11 12 25 City Council Meeting Minutes

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TOLLESON CITY COUNCIL MEETING ACTION MINUTES 
TOLLESON CIVIC CENTER 
9055 WEST VAN BUREN STREET, TOLLESON, AZ 85353 
ZOOM WEBINAR ID: 840 6967 9194 
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2025 
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/w/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 Gámez.  
C. 
ROLL CALL 
 
City Council: Mayor Juan Rodriguez, Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis, Council Members Christine 
Chavira, Clorinda Erives, Adolfo Gámez and Cruzita Mendoza. 
 
Not Present: Council Member Linda Laborin 
 
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 and Library Director Mandy Carrico.  
 
City Representative: City Attorney Justin Pierce 
D. 
FINAL CALL TO SUBMIT SPEAKER REQUESTS 
 9055 W. Van Buren St., Tolleson, AZ 85353 • (623) 936-7111 • TTY users, dial 711 for Relay • www.tolleson.az.gov

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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 November 2025 as Native American Heritage Month in the City 
of Tolleson to recognize and celebrate the rich histories, cultures, and contributions of 
Native Americans and to encourage all residents to honor and learn more about the 
heritage and traditions that continue to shape our community and nation. – Wendy 
Jackson, Deputy City Manager/Employee Resources Director 
 
Mayor Rodriguez proclaimed November 2025 as Native American Heritage Month 
in the City of Tolleson. 
 
2. 
Employee Recognition: Utilities Department 
G. 
BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR – PUBLIC HEARINGS AND ACTION ITEMS 
H. 
CONSENT AGENDA – ACTION ITEMS 
 
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 October 28, 2025. (City Clerk 
Department) 
 
2. 
Approve Claims and Bills Report for the period of October 22, 2025 to November 4, 
2025. (Finance Department)

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3. 
Approve Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control Liquor License 
Application No. 362402, Series 12 – Restaurant, as submitted by Mario Santoyo 
Guerrero for El Rey de los Mariscos y Sushi located at 189 North 99th Avenue #106, 
Tolleson, AZ 85353. This non-transferable, on-sale retail privileges liquor license allows 
the holder of a restaurant license to sell and serve all types of spirituous liquor solely 
for consumption on the premises of an establishment which derives at least 40% of its 
gross revenue from the sale of food. Failure to meet the 40% food requirement may 
result in revocation of the license. (City Clerk Department) Public hearing will be 
opened for public comment, if any.  
 
4. 
Approve First Amendment to the Cooperative Purchasing Agreement between the City 
of Tolleson and Sea-Western, Inc., for public safety uniform gear and equipment, and 
authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said Agreement. The City desires to 
amend the existing Agreement to increase annual aggregate compensation from 
$100,000 to $200,000 for additional gear and equipment and to extend the term 
through June 30, 2029. (Fire Department) 
 
Council Member Gámez moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1. through 4.; the 
motion was seconded by Council Member Erives. The motion carried 6 to 0. 
Mayor Rodriguez – Aye  
 
Vice Mayor Davis – Aye   
Council Member Chavira – Aye 
Council Member Erives – Aye  
Council Member Gámez – Aye 
Council Member Mendoza – Aye 
I. 
REGULAR AGENDA – ACTION ITEMS 
 
1. 
Approve/Deny the reimbursement to Vanguard Truck Holdings LLC (Tolleson 70) 
pursuant to Section 3 of the PAD Development Agreement between the City of 
Tolleson and Vanguard Truck Holdings LLC (Tolleson 70), approved by City Council on 
July 11, 2023, through Resolution No. 2539. The City shall reimburse Vanguard for the 
actual costs incurred for the design, construction, and installation of required public 
infrastructure improvements, in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000. (Development 
Services Department) 
 
Council Member Gámez moved to approve the reimbursement to Vanguard Truck 
Holdings LLC; the motion was seconded by Council Member Chavira. The motion 
carried 6 to 0. 
Mayor Rodriguez – Aye  
 
Vice Mayor Davis – Aye   
Council Member Chavira – Aye 
Council Member Erives – Aye  
Council Member Gámez – Aye 
Council Member Mendoza – Aye

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2. 
Approve/Deny a Fiscal Year 2026 budget transfer in the amount of $100,000 from the 
Aquatic Center operating budget (10410130) to the Human Services budget 
(10111140) to fund Thanksgiving food boxes for the Tolleson community. (City 
Management Department) 
 
Vice Mayor Davis moved to approve the budget transfer; the motion was seconded 
by Council Member Chavira. The motion carried 6 to 0. 
Mayor Rodriguez – Aye  
 
Vice Mayor Davis – Aye   
Council Member Chavira – Aye 
Council Member Erives – Aye  
Council Member Gámez – Aye 
Council Member Mendoza – Aye 
J. 
WORK STUDY AND PRESENTATIONS – FOR DISCUSSION 
 
1. 
FY 2025 Fourth Quarter Year-End Update and FY 2026 First Quarter Update – Kevin 
Artz, Chief Financial Officer 
K. 
MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER’S REPORT OF CURRENT EVENTS – FOR DISCUSSION 
 
1. 
City of Tolleson Preschool Celebrations & Resource Fair – Celebrating the City’s 
$400,000 Investment in Early Childhood Education 
 
2. 
Community Events Update – Randy Babchuk, Field Operations/Parks & Recreation 
Director 
 
3. 
Reminder: The City Council Meetings scheduled on Tuesday, November 25, 2025 and 
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 are cancelled for fall and winter recess. The City Hall 
holiday closure is scheduled from December 22, 2025 to December 26, 2025. 
L. 
CONVENE INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION 
 
1. 
Motion to go into executive session. 
 
Council Member Erives moved to convene into executive session at 7:27 PM; the 
motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The motion carried 6 to 0. 
Mayor Rodriguez – Aye  
 
Vice Mayor Davis – Aye   
Council Member Chavira – Aye 
Council Member Erives – Aye  
Council Member Gámez – Aye 
Council Member Mendoza – Aye

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2. 
Convene into an executive session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(3) and (A)(4) to 
receive legal advice and discuss and consult with the City Attorney regarding a contract 
that is the subject of negotiations relating to joint use of school facilities and funding. 
M. RECONVENE INTO PUBLIC MEETING 
N. ACTION ITEM 
 
1. 
Adopt/Deny Resolution 2625 of the Mayor and Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, 
approving the First Amendment of the Intergovernmental Agreement between the 
City of Tolleson and Tolleson Elementary School District No. 17 to include expenditure 
of funding for students with disabilities and authorizing the City Manager to execute 
said Agreement. (City Management Department) 
 
Council Member Erives moved to adopt Resolution No. 2625; the motion was 
seconded by Council Member Chavira. The motion carried 6 to 0. 
Mayor Rodriguez – Aye  
 
Vice Mayor Davis – Aye   
Council Member Chavira – Aye 
Council Member Erives – Aye  
Council Member Gámez – Aye 
Council Member Mendoza – Aye 
O. ADJOURNMENT 
Council Member Mendoza moved to adjourn the Regular City Council Meeting at 8:09 
PM; the motion was seconded by Council Member Gámez. The motion carried 6 to 0. 
Mayor Rodriguez – Aye  
 
Vice Mayor Davis – Aye   
Council Member Chavira – Aye 
Council Member Erives – Aye  
Council Member Gámez – Aye 
Council Member Mendoza – Aye 
 
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.  
 
Zoom’s live transcription feature can provide automatic captioning by clicking on the Closed 
Caption (CC) button during the meeting.

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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
CHASSE BUILDING TEAM INC
$3,760,614.23
101506
10/28/2025
ACHEN-GARDNER CONSTRUCTION LLC
$462,920.20
101455
10/22/2025
EMPIRE SOUTHWEST LLC
$174,020.17
101524
10/30/2025
HAYDON BUILDING CORP
$64,355.25
186110
10/29/2025
FSL HOME IMPROVEMENTS
$55,298.45
186088
10/23/2025
WACO LLC
$55,010.59
186149
10/29/2025
KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC.
$50,835.00
101482
10/24/2025
AZ PUBLIC SAFETY PERSONNEL RETIREMENT SYSTEM
$37,491.88
101499
10/28/2025
SEA-WESTERN INC
$36,345.00
101490
10/24/2025
SEA-WESTERN INC
$36,344.98
101490
10/24/2025
LYFT, INC.
$29,550.10
101467
10/22/2025
AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, POLICE
$26,136.61
101500
10/28/2025
AMERICAN FENCE COMPANY OF AZ INC
$18,900.00
101520
10/30/2025
AMERICAN FENCE COMPANY OF AZ INC
$18,794.05
101520
10/30/2025
ADAPTIVE ARCHITECTS INC
$18,240.00
186082
10/23/2025
BAKER TILLY ADVISORY GROUP PARENT
$18,000.00
101479
10/24/2025
POWERDMS INC
$14,338.76
186122
10/29/2025
LOGICALIS INC
$14,065.26
101466
10/22/2025
JACOBS ENGINEERING GROUP INC
$14,007.50
101463
10/22/2025
MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
$13,535.59
186116
10/29/2025
TOLLESON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIST.#17
$13,178.00
186084
10/23/2025
TOLLESON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIST.#17
$11,162.00
186085
10/23/2025
HILL BROTHERS CHEMICAL CO.
$10,787.84
186111
10/29/2025
City of Tolleson
Checks Recorded
Check Dates: October 22, 2025 to November 4, 2025
PAYMENTS OVER $10,000

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 1 of 42 
 
 
 
 
Post-Production File 
 
 
 
 
City of Tolleson 
City Council Meeting Minutes 
November 12, 2025 
 
 
 
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 
 
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 2 of 42 
 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  Thank you, Crystal. 
All right.  Good evening everyone.  Welcome.  I am Mayor Juan F.  Rodriguez.  Today is 
November 12th, and I would like to call the city council meeting to order.  To get it 
started, we're going to move on to our invocation and Pledge of Allegiance.  So I'm going 
to ask our city attorney, Justin Pierce, to lead us in the invocation, and council member 
Gamez will lead us in the pledge.  Please stand.  
PIERCE:  Our beloved father who art in heaven, we come before thee in prayer today to 
give thee thanks for the many blessings of being able to live in this free country, to be 
able to live in this beautiful area of the country.  We're so grateful for this time of year 
where we have to enjoy the beautiful weather and enjoy outdoor activities and pray 
that thou would please continue to bless all of us here with health and with prosperity. 
Please bless this council to be able to make decisions that would be prudent and wise.  
Please give them wisdom, give them the good judgment to act in accordance with those 
things that would be most beneficial to the wonderful people of this great City of 
Tolleson. 
Father, we ask for protection on those who work to protect us, and we again, thank 
thee and pray that we will allow the spirit of peacemaking to be in our hearts, especially 
during this time of year as we celebrate the Prince of Peace.  And we pray for these 
things in his name, Jesus Christ.  Amen.   
ALL:  I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic 
for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  Thank you both.  And City Attorney, the invocation 
reminded me that today is a blessed day.  I guess we should have started with this, but 
after 7 weeks and about 50 days of us waiting to get some representation in the US 
Congress, it looks like Adelita Grijalva, our District 7 U.S. House of Representative, has 
been officially sworn in.  And the great people of District 7, which includes the awesome 
people of Tolleson, now have a voice in Congress.  So I think we should give her a big 
round of applause.  And by the way, the speaker gave her a 46-minute speech that took 
less than 20 seconds.  Just so you guys know.

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
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With that, we will do the roll call.  City clerk, let the record show that all members are 
here with the exception of Councilwoman Laborin.  It is now final call to submit speaker 
request forms.  All speakers will be limited to three minutes for comments only.   
Actions taken as a result of public comments will be limited to, number one, responding 
to criticism, two, directing staff to review the matter or three, asking that the matter be 
put on a future agenda item.  City Clerk, do we have any speaker request forms at this 
time?  
ZAMORA:  We do not, Mayor.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All right.  Moving on to call to the public.  This is for nonagenda 
action items.  It all applies the same.  City Clerk, do we have any nonagenda action items 
or (indiscernible).  
ZAMORA:  No sir.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  Item F, scheduled public appearances proclamations for 
discussion.  Item number one, proclamation declaring November 2025 as Native 
American Heritage Month in the City of Tolleson to recognize and celebrate the rich 
history, culture, and contributions of Native Americans and to encourage all residents to 
honor and learn more about the heritage and traditions that continue to shape our 
community and our nation. 
Deputy City Manager Wendy Jackson, I'll turn over the floor to you.  
JACKSON:  Yes.  Good evening, Mr. Mayor.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Sorry.  
ZAMORA:  Mayor, we did have one speaker request for Armando Morado.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  We have one request.  I'm sorry. Mr. Morado, you have the 
podium.  You have three minutes.  And the city clerk will let you know when your time 
starts, and she'll let you know if you're in over three minutes, which I doubt.  Okay.  
ZAMORA:  Mr. Morado, you have to speak in the mic because of the minutes.  It's being 
recorded.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Microphone.  Turn around.  
ZAMORA:  Just like that.  That's perfect.  Thank you.  Let me reset it.  Okay.

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 4 of 42 
 
MORADO:  Armando Morado, president of the service committee.  We service the 
community with a Thanksgiving dinner for the past 40 years.  This would have been our 
41st.  It has been canceled due to a miscommunication on doctor -- excuse me, Mr. 
Calles' (ph.) say-so.  My condition here is we're all well and we're doing beautiful.  We 
would love to serve the community, but we're unable to because money is of the 
essence.  He has requested $27,400 to be donated to the high school on our behalf. 
Even if we had the money, we've never dealt with this situation before.  So I decided not 
to have the dinner this year with the vote of the committee.  On board, we have two 
members at the council level that are part of this committee, Adolfo Gamez and Linda 
Laborin.  The rest are community area.  But my situation is I want the council and I want 
you, the public, to understand that we're here to serve the community.  We're here on a 
free basis.  We've never charged anything.  The City has always been very helpful to us.  
It started way back when, 40-some years ago, but when the City say something, they 
honor it.  When the high school says something, they would honor it.  This year, the 
honor didn't go nowhere.  I'm a man of my word.  I was raised by parents that honored 
what they said. 
My situation with Calles -- I'll call him.  Mr. Calles, for the record -- has gone nowhere.  
So my situation here is null and void.  But we do want you to understand, the 
community of Tolleson, that we appreciate all the support you have given us.  We will 
continue to abide for it for next year.  But as of this moment, it has been canceled on 
our behalf.  So I would be glad to answer any questions. 
If not, I want to thank the council, city manager and the staff for letting me speak 
tonight. 
Thank you, Mayor.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Mr. Morado, muchas gracias.  Thank you very much for your years 
of service and for your speech tonight. 
PIERCE:  Mr. Mayor -- just to be able to call to the public.  Of course, I know that it's -- 
especially given the topic, it would -- it's very tempting to want to talk more about it.  
The fact that the council cannot talk more about it is a function of the open meeting

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
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law.  So they will not be able to comment further on it, but it's just a function of the law, 
not because -- I'm sure you have lots to say about this.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I just wanted to thank them.  It's actually agenda item, so when 
that agenda item comes up, we'll talk about it then.  Muchas gracias.  Thank you. 
Wendy, as I was saying, it is -- we're looking to proclaim Native American Day or 
Native -- is that what it is?  Native American Heritage -- 
JACKSON:  Month.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  -- Month.  There you go.  Heritage month in the City of Tolleson.  I 
was going to turn it over to you for some words.  
JACKSON:  Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of council.  We are honoring the first 
peoples of this land whose history, traditions, and strength continue to shape our nation 
and our community.  We are especially mindful of the rich heritage of the Salt River 
Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the Gila River Indian Community, the Tohono 
O'odham Nation and Ak-Chin Indian Community, and the many other tribal nations 
whose presence and contributions remain a vital part of our region's history. 
This recognition reminds us to celebrate the deep cultural roots, enduring resilience, 
and lasting partnerships that strengthen our shared community.  And while this 
proclamation is a meaningful gesture, it represents more than just words on paper.  It 
reflects our respect for the relationships we've built with the local native communities 
and our continued commitment to listening, learning, and honoring their legacy every 
day.  So thank you so much for this proclamation.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I will say that over the years, the City of Tolleson and its residents 
have been recipients of many grants from the tribes here in the nation.  The one that 
comes to mind is Tohono O'odham.  They've been a partner for probably the better part 
of over a decade.  They've always been really nice to us.  They are -- I don't want to say 
legally obligated, but they have chosen to give a percentage of their of their winnings 
back to Arizona cities, and we have been benefited for many years now.  And we're very 
thankful for their contributions.  And we're very, very blessed to have a very strong 
partnership with them.

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
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So with that being said, I, Mayor Juan Rodriguez do hereby proclaim November 2025 as 
Native American Heritage Month in the City of Tolleson.  Be it proclaimed.   
All right.  We're going to move on to item number two.  This is a flashback.  We got 
some information about some employees that did tremendous work in a fellow city that 
was in high need.  And so we asked that -- we wanted more information and to properly 
recognize those employees.  And so therefore Utility Assistance Director Jim Boehnlein.  
Did I get it right?  That one.  Present the item tonight.  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 2:  Mr. Mayor, could I say his name correctly?  Because I 
practice a lot.  He asked.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Say it in Spanish.  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 2:  ['Byoon-lein].  Oh no, it's Boehnlein.  But we call him Jim 
['Bane-lien].  
BOEHNLEIN:  Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council.  Tonight, I have the honor 
of recognizing the Tolleson Utilities Department team members going above and 
beyond, serving our community and neighboring communities.  I would like to start by 
sharing this email from a resident about how Don (ph.) and Raul (ph.) saved the day.  So 
I'm going to read you this real quick.  One of our residents wrote in. 
"Good evening.  I want to commend your utilities department, specifically Don and his 
crew that helped me to retrieve my son's phone earlier today.  Let me paint a picture for 
you.  I was dropping my son off at school at 96th and Pierce, and as soon as his door 
opens, his brand-new phone I had just bought drops down in the sewer." 
Actually, it was the gutter, so it was a storm gutter.  It wasn't the sewer, but thank 
goodness. 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Big difference. 
BOEHNLEIN:  "We were both frantic and didn't know what to do.  There's no way we can 
retrieve it without any tools and he has to go to school, so I promised him that I'm going 
to try my best to get ahold of somebody at Tolleson to help us out.  To be honest with 
you, I was not expecting much help.  I know that there are other, more important 
matters to get to, and I was not expecting any type of special help.

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
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"That was not the case.  As soon as I called you guys, your administrative assistant gets 
my information and my phone number and promises to get back in touch with me.  
Within the hour, I get a call from Don letting me know that he's headed out around the 
area, and with a bit of instruction, he's able to go find where my son dropped his phone, 
and thankfully, we were able to retrieve it with his crew.  He even went above and 
beyond and dropped it off at my son's high school, being that I work all the way up on 
Bell Road and was not able to pick up the phone right away. 
"I also happened to work for a utilities department, EPCOR, and know how busy you 
guys' department can be.  The fact that your team was able to get out, go out of their 
way, and help my son out is not lost on me.  I don't know if there's any type of 
recognition programs that your department runs, but if you do, I highly recommend that 
Don and his crew are nominated for it.  Thank you for your time reading this, Leah 
(ph.)." 
So I'd like to recognize Don and Raul. 
If you could -- please, Don. 
Please stand up.  Raul.   
And next, I'd like to introduce Kevin Larson, who is our wastewater manager.  And he's 
helped with disaster relief in Gila Bend; Jackson, Mississippi; and now also with Globe.    
LARSON:  You guys hear me?  Okay.  Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of 
council.  Sorry.  I'm always nervous when I stand up here.  I hate public speaking, so try 
to get through this little bit. 
So we have a vendor that helps us out here in Tolleson, and this vendor sells specialty 
equipment for cleaning sewer lines.  And they came out to provide us training one day 
and explained to us that they were going to have to cut the training short, and alluded 
to the fact that they had to go out and train Globe on the equipment that they had just 
purchased.  So the crew kind of threw me under the bus and gave him my information.  
And so that's kind of what spawned this this little Globe adventure. 
So I had reached out to that individual and just told him when he goes out, kind of gets a 
pulse on what's going on out there, if they had any questions to feel free to give me a

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
NOVEMBER 12, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
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call.  So I did subsequently receive that call.  And based off of that, we had a bunch of 
awesome team members go out there and give Globe a hand.  So I'm just going to -- 
here, let me back that one up a little bit, because that kind of gives the picture of what's 
going on.   
So as most everybody knows, back in the end of September, Globe had some 
devastating flooding that came through.  And after the waters recede, there's lots of 
other things that have to happen.  Things that people just take for granted and you 
don't really think about every single day.  So the team that's sitting behind me, I'm going 
to throw them under the bus right now because I want them to stand and be 
recognized. 
So we're going to start with Mr. -- we'll start with Mr. Clark (ph.), because you made me 
stand up earlier.   
So we're actually missing three individuals tonight.  So Michael Cunningham (ph.), Victor 
Trevino (ph.) and Robert Shirey (ph.), they had prior engagements and couldn't make it 
tonight.  So anyways, as I started to get a little bit of information, talked with the Globe 
team, see what's going on, what their needs are, it became very apparent that their 
resources were stretched very thin.  As storms come through, there's also other 
communities that are affected by them.  They may not get the flooding, but they also 
get the infiltration into the sewer system, so that means your resources, such as 
contractors, they're spread thin and they can't always come and help.  So in situations 
like this, utilities generally lean on each other, and Tolleson was in in the right position.  
And Tolleson was granted authorization to go out and assist, and for that, we're 
thankful.  We appreciate the executive management team that gave us the latitude to 
go out and help this situation out.   
So the next slide is just going to demonstrate what goes on during a flood.  So the top 
slide is actually a tandem axle trailer that was shoved underneath one of the road 
crossings over the main drag that runs right through Globe.  I mean, you can see it 
sitting just beneath a ductile iron water main.  So a little bit higher and they probably 
would have had a little bit more insult to injury.

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But the slide below that, the debris that you see sitting out in the middle of the wash, 
that's actually a manhole frame and cover attached to a reducer, so you call that a 
manhole cone.  So that assembly probably weighs about 1,500 pounds with the 
concrete and slag and everything that's around it.  So all of their sewer trunk lines 
actually run through the Pinal Creek, and that creek is what actually surged and started 
moving infrastructure around.  And so as that infrastructure gets moved around, you 
see what happens in the picture.  And that's the subsequent sanitary sewer overflow 
that happened as a result of that, the destructive nature of the flood. 
So what you're actually seeing in this picture right here -- so we get out there, we don't 
know anything about their system.  We've never met any of their employees, but you 
get out there and you just kind of come together and figure out what resources that you 
actually have.  So the team that's sitting back here did a really, really, really good job 
with coordinating with Globe's team, which was spread very thin and really hard to get 
ahold of.  You've got to establish communications.  Who are you?  Where are you 
getting water to fill the truck up?  Where are you getting fuel?  Do you have any other 
needs that we're not seeing yet?  Right? 
So the team did a really good job in getting out there, assessing what's going on, and we 
got partnered up with an underground contractor that does a lot of work for Globe.  So 
they didn't have the specialized equipment to clean the sewer lines, but we also needed 
a partnership to be able to get down in the wash.  So where you see that truck sitting at, 
that little road actually had to be built just to get the truck into position where it's at.  
And what the team is actually doing is having a safety briefing before they get 
everything going.  Just what hazards are you going to encounter?  What do you need to 
do?  What's the focus?  What do you need to do right now?  That's what they're down 
there figuring out.   
So the next slide right here, this is generally when you come up to a sanitary sewer 
overflow, you want to go downstream so that you can try to pop that blockage.  And 
when a flood comes through and reshapes the landscape, you don't necessarily know 
where downstream is.  I mean, we must have wandered through that wash the first day.

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Couple of us were there with the team just to see what resources they had and what we 
needed to provide for them.  So we must walk past this location 100 times, not knowing 
that the rest of that manhole was buried below all of that cobble. 
So this was probably a couple days in, and they can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a 
couple days in and just searching around, looking for the needle in the haystack and not 
necessarily knowing where it is.  But then once you actually uncover it, it's a whole 
different ball game trying to get it cleaned out.  That truck that we took down there, 
that's not removing any of that.  It'll get you started, but it's called good old-fashioned 
manual labor that actually gets the job done.   
So this picture right here, I've got a little caption on there of not your everyday task.  So 
as you have all that flooding that came through, you also have all the mountains that are 
above you and you have all the groundwater infiltration.  So as you're trying to work on 
a sanitary sewer overflow, you're also trying to manage the water that's also going to 
infiltrate that collection system. 
So the picture on the left here just illustrates -- if you can see the there's two green lines 
on there, and one of them is outside that manhole barrel?  That's actually trying to 
mitigate groundwater that would otherwise be flooding out their excavation.  And then 
on top of that, you also have to bypass your environmental hazard.   
And then the slide to the right is just the good old-fashioned manual labor.  That's the 
team doing their thing; recognizing what's going on, what are their capabilities, what's 
your equipment's capability, right?  So all of this debris was actually removed by hand.  
Some of it was removed with machines.  In other situations, they started stripping off 
the manhole rings and actually took the gradient down so that they could use 
equipment to remove it.  But all of this was done by hand until they actually get to the 
collection line.  And this is just what you can see.  You've also got, in some cases, up to 
800-foot runs of -- 14 or 12 sewer mains?  14?  Yeah, so the actual sewer trunk line is a 
14-inch pipeline that they now have to get all of this stuff out of that you can't see, 
either.   
So as all that stuff was going on and the crew was out there doing their thing, assessing,

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you know, what's the plan of action, where are we going to next, they're actually 
rebuilding as they go.  So the underground contractor that they were partnered up with, 
they collaborated with them very, very well.  I think there might be some lasting 
friendships out of this deal, as well.  But they were able to collaborate with everybody 
that was out there and get a plan of attack going on and ultimately help to rebuild their 
collection system.   
But then, about just shy of three weeks later, floods out there happen again.  And so 
when it happened again, of course, it's the same situation.  This time, it -- I actually think 
that it moved more water, but it moved a lot more of the larger rocks the first time.  So 
the second time you had a bunch of sand that infiltrated the sewer system.  So back to 
Globe we went to assist one more time. 
So I think total, all in all, between both events, the team was out there for a total of 
eight days.  So that included deployment, travel time, and actual time out there 
working.  And just because they deployed one morning doesn't mean they didn't work 
until it was dark or after dark the same night.  So the crew that went out there -- the 
team functioned as a team, they were able to seamlessly integrate with those that were 
out there that they were assisting, and they did an absolutely fantastic job.   
So we got one more thing that city management helped us put together.  Kind of the 
buzz that we kept hearing out there was just a little bit of resources.  Everybody's 
working really, really hard.  We also have a partner here in Tolleson that was able to get 
a nice little donation going on.  So Robert and Ron actually went and picked up that 
donation, delivered it directly to the Red Cross, and I forget who the other 
organization -- was it the Salvation Army?  So they were set up out at the fairgrounds, 
accepting these donations, and this donation was intended for disbursement to 
frontline workers first and then the general population of Globe next. 
So with that, that's all I got.  In case anybody has some questions.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I don't know if you guys have questions at this time.  I got some 
comments. 
Yeah.  One question.  Council member?

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GAMEZ:  Was there any other cities that participated?  
LARSON:  So the best that we've been able to find out is there was no other cities that 
went out and assisted Globe.  There was a -- there was a couple tribal nations that went 
out there.  The San Carlos Indian Reservation went out and they were assisting.  There 
was some wildland firefighters that were out there, also.  But the best that we can tell, 
there were no other cities that answered that call and helped them out.  You're 
welcome.  
GAMEZ:  Proud of you guys.  Thank you.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Other comments or questions at this time?  
ERIVES:  Not questions, just more comments.  Just, thank you. 
As a teacher, that storm that I remember, we had a four-hour lockdown situation.  They 
told all the classrooms just to stay inside, stay inside -- that there was so much thunder 
and lightning and just the storm was just very dangerous, for us to stay shelter in place 
inside the classroom.  Buckets were needed because not all classrooms have bathrooms 
or buildings have bathrooms. 
And that one small event was kind of traumatizing.  The students were -- what's 
happening, Miss?  What's happening?  What's going?  Is it really that bad now?  It can't 
be that bad.  All the cell phones go off as far as beep, beep, beep.  There's a, you know, 
weather alert, weather alert.  Oh, it must be real. 
Then we go home, right?  And then we hear about other cities, other communities.  We 
were inside a building, safe, dry.  But how other people, they were eating their dinner 
and how this water just comes in, and the devastation.  And we're like, we're in a desert.  
It doesn't rain this much.  Like, how can this be so horrible and terrible?  But to see that 
people were missing.  Like, the waters just took people and their homes and their 
businesses and their lives just in an instant with this water.  No prior notice to even be 
ready for.  They just -- it was just devastation. 
And of course, we always want to say, well, how can we help?  How can we help?  
Before I could even ask, how can we help -- ma'am, we're already on it.  The cities are 
working together.  We have a department -- utility is going to go out and help out

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because this community is in need.  It's the same as our community, right?  The same 
people that live in Globe could be my uncle, my cousin, my brother.  It's our families, 
right?  And so to know that you all just sprung into action.  Didn't need to.  Should we? 
should we not?  You know, would be good?  You just jump in and help.  Maybe there are 
no other communities who were able to help, but to know that our Tolleson truck was 
there right in front of that picture that says Globe, this community that needed help. 
I can just imagine being a first responder, but my house was destroyed, too.  My 
restaurant was destroyed too.  And yet here I'm trying to move the dirt away or the -- 
this rubble or even find my family member who might be missing.  Like, all of those 
feelings go in, but it warms my heart to see that picture and says Tolleson's truck is 
there.  Tolleson -- those -- your expertise?  Because I could go and do nothing, other 
than -- but you all knew exactly what to do, and you seamlessly worked with the officials 
in Globe to figure out and work together and solve the problem because they need to 
drink water.  They need to go back to their normalcy and grieve, because their 
community was just wrecked by this storm. 
I can't say more than just thank you.  Thank you.  How honored I am to you for going 
out, leaving your families to go help other families.  Leaving Tolleson to go help other 
community.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  And then it happens again, right?  You 
said take two.  You're still there.  And I'm sure if something -- you know, hopefully it 
doesn't happen a third time.  We're there to help one another.  And if we need it, I 
know another community will come and help us.  But thank you, thank you, thank you.  
LARSON:  I'd like to say one more thing, also.  So the work that this team did out there, 
that excellence that they practice every single day, they bring that to this community 
every single day.  I'm humbled every day that I get to work with this team, just the 
greatness that they have around them.  
ERIVES:  So thank you.  Thank you again.  
DAVIS:  A while back, we declared it, like, utilities -- National Utility Worker Day or 
something like that at one of the council meetings.  And I remember saying that, you 
know, the utility workers and just city workers in general are not something we really

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talk about very often unless there's a problem.  And so we don't have to talk about you 
guys very often because there's not very many problems, so thank you for that. 
And just thank you for your willingness to serve and go help this community that was in 
complete just disarray and destruction.  I happen to be pretty good friends with a 
council member from the City of Globe, and they were in a bad way.  He's a business 
owner there.  His business is -- he has two businesses there and just in shambles.  So the 
fact that Tolleson was able to, you know, deploy and take action quickly, I think speaks 
volumes of who we are as a community and what we represent.  It speaks to the true 
spirit of Tolleson.  We are a family, right?  We're a family and we love each other.  And 
we spread that love throughout the community and the region. 
So again, thank you guys very much for your service and making that sacrifice.  And like 
our former vice mayor, Councilwoman Erives said, thank you for the sacrifice and 
leaving your families to go and help this community.  Because, you know, there might be 
a day when we need it and hopefully, you know, some of these communities will answer 
the call.  So thank you guys. 
ERIVES:  Thank you.   
CHAVIRA:  What I love most about this town is that we have heart.  And you guys really 
showed that, because you did.  You had to leave your families and your homes, and it's 
not just a job.  It was going and helping other people in need, and that's pretty 
awesome.  So thank you.  Tolleson does have heart.  Awesome.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  One of the things that I noticed is people were asking, you know, a 
lot of times, city employees, especially when you get into the line departments, your 
water department, public works -- you know, we work in isolation a lot of times in small 
teams and projects that are usually off the beaten path.  And so credit is hard to come by.  
And people, other departments were asking me, were we really in Globe?  Was it -- was 
that our guys out there busting, it?  Like, yeah. 
And then I go home and, you know, my mom sees the news.  (Speaking Spanish).  So I can 
tell you guys it's not just the city council that's extremely grateful and proud of what you 
guys have done, but it's also all the employees in the organization, all the residents who

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have come up to us and told us, I can't believe that our people were out there doing such 
good work. 
So I think on behalf of the Council, we can all say that we are beyond proud of you guys' 
contributions, you guys' efforts, and just want to say excellent work.  I mean, the word 
excellence is really the highlight of this meeting, this segment right here.  That's exactly 
what you guys delivered.  Excellent work for people that were in need in a remote place 
of the state where, as people said, a lot of cities didn't respond.  Yet we did, and you guys 
were the spear that hit.  You guys' efforts made a huge difference.  Muchas gracias. 
City Manager. 
JACKSON:  Hi.  Good evening.  There is also something else I would like to say.  It's an 
honor working with all of the employees.  We do demonstrate caring every day, every 
department.  But in the utilities department under Jamie's leadership, he's very 
inspirational.  I just wanted to make sure that we recognize the assistant director, Jim 
Boehnlein.  Sorry for the pronunciation.  He earned his four-by-four certification today.  
He just passed that test, and we may have more four-by-fours than any other city per 
employee capita, but -- I don't know, I have to look at the statistics, but this is a great 
honor to have so many four-by-fours working in one small department. 
So it's a testament to the leadership of the division, all of the managers that are there, 
and I'm really proud to say that I work for Tolleson and knowing that I'm around all of 
these great employees who definitely take your core values and put them into action 
every day.  
DAVIS:  I have to say one more thing.  I'm extra proud because one of the ones who was 
deployed was my godfather, Gus Clark (ph.).  So I got to give him a shout out while I'm 
up here.  He made everyone stand already so --  
LARSON:  Thank you.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  On one last round of applause for Gus and the rest of the team.  
Great job guys. 
Okay.  We're going to rock and roll here.  Moving on to Item G, business from the floor.  
We don't have any.

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Item H, consent agenda action items.  I see items 1 through 4. 
How say you? 
GAMEZ:  Move, Mr. Mayor.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Got a motion from Council Member Gamez.  Got a second?  
ERIVES:  Yes.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Question?   
ERIVES:  Yes.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  We have a question.  
ERIVES:  Is there any way we could get a photo before everyone starts heading out, with 
the department?  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Can we get a picture?  All right. 
Come on up.  You guys all have matching shirts.  You might as well.  
ERIVES:  Well.  Yeah.  I mean, we don't get this every day, right?  This is awesome.  
[CROSS TALK] 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Thanks again, guys. 
All right.  So as I was saying, I have a first by Council Member Gamez, I have a question.  
We have a --  
ERIVES:  Second.  It was quick.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Council Member.  
ERIVES:  Davis.  Uh-huh.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All those in -- where did I leave off?  
DAVIS:  Consent agenda?  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Yeah.  No, I think I might have -- yes.  So all those in favor of 
approving the consent action items please signify by saying aye.  
ALL:  Aye.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Those opposed. 
Motion passes unanimously.  Thank you very much.  We're going to move on to regular 
action agenda items.  This is to approve -- item number 1 is to approve or deny the 
reimbursement to Vanguard Truck Holdings, LLC.  Tolleson 70, pursuant to Section 3

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PAD of the development agreement between the City of Tolleson and Vanguard Truck 
Holding, LLC, also known as Tolleson 70, approved by the City of Tolleson on July 11th, 
2023, through resolution Number 2539, the City shall reimburse Vanguard for the actual 
cost of -- incurred for the design, construction, and installation of required public 
infrastructure improvements in the amount not to exceed $1 million. 
Chief Financial Officer Artz, you have the floor, sir.  
ARTZ:  Thank you, Mayor.  Good evening, Mayor and Council.  As the mayor just stated, 
what's before you tonight is just -- we're asking for approval of a reimbursement for a 
development agreement.  The development agreement provided that we would 
reimburse the developer up to $1 million for public infrastructure improvements.  
We've gotten their cost.  The city engineer has gone through that, determined that 
there was more than $1 million of cost for the public infrastructure.  The development 
agreement limited it to $1 million, so we're asking for Council's approval to reimburse 
them $1 million. 
Now, that'll occur over time.  It's a sales tax rebate, and so we're rebating 49 percent of 
future sales tax that we'll get from the developer.  And so it will take four or five -- I 
think the development agreement is five years that it caps it at.  So this will be the 
approval for the reimbursement, and as those sales tax revenues come in, we'll 
reimburse them on a quarterly basis. 
So with that, staff's available if you have any other questions.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Any questions from Council at this time?  
GAMEZ:  Yeah, I have a question.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Council Member Gamez.   
GAMEZ:  The maker of the motion, should we include the time?  Five years.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  In the contract?  
ARTZ:  That's in the development agreement so --  
PIERCE:  So good question, though.  Thank you.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  We have a motion to approve.  We have a second by 
Councilwoman Chavira.  Again, this will be a reimbursement, so all sales tax revenue

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coming from that development will first reimburse them.  So it's not going to hit our 
general fund on the front end.  It'll hit it on the back end.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  City Manager Medrano?  
MEDRANO:  I'd like to make a brief comment.  Mayor, you may remember this, but 
when we did the -- what we call the Rados Development Agreement on 803910, you 
were asking us questions about it and once we explained it -- because that was the first 
large sales tax reimbursement development agreement we ever did.  And once we 
explained, you put it so succinctly and I never forgot it.  You said, oh, so it's new money.  
We don't rely on it for our operation.  I said, nope, that's exactly it.  So we don't rely on 
this yet. 
And then the faster they pay -- we pay it off, the sooner we get all 100 percent of their 
revenue.  And typically our experience has been -- which, you know, makes no 
guarantee, trucking firms, usually, once they get ramped up, we reimburse them 
quickly.  So we've done, I guess, this is our third or fourth.  
DAVIS:  Do we have any idea what, like, their estimated revenue is going to be from 
that?  I don't know how that would work.  
ARTZ:  Mayor, Vice Mayor, we did have some estimates.  I don't recall exactly what they 
were, but when we structured the deal, basically felt like they would be able to be paid 
off in that five-year time frame.  So their revenues should -- they're getting rebated 49 
percent, so we should get $2 million over the next five years.  A million of that would be 
going back to them.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  (Indiscernible). 
ERIVES:  His numbers.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay, having said that, any other questions at this time? 
No?  Okay.  I will entertain a motion to approve. 
Did you make a motion? 
We have a motion.  
ZAMORA:  We have two motions. We just need all in favor.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Well in that case, all in favor signify by saying aye.

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ALL:  Aye.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All those opposed? 
Not hearing any.  Motion passes unanimously.  Thank you very much. 
All right.  We're going to move on to item number two.  This is a good one, guys.  
Approve or deny a fiscal year 2026 budget transfer in the amount of $100,000 from the 
Aquatic Center operating budget to the Human Services budget to fund Thanksgiving 
food boxes for Tolleson community.  So I'm going to call up Randy to talk about this. 
And do you want Randy (ph.) to go or?  That's fine.  
PIERCE:  I can introduce it.  I'll turn it over to Randy really fast because he pulled it off.  
But I want -- our team is too humble, so I want to acknowledge Pilar,  Randy, Wendy, 
George, Jason, everybody else involved in -- Kevin, and us just getting together to come 
up with this solution.  And thank our -- Randy will thank our corporate partners, but I 
just wanted to tell Council that our team had this together within a day.  By the next 
day, we had our corporate partners on board.  And I'm very proud, like, we talked about 
our utilities division, who has served well beyond Tolleson's boundaries since 1968.  I'm 
very proud of our team for getting this plan together so quickly.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Randy, before I turn it over to you, I got some talking points.  I'll 
just run over it really quick and then I'll switch it over to Randy.   
So to return back to some earlier comments that were made today, Tolleson has a very 
big problem with taking no for an answer.  So I can tell you that under no circumstances 
will we take no.  This is a long-standing tradition.  I, as a child, used to dance in this 
specific Thanksgiving dinner -- Dr. Landis Thanksgiving dinner as a ballet folklorico kid.  
And so our roots go back to our youth, and there's no way that we're just going to allow 
any person, not one, not a board, not anybody to get in the way of our ability to deliver 
good service to our community. 
So with that being said, the City of Tolleson is proud to provide free Thanksgiving meal 
boxes to local families this holiday season.  We're stepping in to ensure families receive 
a Thanksgiving meal since Dr. Landis' Thanksgiving dinner will not take place this year.  
This effort continues Tolleson's long standing tradition of caring for one another and

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supporting families in need.  Each meal box will include a ready-to-enjoy Thanksgiving 
meal provided with care by the City of Tolleson.  A total of 800 meals will be given out to 
our community.  Residents are eligible -- eligibility and registration will be determined 
by those that qualify for SNAP food stamps and/or WIC benefits.  Registration will open 
Monday, November 10th, which is already open.  Sign up at the Tolleson webpage.  
Distribution day will be Tuesday, November 25th, here at City Hall.  Pick up time and 
locations will be provided to confirmed registrants. 
If all 800 boxes are not claimed, a second round of signups will open up -- will be opened 
up to the entire Tolleson community, ensuring that every box goes to a family that can 
use it.  This program is important because, according to the 2023 census ACS data, 
20.5% of Tolleson households receive SNAP benefits.  That's 539 out of 2,630 
households.  Nearly half, 48.6% of those households include at least one person aged 60 
or older.  About two thirds, 65 percent, of SNAP recipients' households are children 
under the age of 18.  Many households have both senior citizens and young kids living in 
the same house. 
Locally, our schools reflect this need as well.  Arizona Desert Elementary School, right 
next door to us, has 350 students on SNAP.  Porforio H.  Gonzalez Elementary School, 
where a lot of us went to proudly as Yellow Jackets, of course, have 285 students on 
SNAP.  These figures highlight the ongoing need to support families.  I'm not going to 
even get into what's happening at the federal government.  It doesn't matter.  We take 
care of home first.  These figures highlight the ongoing need to support families, 
especially seniors and children.  Note, some households include both, as I mentioned, 
seniors and children, so these categories sometimes overlap. 
Closing messages are simple.  This initiative is about spreading holiday cheer and 
ensuring that no family in Tolleson goes without a good Thanksgiving meal.  It 
represents the heart of our city, our neighborhoods supporting neighborhoods, and a 
community that takes care of its own. 
Thank you to the Tolleson staff, volunteers, and community partners for making this 
effort possible.

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I also want to thank the Tolleson Community Service Committee.  Mr. Morado here 
today who for decades has contributed time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears, his entire 
family amongst many other volunteers, Council Member Gamez, Councilwoman 
Laborin, who was not able to make it here, and all the other volunteers and community 
members.  Community member?  Gracias.  Thank you very much.  So the entire board of 
years of contribution to making this event a success, let's consider this a minor hiccup.  
One that I hope goes away really, really quick. 
So hiccup or not, every Tolleson family will be served, and we're going to make sure that 
800 full course meals, and Randy will go into details of how that's going to happen, but 
it brings me a lot of pride knowing that it doesn't matter who tries to get in our way.  
We're simply not going to give up.  No is not a possibility.  It doesn't -- it's not in our 
vocabulary.  They need to go to another city and try those games over there.  As far as 
we're concerned, we're going to take care of our community.  So with that, together, 
we're ensuring that every Tolleson family can gather around a table this Thanksgiving 
with the warmest gratitude and good food all around. 
So Randy?  
BABCHUK:  Thank you.  Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the Council, exactly what you 
said.  When we found out the government shutdown and SNAP benefits were being 
withheld and then the Landis dinner wasn't going to happen, we just felt that things 
started to compound and we wanted to end it at our level.  We didn't want the 
community to hear that they weren't getting anything for holidays.  So like Reyes 
explained, he set a team up so we can get some ideas going, and within a day we had a 
plan.  That same day, we went out and met with Sam's Club, who was able to secure 800 
boxes -- Thanksgiving boxes that will feed 8 to 10 individuals per box.  So we made sure 
that the families were going to get fed and it was going to be done right. 
So each meal -- they're precooked so you can either stick it in a microwave or an oven 
and it'll be ready to eat.  So if there's anyone that didn't have an oven or a place to cook, 
they'd still be able to have that food because it was already cooked.  We will be renting 
a box truck to keep it refrigerated when we pass it out on November 25th, two days

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before Thanksgiving.  So Sam's Club is graciously boxing everything for us.  They're going 
to have all the sides and desserts and rolls in one box and keep the protein separate, 
and we'll hand them out as they come in once they register for the 25th. 
So thank you to Sam's Club.  They've been a huge support.  They've given us a huge 
discount on the boxes.  When we were doing our research, the boxes were going to cost 
us over $120 with tax.  So they were gracious enough to bring it down to about 90.  So 
we were -- 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  (Indiscernible.)  
BABCHUK:  Eight and 10 people.  Yep.  So we definitely, you know, saw the need and 
brought it, you know, through to fruition with Pilar and Reyes and just the whole team.  
Everyone jumped into action.  No one, you know, sat around.  We wanted to make sure 
that we were able to solidify the 800 meals as much as we could.  So we were happy to 
just be a part of it.  So thank you guys for letting us do that. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Hard work.  You know, today is not an accident.  You know, many 
people have worked hard.  Our staff have done an amazing job of making something put 
together so quick and turning something that we would have lamented had we not 
done something about to something very positive.  And it's going to impact a lot of 
families, 800 to be exact.  So if you multiply that by 10 people, that's a lot of folks, so it's 
an amazing victory.  And it's not done yet.  We still got to work out the logistics to make 
it happen. 
So go ahead, Randy.  
BABCHUK:  We also got a call -- Reyes received a call from Richard from Revolution 
Ministry, and they wanted to find out and find ways to help our community, as well.  As 
you know, they're a church near the I-10 and 91st Avenue, and they were willing to help 
in any way they could.  So what they're doing for our community is the first 100 that 
sign up online -- we have the link.  We'll have it up on our website by the end of this 
week.  They're giving the first 100 registrants a gift card to Fry's for food.  So you'll have 
to be present at their third Sunday.  Doesn't matter if you're a member of their church, 
you just have to show up to that church on that third Sunday, and they'll give you that

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that gift card.  So we'll have that link up for them, but they've absolutely been amazing 
to work with, as well.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Council members?  
GAMEZ:  That's great.  I think it's fantastic.  And I'm really impressed that Mr. Trevino 
approached us in terms of Revolution wanted to -- Revolution Church -- get involved.  
They want to be partners, strong partners with the City.  And this is just the first step.  
PIERCE:  So we appreciate you letting us know, Council Member, when Mr. Trevino 
called you.  Thank you.  
GAMEZ:  I wanted to make sure that they were involved.  So this is just the first step of 
many to come, I'm sure.  
BABCHUK:  They've also contacted the elementary school, and they're going to be 
sending some volunteers for Stella's Market to help with volunteering just to run the 
logistics over there, just because they don't have enough staff and volunteers to help 
run that.  They want to do another Saturday during the month, so a total of three versus 
the one that they're doing now.  So they're -- Revolution is going to step in and help 
them with volunteers.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  That staff has posted a form.  I know a lot of Council Members 
have shown up in the past to help out the day of.  And so if you're interested in 
volunteering, a form has been posted, so all council members are welcome to show up 
and get a little sweat equity in and help out with the with the cause.  Other council 
members? 
Yes, Christine? 
CHAVIRA:  I want to take the time to thank the Morados and their community council 
for the many years of service that you've given to Tolleson and to the people of 
Tolleson, and the many meals, thousands of meals that have been served to families at 
Thanksgiving.  And grateful to the staff and to the rest of the City Council that the need 
will be met.  It might look a little different this year, but there still will be Thanksgiving 
on the table.  But thank you for all of your years of service.  
DAVIS:  I also want to thank you guys for all the work that you do for this community,

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just in general.  It's really unfortunate what happened this year, but I think, like Mayor 
said, we don't take no for an answer in Tolleson, and we don't let that kind of stuff slide.  
So I think they are trying to do stuff in another city.  I think it's Glendale, right?  Isn't that 
where they're trying to move to? 
But I think, you know, we continue to stand strong and we continue to serve our 
community in the ways that we can.  And this is just a beautiful testament again of the 
service and the spirit of Tolleson, and the love that we share for our community.  This 
really warms my heart that we're going to be able to serve Thanksgiving dinner to a lot 
of families.  It's so chaotic with the SNAP benefits and just all of the political things that 
are happening all around us, so if we can give a family just a sense of normalcy, just 
even for one day, I think that that, you know, is a blessing.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  That's a very strong statement, because when you subtract all the 
BS going on -- let's just put it like that and focus on the people that we serve.  This is 
exactly what this is designed to do.  The people of Tolleson are not going to go hungry 
on Thanksgiving Day.  
DAVIS:  I will say one more thing is that I'd pay some pretty good money to see you 
dance folklorico at Thanksgiving time.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  That's a long time ago.  I'm not quite the same dancer I used to be. 
Council Member Erives?  
ERIVES:  I just want to -- when you hear about Globe and how they had their 
catastrophe.  For me, seeing that Dr. Landis' dinner was going to be canceled kind of felt 
like that same thing as far as, like, what?  How can this be possible?  There's no way.  It 
has been so many years.  Like you had mentioned, dancing in there, students 
volunteering, the making turkeys and cooking, and the entire Tolleson service 
committee chopping, and it wasn't an event for all those that need it.  It was for a 
community to eat a meal together.  Adjoining of a time, whether I sat next to a someone 
I didn't know or a neighbor that I knew intimately, like it was just a wonderful ambiance 
to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner together.  And to hear that it was canceled, you know, 
$27,400 and all the other issues.  Just like in Globe -- what are we going to do?  How are

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we going to fix this?  How are we going to -- what?  What are we going to do? 
And to know that staff was on it instantly, didn't need to -- well, what should I don't 
know, maybe we could maybe think of -- no, you spring into action.  Why?  Because the 
need was there.  And yes, it's going to look different.  And yes, it's going to be different.  
But in essence, the table's still going to be set, the meal is still going to be on the table, 
and food is still going to be shared with loved ones.  And that's what Thanksgiving is 
about. 
Thank you, staff.  Thank you, Randy.  Thank you everyone who's worked together 
service community, Sam's Club, partners to come together again because something 
dramatic happens.  But some beautiful stories come out of this, I hope maybe with the 
boxes you could say, take pictures of your family enjoying this meal together so that it 
could be like a virtual Thanksgiving event, right?  So that we can see where people -- 
how they -- send them to the City so we can see.  
PIERCE:  Oh, great idea  
ERIVES:  Show that again the no turns into -- well, not yet, but now we're going to do 
this differently and how that's going to look.  And still the spirit is not lost.  So thank you, 
thank you.  But if we could -- 
DAVIS:  Hashtag Tolleson Thanksgiving. 
ERIVES:  Thank you.  Yes.  Thanksgiving something so that we can -- and social media can 
figure out that one.  But yes, right?  So we can see what this looks like.  So then, you 
know, $27,400 looks like this.  Looks like this.  Looks like this.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Every year when the roses used to die off, my nana make me 
come and cut all the roses off.  And I'd be like, let them fall on their own.  But then and 
then I would ask her, why are you making me cut the flowers off?  I mean, you've been 
growing them in this whole year, and the following year they would come back bigger.  
ERIVES:  Bigger.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  More beautiful and more -- more -- better stems.  I mean, they 
were just -- that was a way to make things better.  And sometimes you got to cut the 
bad roses off to get more beautiful ones down the road.  Councilmember.

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ERIVES:  We can do this.  Thank you, thank you.  
GAMEZ:  Just a question.  Where do we meet to help with the distribution?  
PIERCE:  Randy, we have ready for that yet or are we still putting that together?  
BABCHUK:  Yeah, we're ready for that.  So the day of the 25th, we have it marked as 
when we're going to be passing out the boxes at Veterans Park.  We didn't want to 
inundate downtown with traffic and people coming -- trying to come in and out and 
grab their boxes and waiting in line.  So where we had the COVID check in and out, 
that's where we're going to be passing out those boxes.  So you guys are more than 
welcome. 
Council Members, we'd love to have you guys out there, help passing out boxes.  And I'd 
be remiss again, without community leaders like the Morados leading it and you know, 
making sure that we are doing our civic duties.  I mean, it's been amazing just working 
with them for the Landis dinners all these years that I've been here, and I've been here 
for 15 years, and I've worked with them for that long.  
GAMEZ:  So what time are we meeting?  
BABCHUK:  We have it slated from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the 25th.  That Tuesday.  
Yep.  Tuesday before.  
GAMEZ:  One more comment.  It's the Landis Diaz Thanksgiving dinner.  Okay?  Because 
Landis was a tough man.  Honest man.  Great man.  But Mrs. Diaz was a little dynamite.  
(Spanish spoken).  She would always make sure you took care of business, and I think 
she deserves that recognition, as well, so because her daughters are here, I want to 
make sure she gets it.  Thank you.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I'm going to miss one thing, you know.  Well, actually, I have a 
question, and I'll tell you what I'm going to miss.  The question is every year the veterans 
will load up their trucks and go out and deliver meals to people that weren't physically 
able to come to city -- to the high school.  So what are we doing for people that are 
homebound?  
BABCHUK:  Mayor, Members of the council, we do have on the questionnaire to make 
sure if they can pick it up, there's a little check box if they can.  If they can't, we'll deliver

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them.  So we will be able to deliver.  And we want to make sure that those homebound 
community members get their meal, as well.  
ERIVES:  Nice.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Let's make sure we get the right address, too.  There's been times 
where we dropped and drove around the block a couple times trying to find a house, 
but -- no, that's great, because a lot of those folks were either disabled or got in an 
accident or just, for whatever reason, weren't able to come down, and so we got to -- 
we got to remember even those that, that are not physically able to come. 
But every time that I would go to the Thanksgiving dinner, you know, you could smell 
the turkey, you could smell the potatoes, you could smell all the ingredients, you know, 
and then you see the plate.  And I'm not going to lie, man.  By the time I got home, I was 
starving.  And I'm not even a turkey guy.  But that scent would make me want a plate of 
turkey. 
So I'm going to miss that a little bit.  But I think it's going to be temporary.  We'll be back 
at it soon enough.  But in that time, Tolleson (Spanish spoken)..  So in the interim, we're 
going to keep partying.  We're still going to keep doing good work and we're going to 
get the job done.  So again, thank you all for everything that you've done. 
Reyes, do you have anything else you want to add? 
Okay.  Other Council Members before we -- okay. 
Well ,this is an action item.  So all that great talk was great.  Let's hope it passes. 
DAVIS:  So motion to approve.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  We have a motion by vice mayor.  We have a second by 
Councilwoman Christina Chavira.  All those in favor of approving, please signify by saying 
aye.  
ALL:  Aye.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All those opposed, say nay. 
Not hearing any nays.  This is a great day today, guys.  Great work.  And this motion has 
officially passed unanimously.  I think that deserves a round of applause. 
Okay work, study, and presentation for discussion.  Fiscal year 2025 fourth quarter year,

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year-end update and Fiscal year 2026 first quarter update. 
Chief Financial Officer Artz, you're back up.  
ARTZ:  Mayor and Council.  
ERIVES:  Good evening.  
ARTZ:  Happy to be here tonight to go over two things, basically.  To do a year-end 
review for last year that ended June of 2025.  And then also look at the first quarter of 
2026. 
So looking at the general fund revenues, everything for last year that ended June 30th, 
2025, everything is looking very positive.  Our total revenue and our general fund came 
in at $61 million.  We had budgeted $44 million.  So we're at 136 percent of our budget 
for that.  So revenues continue to come in strong.  The largest revenue source being the 
sales tax, and that coming in at 128 percent.  The only one that's a little bit -- that didn't 
hit budget is our license and permits, and that's something that we'll look at in future 
years and start adjusting that down.  As we're getting closer to build out, we're not 
seeing as many permits being issued, and so we'll have to start adjusting that one going 
down.  But on the revenue side, it looks very positive for us.   
Looking at all funds -- so again, general funds at 136 percent.  HURF, which is our streets 
fund, came in at 114 percent.  Public safety, that's the half-cent dedicated sales tax that 
goes to public safety, came in at 102 percent.  Water, sanitation coming in right above 
budget and right at budget.  
Wastewater is a little bit different.  That's at 53 percent, but that's -- we get revenue for 
our capital projects that we do at the wastewater treatment plant.  So if we don't 
complete construction or if we don't construct something then, we don't get all of the 
revenue that we had budgeted.  But when we get to the next slide, you can see there 
that the actual revenue's $12 million.  When we go to the next slide, you can see for 
wastewater we're at $11 million of expenditures.  So we're still coming in above our 
expenditure amount with our revenues.   
All of the other funds are coming in below 100 percent of the budget.  So 70 percent in 
the general fund, 77 HURF, 94 percent in public safety.  So you know, everything is -- or

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came in below budget for last year.  So we're projecting that there will be about a $24 
million surplus for last fiscal year.  So when you look at the revenues in the general fund 
minus the expenditures, we're projecting that we're going to add $24 million to our fund 
balance.  And so then we'll be able to take some of that money in the next budget year 
and use that on some one-time projects.   
The past year or the current year that we're in, we allocated some of that to the 
construction for the Aquatic Center.  And so as we go through the budget next year, 
we'll be able to take some of that fund balance and determine what some of the one-
time needs are in the community and allocate that in the budget for next year.   
So for this quarter -- first quarter of fiscal year '26, again, things are looking very good.  
Sales tax is coming in at about 19 percent.  You know, so we're 25 percent of the way 
through the year, but sales taxes, that's only two months of collections.  And so we're 
actually right where we should be on our sales tax collections.   
Everything else, again, is coming in right where it should be.  19 percent, almost 20 
percent on the total revenue coming in, but as we get that next month of sales tax 
collections in, we'll be right at the 25 percent or above.  So again, this year, the first 
quarter we're looking very strong and revenues are coming in right where we had 
projected.   
Looking at all the different funds, again, public safety tax, that's only two months of 
collections on the -- the public safety tax.  HURF, all of those, are coming in right where 
we had projected for the year.   
One graph that we like to keep an eye on and really take a look at is our sales tax 
collections by month, and we compare that year over year.  And so you can see the 
maroon column on the right in each of those years, we're collecting more than what we 
had collected in the same month the prior year.  So we're still seeing the trend of 
revenues increasing and growing.  We like to keep an eye on this graph, because if we 
start seeing that collections are going down, then we would, as we do these updates, 
inform council; and then we'd have to make some adjustments in the future year 
budgets.  But everything that we're seeing right now is continued growth in our sales

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tax, which is our largest revenue source.   
Next several slides are just expenditures through the first quarter.  I won't go through 
every one of them, but I can tell you that everyone's basically right on track.  There's 
some right at 25, 27 percent, but we're comfortable that everyone's on track on their 
expenditure side of the budget.  So this information's in -- available if you want to look 
at it in more detail, but these are all the different departments and orgs that we have.  
So total, through the first quarter spent about $7.5 million, which is about 10 percent of 
our budget through the first quarter.  When we look at other funds, they're all in a good 
situation also.  All the other funds are (indiscernible). 
So the key takeaways, general fund revenues exceeded budget by about $16 million.  
Expenditures were below budget by 15.  We're projecting that the fund balance will 
increase by $24 million.  And then the '26 revenues are tracking above budget.  '26-six 
expenditures are below budget.  I think it's very positive information, very positive 
news.  We're not seeing anything that we're alarmed by, and everything looks good in 
the budget.  
DAVIS:  Finance department was the only one that was, like, at about 30 percent or 
something.  Was there, like --  
ARTZ:  In the finance department, we pay for the insurance premium for the risk pool.  
It's about a half a million a year.  And so we have to pay for six months of it at a time.  So 
by the end of the year, we'll get back to where we need to be.  But in the first quarter, 
we're -- we are always --  
DAVIS:  I mean, your department's probably on track, but just the (indiscernible). 
[LAUGHTER] 
ARTZ:  Yeah, it's great that finance is the only one that looks like it's a little over budget.  
[LAUGHTER] 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I think, in general, we're looking awesome.  Revenues are up, 
expenditures are down.  You know, and compared to year to year, month to month in 
previous years, we're on track to get more than what we have in the past.  So we're 
doing the fiscally responsible thing of making sure that we're financially soluble moving

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forward, and that's critical because you can't offer all these services and not have the 
money to do it with.  It doesn't work that way.  Your heart can be in the right place, but 
if your money's not, you're going to run into problems.   
So thank you for your great report.  Thank you for all the work that the departments do 
bringing in this revenue, soliciting economic development opportunities, Mr. Earp over 
there and his team, and everybody else involved.  Great work all around.   
Anything else from council?   
Thank you, Mr. Artz..  Appreciate it.   
All right.  We're going to do -- okay.  I guess we're going to do mayor and city manager's 
report of current events for discussion.  Are we doing that or are we going into 
executive session? 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Current events. 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Celebrating the --  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All right.  These are the current events.  City of Tolleson Preschool 
Celebration Resource Fair celebrating the City of Tolleson's $400,000 investment in early 
childhood education.  This was put on here just to see if any council members had any 
feedback.  I know a number of folks were there. 
I had two easy takeaways, and they both have to do with the same thing, and that's a 
matter of telling our story.  I mean, we showed -- when I showed up -- when we showed 
up, two things were apparent.  The parents were apparent, and two were all of our staff 
and all the resources that we offer.  
Anybody that attended those events, there should be no question that the City of 
Tolleson is a full-service city.  If you have needs that are library based, we've got 
resources.  If you have needs that are human resources based or human services based, 
we have resource.  If it's parks and rec, we have that.  If it's library, we have that.  Senior 
programs, we have that.  We're a full-service city, and I think that came across very, very 
clear.  So if you were there, you realize that.  And everybody got an opportunity to get 
visited and get some nice little giveaways so that people understand that we're here to 
serve, and that this is the full gamut of what we have to offer.

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And number two, you know, along the same vein, is telling our story.  You know,  I saw 
Facebook, I saw social media.  They clearly were out there talking to people about what 
we're doing to support Head Start -- not Head Start --  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Preschool.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Preschool, there you go.  And the reality is, not every city does 
that.  I think at a certain point, we kind of take it for granted, but we got to stop and 
realize the reality.  Had the City of Tolleson not taken the time to invest into our 
preschool programs in Tolleson, there probably wouldn't be a preschool program for 
our youngest Tolleson residents.   
DAVIS:  (Indiscernible). 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Yeah.  And that's not something that is acceptable.  Just like it's 
not acceptable for us not to give people in need a good Thanksgiving meal, our youngest 
kids should have a great start when it comes to education so that someday they can be 
successful when it comes to their academic goals, whatever it is that they happen to 
want to be in the future.  They had a good start and even stronger finish.   
So those were my two takeaways.  We're telling our story.  We're doing it on site and in 
different social medias.  I just wish some of the West Valley newspapers would pick up 
those stories because they're worthwhile.  They're worthwhile sharing with the 
community.   
And I would ask people in the audience, see how many West Valley cities fund early 
hood child (sic) education in their cities from their general budget, and you're going to 
be hard pressed to find too many.  We do it here.  We're very proud of that as a 
community.   
So other council members that were there that would like to share?  Okay. 
CHAVIRA:  How great is it to see all those little faces and the kids, you know?  And they 
created a program for us.  And so one had an art fair, and one sang a song for us.  I 
mean, that's so wonderful.   
And we're so fortunate that we have the city staff that -- you know, Mr. Artz does a 
great job with our budget.  And Mr. Earp, you know, you go out and you take care of

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these businesses that are in our community.  And we're so fortunate to have great 
partners in our business community, because at the end of the day, their revenue is 
what feeds us and our budget, and we can't do anything without that.  And there's been 
planning for decades, long before I came along, that got us to this point.  So I'm grateful 
for that, the families, the kids, the teachers.  What a great thing.  And there's nothing 
better than to invest your money in the future, and that's in our kids.  So awesome.  
Great.  
ERIVES:  I didn't get a chance to attend.  I was in my own classroom, so I didn't get to go.  
But I did want to say, when we're talking about children and learning and all that, it's 
fantastic.  But I echo your sentence when it goes to we need to tell this story more.  
When I was -- yesterday at dinner, the confusion of the high school, and the elementary, 
and then the city, right?  Like, oh, you're from the city.  You're superintendent.  No 
different entities, right?  No.  Oh, then you're from this -- you did the -- I believe that by 
telling our story, we can clarify a little bit that this is the city.  These are what we do, and 
we're partnering with the elementary so that we can invest in our youth, right?  Like, 
that story needs to be told.   
Because sometimes it gets confused, and people are just hearing the word Tolleson, 
Tolleson, Tolleson, and they're not able to identify -- especially because you don't live in 
Tolleson, right?  Oh, that was -- so we need to be able to tell that story.  It's a great story 
to share.  I'm sorry the West Valley View's not there, but let's us be the ones who are 
telling the story.  Let us be the ones who are mentioning all the wonderful things that 
are happening, so that that story doesn't get just pushed away, right?  Like, that story is 
there.   
And then the confusion.  Here's another great one.  The high school, right, with the 
Thanksgiving dinner, but the city is now doing this, right?  We need to tell these types of 
stories.  So that was the only thing I wanted to add.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  That's a great thing.  I think one thing that -- that we need -- we 
need to recognize is that partnerships are extremely important, and wherever we can 
find them, whether it's with a community nonprofit or whether it's the elementary

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school district, we can build a bridge that ultimately benefits the people that we serve.  
Whether you're in a nonprofit or you run a government agency -- a public agency, our 
missions are very much entwined.   
And we can get into the minutia that well, our mission kind of takes us this -- at the end 
of the day, we all serve the public, you know?  And guess what?  We're all paid through 
taxpayers' money.  And so when we're able to partner up and do great things, why 
wouldn't we?  I would argue that our community not only demands it, but absolutely 
deserves us to do that.  And I think that's why they put us here, to find these 
partnerships, to make great work on their behalf.   
And so it was a great event.  I was very, very honored to be a part of it.  And so I look 
forward to continued partnerships.  We have an agreement now in place and we look to 
expand.  I know it includes some of their facility spaces for some of our programs.  Our 
after-school programs are now on their campus.  Another great win.   
And we've been down the line.  The City of Tolleson is doing great things with their 
partners, and we're going to continue to do so.  Some of them not so much willing to 
partner right now, but you know what?  This, too, shall pass, and another day will come 
around, and more prosperity will come in our direction, as well.   
Anything else?  Jimmy?  
DAVIS:  Yeah.  I just want to state, you know, early childhood education is vital to the 
success in creating successful adults and the next generation of the workforce.  So you 
know, I think it's, again, a testament to who we are as a city and our values, and you 
know, we always put our youth and our seniors as top priorities in everything that we 
do.  And so you know, I'm proud to be a part of this council that continues to push those 
initiatives forward.   
And you know, at the end of the day, our children are our future, and we have to invest 
in them.  And you know, I think you were right when you said, you know, this is our next 
workforce.  Our future mayor could be there.  Our future doctor or lawyer, whatever it 
might be, or a future utility worker, or a future police officer, or -- you know, we need 
electricians and plumbers and all of those things.  But we're setting these kids up to be

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successful adults, and I think that is just so important.   
And it is very important to build relationships between particularly the government 
entities in our city.  And I am glad that we have been able to build a bridge with the 
elementary school, and I hope in the future we can do the same with the high school 
district.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Yeah. 
DAVIS:  Some big changes are coming, so hopefully we see that.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Yeah.  To that end about telling our tale, I wonder if maybe we can 
meet with some of the media folks in the West Valley, in particular, because I see the -- I 
see the news release -- the press release that we send out.  That's emailed to us, so we 
know what's going out to the public.  And then I -- you know, I get on the web page, and 
I look, and it's not mentioned.  So I wonder what -- what that block is.  And maybe it's a 
simple conversation.  
I wouldn't be opposed to creating a Tolleson Tale corner or something.  An article where 
we actually populate the information.  And we'll pay for it to circulate in the newspaper, 
but that Tolleson Tales corner becomes where we tell our story to Tolleson residents, to 
anybody who wants to read it across the entire West Valley.  But I think the 
conversation needs to be had.   
And there's only about two or three news outlets that continually publish about the 
West Valley, so I don't think it'd be that hard of an effort, but it's -- there's something 
there.  Tell us what it is.  Maybe we can fix it.  And if there's not, well, how can we 
partner with you guys to help us tell our story?  I think that's critical.  
DAVIS:  That tells a lot of the story of the media itself, and their sensationalism, and 
their want for clicks rather than feel-good stories.  So they're going to always favor the 
off-the-wall things that are happening, you know, at our neighbor's house instead of, 
you know, the good things that are happening in the community, unfortunately.   
But I agree that even if it's something that we pay for in the West Valley View, let's say, 
or one or the other publications that specifically tells our story and the things that we 
are doing and the positive things about our community.  Because everything in the news

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that you see about Tolleson is negative.  And half the time it doesn't even happen in 
actual Tolleson, it happens in New Tolleson, which that's a whole other story, so--  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Yeah.  I think we can all agree that today, at least, just in this 
council meeting, we've heard of three amazing things that our staff have done for our 
community.  Three huge things just in today's meeting.  We have a story to tell.  We got 
to find a way to do it better.  And I think we're doing the best that we can, but it -- we 
need to ask the question, how can we do it better?  And you, media outlet, can help us 
answer that question? 
So with that being said, thank you all for coming out.  It was a great partnership.  And 
you know, thanks to the school district for partnering with us and for allowing us that 
opportunity.  I should add, it wasn't just us.  It was co-presented.  The school district 
presented along with us.  And they also had their own press releases, and good media 
outlet stuff, too.  So it was great.   
Community events updates.  Mr. Babchuk, Director, what's going on? 
BABCHUK:  Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the council, thank you.  This past Tuesday 
was Veterans Day.  We celebrated Veterans Day at Tolleson Veterans Park from 10:00 to 
1:00.  It was a good turnout.  I don't think we realized how many people don't get off for 
Veterans Day, and how many veterans from our Post 6310 are spread thin.  And they're 
doing 15 to 16 different other events that day.  Plus, they had another event today with 
a local elementary school, and other things like that.  But we gave out a few awards with 
the VFW.   
In talking with Commander Ruben Quezada, we'd like to look at changing the date for 
next year for Veterans Day to celebrate them more with a more built-in audience.  And 
we had a great suggestion in moving it to our third Friday event next year, where we can 
recognize them on a grander stage with more people and just do it right for them.  So 
they get to be there with their families on a Friday night and celebrate with them 
instead of for them, so --  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  (Indiscernible). 
BABCHUK:  She was really good.

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DAVIS:  For the record, she had an amazing voice teacher.  I don't know (indiscernible). 
[LAUGHTER] 
DAVIS:  I taught her from second grade all the way through high school.  She's a college 
student at GCC now and fronts a band.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Would you give her 80 percent of credit?  
DAVIS:  100 percent.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  So she gets 100 percent credit.  You get a secondary backup plan.  
Great teacher got her to where she's at today, but she's amazing.  She's amazing.  I think 
the event was well populated.  It was a lot more people than we had last year, I would 
say.  
BABCHUK:  Yeah. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  (Indiscernible). 
BABCHUK:  Yeah, that sun is just beating down on you guys when you're up there, 
speaking.  But we definitely would like more of an audience in showing to support our 
veterans.  And we have a -- they do an amazing job, 63 -- our Post 6310, for us.  They're 
out there volunteering whenever we need them.  And we definitely show our 
appreciation, but it's hard when they're not there.  So when you look out in the crowd, 
you saw maybe about six or seven of them, and they have a 300 plus member group 
that they have.  So we definitely want to try and make it bigger and better for them.  
And maybe theme our third Fridays as a veterans celebration next year for third Friday, 
and you know --  
DAVIS:  That brings up a good point because, you know, not all veterans are retired, 
right?  Some of them are back in everyday society working.  And it would be great if we 
could honor them at a time that's more convenient for more of them.  
BABCHUK:  Absolutely.  
DAVIS:  (Indiscernible) families, yeah.  
BABCHUK:  So Commander Quezada was open to the idea of moving the event just so it 
gives them a time to kind of do what they need to do for Veterans Day, because they 
love going out to the reservation, and they do their Veterans Day out there, and they're

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just spread thin right now.  So they definitely like the idea of changing it to a third 
Friday, so --  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I want to add one thing because I always have a request.  So I got 
a call from Adelita.  And she says, hey, can we come out to your 4th of July event?  I says 
(sic), I don't know.  Call Pilar.  So I gave her Pilar's number, and I guess she reached out 
to Pilar.   
But the request I made from her is don't just drive by, stop and go.  If any of you guys 
know politicians -- and I'm not counting you guys because we're local politicians.  But 
the higher you go, you know, when it comes to federal government, state government, 
you know, folks like to show up for the photo op.  Shake hands and kiss babies and get 
going.  I said, don't do Tolleson like that.  We like to be seen in the eye.  We like to feel 
the grip of your hand, and a good old-fashioned conversation.   
She was there for how many hours, you guys think?  
DAVIS:  She was there almost the whole time.  
BABCHUK:  Almost the whole -- yeah.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Anybody that wanted her attention got it.  She walked by.  She did 
take pictures when they requested it.  She shook hands and she had, I thought, very 
good conversations.  And you know, she reminded me a lot of her dad.  His (sic) dad was 
a very, very humble, great man who served our country, as well, on the U.S. Congress.   
But I'd ask the same from Ruben; I'd ask the same for Mark -- Mark Kelly, our senators.  
And I said, if you're going to come to Tolleson and you're just going to do a drive by, 
don't even show up.  I'll see you on TV, don't worry.  But if you're going to come here, 
take your time.  The people here, they're good people.  They deserve your time, a good 
handshake, and a good look in the eye.  And she just did -- did just that.  So I wanted to 
make sure that I -- kind of how I started the meeting -- thank her for coming out and 
sharing that time with her, because we know that she was catching a flight to go back as 
soon as possible to get sworn in today.  So talk about a busy schedule.   
But anything else, Randy?  
BABCHUK:  No, absolutely.  Just shout out to the team.  Field ops.  Team counsel did an

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amazing job out there.  Without them, you know, we wouldn't had a whole lot of setup, 
so --  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Do you know what they put in the hot dogs?   I don't want to 
know, because it'll probably gross me out.  But man, they're pretty good.  
BABCHUK:  They were made with love.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  We have a senior citizen -- I shouldn't say this because 
everybody's going to rush her next year.  But we have a senior citizen who every year 
brings out a jar, and that jar is filled with nice warm chili; and a bag of chopped onions, 
and a bag of cheese.  So you get your hot dog, you go over there.  Oh man, it's amazing.  
It is a meal, without a doubt.  
CHAVIRA:  (Indiscernible) share that info with us.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I just did.  I just did.  I'm not going to say her name. 
CHAVIRA:  Not while we we're eating our hot dogs.  
BABCHUK:  A day late.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  We got Sonic's.  No, I'm just kidding.  Great event, Randy.  Really 
great event.  
BABCHUK:  Thank you.  Yeah.  Thank you.  Francis has done an amazing job just putting 
those together.  And you know, you guys will be happy with our Luces de Navidad.  We 
have some -- some good things happening for that.  And then with our third Friday's 
next Friday, we have a theme of our Tohono O'odham Nation dancing out there.  Our 
Native American themed with Grupo -- I'm going to butcher this name, but Grupo 
Generacion will be out there -- 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  (Indiscernible). 
BABCHUK:  Generacion.  So they'll be out there.  They're from Guadalupe.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Messing with you. 
BABCHUK:  Oh, man.  I was going to say, how many times are you going to make me say 
this? 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  You should've asked (indiscernible) to say it.  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Generacion.

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ERIVES:  Oh, look at that.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  He's been practicing.  
BABCHUK:  So we'll have some big events coming up, and some new ideas with them.  
So we definitely want to invite everyone -- the community out to enjoy this holiday --  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  (Indiscernible) 
BABCHUK:  Yep.  That'll be December 8th, I want to say.  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Mayor, that wasn't fair to Randy.  He's our Hawaiian brother.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  He is.  He is.  Next time -- well --  
BABCHUK:  I'm from Michoacan.  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Yeah.  No, he's from --  
BABCHUK:  That's what Mayor tells -- tells everyone.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I will say this much.  Generacion's a good group, considering the 
fact that they're from Guadalupe.  And it's another -- the Yaqui tribe is another Native 
American tribe that we like to partner with, and some of them, I believe, are members, 
if not all of them 
BABCHUK:  Yep. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  That's two tribes.  Tohono O'odhams and also the Yaqui.  So it's a 
great thing, and they play great music.  
BABCHUK:  Absolutely.   
ERIVES:  Very good.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  (Indiscernible) council so -- that's always a joy.  So with that being 
said, Randy, you have anything else to add?  
BABCHUK:  I do not.  Thank you, Mayor.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  As a reminder, city council meeting (sic) scheduled on 
Tuesday, November 25th, 2025 and Tuesday, December 23rd, 2025, are canceled for fall 
and winter recess.  The City Hall holiday closure is scheduled from December 22nd 
through December 26th.  So just want to make that public announcement so 
everybody's aware of it.  Again, it'll go on social media to make sure everybody's aware 
of it.  And if there's any questions or emergencies, obviously, public safety officers will

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still be around to handle that kind of stuff, and our water department will have an 
emergency on-call team ready to go if something does arise.   
So with that comes the -- the sad part of the meeting.  I have to take the council and 
convene into an executive session.  So now is the time for the council to convene into 
executive session.  We are asking members of the public -- that's why it's sad -- and 
those that are not involved in this executive session to please exit the meeting at this 
time since executive sessions are closed sessions. 
Do we have a motion to go into executive session?  
DAVIS:  So moved.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  I heard over here.  
ERIVES:  Sorry.  Yes.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  Councilwoman Erives made a motion.   
DAVIS:  Second. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  We have a second by Vice Mayor Davis.  All those in favor, please 
signify by saying aye.  
CHAVIRA:  Aye.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Aye. 
MENDOZA:  Aye. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All those opposed?   
Okay.  Ladies and gentlemen, we are now in executive session.    
[Pause] 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All those in favor of going home and having dinner, you signify by 
saying aye.  
CHAVIRA:  Aye. 
DAVIS:  Aye.  
ERIVES:  Aye. 
MENDOZA:  Aye. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Aye.  All right.  All those opposed that want to stay here another 
two hours?

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DAVIS: No.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Not seeing any.  Motion passes unanimously.  Folks, we are 
officially adjourned.  
 
 
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 NOVEMBER 12, 2025. I FURTHER CERTIFY THAT THE MEETING WAS 
DULY CALLED AND HELD, AND THAT A QUORUM WAS PRESENT. 
 
 
____________________________________ 
CRYSTAL ZAMORA, CITY CLERK