a la Secretaría Municipal al (623) 936-7111, o los usuarios de TTY pueden marcar 711 para el Servicio de Retransmisión de Arizona (AZRS), para solicitar un alojamiento para participar en esta reunión pública. La Ciudad hará todo lo posible para satisfacer cualquier solicitud de último minuto. VENDOR NAME AMOUNT CHECK NUMBER CHECK DATE VEOLIA WTS SOLUTIONS USA INC $530,021.47 102399 4/24/2026 RUSH TRUCK CENTER INC $224,866.64 187493 4/23/2026 ADVANCED SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES LLC $146,337.09 187506 4/30/2026 HAYDON BUILDING CORP $84,016.00 187563 5/4/2026 CITY OF PHOENIX $48,944.57 187513 4/30/2026 LYFT, INC. $47,606.42 102386 4/24/2026 KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES INC $44,200.90 102446 5/5/2026 CITY OF AVONDALE $31,969.48 187512 4/30/2026 KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES INC $25,792.34 102418 4/29/2026 SUNRISE ENGINEERING LLC $24,581.50 102372 4/22/2026 MARRERO ARMOR LLC $22,200.00 102422 4/29/2026 WASTE CONNECTIONS OF ARIZONA $20,159.76 187502 4/23/2026 VANGUARD TRUCK CENTERS LLC $18,515.35 102454 5/5/2026 ENTELLUS INC $16,223.73 187561 5/4/2026 ARMOR PROTECTION GROUP INC $15,519.44 102436 5/5/2026 FORWARD TILT LLC $13,483.05 102416 4/29/2026 MARICOPA COUNTY ANIMAL CARE CONTROL $12,111.54 186983 4/30/2026 GREENLIGHT TRAFFIC ENGINEERING LLC $11,674.50 187526 4/30/2026 VERIZON WIRELESS SERVICES LLC $11,544.92 187482 4/23/2026 HD SUPPLY, INC $11,446.56 187481 4/23/2026 MARICOPA COUNTY ANIMAL CARE CONTROL $10,801.08 187570 5/4/2026 MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC $12,237.99 102235 3/26/2026 ENTELLUS INC $11,625.44 187301 4/2/2026 KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES INC $11,505.73 102268 4/3/2026 CDW-GOVERNMENT INC $11,393.66 102280 4/7/2026 FORWARD TILT LLC $10,128.53 102225 3/26/2026 FORWARD TILT LLC $10,128.51 102225 3/26/2026 City of Tolleson Checks Recorded Check Dates: April 22, 2026 to May 5, 2026 PAYMENTS OVER $10,000 CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 1 of 58 Post-Production File City of Tolleson City Council Meeting Minutes May 12, 2026 Transcription Provided By: eScribers, LLC * * * * * Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. * * * * * CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 2 of 58 MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I am Mayor Juan Rodriguez. Today is May 12th, and I would like to call the city council meeting to order. Let's begin with the item B, which is invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. So City Attorney, will you please provide the invocation? And Council Member Laborin, will you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? Please stand if you're able. PIERCE: Beloved father, who art in heaven, we are so very grateful to be able to meet once again together as friends and colleagues and neighbors and to be able to celebrate the wonderful City of Tolleson and the council that represents the will of the people here. We pray a special blessing upon of each and every one of them that they'll be able to exercise discretion and judgment in a way that would be pleasing unto thee. And we pray for all of those in attendance here this evening. We pray for those that are here that have dedicated their lives to protecting the lives of others and please bless them in their work and that they might always be able to return home safely to their families. Please bless us this evening with health and with safety. And we once again pray for this council to be able to perform its work in a way that would be pleasing to thee. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Amen. ALL: -- pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which is stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Thank you, both. City Clerk, please allow the record to reflect that the roll call -- all council members are present today. Thank you. We're going to move on to -- now is a final call to submit speaker request to the City Clerk. All speakers will be limited to three minutes for comments only. Actions taken as a result of public comments will be limited to one, responding to criticism; two, directing staff to review the matter; or three, asking that the matter be CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 3 of 58 put on a future agenda action item. So that's D and E. It is now the call to the public. City Clerk, I believe we have three submissions? ZAMORA: Yes, Mayor. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. So I have Joice Disanka and Cecilia Kapelemba. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to call Cecilia Kapelemba? Did I get that right? Cecilia, you have three minutes, where City Clerk will record. And then I'm going to call Joyce. And Cecilia, if you want to sit in the front, I'm going to -- right after Joyce is done, I'm going to call you back up for the second item. So the first one has to do with the bonfire behind Baker's Acres (ph.), the possibility. Is that the one you want to speak on first? Come on up. You got the microphone. KAPELEMBA: Good morning. My name is Cecilia Kapelemba, a junior at University High, also a member of Tolleson Union's student council. As the next senior class begins preparation for graduating year next year, we hope to build new traditions for our predecessors to follow. That being said, it would be a great opportunity for the fire department and the City to allow us to be able to use the Baker's Acres for our senior class bonfire. With this bonfire, the senior class -- the class of 2027 would be able to foster new connections with each other, build future memories that we possibly would have never had with this tradition, as well as continue to build on things that the school has never had. With the 100 year approaching, we want to build more student spirit as well as build a better reputation for our school. We hope that this tradition will allow potential students to come to our school as well as for all of Arizona to see our school in a better light. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. I know this is an item that has to do specifically with fire, so I think at this point I'm going CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 4 of 58 to send it over to staff. Our City Manager Reyes will take it from here. He'll run with it and work with our fire chief. And then I'll possibly call you. If you have not provided -- well, actually, your contact information is on the document that you filled out, so they'll circle back, okay? Thank you. Joice Muamba Disanka. How did I do? Great. Okay. JoIce, you're next. And this is Tolleson Union High School homecoming parade. DISANKA: Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is JoIce, and I'm a -- and I'm a junior at University High School. Today, I'm speaking on behalf of Tolleson Union Student Council. I've been a part of Stu. Co. since freshman year, and I'm currently junior class president. One of my most precious memories throughout all these years of leadership was during my freshman year. The day of -- the day before homecoming, our school held a parade, topped with music, dress up, and intricate float designs made by in-school clubs. From the moment I waved back at the crowd dressed up as Robin from Teen Titans, I knew it'd be a moment I'd never forget. But the crowd wasn't just my classmates, not just our staffs, or officers securing the area. No, I was waving at families, alumnis who were once in my shoes, and children as young as six. I saw all their excited faces as they frantically waved back at everyone decked out in their costumes, and like, our costumes were amazing, you guys. After all the commotion of getting ready, the chaos of trying to organize the event, and the stress of being a 14-year-old Stu. Co. member who had to clean up after the entire campus during our most busiest time of the school year, all I remember looking back was how excited I was to do it next year. Well, next year came, and all the hype around Hoco and the parade started building up. We got the news that it was going to be canceled because we couldn't use Van Buren anymore. It was devastating for all sorts of reasons. The seniors couldn't have their last parade. The clubs weren't able to showcase their talents, and we couldn't skip sixth period. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 5 of 58 Thankfully, one of our own spoke at the district board to have it at our own road, Wolverine Way. The problem with that was that there's no more families or alumnis or excited six-year-olds waving from across the street. But as we approach our hundredth year of Tolleson Union High School, I believe it's a key to honor all our Wolverines, whether they're current, future, or past students. The parade isn't just a school-exclusive event. It's for our community, our Tolleson community, which is why I, along with Tolleson Union student council, are asking you to let us use Van Buren for our homecoming parade on September 24th and every year after. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you very much. So Cecilia [sic], this is kind of on a similar breadth. This is a traffic issue, traffic control issue, which is really managed by our police chief. So again, I'm going to refer this to staff. Our City Manager Medrano is going to get your documentation, and he'll circle back with you as well. And then after talking to our city staff and get you an answer as well on this item, okay? And Cecilia, I believe you're back up, and you're going to talk about publicity on women's sports. KAPELEMBA: Hello, again. I'm Cecilia, once again, a junior at Union High, also on the student council. A recent discovery by our school is the lack of people at our women's sports, coming into our fall year, which is the most -- most active for extracurricular activities, such as football games, volleyball games, and all the other student activities. But one downfall as a volleyball member myself is we don't get a large turnout of visitors or attendance or even publicity, as the football team does. One, from my standpoint, it's a bit discouraging going up to perform and not having a crowd to back me up and support me. We -- we, as a women's collective of Tolleson Union High School District women's sports, would like it if we would get publicity, one; more attraction or even help or CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 6 of 58 sponsorship from the District, the City, and maybe other vendors that we could get help with. I have spoken to some coaches, such as my own coach, Millikin (ph.). She had experience -- she had told me about her frustrations about not having a large turnout. Every year, football gets different sponsorships. Last year -- my freshman year, it was Canes, and as well for my sophomore year, it was Canes as well, which also provided them money. But the volleyball club had to rely heavily on the boosters, while football got their boosters, plus sponsorships, and other money that was getting brought to them, while we didn't have enough money for new pools until recently and new nets and stuff, which was a bit of a hassle to play with, especially now experiencing how our nets and our poles are a little wonky and some of our poles are barely keeping up with our nets. I'm coming here to ask if, as a collective, we could do something to make sure that our women feel more represented in our sports because that is, one, a big tradition and a big part of our school spirit and history. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. Cecilia, as a -- as a father of a young lady who played softball for Tolleson, I can tell you that I wholeheartedly hear you because you're right. I think women's sports in general are underrepresented, and we can all benefit from awareness about how they play, when they play, and more importantly, supporting the athletes that are out there. But again, I think there's things that we can explore. So I'll just leave it at that. I'm going to kick this back over to Reyes to do some exploration. I know our parks director is here, and we'll have those conversations. But both Cecilia and JoIce, staff will circle back with you, okay? And they will give you whatever answer that we're able to give you. Thank you very much. Let's give them a round of applause, yeah. You know, I think sometimes we as a community -- we know that we have the right to CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 7 of 58 come to these public venues and speak our mind, but we forget how much courage it takes to actually build up, to be able to come up here and share your opinion on whatever the matter is. And so I want to commend both of you guys for doing that. This is -- it's very intimidating at times, but you all very well spoken, obviously very well educated. And so I thank you for coming out and for having the courage to do so. So we're going to move on to E -- actually, F, scheduled public appearances and proclamations for discussion. We have two. Let's start with number one, proclamation declaring May 10th through the 16th, 2026, as Police Week in recognition -- recognizing May 15th, 2026, as Peace Officer Memorial Day in the City of Tolleson. We're honoring the courage, dedication and selflessness -- selfless service of peace officers who work tirelessly to protect our community while remembering and paying tribute to those who had made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Police Chief Mendoza, you have the floor, sir. MENDOZA: Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight we recognize National Police Week, a time to honor the dedicated men and women of law enforcement, who selflessly serve and protect our community each day with courage, professionalism, and commitment. We also recognize May 15th as Peace Officer Memorial Day, a solemn reminder of those officers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Here in Tolleson, we especially remember Ofc. Richard Kurth, who died in the line of duty on November 7th, 1965, and Sgt. George Covert, who died in the line of duty on July 30th, 1987. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten, and we will remain grateful to all who continue to wear the badge and serve our community. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Chief. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Juan Rodriguez, do hereby proclaim May 10th through the 16th, 2026, as Police Week and recognizing May 15th, 2026, as Peace Officer, Memorial CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 8 of 58 Day in the City of Tucson. Be it proclaimed. And of course, a huge collective thank you to both families of the officers that we lost and every officer that wears a uniform to defend us and protect us here in our community and beyond. Thank you. Item number two, proclamation declaring May 17th to the 23rd, 2026, as Emergency Medical Service Week and the City of Tolleson, recognizing the vital public service provided by emergency medical service personnel and honoring their dedication to delivering life-saving care. This year marks the 52nd anniversary of EMS week, with the theme, EMS Week Improving Outcomes Together, and the City -- Improving Outcomes Together. And the City encourages the community to recognize and appreciate the contributions of EMS professionals. I'm going to turn this over to our Fire Chief, Michael Young. YOUNG: (Indiscernible) Week and the dedicated professionals who serve our community every single day. EMS professionals respond at all hours of the day and night, often stepping into chaotic and emotional situations when people are experiencing some of the worst days of their lives. Through training, teamwork, and compassion, they provide critical care before a patient ever reaches the hospital. Over the years, emergency medical care has continued to evolve through new technology, advanced treatment options, and stronger collaboration between agencies and healthcare partners. That is why we are so grateful for the Tolleson Police Department, all of our dispatchers, Chief Good, Banner Estrella Medical Center, and AMR Ambulance. Without those partnerships and relationships, we would not be able to provide the level of service our community deserves. So this year's theme EMS week is Improving Outcomes Together, and that is something I believe perfectly reflects what we already do in Tolleson every day. That is, first responders, hospitals, dispatchers, city leadership, and elected officials all working CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 9 of 58 together towards the same goal, which is caring for people when they need us most. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. Thank you, Chief. And of course, I should say, you know, emergencies are emergencies because they don't have a specific time. And so our police officers are out patrolling the areas and responding to them. And if our firefighters get a call, you'll see them all disappear, too. So before we do that, I, Mayor Juan Rodriguez, do hereby proclaim May 17th to 23rd, 2026, as Emergency Medical Service Week in the City of Tolleson. Be it proclaimed. And I would say, since we have our firefighters here, I do have a proclamation we should take a group photo to commemorate this. Come on up, guys and ladies. See how I did that, Chief, I didn't want to throw the police officers under the bus. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. That's awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Who wants to hold this? There you go, Gabe. It's pretty heavy. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Can I have a few of you also go on the top to kind of even it out, please? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Or dais or whatever it's called. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, guys. Oh, no. Actually, I'm going to give it to City Clerk, so I'll hold on to it. Thank you, guys. Thank you, ladies and guys. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Awesome. Thank you so much for all you do. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Chief. All right. So moving on to G. We have no business from the floor. So we're going to move on to item H. I believe we have items 1 through 4 on the consent agenda action items? Yes, 1 through 4. If Council has had an opportunity to review these matters and would like to make a motion to approve or deny. DAVIS: Motion to approve. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I got a motion by Vice Mayor Davis to approve. Okay. Who want -- okay. All right. Councilwoman Linda Laborin seconds the motion. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 10 of 58 All those opposed? Not hearing any, consent agenda action items passed unanimously. We're going to move on to regular agenda action items. Item number 1 is to adopt or deny resolution number 2641 of the mayor and city council of the City of Tolleson, Maricopa County, Arizona, adopting the tentative estimated estimates of the amount required for the public expenses for the City of Tolleson for fiscal year 2027. Adopting a tentative budget in the amount of $247,153,697, setting forth the receipt and amount estimated collectibles for the fiscal year, the various purposes, giving notice of the time for the hearing of taxpayers, for adoption of the budget, and for fixing tax levies. I'm going to turn it over to our chief financial officer, who just celebrated a birthday. Happy birthday, sir. ZAMORA: Happy birthday. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: You have the floor, sir. ARTZ: Thank you, Mayor and Council. Again, tonight is consideration of resolution 2641. The mayor basically covered all of the items. So staff is available if you have any questions. The total budget is $243,153,697. So if Council has any questions, staff is available. And this is the tentative budget adoption. Then we'll come back in June and do the final budget adoption. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: What is the increase in property tax in the City of Tolleson? ARTZ: Mayor, the tax rate is not changing, so the tax rate is staying level. So that's the part of property taxes that the City controls. The other piece of property taxes is your assessed valuation. So if your property's valuation is going up by three percent, since we're keeping the tax rate the same, then your property taxes would be going up the three percent. But the City is maintaining the tax rate and not doing an increase at all. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Would it be a correct statement to say that the City of Tolleson is increasing the property tax by zero percent? ARTZ: The City is increasing -- not increasing the tax rate at all. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 11 of 58 But again, that doesn't necessarily mean that some individuals may see a slight increase if their houses increase in valuation. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And the reason I ask that question is because, time and time again, I run into people, "I pay so much in taxes. Why is the City charging us so much in taxes". For the record, we're not increasing your property taxes. Property taxes are increasing, and there's factors out there. We're not one of them. So I think it's important -- extremely clear that the people that put us here know that we're doing the best that we can to keep their cost of living at a reasonable rate here in the City of Tolleson. But thanks for the clarification. Any other questions or comments from counsel? Yes, Clorinda? ERIVES: Yes. Just a question regarding, again -- and how long -- how many years have we been doing the same as far as the taxes not increasing for what you said the City maintained? So it's been several years, or is it just this is the first year that we've not -- ARTZ: Council Member Erives, this is the fourth year that we've either had a decrease or maintained the same tax rate, so it's been four years in a row now. And in that time, we've issued bonds to construct the new aquatics facility. So we're able to -- to build the aquatic facility with bonds without increasing the tax rate. ERIVES: Thank you. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I'll say it. Job well done, staff and Council. Give yourself a round of applause. Well deserved. And I will also say there's not too many cities in the valley that can claim -- that they can prove that. So a lot of it has to do with your efforts and our finance department, Mr. Artz. You guys do an amazing, surgical job, and we are the beneficiaries of all that work. So thank you very much. Anybody else on Council? Not seeing any. Thank you, sir. So with that I will entertain a motion. We have a motion from Council Member -- or CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 12 of 58 Vice Mayor Davis, and I believe I heard Clorinda. We have a second by Council Member Erives. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. ALL: Aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Aye. All those opposed? Not hearing any, motion passes unanimously, City Clerk. Thank you very much. We're going to move on to regular agenda action item number 2. This one is to approve or deny funding recommendations for the community grant council -- community grant council subcommittee for the City of Tolleson 2026 community grant program as followed. I'll read the whole thing. $4,687.50 to Angel Babies. Cornerstone Community Development Corporation, DBA, also known as Mercy House Community Center, 4,687. Giovanni Cares Incorporated, 4,687. They're all 4,687 with the exception of one. So Homeless Youth Connection Incorporated, Mitchell Schwab Charities Incorporated DBA Harvest Compassion Center, Revolution Ministries, Teen Lifeline. And then the one that got less was the Tolleson Community Coalition, and the reason they got less is because they requested less, not because we weren't willing to give them more. But they had a specific dollar amount that they were targeting, and that's what they were granted. Trellis, the City of Tolleson Community Grant program, provides direct monetary grants to help nonprofit organizations with projects and activities that directly provide health and human services, which improve the quality of life for Tolleson residents. So Community Grant -- we do have a subcommittee. Council members, who sat on the subcommittee this cycle? So we have Councilwoman Mendoza, Councilwoman Laborin, and Councilwoman Chavira. So if you guys would like to add anything about the process or any of these grants in particular, now's the time to do so. (Indiscernible) -- LABORIN: So collectively as a group, we all agreed on these particular charities, and we CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 13 of 58 decided as a group, then, to -- there was a specific dollar amount. It was -- I think it was $40,000 was our max. And so we divided that among the committees -- the charities that we chose, and that's why it's all kind of a weird amount, $4,687.50 each. We just divided it evenly, again, with the exception of the Tolleson Community Council, who specifically requested $2,500, and we granted their request. And I was really excited because most of these charities do business in Tolleson and actually have an effect daily on Tolleson residents, and that was important to us. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. That's a huge criteria. I was just amazed that you guys broke it down to the $0.50. Great mathematical skills. I'm sure our chief finance officer helped you guys out with that. But anyways, Council Member Gamez? GAMEZ: Yes. How many applicants were there besides just these altogether? LABORIN: I'm sorry. I do not remember. ZAMORA: Mayor, there were 22 total. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: 22 total applicants? Okay. GAMEZ: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. And I think it's great -- well, first of all, let's thank our committee members. Let's give them a round of applause for all their efforts. And second of all, I think it's imperative that we, as an organization, are big enough and brave enough to admit that we can't do everything. And so sometimes, it's good to find nonprofit partners that can help us extend our breadth of how we service the people that we care about day in and day out. And so a lot of these nonprofits do exactly that. And number two is, is as an organization, we proactively want to promote services and benefits that directly help our residents, and this is a perfect example of that. So I'm a big fan of this program. I think we should continue it. And I will entertain a motion to approve this donation at this time. We have a motion by from Council Member Gamez. We have a second from Vice Mayor Davis. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 14 of 58 All those in favor of approving the list of grantees, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? All right. Congratulations to all the grantees. And I will encourage any of them, preferably all of them, to come back and give us an update on how these funds benefited the people from Tolleson and how they use these funds to ultimately increase the quality of life here in town. So whoever the staffer is that quarterbacks the committee, I would say that that should be something that they should seriously consider, coming back in time to see the great work that they're doing in our community. Yes, sir? MEDRANO: The quarterback is actually Crystal. MEDRANO: Thank you, Crystal. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. Let's give Crystal a round of applause. These are public funds. So if they want to come back and -- well, they should come back and explain to us how they're using these public funds for the public benefit. ZAMORA: We’ll definitely make that happen. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. DAVIS: That was City Clerk's week or day or something like that, this last week, so (indiscernible). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So Crystal, apparently, it was City Clerk's week last week or something like that? ZAMORA: Yes. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So Vice Mayor Davis brought that to our attention. So we have the City Clerk. And is our assistant city clerk here? Ah, well, let's give Crystal a big round of applause. There she is. Right there, assistant. Awesome. ZAMORA: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So thank you very much for everything you do for the -- for this -- for this particular program and for everything else that you all do here. All right. So that's that. We're going to move on to J, which is work study and CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 15 of 58 presentations for discussion. Did I not get the right agenda? Okay. As I was saying, number 3, adopt or deny Ordinance No. 630, new series of the mayor and city council. City of Tolleson, Arizona, amending the Tolleson City Code, Chapter 11, wastewater, by amending article 11-2 applications, permits, plans, and inspections; Section 11-2-2, wastewater discharge permit to remove the 12-month limitation on industrial waste wastewater discharge permits in order to provide flexibility in permit duration, consistent with federal pre-treatment programs requirements, providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances, and authority authorizing all actions necessary to carry out the purpose of the ordinance. And this is where I say I have no idea what I just read. So I'm going to call on Utility Director McCracken to help us understand what the heck we're looking at. How are you doing, Mr. DOUGHERTY (ph.)? DOUGHERTY: Good evening, Mayor and Council. Aaron Doughtery, utilities environmental manager. So tonight's ordinance, 630, is a minor update to Chapter 11 of the City Code, specifically on wastewater discharge permits. The purpose of this amendment is to remove the current requirement that industrial wastewater discharge permits cannot exceed 12 months. This change gives the utilities department more flexibility to set permit durations administratively while still staying consistent with federal pre-treatment program requirements and best management practices. This does not reduce oversight, weaken enforcement, or change any local limits or requirements for industrial users. The City will still maintain full authority to issue, modify, and enforce wastewater discharge permits as needed. This was reviewed as a nonsubstantial modification to the City's pre-treatment program, and ADEQ, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, has reviewed the amendment. And the amendment simply removes one sentence from the existing code and does not change the overall structure or intent of the program. There is no budget CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 16 of 58 impact associated with this ordinance, and staff recommends approval. With that, I'm available for any questions. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Council? Any questions from our council? DAVIS: Yes. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Vice Mayor, you have the floor. DAVIS: I have a million questions about this so -- good. I like that response already. So how many different users are we talking about here? DOUGHERTY: Currently, we have four permitted in significant industrial users. So we have many different industrial users, food service establishments. But right now, this permit is only applicable to significant industrial users. We have four, with a fifth one under review currently. DAVIS: Okay. So what types of industries are those? DOUGHERTY: We have a slaughterhouse. We have a Gatorade factory. We have a industrial commercial car wash and then a dairy manufacturer. DAVIS: Okay. So currently, these permits last 12 months, and then they have to reapply and kind of -- so I get eliminating some of the paperwork. But how are we going to make sure that this isn't something that just gets pushed to the side? There's no safeguards here that I'm seeing. So how are we going to make sure that there are some safeguards? DOUGHERTY: We still have full authority to amend, modify, and adjust permits as needed. So the way it works is federal requirement is five years, so we would write these permits for up to five years, depending on the processes or how the industrial user is performing. And then within that time frame of the five years, if there's any changes at the wastewater treatment plant or the industrial user has any changes, we can modify that permit within that time frame. What this really does is restricts us currently to be able to move past the 12 months it's taking -- industrial users have to spend a lot of time to fill out these applications; utilities department spends countless hours trying to get these applications reviewed when we CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 17 of 58 can actually just continue it for a five-year period. And once that five-year period is up, then they can apply again, and we would just modify based on their current operations. DAVIS: So I guess I have a legal question first, and then I have more questions for you. Sorry. DOUGHERTY: Go ahead. DAVIS: So the ordinance does not specifically lay out five years, right? DOUGHERTY: It does not. What we're doing is removing the restricting language of 12 years. The five years is up to -- DAVIS: Months. DOUGHERTY: Yes. Sorry, 12 months. The five-year-old is the federal requirement that's built in EPA and Code CFR 403. DAVIS: I guess that language doesn't need to be in there. Okay. So how are we monitoring these users? DOUGHERTY: So we have wastewater discharge permits that are issued to them, and that has their issue and state and their expiration date. Currently, they're all set for 12 months. But once we move to that five year, we will monitor that way. The industrial users are required to submit an application within 60 days of the expiration of their permit. DAVIS: Okay. So that means there's going to be a five-year gap where they have to submit some type of report? DOUGHERTY: Not all at. DAVIS: No? DOUGHERTY: They actually have requirements within their wastewater discharge permits. So they will report monthly to us based on certain constituents and their flow and their processes. They will report to us on quarterly for other constituents that are less stringent and impactful. But they -- there's constant communication. As far as our department goes, we will go CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 18 of 58 out and perform inspections on an annual basis as well as sampling to ensure that they are not violating their permits. They are required to sample their own wastewater from a third-party lab and submit that to us as a self-monitoring. DAVIS: How are those third -- how are those third-party vendors selected? Where does that -- where are they -- DOUGHERTY: They're allowed to use any certified lab. DAVIS: Any certified lab? Okay. DOUGHERTY: So if the lab is certified through the state, they're allowed to use them. We cannot control which lab they can or cannot use because that would be -- DAVIS: Whoever sees that -- who oversees who those vendors are? DOUGHERTY: The DHS, Arizona Department of Health Safety. DAVIS: Okay. DOUGHERTY: They come out and certify labs, just like they came out and certified our lab. DAVIS: Okay. And how often are we checking their flow to make sure -- or do we? Do we check their flow at all, or we just taking these third parties -- DOUGHERTY: Are you talking about their flow coming into, like, their wastewater -- DAVIS: What they're putting into the wastewater plant. DOUGHERTY: Yes. So on their monthly reports, they report their daily flow. It has all these requirements and reporting requirements that they have to fill out when they send it to us. They send it to us on a monthly basis. So we see their flows -- and in the wastewater discharge permits, they're required to do an annual calibration on their flow meters from their third-party vendor to maintain that accuracy. DAVIS: Okay. Okay. So I mean, obviously, our wastewater treatment plant is doing an amazing job. So all of you guys are doing fantastic work. I know that the water that is coming out of that plant is better than it's been in a really, really, really, really, really long time and want to keep that going. So this just kind of worried me a little bit, so that's why all of the questions. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 19 of 58 So I just want to make sure that the water -- because the water when it does leave -- we've done so much with water that I've learned so much about wastewater. It's crazy. I never thought I'd be talking about this ever in my life. Like, you flush your toilet, you -- stuff goes down the drain, and then you don't think about it, right? But it's a whole science. It's really, really amazing. But the water that comes out of our wastewater treatment plant is pushed into a river, right? And then it goes down to -- so it's going into nature basically, right? So we've got to really be careful about what we're putting out. So that's why I had the questions that I had. But I will say, if you don't know, the water that comes out of our wastewater treatment plant then goes to cool the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant, which is kind of amazing. So we're, you know, cooling nuclear reactors. So that's kind of cool. Yeah. So I just -- I guess you did answer my questions. I just want to make sure that we're staying on top of this because I know, in the past -- you know, this is science. It's really, really complicated stuff that I'll never -- I won't pretend that I -- you know, I'm an expert in in any way, shape, or form. So we have to take your guys' word for it. And while you guys might be amazing people, there might be somebody eventually who's not. We've had that in the past, right? And so we want to just make sure that there are always safeguards in place and that the product that we're putting out into the world is a good -- is a good product. DOUGHERTY: So the purpose of what I'm doing is to do source control before it gets to the wastewater plant. Wastewater plant is only able to remove so much, so if we don't safeguard our wastewater plant and we allow the industries to discharge whatever they want, then that's when it would be a problem. We would have pass through or interference and have contaminants leaving the back of the plant. We're controlling it at the source with industrial users, requiring them to meet the stringent limits. That way, when it comes to our plant, it's at the concentration that we can treat and remove. That way, we do have safe water going. DAVIS: It's quite amazing. We are a city of industry and we're able to -- you know, with CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 20 of 58 this plant -- that's how many years old? DOUGHERTY: So yeah, it's -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: It's 60. DOUGHERTY: It's 60. It's about 60 years. DAVIS: Well, it can almost collect Social Security. And we'll take it. It's still working, and it's working really, really well. You know, we talk about how we have 30 Fortune 500 companies in Tolleson, and they're all putting all of their gunk into the system. And it's surviving it, and you know, that's a testament to the work that you guys are doing there. So keep up the good work. Just -- we just have to really, really be careful, you know, and -- DOUGHERTY: We have amazing operators. And we've -- have built a great relationship and partnership with all of our industrial users. So it is easy to work with them, talk to them anytime we have an issue. It's a phone call away. Typically, they'll report it to us before we even know about it. So we work closely with our industrial users, monitoring them, assisting them, helping them, and maintaining compliance on both their end and ours. DAVIS: In the last, maybe three years, have there been any, like, major violations that have come forward? DOUGHERTY: Yes. DAVIS: Yes? And those have been corrected immediately? DOUGHERTY: Yes. DAVIS: Like, how long do they have to correct something like that? DOUGHERTY: Sometimes, it can prolong a little bit further, depending on how much improvement needs to be. So there's sometimes where a enforcement violation can go along for 18 months, 2 years, so they can actually install the required instrumentation and controls to put in place to treat that. And in those times, we work very closely with them to implement best management practices, so they can reduce the amount of contamination going into CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 21 of 58 the water in the interim while they are performing their construction and improvements for their facilities. But there has not been any major upsets leaving the back of the plant. So everything has been controlled at the industries and at the head of the wastewater plant. But leaving the plant, we have been able to treat everything that they have discharged to us, yes. DAVIS: Awesome. I know that I will say, the first time that I did a tour, I saw the water that was coming out and compared to now, it looks a lot different, so -- and that's a good thing, so. Yeah. So keep up the good work. That's all my questions. That was a lot of questions. Thank you for the job. Thank you for being -- you prepared. You know your stuff, obviously. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: For the record, that was nowhere near 1,000 questions. DOUGHERTY: I was ready. I was ready for 1,000. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think actually what I -- the only thing I want to add is that I'm glad you are asking the questions because the one thing that I've learned is that not all waste is the same kind of waste. There's degrees of waste and chemicals that is in that water. And to know that we have checks and balances when it comes to testing and what's entering our plant -- because that's a -- going back to your example of flushing the toilet, doesn't matter what kind of waste, it's going to end up at a wastewater treatment plant. So that is a facility and an amenity that we have to protect. And so to do things like this and know that they're in place, brings me a lot of -- a sense of security, knowing that we're doing what we need to do as an organization. And it's also a great learning opportunity. Had it not been for your questions -- there's a lot of new information that I learned just in the last couple of minutes. Even though they weren't 1,000 questions, they were well thought out and delivered questions. And I'm better for it because of it. But I will entertain any other questions that might still be out there except for Jimmy. I'll come back to, you know. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 22 of 58 Anything on this side? Okay. Go ahead. DAVIS: Thank you. I'll just make a motion to adopt Ordinance No. 630. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Vice Mayor's made a motion to adopt the ordinance. GAMEZ: Second. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And we have a second by Council Member Gamez. All those in favor, please signify by saying flush. Aye -- by saying aye. ALL: Aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All those opposed? All right. City Clerk, motion is passed unanimously. Great job, by the way, Mr. DOUGHERTY. GAMEZ: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: It's very -- it's a skill that a lot of us don't have, to take something that is extremely complex and explain it in layman's term, where the average person can understand what they're talking about. And like I started, I don't know what the heck I just read, but now, I have a much better grasp of what we're doing here as an organization. So we're better because of you also, Mr. DOUGHERTY . Thank you very much. All right. We're going to move on to Item J, work study and presentations for discussion. Discussion regarding proposed parking lot upgrades to the city-owned property located at 9210 West Van Buren Street. I'm excited about this. I'm going to call up our Development Services Director. Mr. Earp, you have the floor, sir. EARP: Thank you, Mayor. Members of Council, I'm calling up Arizona State University graduate, Chris Hamilton (ph.), City Engineer. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: That was an awesome introduction. HAMILTON: Good evening, Mayor and Council. I am here to discuss our parking lot that is across the street from Ahuevo. I think the CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 23 of 58 address is 9210. We have been working with management -- the Development Services Department has been working with management in trying to get the vision that we think came down from Council to develop this parking lot concept. So we wanted to present the concept to you so that you guys can see what we've come up with. We got a couple items that we want to get feedback from you so that we make sure we're moving in accordance with what Council wants to see. So if we could pull that up. Yep. Yep. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And not include the bridge. HAMILTON: Okay. So in the top left corner, item A, you will see what we have as a bird's eye view of the new parking lot concept. We have permeable pavement on the east and the west side, and we're -- actually, all the parking stalls will have -- we're proposing to have permeable pavement under all the parking stalls, and then you'll have regular asphalt in the drive areas. We have colored concrete at each corner to kind of signify where we would like people walking. We have developed -- in the center aisle, we have developed a drainage area, where we'll have some larger trees. Kind of on the north side there, you'll see -- you can see down in the lower right corner where E is. We have an area where we could have a food truck set up. And then we have an area set aside where we'll have -- where we can bring in some benches in any special event. Then in item B, we've worked with the TIA Initiative, and we've brought some papel picado elements into the fence, so we've incorporated that into the fence. There's a -- there's -- we wanted to put a fence along that south side. We know that there's an issue currently with people walking across the street in areas that they're not supposed to be walking across the street. So we're going to put a fence along that whole southern edge to try to discourage some of that, funnel people out to the two ends of the parking lot. On the west end, there's already an existing crosswalk there where you can cross. And then on the east end, just a little further east, there's a crosswalk there as well. So we're going to try to help funnel people to those crosswalks and stop having people CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 24 of 58 crossing all over Van Buren. We also mirrored that fence on the north side to screen away that alley that's there. We're going to look at paving that alley so that it can be a secondary ingress, egress from the parking lot. One thing that's not clearly shown on here -- but we are going to do -- is we know that right next door is the facility that we have -- that the City has acquired to put in, like, a community center. We're going to have a pocket gate installed so that anybody -- if we have -- if we have the need for more parking here, we can open that gate and allow people to go back and forth between this parking area and the City's Community Center area. One of the -- couple of the things that we're looking for direction for Council -- from Council on, we have some trees shown in here. You can see out on Van Buren in this concept. We have the pistache trees, which are the big trees that have the red flowers on them. And then inside the parking lot, we have more of the evergreen trees. That's the concept that we're presenting. One of the things we're curious about is, how does Council feel about that? Do we want a variety of trees, or would we prefer to see all the same kind of tree? What's our -- what would we like? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I'd like (indiscernible), and it's actually a really good application around concrete because the roots go deep. Sissoo trees, with time, is going to start to buckle some of our sidewalks. So if you're going to put sissoo in the parking lot area, that's one thing. And there's other varieties you can put that have better root treatment, also. But the sissoo -- they stay pretty close to the surface. And so they grow really fast, and they create beautiful shade. But we also have to be practical about the infrastructure. Do we want broken concrete long term? No. So I'm a big red push pistache. It'll create a little bit of color changes throughout the year on Van Buren. On the inside, I think any variety for me would work. I mean, there's Brazilian chili CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 25 of 58 peppers. I mean, I'm not a big fan of the elms, but elms, another evergreen variety. But what do you guys think, Council? Yes, Vice Mayor? DAVIS: I thought you wanted to suggest pecan trees. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I did, but somebody's going to pick them and get sick and sue us. DAVIS: You're not -- ERIVES: And then it drops off oils. Yeah. And if you're doing a parking lot, the oils. Oh, okay. DAVIS: You're not a wastewater expert, but you are a tree expert, right? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yes, I am a tree expert. Yes. DAVIS: That's one thing if you don't know about Mayor. He loves his trees, and he knows his trees. It's kind of -- it's kind of neat. You just walk around, and he can tell you, like, a million things about a tree. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Hug a tree. They love you. DAVIS: So my questions are -- well, I have a couple of questions regarding safety. So it is -- I love the idea of the wall that's going to push people to the crosswalks, but there's no sense with crosswalks that -- they're no good if no one stops for them. So have we looked at maybe getting some of those lights where you press it, and it blinks, and you know, then you can cross the street? I even seen at the last League of Cities conference -- they had these ones that, you know, they blink and blinks the red light, and everything stops. And then it -- like, it -- it kind of reminded me of Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk, maybe just because I just seen that movie. But like, the light, like, follows you across the street. Like, it was really neat. It, like, illuminates the pedestrian walking across the street. ERIVES: Oh, nice. DAVIS: It turns off as soon as they get -- I mean, (indiscernible), right? So I'm just maybe something to look at because, obviously, there's a lot of traffic through here during the day. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 26 of 58 I know before, like, Cafecito moved to their new location, trying to cross the street -- their parking across the street was a little dangerous. I might have almost gotten hit a couple of times. So we need to think about that. The other thing is -- and I'm going to meet with staff later on about TIA and our mural festival that Council approved. One of my thoughts was to use that back wall, some of the space for that. I mean, obviously, there's other sites around Van Buren that that can be on, but that was just something that I had in mind. So just something to keep in mind. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: How soon are you planning to do asphalt on that alley? Is that part of this project or a future project? Oh, it is part of this project. Awesome. I like the metal plates, papel picado. I like the vibrant colors. I think the colors and the imagery -- image tree -- can't even speak today -- they complement the Paseo de Luces very, very well. It has obviously safety concerns, but it also has a lot of esthetic concerns that are very positive. It's going to make that corridor really pop. The bright colors are going to be eye-catching and downright handsome. I think it's going to make the project look really, really good. DAVIS: I think we're going to need some more art on there for sure. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Council Member Chavira? CHAVIRA: I also like the papel picado. I think that adds just a whole lot of color and just vibrancy. I'm liking that. I like the idea of benches out there. And trees, I don't know anything about trees. I just like them if they're green. So Mayor, you know he's going to know about greens. But you know, low maintenance. I would say we don't want to add more work to the staff. Whatever vegetation we're looking at should probably be low maintenance. And then Jimmy's right, we talked about having, like, art in an alleyway, and that would be a great segment into alleyway art for that particular alleyway that is just behind the parking lot. That'd be a cool place to start if we're going to pave it, too, and then it's already paved. And then we just work on that project. I know that's a separate project, CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 27 of 58 but it all goes together. I love the concept. You guys did a good job. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I like the water harvesting with the swales and the permeable asphalt where, when it rains, the water will go right through it. And so it'll enter the -- our aquifers, and we don't have flooding issues. And when we have heavy rains, the water will have somewhere to go. I think that's brilliant. But in general, I think it's great. Clorinda? ERIVES: Then I can see it just a little bit better. Is there any way that each picture can be displayed, like -- okay. So A, I know you said that's the bird's eye view of the top, but I'm not sure which one is the actual parking lot. Like, I see the sidewalk; that's where pedestrians can walk and such. And then I see the fence that separates the pathway from -- but do you have something with what -- like, how many parking -- how many parking slots are -- will there be? HAMILTON: Yeah. I believe there's between 60 and 70 parking spaces. ERIVES: Wow. And so is there something that says, like, no overnight parking, so someone's not camping there? Is there something that says only for the certain restaurants? Or I can park my car and then walk to the high school? Like, I'm just -- I'm just thinking of some other questions about the actual parking. If you could -- HAMILTON: Mayor, Councilwoman Erives, being that this is a public facility, we would allow parking any time of the day unless there was a change in our approach. Because it's a public facility, you could park there any time of the day, and you could go anywhere you want within the corridor. I don't think we can restrict where -- who has access to it. Similarly, we wouldn't want to -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We -- HAMILTON: -- market, like, Ahuevo parking or Community Center parking. At this time, you know, everything's been open to the public. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 28 of 58 MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. Jason? EARP: Thank you. Mayor, members of Council, Chris is correct. So it's for all of downtown. Obviously, we know what restaurant uses it, but it's -- it'll be for all downtown. It'll be for events. We worked with Randy to still be able to have our stage there. Maybe some food mobile truck events, that kind of thing. But we'll talk about how to -- with PD, how to enforce, like, overnight. I do that -- we do that now in other places. Yeah. So we will just work closely with PD to make sure that doesn't happen. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. We have to quick stop parking lots. And depending on the type of use that might find its way there, may be smart to think about that upfront. And so in case we have uses in there that we really don't want, we can go ahead and lock those down, just like we do at Veterans Park. We close down that parking lot. Mayor -- I'm sorry -- Council Member? GAMEZ: I don't -- I'm -- (indiscernible), and I've got a place downtown, and there's trash -- actually, there's no trash cans for whatever reason. So you got to strategically put them out there so people can use it because they're not out there. HAMILTON: Yeah. Mayor and Council Member Gamez, we will ensure that we have trash cans that are there. Our staff -- part of our staff would be to make sure the trash cans are getting emptied. The other -- there's two other items that I kind of along that line that I want to make sure we point out that are going to be included, is that they are -- we're going to have EV charging stations for in the south east corner there, like, where that blue Mini Cooper-looking car is. So there will be two EV charging stations there. And then we also have -- strategically placed there are some -- What are those power stations called? Sorry. Jason Harrington (ph.) is our landscape architect on this project, so. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 29 of 58 MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Does it have lighting? ERIVES: Lighting, yes. That was my question. HAMILTON: So one of the things that I wanted to highlight -- and I don't know -- Is it on the next page, Jason, the festoon lighting? HARRINGTON: Yeah. On the bottom of the plan view, there's some imagery that's representational of some of their inspiration. One of them was a charging station so that people could have special events there where you could plug something in and have this convenience outlet nearby, food trucks, and other things. So they're tied to the grid system on the electrical network. So that would be a -- that would be one of the features that we have to offer, the convenience outlets that are part of it. And then the comment about lighting is not presented in the imagery concept. There's going to be lighting safety lighting levels for each of the parking lots so that people use the parking lot have a level of security and comfort with that. In addition, we have some decorative lighting called festoon lighting. That's that string lights with little (indiscernible) on it. And those are part -- they're concentrated over the central gathering area. We have some pavers that are replicating some of the streetscape (indiscernible). And we're using that as kind of a gathering space. If we want to have an outdoor dance, something like that, you've got this overhead lighting on string lights that need lights for (indiscernible). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Any other questions, Council? ERIVES: They're like -- I'm so sorry -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Go ahead. ERIVES: Is there, like, a limit, so if a trucker wants to park his -- this 18-wheel truck trailer wants to park, and he wants -- HARRINGTON: Operations of the facility would be something that could be programmed. So we could say there might be (indiscernible) something (indiscernible) signage that says no parking or -- ERIVES: Okay. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 30 of 58 HARRINGTON: -- no 18-wheeler. So there will be something that law enforcement can help code compliance. If they say, hey, there's a sign that says you can't do this, it's pretty available. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Jason? EARP: Yes. Mayor, Members of Council, yeah, I just I was going to say that pretty much the same thing again. We'll work with Rudy (ph.). We'll work with some kind of design to block that. And plus, there shouldn't be any semis going down Van Buren, at least not in Paseo de Luces. Unless they're delivering something to a business, then, you know, then they have to leave, so. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, I'm pro gates. Just to be clear, I think we need to have gates in case we ever need to shut that parking lot down for whatever reason. And if you're going to incorporate gates, you might as well make them decorative and tied into the project. I'd hate for something to happen. And then we don't have the gates, and we have to figure that out at a later time. Other comments? This side, you guys good? Yeah, Clorinda? ERIVES: Where do I go in? If I'm driving my car, is it that first street going towards that Mini Cooper; is that the entrance? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Where the guy's standing -- HAMILTON: One right here. ERIVES: Okay. And then there's one going to be a separate entrance way closer to the corner? Okay. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And if they pave the alleyway they can exit to the back too. Yeah. HAMILTON: I have one more request before we move on. Can you scroll that a little bit to the right, so we can see that middle Image? Yeah. So right there in the middle, one of the other items that we wanted to really get feedback on is, as a part of this project, we've heard that we want to kind of rebrand CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 31 of 58 some of the Paseo de Luces down on Van Buren. So the landscape islands that we have currently in the Paseo, we have the DG with some small plants in there, and then we have the trees wrapped in the Christmas tree lighting. So one of the concepts that we wanted to ask about was, we're considering changing that, taking all the plants out and putting in turf with up lights onto the trees so that there'd be a lot less maintenance and a lot less ability for us to have stuff going on in there. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Talking about artificial turf? HAMILTON: Artificial turf. So you just have the artificial turf with the up lights. No other plants within those islands. Or would Council rather see us maybe replace the existing planting with something else? From what I -- from what staff has heard, we want something that's smaller, more vibrant, more colors. Maybe we change the DG color and still maybe look into the up lighting. Or do we want to kind of stick with the theme that's currently there? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. Me, personally, I think we have a really beautiful concept on Paseo de Luces as it exists. I'm okay with sage bushes or valentines or something that is colorful and flowers throughout the year -- or maybe once or twice. There's a lot of really good varieties here in Arizona. But I wouldn't want to go too far away from what we have out there because that was a $10 million investment. And to start doing pocket designs in certain parts of it, I think takes away from the greatness of the entire experience. I would rather be in line with what we started with initially so that that theme is carried out throughout this corridor as well. But that's just me. Council? Yes, Jimmy -- Vice Mayor? DAVIS: I agree with that. I think it's an iconic, like, drive through, right? When you drive through, people know they're coming to Tolleson. I've actually had people from a city that likes to copy us, our neighbor. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Which one? There's a lot of them. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 32 of 58 DAVIS: Avondale -- Avondale in particular this time. Their residents are, like, why can't we look like Tolleson, right? Like, so we want to keep that going. Now, at the same time, there is room to, you know, supplement that with stuff like this, like this beautiful art and add pops of color, I think is great. And if we're going to maybe -- you know, have we have to update those -- that lighting, right? Maybe putting something that can change colors, right, for different types of -- different parts of the year. You know, it can be blue for Autism month, or -- you know, that's all I'll say right now. But it can be lots of different colors for lots of different things. So I mean, maybe that's something we can we can look into. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Jason? EARP: Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Members of Council. I just have a quick question. So we get it on the planting area. But would you like to change the lights from the old Christmas lights, which constantly people unplugging them breaking them, even stealing them, and do up lighting, or just still keep with that concept and just stay on top of it? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I -- just really quick, I will say that, if we do that here, then we need to prepare to do it everywhere else. Not part of this project, but maybe we have a plan for the next two years to convert sections of downtown, so it's all the same at a certain point. But again, this project I think, by design, is specific to the site. And so I'd be okay with making this the first phase and then moving into other areas as we improve downtown. Or for that matter, having an electrician come in and do all of them. But I don't want to see either/or. Whatever one -- whatever we decide today, the whole corridor should be illuminated in the same manner. EARP: So Mayor -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Vice Mayor? DAVIS: I was just going to ask, can you bring us some examples of different lighting and what that would look like? Because, I mean, we could say all day up lighting, that could look like a lot of different things or, you know -- so maybe if we have a couple different CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 33 of 58 things to choose from? EARP: Yeah. The -- for example, right now, we have it in front of City Hall. And the reason why we picked that, we could change different colors. So Breast Cancer Month, you know, we do pink. And for whatever different holidays or functions, we could change the lighting. You mentioned changing lighting earlier. So that was one of the things we thought of. We thought if we do -- start this one, just like you said, Mayor, as the -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Test site? EARP: Yeah. Test site to do the up lighting, and if we like it, we have it in our budget and our CIP next year to do Van Buren, Paseo de Luces, redo it, and we can include that package. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. The other thing, too, is, I think, we have discovered very clearly that vandalism is a problem when it comes to the -- the direct plugs that are exposed. And anything that we can do to mitigate that, I think, is a benefit to all of us. Councilmember. Chavira. Sorry. CHAVIRA: Yeah, I think it should be cohesive, as well. And I wouldn't be unopposed to turf, but it would be a change from what we have. So at least, if the plants are cohesive throughout -- and some kind of plant that -- I mean, all plants are going to take care, but maybe something that's more low-maintenance. Because right now, it's -- it's -- it's pretty high maintenance. And the lights themselves, we do have to change the lights. I don't think we have a choice of that. I think there's been so many -- so much vandalism and loss as it pertains to those lights. But it is Paseo de Luces, and we do, in fact, need and want lights out there, but it can definitely be a different type of light. It needs to be a different type of light. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And there are haters. There's other cities that wish they were us. There will always be other cities that wish they were us. But having said that, you're right. If we're going to (indiscernible) Paseo de Luces, let's celebrate it. Vice Mayor. DAVIS: How is it lit up out here? Because it gets -- it's -- CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 34 of 58 HAMILTON: Uplights. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Out here, we have the LED uplights. DAVIS: Uplights, and they can change colors, too, like -- because, I mean, it's really nice out here at night, so. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. And the -- DAVIS: And it's pretty bright, actually. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. It looks -- it's a safe corridor. DAVIS: Yeah. CHAVIRA: And that will tie in to our pedestrian bridges that are going to be lighted. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely. I will tell you, I thought when I first saw this that the -- the papel picado was a deviation from the corridor. But I'm okay with it because, I mean, we could -- we could define it based on two things. One is art, as an expression of art. Actually, three. One is it's an expression of cultura. And then more importantly than that, in this particular corridor, it's an expression of safety. We want people to cross where it's safe. And this, this fence, guides people to those exit points that are going to put them close to the -- the crosswalks. And so for that -- that reason, I think that makes a lot of sense. So even though it's different than the rest of the corridor, I think it complements it for all the right reasons. But that's probably the extent of what I would want to get away from the overall theme. DAVIS: Great. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Clorinda. ERIVES: Visually, seeing it kind of thing, my eyes are old, and I don't see any blue. Is there a reason that there's no blue or purple or pinks? Is it just that you -- because I'm a Dodger fan, I just want to make sure that there's something blue in there. And I'm not seeing something. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: (Indiscernible) maroon and gold. ERIVES: But I didn't know, maybe -- are you trying to stay on a certain color palette? I don't know. Like, this is why my -- my question. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Can we make them all maroon and gold? CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 35 of 58 ERIVES: I'm just saying, you know, when I first see it -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We can add more color, yeah. ERIVES: -- I see it more like a flag, like, a flag for different countries. And so I wasn't sure that papel picado -- maybe if you zoom in and -- is that yellow one, does it have, like, a medallion in it, the -- the celebrate one? Okay. HAMILTON: And those graphics haven't been finalized -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Finalized? HAMILTON: -- out. ERIVES: Right, right, right. HAMILTON: So there's still time to change and -- ERIVES: Oh, yes. HAMILTON: We can do colors, and we can change out what the actual graphics look like. This is just in concept. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I like it; I really do. I think you've done a tremendous job, Chris. I could see the spark coming out in you. It's awesome. Any other comments or questions for this project? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I like it. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: You like it? All right. Jimmy? DAVIS: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: You like it? Esta bien? DAVIS: It's in the right direction. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think you're definitely going down the right route. I like the lighting. I like the uplighting. And it's still budget season. We haven't finalized our budget, so if we wanted to look at maybe putting some money toward that, we can redo the whole thing. We just have to throw everything away and start from scratch. Our CEO is sweating, so maybe we have to wait. HAMILTON: Thank you, Mayor and Council. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, guys. Appreciate your time. All right. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 36 of 58 We're going to move on to item K, which is Mayor and City Manager report of current events. That's where we're at, right? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. For discussion, I'm going to begin with -- actually, I'm going to start with a comment, with something that's not on here. And that is a trip that we took to Rocky Point. So this won't take long. I promise this won't take long. So as some of -- most of you know, all council knows, we have a sister city arrangement with the City of Puerto Penasco, Rocky Point, Mexico. They had a mayor, and a great mayor, Mayor Castro, and he had -- he had been ailed with some medical issues, and they weren't getting better. And I don't know the specifics or the -- how bad they become, but needless to say, he had to resign his position. We had a great meeting with him, the chief and I did, about a year ago, I would say, maybe six -- a while back. And we had a great breakfast, great conversations, great possibilities. But unfortunately, due to health reasons, he resigned his position, which, of course, we wish him the best. And we had a new mayor -- Verdugo? Mayor Verdugo came in. And so we went out there, and we met with him to make a connection. And I walked away with the sense of somebody who was hungry for opportunities, somebody who wanted to honor the legacy of the relationship that we have started already, and somebody who definitely wants to move forward. Matter of fact, they gave us a big old basket. Mine didn't make it very far. My kids came over and opened it up, so I was hoping chief would bring his today. But it had everything in there -- everything in the basket was a product of Puerto Penasco, which is pretty cool, yeah. The carne seca was awesome. But anyways, it was a great meeting, and I just want to give you guys an update that we definitely have a partner in Puerto Penasco, and they're very excited about the possibilities. And so am I, especially after meeting the new mayor, so. Chief, you want to add anything to that? MENDOZA: Mayor, I -- thank you. I'll just add one thing for those who don't know, is that we are using a one of our digital billboards along I-10, and that was started before our visit, and they were very excited about that. It's one of the slides that -- that cycles CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 37 of 58 through. And it says -- it says Rocky Point, and it shows an aerial picture of Rocky Point. Basically, it's a tourism thing for them. And they -- they could not have been more excited. And they brought that up without us needing to bring it up. They were aware of it, and they were very excited about that, and we'll continue to use that, as well as many other mechanisms, to help promote them. And they're doing some things for us, too, which we'll talk about at a later date. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. Thank you, Chief. All right. Now, library department update. I'm going to kick it over to Library Director Carrico. How are we doing? CARRICO: Great. Just left a good party. And we have a presentation to pull up. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Oh, you know what? There was something -- Reyes, I want to add this. And Jason. I know a while back we released a number of designs that symbolize different things in Tolleson. I think (indiscernible) worked on that. And I'm just thinking if you want to refer those as part of the, like, papel picado concept, maybe we incorporate some of that into it so that, if we're going to celebrate the new designs and it's symbolic of who we are as a community, then they're also included or embedded into this project. Sorry about that. CARRICO: That's okay. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Go ahead. CARRICO: All right. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council, and everyone gathered here tonight. I'm going to be talking to you about the library and some highlights that we have going on this fiscal year, as well as some focus that we're going to have for next fiscal year. So the different focus areas that we're looking at for the library cover these objectives. We want to make sure that we have data-driven decision making across all of our services. We want to expand community access to emerging technologies. We want to make sure that we have operational efficiency so that we can serve more residents without increasing our staffing. And then also, we want equity-centered service redesign initiatives. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 38 of 58 So the first project that we are highlighting this fiscal year is our Power BI dashboards. We are working hard on it this fiscal year. The project is to create filterable dashboards using library statistics. The impact it's going to have, and what I'm really pushing for, is that every single staff member in the library is able to use this tool so that, whatever area that they are working on, whether it's projects, whether it's our technology specialists, whether it's outreach, that they are practiced in seeing what the community is using to help them make decisions on what services to start, what services to change, what services to end, same with programs. And by doing a dashboard, it gives everybody access. It's not just one vendor sending us information. Right now, the status of this is it's in progress. We are building these dashboards. We are getting some vendor help for some of the gaps that we have in order to build and manage these dashboards. We wanted to align it with the council's core values in action. I think that data helps us tell our story loud enough. Anecdotes are wonderful, and they paint a great picture. They paint a picture of what the data is -- is -- the foundation of what's going on. And then some of the planned metrics we have that we're going to be capturing, our building-use programs, our virtual services, circulation, outreach, passports, feedback. We have an annual state report that we give to the Arizona State Library. This is an example of one of the dashboards that we're working on. It's still pretty primitive, but this is our gate counts. These gate counts are from October of '25 until today, until yesterday. That's when I pulled this. So we've had 72,000 people walk through our doors during that time. But a staff member can also click a filter and see, well, how many people in April. There was 10,075 last month, or 10,000.75 K last month. And then they're like, but I want to know about just Tuesdays, I have story time on Tuesdays, what are the numbers on Tuesdays. We had one thousand and five -- and six -- point 63 K come through on Tuesday. This is just one example. DAVIS: Are the Tuesdays in April? CARRICO: Yes, Tuesdays in April, this -- this last month. This is just one example, a primitive one. What is really great about this project is that we can talk to the staff. We CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 39 of 58 can talk to them about what they want to measure. And when we put it into a dashboard, we can take the information from anything -- the things that our vendors send us, reports that we run, things that staff input -- and we can create relationships between these data points, however they use them, so that two things that may not normally be measured together, a staff member can say, I need to measure that together, and allow them to manipulate the data, click on what they need to to see specific hours, days, times, months, events. And as I said, this is what staff see right now. These are the different groups that we are working on. And basically, you just click on one of these categories. For instance, circulation, it will take you to our circulation dashboard, and it'll have all of the data there as staff use it. The next project that I want to talk about is our maker lab. We have opened our T-Lab Maker Services. We really want to bring technology, creation tools, to the public. We are going to be bringing laser cutters, vinyl cutters, engravers, and 3D printers to the public. They will be able to book time on the machines, come to the library and use them. We will do orientations for safety and how to use them, get them acclimated, and then let them come into the space. It was really important to myself and my staff that people touch the machines. This kind of service exists in libraries in a lot of areas in the country, but it's a print service where they give you a file. The library staff will print it, and then they'll give it to you. In this case, we want to orient people on the machines, let them book time in our lab and use it, touch it, get familiar with it, because there's a component of access and learning that can't happen if it's just a print. So right now, we're partially open. Our vinyl cutter and our laser cutter are open. That is being used right now. We started this this year. We've had our first classes in March, so we've had 12 people come through the class, and we've had 14 appointments so far. And here's just some pictures of the space, the T-Lab Maker space. Here's some pictures of the active machines, the vinyl cutter and the laser cutter. The laser cutter, we brought out to Tolleson Talks, whenever they held it in Human Services, so people can see what it does. And we can say, you could do this, too. We've actually had some people enroll in our classes from that. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 40 of 58 And then that's just the laser cutter in action, creating a Stranger Things logo. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I'm glad you mentioned that, because that -- that just triggered my mind. When we had our last Tolleson Talks for the season, it was here in City Hall. And we had a raffle winner who I think got some kind of kitchen utensil. CARRICO: And they were able to laser engrave or laser cutter, whatever they call it, on the actual kitchen tool, customize whatever they wanted on there , their last name or whatever it was. And it was -- it was really cool because it was interactive. Somebody got to win something, put their own personal message on there and take it home. So that was awesome. The other two points I want to make, because I will forget, is I really like how you tied our core values and our priorities as an organization via council into your slides, because that's critical. We want to make sure that those are the things that we're pushing out. And numbers, the last thing is numbers matter. And you know, there's a time to talk, tell a story for the heart. And there's a time to tell a story through numbers. And the numbers tell you success rate, should we retain this program, should we replace it with something better for our community, or should we implement more classes of it because it's that popular. And only numbers tell -- tell us that. So I'm glad that you're focusing on the numeric side of it. Councilwoman. CHAVIRA: Are all these available free of charge? CARRICO: The maker classes? CHAVIRA: Yeah. CARRICO: Yes. Everything at the library is available free of charge. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Council -- or Vice Mayor. DAVIS: You're doing amazing programming. I mean, every time -- I'm just floored every time I see something new that you guys are doing. This is amazing. The Library on Wheels thing at the at Whoopee Days, that was fantastic. Like, and I know the -- the senior center probably has a similar issue where -- is space an issue that is -- CARRICO: Yes. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 41 of 58 DAVIS: I think that we -- CARRICO: We are getting tight, yeah. DAVIS: Yeah. We've definitely, you know -- this building is not that old. And I think that our two core programs that we've built the space around our -- have completely outgrown -- CARRICO: A happy problem, that we're being used that much. DAVIS: I think that's something that we need to be proactive about, because we want those programs to continue to grow, our senior program and our library program. And so we've bought a lot of things recently. I don't know, maybe we need to turn something into a library and a new senior center, or something. But space is an issue, and that's a good thing. CARRICO: Well, I'm glad you bring up space because the third current project is staff output efficiency. So this is actually a couple of years in the making. It is an infrastructure-forward project. It is something where we centralize workflows through 365 or products we use all the time. But we are using it to make sure that we can service more people with less staff. So we have added several new remote services and several new internal processes through this, and they're structured in a way that the load can be carried by all staff members or a selection of staff members. And we've structured in a way that we can respond to public requests for services within 24 hours of a business day. This is -- council alignment would be Smart Cities and Aging in Place because the majority of these services are remote. So people who cannot get to the library or choose not to come to the library, we can service them, too. We've added nine public- facing services and five internal customer services with this. And I'll just mention the metrics. We pulled metrics from the start of the fiscal year all the way until -- these run into February. We have made -- card registration is our largest by far. People can request a card. We will create the card. We will mail them the card and give them their card number and their PIN through email so that they have -- they have instant access and they never have to come into the library to use us. Two CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 42 of 58 hundred and fifty-five card registrations were made from February -- or from July to February. Thirty percent of those lived in the 85353 ZIP code district. This is our website. I call it our other branch. This is the website where people can interact with it and not come to the building and still use valuable library services. It has our mission statement up front, providing opportunities to learn, play, create, and explore, para todos. And this is where people go to get those remote services. And these are some of the services that they can encounter. Library card registrations is one of them. They never have to come into the library to get a full card. We can renew their cards from afar. Staff -- staff can get card registrations. They have a different process, but they never have to come to us, either. We will -- they will process their card and send it through the -- to the -- through interoffice mail. We have asked the staff for virtual library reference. We have author and creators who create their own books or media and want to be added to the collection. They can request it. We have collection requests if there's something they're missing. Even if it's, like, an E-book or an E-audio, we'll handle those. These are handled by the majority of staff online. And it allows our staff to, like, double in size. They can do a whole lot more. There's only 12 of us, myself included, and we have to find ways that we can be bigger than 12. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And maybe this already is in place and I missed it, but is it possible for me to get a virtual library card where I don't have to carry something physical, I can come in, I can be looked up by name and be able to check stuff out? CARRICO: It's not a virtual library card, but you don't have to carry your library card. We can always look you up. You can just use a card number if you like. If you don't come to the library, we will mail you your physical card, but you never actually use it. You can use the library that -- the library card number that we send you. There are lots of ways to use your library card. As long as you can produce the number or prove who you are, you can take items and use our -- our services. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. CARRICO: And I have these separated because, on the right-hand side, those are services that might start virtually but end up here in the library. So just passport CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 43 of 58 questions, it's, like, a ask-the-staff virtual service, but specific to passports. We get lots of passports questions. And that's one way that people can get their answers. We have meeting room requests that went live very recently. We have interlibrary loan requests where we will look around the country to get a book that you are looking for, that we don't own, and they'll mail it to us. You can start that request online to come pick it up. And at the very bottom, that spans both -- we have comment cards because we do digital comment cards, and we also attach data points to this one so we can see how we're doing. So I'll group it in different areas, like customer service, our collection, the building. And people will mark what they're commenting about. And then we will attach a positive, negative, or neutral to it. So if someone's like, I love your story times, they're amazing, I have so much fun, I wish you had them on Saturdays, then that will be marked programs, and it'll be marked negative because we are missing a need. They need us on Saturday. So even though they're loving us, we're not -- we're not meeting a need. And that gives us a trend. When you look at the data, it gives us a trend on our areas. And if we're trending positive or negative, so that we can look in closer on the comments. These are just some current library stats, our current year versus our prior year. As you were talking about, the squeeze on the space, it's because our usage is going up. All of the areas have a positive percentage except for maker space because it's the first year that it's open. And these are as of February. So these are going to be a little bit higher than they were in February. And then finally, looking forward, one of the initiatives that we're going to be tackling in the next fiscal year is a Spanish-language equity initiative. So we would like to implement a comprehensive redesign of our library building, our signage, our programs, our services, our resources, our -- our procedures. We want to be more inclusive. We want to remove barriers to our Spanish-speaking community members and shift the library to encompass a true bilingual experience. We want to conduct an -- an audit of what it's like to come in and only use Spanish to find what you need, work on some improvements, and then conduct another audit to see how we did. The impact that we CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 44 of 58 would like to make is we want to remove the barrier of translation through staff members, or through devices, or through bringing a companion to use our library. We would like to reflect the Spanish language more prominently in the library so that the community members can see themselves. We have a very high Spanish-speaking community here. We want to enable independent use of the library for a wider range of -- of patrons. If someone has to encounter a person to use the library, we've created a barrier, and they may not get the information they need. It might be sensitive information that they don't want to share with another person. So we want to make sure all the barriers are lifted. The council priority is -- are expressions of caring. And this is something that we would see at the end of the next fiscal year to see how we've done for adjustments. That's my last slide, so I'm open for any questions, any concerns, any praise. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, I -- praise without a doubt. I mean, this is amazing work. And this is very clearly having a very positive impact on the residents of Tolleson and beyond. So I want to thank you and all your staff for the work that you've done thus far. This is good, that we're -- that we're moving toward numeric reporting. Again, it's -- I think it's critical. It's a critical part of public service and how we report our successes. And quite frankly, it's also a good tool to identify areas that are either no longer needed or we're not doing a very good job of. I put deodorant on, just to be clear. It might be the coffee. But I'm very impressed. Thank you very much for that work. Council, questions or comments? GAMEZ: They were great. It was good. Thank you. Good report with everybody. (Spanish spoken). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Councilmember? ERIVES: No, I was just going to say I really like the Spanish-language initiative. So many times, our students are -- are young ones as they're coming in, right, might not always speak it, but they don't have the books to -- to facilitate that and just support it. But to be bilingual and biliterate, right, the high school has a program where you can have CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 45 of 58 dual -- on your high school diploma, you get both seals of -- seals of biliteracy. So we want our students -- because they're competing in this global market. If you can speak English and you can speak Spanish, man, your opportunities are tenfold. Mayor, we just said we have a sister city partnership. So here, preparing our youth for that job fair, like you were saying, someone coming in might find a barrier. But I'm also saying supporting someone in a second language, like, maybe third language. Who knows? Thank you. This is beautiful. I like this beyond -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Councilmember Chavira? CHAVIRA: Great job, Mandy. I mean, just coming into the library, the art, the -- the whole maker section there. What a beautiful thing. And you're doing a great job, and it's appreciated. Thank you. CARRICO: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mandy. Well, councilmember. LABORIN: People come in there and get a passport with you, apply for a passport? CARRICO: Yes. They can make an appointment, and we have a passport service. LABORIN: I've been told that they can't get passport there, that they have to go to Avondale. And I'm going like, no, we have it in Tolleson, and I'm going, I'm -- maybe I'm giving them wrong information. CARRICO: No. Yes, we definitely have a passport service. And it's actually open evenings and weekends, so outside of work hours for anyone who's needing that. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. Anybody else on this side? We're good? This side? Vice Mayor? DAVIS: Just one more time. I just want to say, keep up the great work. Your staff is doing amazing things. And you know, speaking of the library of things, you didn't talk (audio interference) so much going on in the library. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Did you see the art exhibit that was there today? CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 46 of 58 DAVIS: I definitely saw the -- the art gallery that, the TAG, the Tolleson Art Gallery that we have in there. The Sedona Center for the Arts is doing a fantastic job curating that, those exhibits. They're phenomenal, phenomenal. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: It was a great turnout. CARRICO: It really was. And thank you for everyone who showed. And we do have a lot of programs and a lot of services. I did not touch on 100 of them. These are just the highlights. But we always invite people to come on in. Everything is free. The staff are friendly, and we'll probably find something you didn't know libraries did. DAVIS: So if we can-- CARRICO: Thank you. DAVIS: -- make sure that those gallery openings are always on our calendars, that -- that would be fantastic, because sometimes I miss those, and I don't want to miss them. CARRICO: We don't have a large opening for all of them. We try to have a -- like, an artist program for each of them. And in this one, it's just one of the ones where we did a larger, wide range, because all the artists wanted to appear. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, it was a wonderful event, the smell -- the food smelled really good. The line was too big for me to get any, but I'm glad it was a really well-turned-out event. So councilmember, do you still do the -- the reading thing, the book reading? ERIVES: I haven't in a while, but summer's coming up, and so yeah, looks like -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, (indiscernible) that, we'll get an update on the road. Yes. ERIVES: I'm just even -- I don't know if you all had a chance to go out towards Veterans Park, because you have the library story time that goes along with the walk path. CARRICO: We do encourage -- we have a story walk (indiscernible). ERIVES: (Indiscernible) even another -- like, the library is, like, out of -- CARRICO: And that's ERIVES: -- the walls of the library. CARRICO: Story walk is in Spanish, not bilingual, just Spanish with an English audio QR CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 47 of 58 code, so. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, I'm impressed. I think you guys are doing tremendous work, and I think the council agrees with that. Councilmember. ERIVES: I've also done a story time with the fire department. CARRICO: Yes. ERIVES: (Indiscernible). CARRICO: Fire department and the police station. ERIVES: And the police. Okay. So yeah, lots of great things happening in the library. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think we should give her a round of applause and -- ERIVES: Yes. Thank you. CARRICO: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay, let's move on to item number 2. We have Parks and Recreation Department update. Director Babchuk, you have the floor, sir. BABCHUK: Good evening, Council, Mayor, members of the council. Today, we'll be going over a few things on our initiative for the TASK program. We can get that presentation up. It'll be the Tolleson after-school. Which one -- I have, like, five or six of them, so hopefully you guys ate dinner. Mandy, you still have dinner over there? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. Go ahead, Vice Mayor. DAVIS: I guess I just have a question about the agenda. How come these things are agendized under mayor and city manager's reports and not under, like, work studies and presentation? Because isn't that typically where those -- these types of items would go? I don't know. That's just where it seems like -- where they would go. ZAMORA: It’s not really a work study. It's a presentation, and it's about current events, so it could go either/or. Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Hit it. BABCHUK: Awesome. Thank you, guys. So this is an update. In October of 2025, one of CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 48 of 58 our initiatives for Parks and Recreation was to move our after-school program away from the Parks and Rec Department facility over to the elementary school, especially at AZD and P.H. Gonzales. A little lag. BABCHUK: So mainly, this was -- there's three reasons why. The first one was student- centered access and safety. It eliminated transportation barriers for working families. What we were doing was we were transporting kids from the elementary school over to the rec center. And that created, you know -- during traffic times, it's just a little bit of an anxiety having to transport kids, and -- and parents making sure, calling every ten minutes, making sure that their kids made it safe and on time. So we wanted to eliminate that worry for parents and make sure that, you know, the kids, students, remained in a familiar, secure school environment. It reduced the transitional risk between school dismissal and program start. There's always that, you know, teachers walking them to the van and them specifically getting on the -- the van and then us taking them to the rec center. It also improved the daily attendance and participation consistency within those schools. So the parents already knew, the teachers already knew, that these kids that were already in the program were going to continue to be in the program. So they knew and were held accountable. And you know, the teachers were -- were able to tell them, like, hey, aren't you supposed to be in the rec -- or at the rec, you know, in the cafeteria. And so it -- everyone was held accountable. The other one was increased family convenience. Parents no longer had to worry, again, about the transporting or who was going to pick up the child from the after- school program or from the rec center. And it provides services where families were already familiar with drop-off, pick up. You know, we have a really good partnership with the elementary school and the IGA that we work hand in hand now. So if they have a question about TASK or they have a question about school, we really answer each other's questions. So they can go either way and ask questions for that. This last one was the stronger school partnerships. It really did strengthen our CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 49 of 58 partnerships, and in a couple slides, you'll see that. It aligned with programming educational goals, so we follow the same rules. It's just a continuation of school. And we preach those same rules that the kids are going through with the teachers. So we have all those same things. There's nothing new and nothing different. Tolleson After School, so AZD -- currently, the numbers are up. So they were already at capacity at the79. I think we're at, like, 85 now with a ten, total, waitlist. Average daily is at 70 now, which is about almost a 90 percent weekly average. We're about 295 students per week, and we're utilizing every space we can for that program. We really see the need for it at AZD. Not saying that PH does, but PH -- we have a total of 48 registered now, no waitlisted. And our daily average is still 25. So Mayor? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So quick question. Does AZD have a 21st Century grant? BABCHUK: They do. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. They also have one? Okay. BABCHUK: Yep. And they run before school with that. And again, we're using each space independently, but again, they've been gracious enough with the IGA and the partnership to give us classrooms for our STEM programs and arts and crafts and things like that. It's just not -- we're not just in the cafeteria or the playground. They're giving us space so we can work with the kids and provide those extra programming. And Tolleson After School, so alignment with the City Council priorities, core value. The priorities are expressions of caring; places children in safe, most accessible environment possible; demonstrates responsiveness to family needs; and show proactive support for working parents. And we get calls weekly just thanking our staff because it's helping them out so much. Especially with our summer coming up, and a lot of them -- we gave priority to our residents. And a lot of the nonresidents are bummed because they didn't get in. It's just, A, it's a reasonable price, and B, it's the same staff that the kids are used to already. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 50 of 58 So that's a huge help right there. We're leveraging city resources to break the cycle of poverty, directly supports academic success through structured after school engagement, provides enrichment homework support and positive mentorship, and reduces the risk of unsupervised after school hours. So that's how TASK actually came about, was that our teen council saw the need for an after-school program because they were left home alone, and they were just roaming the streets. And they wanted more of a productive -- and that's how TASK really grew, is that the teen council came up with that name, and we ran with it. And here we are, I think it's almost 20 years later that we're still in it. So greater crisis response capacity. Students remain in a familiar structure. Again, we're not having to worry about checking them in and out before and after they get off a van. We already know that they're supposed to be there. We're still doing the check in and check out process, but again, we're not transporting them during the height of traffic. Encourages social connection and positive peer interaction, and then, again, strengthens -- what we're seeing, especially with PH Gonzalez, a lot of the grandparents are picking up the kids and are able to walk and pick up the kids from school and the program and then walk back home because it's in the neighborhood, so supports family direct within their community footprint. I think that was it. Any questions for the TASK After School? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, no. That's great information. I love the numbers. Obviously, participation has been going up. The partnership that we have with the school is paying great dividends. Literally, it's a one-stop shop. They get out of class, go straight into the after-school program. The parents can pick them up. It seems to me to be pretty seamless, which is a benefit to everybody, both school and the City, more importantly, to the families that we serve. Vice Mayor? DAVIS: Why do you think there's such a difference in the numbers between the two CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 51 of 58 schools? BABCHUK: Honestly, I think it's the accessibility of them being able to pick up their kids in the neighborhood school because PHG is in the neighborhood, so parents are picking them up. Or grandparents are more able to pick them up from there, so you do have -- We do have a lot of nonresidents that are at AZD. If you look at the numbers, AZD has more nonresident versus resident. And PHG is more -- I think 99 percent of them are resident. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: You mentioned AZD has a before-school program. Do they also have an after-school program with their 21st Century grant? BABCHUK: They do. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. BABCHUK: So -- and that does play a big part in it because they do have mariachi. They have band. They have all kinds of stuff. DAVIS: Transporting them over to AZD, huh? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. BABCHUK: Yep. Yep. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, and I know PHG has a very good 21st Century grant. I'm required to say that because my wife is in charge of it, so -- BABCHUK: They do, and they use the after-school numbers as well because they'll all eat together. And once they're done with 21st Century -- right now, we're just seeing the 40, but once the 21st Century trickles down, they'll come to the after-school program after that. So once either a sport ends or an event happens, then they'll come back to the after-school program. DAVIS: Those particular grants, do we see that they're going to be around for a while? I know they've been around for a long time, but current administration likes to cut things. So is there a chance that those could be cut? BABCHUK: It could be. We did see it get cut back in -- I want to say 2016 or '15. They lost that 21st Century grant, and then they had to reapply for it. And they didn't get it CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 52 of 58 for a few years, but they possibly could lose it, so -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Any other questions from Council -- or comments? Council? Oh, Clorinda? ERIVES: What grade levels are we looking at when it comes to the after-school? Are these young, young kids? BABCHUK: K through sixth grade. ERIVES: K to six. Okay. BABCHUK: K to six. And you know, that being said, is that we did -- we were able to open up the rec center to be for a teen center now, so now, all seventh through twelfth graders -- and we're averaging probably about 150 to 200 kids a day there. I mean, everyone from the after- school -- ERIVES: Those get transported over, or they just -- BABCHUK: No, they walk from the high school. DAVIS: Do we have -- I mean, I'm sure we do, but do we have some type of after-school programming happening at the rec center -- BABCHUK: Yep. DAVIS: -- for kids who do not attend AZD or -- BABCHUK: We do, and it's an open-rec program, where they get to come in, whether we're, you know, giving arts and crafts. Ruben (ph.) is doing a great job with the teens, and he has a lot of activities going on there. But then we also do have a lot of open gyms, and we're doing, like, volleyball and basketball camps and things like that as well for them. DAVIS: A lot of kids go to charter schools, so you know -- BABCHUK: We're actually seeing a real big amount of kids driving in and using our facility right now, a lot of teens. So probably about a quarter of them are driving to our facility from other schools. DAVIS: Wow. BABCHUK: A lot of prep academy schools. It's good to see. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 53 of 58 All right. Any other questions? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Any other questions at this time? Comments? No? Great job. And I think you have item number 3 as well. BABCHUK: Yep. So if we can pull up the Tree City USA presentation. DAVIS: I guess. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yes, it is. BABCHUK: So Tree City USA is a nationally-recognized program administered by the Arbor Day Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Forestry Service and National Foresters within Arizona. So the program honors cities and towns across that demonstrate a strong commitment to effective urban forest management and basically raising the canopies in our city, planting more trees, being more environmentally safe out there. So it was established in 1976. Framework for communities to maintain and grow public tree canopies, again, within our cities, so we definitely see the need for that here, especially with the renovations downtown. People want to be downtown more. They want to enjoy the outdoors. And being so hot in Arizona, that's one of the best ways to combat the heat. What does it mean to be a Tree City USA community? So to earn Tree City USA designation, a municipality has to meet some core standards. The first one is you have to adopt a public tree ordinance, and we came back last year to change some of the ordinances to fit our needs and to get on to the Tree -- to be a Tree City USA -- establish a community forest program with an annual budget; dedicate funding and resources to planning, maintaining, and managing public trees; and then observe and proclaim Arbor Day; conduct an annual Arbor Day celebration and proclamation to promote awareness and community engagement. Last year, we planted over 25 trees at McNeel Park. That was one of our first events for Arbor Day, and then this year, we were able to go and plant a tree in memorial of one of the firefighters at the fire station. So we deemed that as one of our events, and then we CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 54 of 58 did proclaim Arbor Day last month. So why does it matter for Tolleson? It shows that Tolleson is committed to being a responsible environmental stewardship; invest in long-term infrastructure and shade canopy growth; supports public health through urban cooling; enhances property values and neighborhood aesthetics; promotes sustainability and climate resilience; and engages residents in community beautification. I definitely know that a lot more people take pride in McNeel Park now because we're getting calls, you know, when they see something not right. So if a tree falls over or kids are kicking a tree or pulling them down, we get the call right away. How it aligns with the City of Tolleson core values is showing care for community, health, and environment. Trees reduce heat-related risks. We're investing in long-term infrastructure, and it's creating that shaded, walkable neighborhoods that we're all hoping for. So and we'll continue this, and every year, we'll continue to plant more and more trees. So December 31st, 2025, we submitted our application in hopes of becoming or being recognized as a Tree City USA. In January we got the email saying that we were accepted, and we are recognized as one of 92 cities incorporated in Arizona. We are actually one of 27 out of the 92, sorry, that is recognized as a Tree City USA. So that's huge (indiscernible) -- So again, back in 2025, this is what they published and how, you know, they published this throughout all the cities that are there. And they made a big event out of it. So we definitely, in the works with our park superintendent, Oracio (ph.), really got this going. It took about two years. It was a long process, but it's well worth it. And now, we have an ordinance that we can kind of refer back to and be able to kind of grow our canopy and community. So what's next? So every year -- kind of show you -- every year, we get to put our dates that we are a Tree City USA, so we have a plaque that I'd like to present to council. And this is our first year. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Where are we going to display that? CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 55 of 58 BABCHUK: I believe in the display case out front, and then we do have our first-year certificate, recognizing the City of Tolleson as our first Tree City USA award in 2026. I'd also like to -- and we also have our street signs. Back down. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Don't worry, Jimmy. He's got it. You're good. BABCHUK: We got the new (indiscernible) from -- ERIVES: Nice. BABCHUK: (Indiscernible) here out in the streets. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Park -- the new park. BABCHUK: Yep. ERIVES: Awesome. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Major corridors. BABCHUK: But today, recognized as a Tree City USA city, we still have some work that we need to do. Again, on that last slide, you saw that we still need to, again, proclaim an Arbor Day celebration proclamation, which the mayor does. And then we still have to make sure that we're spending the $2 per capita per resident here, which we do automatically, which is pretty low. And Mayor knows because Phoenix is one. And then just to continue to monitor and refine the City of Tolleson tree ordinance, so I think we we're on the right path, and we have a good team behind us. So I foresee us being a Tree City USA for a very long time. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, all I can say is that I am personally very happy to see that our community is a Tree City USA. As a certified arborist, I think there's a lot of benefits of trees, and anytime that trees and humans get together, joy is endless. But I will say that, also, one of the things that we have to look at is maybe creating an inventory of sorts so that -- it's good that we're planting new trees, but we're also needing to replenish trees that have lived their life or were destroyed. I hate to say it, but the public can be pretty mean, or hit by a vehicle or what have you, so we continue our inventory growth. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 56 of 58 And Tolleson has always been a very -- has a very strong history of agriculture, to include the pecan trees that were mentioned earlier. They may not be pecan trees moving forward, but there's certainly other varieties that we can celebrate and plant. So I just want to commend you for the effort. I know it's not an easy effort. I've been a part of Tree City USAs for my main employer for a number of years, and it's an endeavor. So to be able to say that we are Tree City USA, one of 27 communities in Arizona, it's an incredible accomplishment. So I want to definitely commend you for all your work and your staff. BABCHUK: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, let's give him a round of applause. ERIVES: That's awesome. (Indiscernible). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And I would also say that the private sector loves Tree City USA, so nurseries would be willing to donate trees. I think some of the landscape companies that are out there, the bigger ones, would be willing to create volunteer opportunities for their folks to come out and plant them, teach a class on proper techniques on how to plant a tree, the do's and don'ts, and that kind of stuff. So I think there's great opportunity for us to expand partnerships when it comes to nonprofits and for profits and the private sector in general. BABCHUK: Absolutely, Mayor. And we do work with one nonprofit. Their name is drawing a blank right now, but if there's any resident that wants a tree planted at their home, they'll come donate the tree and plant it for free and tell them how to take care of it as well. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. BABCHUK: That's where we got the 25 trees free, donated, and planted by volunteers for that. So if anyone's wanting a tree or, you know, want to learn about trees, we definitely have those opportunities for them. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think that's great. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 57 of 58 Other comments from council? I'm the only -- I'm the only tree comment? Yeah. Let's take a picture. Let's see that. ERIVES: That's awesome. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: One of the big Tree City signs. And then whoever wants to take a picture, I'll make it a beautiful picture. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Just jump on top here. You want to hold it, Randy? BABCHUK: No, no. ERIVES: Where's the other stuff, though? The plaque? Yeah. The certificate. Ta-da. DAVIS: Make it symmetrical. ERIVES: Then we can wear camouflage. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Right? ERIVES: Yay. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Now that we got this out of the way, this might be a stupid tree joke, but I think the only thing left is to make a motion to adjourn so that we can all leave. No? GAMEZ: Don't move. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We got a motion to adjourn? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Adjourn. ERIVES: Wait. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Was that a Chief Good thing? That was a George joke? DAVIS: Gavel to adjourn now. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. We're going to gavel. We are now adjourned. You're all free to leave. CITY OF TOLLESON MAY 12, 2026 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 58 of 58 APPROVED: ____________________________________ JUAN F. RODRIGUEZ, MAYOR ATTEST: ____________________________________ CRYSTAL ZAMORA, CITY CLERK CERTIFICATION I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE FOREGOING MINUTES ARE A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TOLLESON, ARIZONA, HELD ON MAY 12, 2026. I FURTHER CERTIFY THAT THE MEETING WAS DULY CALLED AND HELD, AND THAT A QUORUM WAS PRESENT. ____________________________________ CRYSTAL ZAMORA, CITY CLERK