10 14 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 
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 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 Chavira.  
C. 
ROLL CALL 
 
City Council: Mayor Juan Rodriguez, Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis, Council Members Christine 
Chavira, Clorinda Erives, Linda Laborin and Cruzita Mendoza. 
 
Council Member Adolfo Gámez was absent.  
 
Department Directors: City Manager Reyes Medrano Jr., Deputy City Manager/Chief 
Government Affairs Officer Pilar Sinawi, Deputy City Manager/Employee Resources 
Director Wendy Jackson, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Artz, Chief of Social Impact George 
Good, Deputy City Clerk Citlaly Salas, Development Services Director Jason Earp, Field 
Operations/Parks & Recreation Director Randy Babchuk, Fire Chief Michael Young, 
Library Director Mandy Carrico, Public Safety Director/Police Chief Rudy Mendoza and 
Utilities Director Jamie McCracken.  
 
City Representative: City Attorney Justin Pierce 
 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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D. 
FINAL CALL TO SUBMIT SPEAKER REQUESTS 
 
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 October 2025 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the City 
of Tolleson to raise awareness, support those affected, and encourage education, 
early detection, and community involvement. – Wendy Jackson, Deputy City 
Manager/Employee Resources Director 
 
Mayor Rodriguez proclaimed October 2025 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 
the City of Tolleson. 
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 September 23, 2025. (City Clerk 
Department) 
 
2. 
Approve Claims and Bills Report for the period of September 17, 2025 to October 7, 
2025. (Finance Department)

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3. 
Approve Fifth Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement between the City 
of Tolleson and FSL Home Improvements, dba AllThrive365 HI, for owner-occupied 
home repair services, and authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said 
Agreement. The City desires to amend the existing Agreement to increase the General 
Funds in the amount of $14,000 from the Housing Services – Housing Rehabilitation 
Budget to cover project soft costs, including administrative fees and expenses, 
rehabilitation specialist, labor, and travel mileage. (Human Services Department) 
 
4. 
Adopt Resolution No. 2622 of the Mayor and Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, 
approving an Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Tolleson and 
Maricopa County, administered by its Human Services Department, for the Owner-
Occupied Housing Rehabilitation Program, and authorize the Mayor to execute and 
deliver said Agreement. In June 2025, the City of Tolleson was awarded $425,000 in 
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds by the Maricopa County Human 
Services Department. The CDBG funds, along with $130,000 in City funds, will be used 
to continue offering home repairs through the Housing Rehabilitation Program, 
providing rehabilitation services for approximately eight eligible owner-occupied 
housing units. This Agreement shall be effective from November 1, 2025, through 
November 1, 2027. (Human Services Department) 
 
5. 
Adopt Resolution No. 2623 of the Mayor and Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, 
authorizing the acquisition of certain real property in the City for public purposes, and 
authorizing and directing the Mayor, City Manager, and City Attorney to acquire title 
to Maricopa County Assessor’s Parcel No. 102-49-032, located at the northeast corner 
of 93rd Avenue and Van Buren Street, Tolleson, Arizona, on behalf of the City by 
purchase for an amount not to exceed $370,000, plus acquisition and closing costs. 
(Development Services Department) 
 
Council Member Laborin moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1. through 5.; 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 Laborin – Aye 
Council Member Mendoza – Aye 
I. 
REGULAR AGENDA – ACTION ITEMS 
 
1. 
Consideration and approval of the initial Tolleson Alliance Against Substance Abuse 
(TAASA) Board of Directors appointments. Initial appointments will be staggered to 
establish continuity, with Group A serving initial one-year terms and Group B serving 
initial two-year terms. Thereafter, all terms will be for two years with no term limits.  
Group A: 
• 1 member of the Tolleson City Council: Chair of the Board - Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis

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• 1 member of the business community: Wendi Sears, Chief Nursing Officer at Banner 
Estrella 
• 1 health and/or health services professional: Marlena Pina, Homeless Services 
Coordinator at City of Avondale 
• 1 educational professional: Dr. Kino Flores 
Group B: 
• 1 member of the Tolleson City Council: Vice Chair of the Board - Council Member 
Adolfo Gámez 
• 2 Tolleson community representatives: Planning and Zoning Commissioners Miriam 
Segura and Joe Cortina 
(City Council) 
 
Vice Mayor Davis moved to appoint Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis (Chair), Wendi Sears, 
Marlena Pina, and Dr. Kino Flores as the Board of Directors of TASAA to serve from 
October 2025 until October 2026; and to appoint Council Member Adolfo Gámez 
(Vice Chair), Commissioner Miriam Segura, and Commissioner Joe Cortina as the 
Board of Directors of  TASAA to serve from October 2025 until October 2027. 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 Laborin – Aye 
Council Member Mendoza – Aye 
J. 
WORK STUDY AND PRESENTATIONS – FOR DISCUSSION 
K. 
MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER’S REPORT OF CURRENT EVENTS – FOR DISCUSSION 
 
1. 
Community Events Update – Randy Babchuk, Field Operations/Parks & Recreation 
Director 
L. 
CONVENE INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION 
 
1. 
Motion to go into executive session. 
 
Items 2 and 3 were discussed in open session rather than executive session. 
 
2. 
Convene into an executive session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(1) to conduct 
annual review of the City Manager. 
 
3. 
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 a nonprofit organization. 
M. RECONVENE INTO PUBLIC MEETING

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N. ADJOURNMENT 
 
Vice Mayor Davis moved to adjourn the Regular City Council Meeting at 8:19 PM; 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 Laborin – 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.  
 
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
CITY OF PHOENIX
$367,129.68
185946
10/7/2025
CDW-GOVERNMENT INC
$120,916.40
101278
9/19/2025
TOLLESON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIST.#17
$55,065.65
185943
10/7/2025
WHITE TANK MOUNTAINS CONSERVANCY
$50,000.00
185837
9/22/2025
ADAPTIVE ARCHITECTS INC
$47,529.00
185833
9/22/2025
TOLLESON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIST.#17
$45,339.24
185943
10/7/2025
AZ PUBLIC SAFETY PERSONNEL RETIREMENT SYSTEM
$36,147.08
101323
9/26/2025
SOLENIS LLC
$33,470.64
101329
9/26/2025
LYFT, INC.
$29,087.25
101288
9/19/2025
ARIZONA COMMERCIAL DIVING SERVICES INC
$25,640.00
185839
9/24/2025
AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, POLICE
$24,858.97
101324
9/26/2025
WACO LLC
$23,593.19
185832
9/18/2025
PROFESSIONAL PIPING SYSTEMS LLC
$21,404.57
185866
9/24/2025
ASR CONSTRUCTION GROUP LLC
$20,878.77
185905
10/1/2025
WASTE CONNECTIONS OF ARIZONA
$20,055.66
185836
9/22/2025
TERRACON CONSULTANTS INC
$19,812.43
101293
9/19/2025
THE BELTING COMPANY OF CINCINNATI
$17,416.09
185894
9/25/2025
HILL BROTHERS CHEMICAL CO.
$16,453.29
185958
10/7/2025
HILL BROTHERS CHEMICAL CO.
$15,717.12
185859
9/24/2025
ALL ABOUT ROOFING LLC
$14,000.00
185903
10/1/2025
ALL ABOUT ROOFING LLC
$14,000.00
185903
10/1/2025
TOLLESON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DIST.#17
$13,778.00
185944
10/7/2025
GRISWOLD INDUSTRIES
$12,415.53
101285
9/19/2025
PUMP PROS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
$12,365.33
101362
10/2/2025
WEST YOST & ASSOCIATES INC
$11,505.75
101366
10/2/2025
LEA-ARCHITECTS LLC
$11,297.99
185807
9/18/2025
WEST TECH LLC
$11,066.27
185891
9/24/2025
WACO LLC
$10,490.70
185890
9/24/2025
CITY OF TOLLESON-MEDICAL
$10,301.96
101280
9/19/2025
VAN LOON INDUSTRIES
$10,157.89
185936
10/1/2025
City of Tolleson
Checks Recorded
Check Dates: September 17, 2025 to October 7, 2025
PAYMENTS OVER $10,000

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
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Post-Production File 
 
 
 
 
City of Tolleson 
City Council Meeting Minutes 
October 14, 2025 
 
 
 
Transcription Provided By: 
eScribers, LLC 
 
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Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not 
be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.  
 
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CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 2 of 66 
 
JACKSON:  Good evening, sir.  Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of council.  
Everyone looks so great in pink tonight.  So thank you all for participating.   But it's more 
than just wearing pink.  Breast cancer is a -- is more than an illness.  It is a journey of 
courage, resilience, and hope.  It is the most common cancer in women in the United 
States.  Aside from skin cancer, it accounts for more than 30 percent.  So that means 
one in three of all new female cancers each year.   
In 2025, The American Cancer Society estimates that hundreds of thousands of women 
will be diagnosed with breast cancer and tens of thousands will lose their lives to it.  
These facts remind us why awareness, early detention -- detection, excuse me, and 
continued support are so important.  Together, through education, research, and 
compassion, we can save lives and work towards a future without breast cancer.   
Thank you so much for acknowledging this proclamation, I appreciate it.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   Thank you for educating us about this.   
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 2:  (Indiscernible). 
(audio interference) 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  That being said I, Mayor Juan Rodriguez, do hereby proclaim 
October 20, 2025th as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the City of Tolleson.  Be it 
proclaimed.   
And we didn't all wear pink not to take a picture.  So if you have pink on, come up here.  
We do have a proclamation that we'll be sending to the organization, and we'll take a 
really nice pink picture.  If you embarrass Justin, give him, like a dirty joke or something, 
he'll turn pink real quick.  
[LAUGHTER] 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   What's up Randy?  How you doing, man?  Come on up.  
[CROSS-TALK] 
DAVIS:  You're wearing pink.  Let's go.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Come on up.  As soon I saw her, I said, man, I could sure go for a 
pink/red beer.    
DAVIS:  Pink/red beer?

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 3 of 66 
 
[LAUGHTER] 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Joe, you didn't get the memo?  You didn't get the memo?   
JOE:  I have some. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  There you go.  Okay.  What are we doing over here?  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 3:   This way, please. 
PINA:  Yeah.  Oh, right.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Marlene?  
DAVIS:  Marlena.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Marlena.  Can you hold the proclamation, please?  
PINA:  Sure.    
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you.  
Awesome.  Thank you.  
PINA:  You're welcome.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you.  
DAVIS:  Mine's on again.  Maybe yours  will turn on? 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Oh, mine is not acting right.  I don't know what I did, but it doesn't 
like me.  I don't know.  All right.  Folks, we don't have any business from the floor today, 
so we're going to skip item G.  We have no public hearings and action items.  So we're 
going to go on to H, and under H is our Consent Agenda Action items.  For the record, I 
have five items on the Consent Agenda Action item.  If you have an opportunity to 
review them, I will entertain a motion.   
ERIVES:  I do. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  I have a motion from, I believe, Councilwoman Clorinda 
Erives, second from Councilwoman Chavita.  All those in favor, please signify by saying 
aye.   
ALL:  Aye. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All those opposed?  Not hearing any.  This motion passes 
unanimously.  Thank you very much.  We're going to go on to regular agenda action 
items.  Item number one is consider an approval of the initial Tolleson Alliance Against

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
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Substance Abuse, also known TAASA, board of directors appointments.  Initial 
appointment will be staggered to establish continuity with Group A serving an initial 
one- year term.  I believe you got to go up for reelection after that, right?   
DAVIS:  Um-hum.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  Which would explain the one-year term, and Group B 
serving an initial two-year terms.  So is a second -- the B group going to start after the 
first year is over, and then it's two consecutive years, or it's going over?  Or the first year 
overlaps? 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 4:  Most likely. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay.  All right.  Thereafter all terms will be for two years, with no 
term limits.  Group A, one member of Tolleson City Council, Chair of the board, which is 
Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis, sitting to my left.  One member of the business community, 
Wendi Sears, Chief Nursing Officer at Banner Estrella.  One health and/or health service 
professional, Marlena Pina.  Marlena is here.  Homeless services coordinator for the city, 
neighboring city, to be unnamed [sic].  
[LAUGHTER] 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  One  educational professor, Dr. Kino Flores.  Group B is going to be 
one member of the Tolleson City council, which is Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis.  We just said 
that.  No, it's going to be Councilmember Adolfo  Gamez, who if he was here, he'd be 
sitting to my right.  And then two Tolleson community representatives, Planning and 
Zoning Commissioner Miriam Segura.  I think I saw Miriam.   
How are you doing, Miri?  
SEGURA:  Hi. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  And then, of course, Joe Cortina.   
Mr. Cortina.  How you doing?   
Okay.  So Deputy City Manager, you have the floor.  
JACKSON:  Thank you, thank you.  Mayor, Members of Council, we're honored to have 
the board of directors be willing to make a commitment like this to support the TAASA, 
the Tolleson Alliance Against Substance Abuse.  Before I introduce the directors that are

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 5 of 66 
 
here.  I'll turn it over to Vice Mayor Davis.   
If you want to share any words on TAASA, that or just informing the board of directors.   
DAVIS:  Sure.  I'm really excited to take on this initiative.  And thank you all for your 
willingness to help us champion this.  As we know substance abuse is more than just a 
single-layer issue, right?  It's multi-faceted.  It's like an onion.  There are so many layers 
to it.  And I hope that, as a group, we can work on tackling all of those layers and really 
trying to heal, not only people who suffer from substance abuse, but their families by 
providing and helping, pointing them to resources, and providing them with a holistic 
approach to healing our community from substance abuse.  That's kind of where I'm at 
with it.  So okay.  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER 5: (Indiscernible)   
[LAUGHTER] 
JACKSON:  Yes.  And just to inform the mayor, and all the members of council, the 
committee, we did start off with a community survey, and we surveyed over 120 
different individuals that responded to the survey just on, like, what the community felt, 
our substance abuse issues.  So with the survey results, in addition to, with our bylaws, 
we'll be working with the Board of Directors to establish a mission, vision, and goals.  
But I do want to take a moment to introduce the Board of Directors.   
So please, come on up.  Maybe you can introduce yourself.  Just say hello -- 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  You're talking about the 20-minute speech for each, right?  
[LAUGHTER] 
JACKSON:  Yes.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I'm just kidding.  
DAVIS: I mean, I don't -- 
PINA:  Hello, my name is Marlena Pina.  A lot of people do know me.  My family is from 
Tolleson, but I'm currently the Homeless Services coordinator for the city, who I shall 
not name, just to be respectful.   
[LAUGHTER] 
PINA: And but I've been in homeless services for over 30 years, so it's something that's

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 6 of 66 
 
near and dear to my heart.  This topic, as we all know, that that definitely is part of the 
layer of some things that come with those experiencing homelessness.  So I'm very 
happy to be here, and I'm excited to, to assist.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  We're happy to have you.  Thank you very much.  
CORTINA:  I'll be quick.  Joe Cortina (indiscernible).  I care about this community.  I hate 
seeing people who have addiction walking around my community.  So I always think, can 
you help?  How can you help?  What can you do?  That's important.  I've done  
probation over 29 years.  So I dealt with the community.  I've dealt with offenders.  So 
it's not something that is good to see.   
So now that you guys give me the opportunity to help, I want to be there for them, and 
it's moving in the right way and we do what we can to help these people get help.  
Thank you.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you.  Joe.  
JACKSON:  Thank you. 
SEGURA:   My name is Miriam Segura, and I'm also a member of the (indiscernible) 
Commission.  And I'm a licensed clinical social worker.  I've worked in mental health, 
with substance abuse in hospitalization.  So this is an area that I do have some 
consciousness of state healing, and I believe it's possible.  And I've seen how it affects 
families, and how it affects their communities.  I've been in Tolleson since 2001, and I've 
seen the different things, obviously, as many of us have seen, in regards to all that's 
going on in society and how that impacts people, particularly the coping skills 
(indiscernible) addiction.  So I'm grateful for this appointment and thank you for this 
opportunity, and I hope that I can help as much as I can.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Awesome.  Welcome, Miriam. 
DAVIS:   I just want to add that I think we've put together a pretty rock-star team coming 
from lots of different backgrounds and lots of experience with this particular issue.  So I 
think we're going to be able to get some really, really, really solid work done.  And with 
that, I'd like to make a motion to approve this slate.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   Okay.  We have a motion to approve.  I do have some things to

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
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say before we go there.  
DAVIS:  Okay.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   We got a second from Councilmember Davis.  But before we go 
there, I just want to say, first and foremost, from the inception, I know it's two years 
out, but muchas gracias.  This thing that we call drug use, just like we talk about all the 
different layers that lead people to it, as an organization, there also has to be layers of 
how we do our best to treat it.  And I know our staff have done a really good job.  We 
had a presentation not too long ago where they talked about the different services that 
they're offering folks that have been dealing with this in their life, and families for that 
matter.  It's not just individual, it's actually the entire family unit.  We've been having 
some conversations with Maricopa County.  Chief Good (ph.) has helped us out with 
that, amongst other staff.   
Some conversations when it comes to enforcement.  Law enforcement there's, there's 
different layers that you have to also take on when it comes to coming up with the 
strategy that works.  Because there's not one pill that solves this.  There's got to be 
different options.  And TAASA , I think is next  the next layer of that.  And one thing that 
I really enjoy, and all three of you guys embody this, is that you are Tolleson true.  
And so you all care about Tolleson.  You all come to this with a pure heart, and with the 
simple desire to make things better.  And at the end of the day, as long as that guides 
us, we're going to be successful, no matter what we do.  So thank you all in advance.  I 
also want to thank council -- Vice Mayor Davis, and I want to thank Councilmember 
Gamez for initiating this.  They're  the quarterbacks right now.  They're the two chairs.  
And with time, you know, other Councilmembers will have that opportunity, and 
responsibility, to chair this and continue to move this forward.   
But as long as we have issues like this in our community -- today, it might be drugs; 
down the road, it might be something different -- then we have an opportunity to make 
TAASA the most impactful organization that we can for the people of Tolleson.   
So thank you all.  And I think it's a great work, and I will open it up the floor if anybody 
has any other comments at this point.  None on this side.  This side?  Not seeing any.

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 8 of 66 
 
Okay.  Well, I have a motion and I have a second.  So all those in favor please signify by 
saying aye.   
ALL:  Aye.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All those opposed?  Not hearing any.  This motion passes 
unanimously.  And again thank you, Board Members.    
Okay.  Come on.  You might not have pink on, but come on up.  We're taking another 
picture.  
[LAUGHTER] 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   Trust me, this is a lot easier.  We used to have to go down and 
take pictures with you guys, but four of us already fell down the stairs, so it's easier if 
you guys just come up here.  Look over here, okay?  
[LAUGHTER]  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  That's the cafe.  
JACKSON:  It's  always the café.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   That's right.  All right.  Moving on to item J.  We don't have any 
work study presentations for discussion today.  Mayor and City Manager report of 
current events.  I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Babchuk.  You have some updates for us, 
sir?  
BABCHUK:  Randy.  Thank you.  Mayor.  Vice Mayor, members of the council.  I'd like to 
invite everybody out this Friday for our third Friday event, October 17th, from 6:00 to 
9:30 at The PLACE.  This is our second year that we'll be incorporating our Trunk or 
Treat, encouraging local businesses to engage with residents to distribute candy and 
have a good time.  We'll have Mariachi Continental Azteca at 6 p.m., and then Elijah 
Ezequiel Y Los Conjunto at 7:30 and to close out the night.  So we have a few car clubs 
coming out, passing out candy.  We have a lot of food vendors coming out as well as 
craft vendors, so it'll be a good time.  I ordered good weather, so be low low 60s 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  You should have hooked up the church because I ordered good 
weather last weekend too. 
BABCHUK:  And we'll move on to next weekend.  Next Saturday, October 25th, is our

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Community Pride Day, along with our resource fair. That'll start at 7:00.  We'll have a 
continental breakfast and lunch provided for our volunteers, which we're at 210 right 
now signed-up volunteers for our Community Pride Day.  We have identified ten homes, 
alleyways, to be cleaned and beautified.   
And then, we'll have a community resource fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  The fair will 
feature various vendors and local resources.  We're going to have a free raffle, and it will 
also include a community swap, where participants can bring items they no longer need 
in exchange for new-to-them items, all for free.  So that's been going out in the 
community.  If they want to come out and bring gently used clothes or - and exchange 
them for something that they might need, or their kids might need, they can come and 
do that there.  So. 
And then, we'll move to Veterans Day on November 11th,  from 10:00 to 1:00, we'll be 
honoring all veterans, local and worldwide.  We'll have awards, and a picnic-style lunch 
that will be given out.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All right.  Excellent news.   
That reminded me.  At last Tolleson Talks,  it was a I think it was Ms. Cortina, your mom, 
who had a complaint about property in the neighborhood.  And she had a pretty good 
conversation with  our code enforcement officer.  So I don't know if we can tie that into 
Pride Day or not, but what a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.  
BABCHUK:  Yeah, we've been working, Orazio's (ph.), been working close with him 
identifying more homes.  Just with the amount, we still are waiting for the high school 
football team, so I know they're going to get some kids in.  So we'll definitely have the 
capacity to do those.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I should say, I love birds.  I never I would never kill two birds with 
one stone.  It's just a good saying, but I'm a pro-bird person, just for the record.  Just for 
the record.  They did list this last Friday, and this is not as publicized because it's a 
workday.  But last Friday, we hosted our Tolleson Classic golf tournament, and we had 
how many foursomes out there?  
BABCHUK:   We had 22 foursomes out there.  Just community members came out, had a

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great time.  Great raffle prizes.  And all that money will go back to the community and 
helping the community with some programing.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  So it's always great when people come out and support Tolleson 
in that manner, too.  And a lot of them were very good sponsors.  I know we had a lunch 
sponsor, breakfast sponsor, whole sponsors, and then foursome sponsors.  So all that 
money comes back to our community, and again doing the best that we can to provide 
the resources for the people that need them the most.  And but also, it doesn't go 
without saying that, it has to be said, that none of those events, including the ones 
coming up, and the one that happened last Friday, happen without the efforts of our 
staff.  And I know -- 
BABCHUK:   Frances.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   Frances.  Yes, Frances Renee (ph.).  I always want to call Renee, 
even though that's her middle name.  But Frances Renee did an outstanding job, and so 
did all the parks and recreation staff.  We had a couple employees of Public Works.  
They just did an outstanding job across the board.  I know you were in Disneyland 
having a great time.  
BABCHUK:  I don't know about great time, but I was there.  Yes. Yes.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  But the golf tournament turned out awesome.  So you're doing a 
good job over there, and you're training people to do good work too.  
BABCHUK:  Absolutely.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  So thank you very much for all that.  
BABCHUK:  No, thank you.  And that's just a testament to our leadership.  And you 
know, they take their job very serious and they love helping out the community and 
providing these services for them.  So it shows through their work.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you, Randy.  Anything else?  City Manager or Pilar?  
SINAWI:  There it is our next -- sorry.  It's -- now they're both working.  Sorry, sorry.  
Thank you.  Next week on Thursday, October 23rd, is our next Tolleson Talks at Tortas 
Ahogadas Jorge.  We'll be focusing on community wellness and emergency 
preparedness.  I know that a lot of our councilmembers are in attendance when

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possible.  So hopefully, we can have a lot of members of the community there.  We get a 
lot of useful information out into the community.  But then also, just great questions 
from our residents, and it's, in a way, an opportunity for us to continue to support our 
local businesses.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Wendy?  Anything you'd like to add?   
Reyes?  No.   
Jimmy?  Go ahead.  You have the floor. 
DAVIS:  I just wanted to give a shout out to our Development Services Department for 
the Career Day that they did today.  It was amazing.  There were so many people there.  
So many employers there.  I got a tour of the Dress for Success trailer, I guess that's 
what it's called.  It was super-awesome.  They had a client in there, and she was just 
glowing with her outfit that they dressed her in for an interview.  So good work.  Keep 
doing stuff like that.  It's necessary for our community.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  So I pretty much called out all the events except for the one that 
happened today. Thanks, Jimmy.  I appreciate it. 
DAVIS:   I actually thought the golf tournament was this Friday.  Sorry, guys.  
[LAUGHTER] 
DAVIS:  Pretty sure I have it written down for this Friday.  I'm going to be a week late.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  You're welcome to show up.  Okay.  And anything else?  For the 
good of the order?  No.  Well, then let's finish up with that.  We're going to move on to 
item M, which is to convene into public meeting.  But we're not going to do that.  
What we're going to do instead is we're just going to go keep continuing as a normal 
agenda item.  That way the audience can stay here.  And quite frankly, the information 
that we have to share is good.  So I think it's -- well, it's always good news whether it's 
Executive Committee or not, but the fact that we can just rock and roll -- let's get 
through it.  And let's get an update from our City Manager, and rock and roll.  
MEDRANO:  It's not loading. 
[LAUGHTER] 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Told you it was going to be a quick presentation.

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[LAUGHTER] 
MEDRANO:  Not sure where the plug is.  The outlet is.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Don't block George Good's face.  
MEDRANO:  I would never do that.  
[LAUGHTER] 
MEDRANO:  I feel like I'm going to block somebody.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  You can put it right here.  It's okay.  
MEDRANO: (Indiscernible) 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   He should have his own slide.  
MEDRANO.  Whoa. 
MEDRANO:  What we're going to discuss tonight are all Council's objectives established 
last year.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Please.  
MEDRANO:  I'm going to turn it on.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I'm just going to take a quick picture of it, and then you can put it 
wherever you want.   
MEDRANO:  I'm going to turn it on.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Okay. 
MEDRANO:  No, because we were going to do this public, so I want to make sure that 
you are here to see the priorities established under the immediate short-term and long 
term.  I'm going to talk about that for at least two hours.  I know it sounds funny.  So I'm 
very happy to be here.  And we'll go over each frame --  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  If it was still an Executive Session, you guys wouldn't be allowed to 
leave.  So.  
MEDRANO:  Yeah.  And Council's good with this?  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:   Yes.  
MEDRANO:  So the mics aren't working, right?   
SINAWI:   That one isn't.  This one is.   
MEDRANO:  How's that?  Is it working?   Okay.  Great.  So before we get started, when

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we have our annual review, I like to remind Council at least, like any other year, a lot of 
these priorities overlap.  But this year in particular, I really love the way that you 
formatted it when it was presented to us to develop the budget for this year.  
It made a lot of sense to all of us.  I think I can speak for the team, when we say that it 
made it easier for all of us to, to include everything in the budget.  But the two priorities 
for me, core values and action.  The first one, an economic development.  They're 
almost like a we were just talking about Mexican food in Tucson.  It's almost like 
Rolling -- it's like a tortilla rolling into burrito, because everything, all the filling in 
between everything can't happen.  It can't come together and make that delicious treat 
without one of them being effective.   
So I'm going to go through all of these.  The presentation is color coded.  I did not 
purposely make it look like Bob Marley's album cover.  It just came out that way 
because the black background is the only thing that would highlight the yellow.  But I 
love the way you color-coded it and the pyramid, the triangle, has a particular 
significance for me as a business student, and refers to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs 
and how we focus on that on a daily basis.   
So for us, at our level, you broke it down into immediate.  Go ahead and go to the next 
slide.  Our clicker is not working.  So I want to make -- okay.  So what I just showed you 
has now been transferred to here, only because my technical skills do not allow me to 
move this onto  the presentation.   
So you broke it down to immediate short-term and long-term goals.  And as you can see, 
they're all in their various colors.  So the presentation will proceed in that fashion.  For 
Council's, from Council's perspective, you broke it down into those three categories.  For 
us, we work on your vision every day of our lives.  Like, I've been with the city 34 years. 
Since I was 22 years old, all I've been obsessed with is your vision, and many of you have 
been on a very long time.  And you can you'll recognize a lot of things we're going to say 
today.   
You also see a lot of overlap because like with substance abuse and homelessness and 
mental health, we have a lot of the same interventions that apply to each one.  But I try

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to demonstrate how that overlap pertains to each goal.  So we'll get started.   
And I love the way you worded core values in action.  Tell our story loud enough.  And 
that's always a delicate balance for Tolleson, because we tell it too loud, we have other 
cities that shall remain nameless, that love to pick our pocket, and they do it with no 
hesitation.  As Mr. Earp can attest, they have no shame.  It's their job to take our 
businesses.  It's our job to take theirs.  And I'm not ashamed to admit that either.   
But at least when we when we talk about telling our story loud enough because it's an 
expression of our caring, that screams Tolleson to me, having grown up here myself.   
So the first slide, let's go ahead and move forward , Seloli (ph.).  The first slide, that 
particular priority inspired me to just emphasize what we already know.  And I'm glad 
the public's here to hear this.  In our organization, our primary focus is on each other's 
happiness, because we believe that public servants should evoke joy when they deliver 
their service to the community, and in turn, they should feel that joy.  Like Pride Day is a 
great example, knowing that you're helping people that need it, that can't do for 
themselves.  Just simply cleaning up their yard.  Or me personally, I forgot how many 
houses I've painted throughout my time here.  The gratitude that they share is 
overwhelming, and when I've done the houses, I've always told the resident, you earn 
this, you pay taxes, this is for you, and we're the lucky ones that get to deliver these 
services to all of you.   
But it all starts with people.  Particularly, it starts with people's happiness.  So when we 
tell our story, it starts with picking the right people.  And I'll quote Chief Mendoza.  
Number one, he always says, I love cops.  And that gets me pumped up because I 
started at PD.  That's one of my favorite sayings when he says that I love cops.  
Secondly, he always says, I hire good people because I could teach anybody to be a cop, 
and that's a fact.  I worked there for five years.  I've worked with them for the duration 
of my time here, and I've seen it all my life.  My adult life.  It takes a special, an 
extraordinary human being, to be a good police officer because it's so much more than 
you see on the news or on a TV show.   
Like I told my kids, my young ones, when they were all up in arms about defunding

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police, they were going to go to a protest.  I told them, you go to that protest, you 
change your last name because every cop I've ever known will die for you if they didn't 
know who you are, but they will, and that's a fact.  And you can ask anyone in his 
department and they would agree.  
 It starts with our people finding the right people.  And that's where Wendy's 
department comes in, employee relations, HR.  We call it employee relations because it 
got confused with human relations or human services too many times.   
It starts with recruiting our people.  So Yareli (ph.) who's out on maternity leave and 
we're really excited for her.  She is a master recruiter.  I've never seen so many qualified 
people come through this organization, even just apply.  They don't even get the job and 
they keep applying, and they don't stop.  
We have someone that's applied, I believe, on their third time for a job coming up here 
soon.  We get dozens of applicants for every job we post.  We're all -- and the one 
theme I hear, especially when they leave other cities, is they're looking for a better 
quality of life, or an organization that values their happiness.  And we live and die by 
that.   
We get candidates from the general public, we get candidates from other municipalities.  
Most recently, I've seen a major influx in Tolleson High School graduates applying and 
getting jobs with us, which is outstanding.  We always want to hire Wolverines.   
The thing I'm most proud of, in terms of our recruitment efforts and our development as 
a culture, is we've never been more diverse, and TWIL, Tolleson Women in Leadership, 
is the best example I can think of.  I'm very proud of our emphasis on developing 
women leaders, and I even hate saying it that way because I sound stupid  because I 
grew up around very strong women, as Joey (ph.) can attest.   
Women are far better at leadership than most, because they have a firm control, firm, 
balanced ego, and that Tolleson Women in Leadership emphasizes that.  And I can't 
think of two better examples in our two brand-new deputy city managers sitting there.  
They're a source of pride for the entire organization, and they've been celebrated 
throughout the region.

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But our story actually begins with the City Clerk's office.  Everything Council does is not 
possible unless the City Clerk facilitates it.  So everything that everybody, every director 
around the table represents, goes to the Clerk's office.  So it adheres, along with the City 
Attorney -- Justin, I apologize for not including you -- along with the City Attorney, to 
ensure that by the time it gets to you, it's already gone through the legal rigor that it 
should.   
And then, it is published and retained on record, in accordance with state law, for access 
to the public, for anyone that wants to see everything that we do.  This document itself 
is public record.  Everything we do, everything I'm saying right now, the minutes are 
public record.  Everything you do, as you know, is public record, but it can't reach the 
public without the Clerk's process.  And ultimately, they also control elections.  They are 
our elections director for Tolleson.  They coordinate with Mr. -- well, it used to be 
Fuentes (ph.), with the County elections office to ensure the integrity of our elections.   
Go ahead.   
And then the authors of the story, the Public Affairs division, they publish everything 
that you do.  And this Council has never been more active in my time, which is a lot 
more a lot of fun.  After all these years of being in this role specifically, I just hit 20 years.  
What's yeah, two days ago, I think it was.  In this in this one role, I feel like I'm coming to 
a brand-new job every day.  Yes, because of the people I get to work with, because 
they're extraordinary people and they become very close to me.  And I -- hopefully, it 
goes both ways.   
But because of you, because we know what we have in you.  And I tell you all the time, 
it's usually at when I do my presentation.  But more than ever, everything that we're 
experiencing in our community beyond the city, other entities in the city, the one 
positive you can take from all the tumult in Tolleson, is how good we have it here.  The 
Vice Mayor and I were talking about it earlier in my office.  We know what we have in 
this Council, and what I like more than ever, what I appreciate more than ever, is how 
active all of you are.   
And that's why a healthy Public Affairs Division is so critical, to ensure that we tell that

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story.  Because our story is your story.  We're staffers, and too often there's a 
misperception that at our level, we have some semblance of control.  The only control 
we have is that we're empowered by you to  pursue your vision.  And that's what the 
Public Affairs represents.  Their social media engagement has never been higher.  They 
promote every campaign, every service.  Most recently, with the emergency 
preparedness heat relief effort, last summer when it was horrible.  George or Chief 
Good, and Pilar, were relentless in pursuit of identifying solutions and informing the 
community of what was available.   
And that bore the Tolleson Social club that I'll talk about later.  The media relations 
component of what Public Affairs does is critical.  Before public affairs, before Pilar 
created that Department, we would take media calls, and we would do the same thing 
tell Council, hey, refer them to us, and then I would take the call or the appropriate 
director would.  And you never know what was going to say.  
The way Pilar and her team have managed the relationship with the media has made us 
so much more effective.  It has made for more accurate comments, more accurate 
quotations, more accurate, and more frequent press releases.   
Most recently, we did a press release that made national news.  I won't get into the 
topic because that's part of some of the challenges we're dealing with, and that's not 
germane to our discussion today.  But everything you do is documented and shared with 
the community to the fullest extent possible.   
Another mechanism is through our monthly community flier.  I used to do that thing 
that's very -- it can be very time-consuming.  But I think this division, this semblance, or 
this compilation, I should say, of leadership does a very good job of nourishing that 
effort to make sure that the community is hearing what we're doing.  And if we're not, 
let us know because we want to know.  We always want to get better.   
But finally, one of my favorite outreach efforts is the Tolleson Talks.  We started those 
up back when Mayor Tovar was elected, and Mayor Rodriguez does a wonderful job.  I 
just attended the last one, of engaging the community where they are in the 
community, and at the same time, we get to help a local business by buying some food

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and letting the community sample it and -- and indulge in that, and help the to nourish 
the sense of place downtown.  
The last one was at El Papa.  I hadn't eaten there.  I didn't eat that night because I was 
afraid to.  Just because I can't eat anymore because I'm old now.  But the Tolleson Talks 
is a wonderful outreach mechanism.  We get a lot of good data that comes back from 
that, a lot of good ideas.  So the last one, you did a wonderful job, Mayor, in case I didn't 
tell you that before.   
Go ahead.   
Third Fridays was a wonderful idea.  When Vice Mayor Davis proposed it, it was in the 
middle of a budget year.  So we were able to plan for it for the following year.  And what 
we realized as we plan for it, is that was it was becoming the spine of the reinvention of 
our events program so that we could take a lot of the themes like Halloween and 
Christmas and different pride events or even the lowrider community, which obviously 
is represented on this slide to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, there's so many 
different themes that Randy and his team have been able to apply to it.   
But what I love most about it is how it targets local residents.  Our bigger events, they 
become statewide attractions, even if people from California come, especially if we 
attract someone like Little Joe.  They come from all over.  But Third Fridays is a very 
targeted effort to provide entertainment and quality of life to our local community that 
they deserve, while nourishing that sense of place, again, downtown with in with our 
local business community.   
This last third Friday on September 3rd, we had 2,000 attendees.  What was the first 
one?  We were under 1,000, right?  800?  Not even that.  500.  So from the first one 
which started was last year, our first attempt?  Or last year we did the music thing.  This 
year was our first full year, right?  
DAVIS:  The year before that we did  the music thing.   
MEDRANO:  Okay --  
DAVIS:  So this is our second of Third Fridays.    
MEDRANO:  So from our first one at 500, we've grown it to 2000.  And that just keeps

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gaining momentum as we go forward.  And even at that, all of our community events 
they almost turn into like task force meetings because those are the people we grew up 
with, and they don't hesitate to let us know what we could do better because they know 
we're going to listen.  I hope they do.  If not, we have to do a better job.   
Go ahead.   
The library.  We hired Mandy Carrico.  For me at least, I was on the committee.  I voted 
for her because she said one simple thing that a library should not be contained within 
its four walls.  It should be pushed out into the community and encourage learning and 
with every generation, every demographic, from every block in town.  And she's done 
that and so much more.  So the new library website -- most libraries I learned through, 
Mandy, have their own website where you can get your library card and so many other 
services.   
So it's almost like we took what we started to do during the pandemic, doing virtual 
services, and those are still available and more.  I love the Library of Things because 
when she when Mandy explained it the first time, I kind of got it, but it took me a little 
while because I'm slow sometimes.  What the Library of Things does.  It allows people to 
experiment with products, ideas, you name it, but specifically with products like laptops, 
Wi-Fi hotspots, calculator, even board games and sewing machines.  Bike repair.  
Where's the one I really like?  Vehicle code reader, I didn't know that that we could 
access those, but -- and that's maybe half the list of things.  I didn't want to overwhelm 
the slide, but people can test those out before they actually make the investment of 
owning it.  Or maybe they can't afford to own it, and they know that that's always 
available -- those things are always available to them at the library.  And if we don't 
have it, they just simply tell Mandy, hey, what about a snow cone machine?  I only say 
that because my mom used to make snow cones.  If you didn't know that.  Yes.  And I 
used to have to carry that thing.  And it was jagged.  So they just say, hey, Mandy, I need 
a snow cone machine.  She'll go get him one.  And they can use it and experiment with 
different flavors, like my mom used to. 
Tolleson Art gallery.  Another source of pride.  I'm not sure.  What's the next theme?

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Yes, that's right, photography is the next theme.  The last one, I believe, was African-
American art.  Or was it the one before that?  Did I miss one? A few ago.  I missed the 
last one.   
The African American art exhibit was inspiring for so many reasons.  But when I walked 
in, it was beautiful.  But then I saw a portrait of Carlos Santana, and I love Santana, but 
we're getting inundated with people that are -- that get access to art that they normally 
wouldn't in the past.  And it goes beyond murals.  As much as we love murals.  
The Passport Services.  Passport Services is now a library function, and that was simply 
out of, I believe Wendy went and got her passport, and saw how difficult it was because 
there's such high demand.  Other cities like Buckeye, we toured Buckeye, Peoria, 
Avondale.  I forget who else.  They're overwhelmed by applicants, and we knew there 
was a demand.  And it wasn't like we said, okay, let's start the Passport Services, and 
hopefully, it'll pay for itself.  That wasn't our motivation.  It was to provide the service, 
but it's already done so well.  So it opened in May.  It looks like we've had 635 passports.  
One of those is my daughter's, who didn't listen to us, and we finally dragged her down 
here, and she got it.  It was easy, simple.  It's generated $112,000.  That goes to the 
federal government mostly.  We get 26,000 of that.  And it encourages the economic 
flow between nations.   
Obviously, with our proximity to Mexico, our new sister cities program, it makes a lot of 
sense.  And the demand is constant.  I'm going to have to renew mine soon.  My wife's -- 
well, she did it online, I think.  I'm learning a lot because you can renew online.  That's 
gone incredibly well.  But it's also helped to reveal to the community that the library is 
so much more than just books.   
And like I said before it, Mandy and her team have taken their services beyond the 
walls, which is where -- we even jokingly talked about a satellite library somewhere else, 
just to make it easier for people to come out their house and walk to it.  We don't know.  
Maybe.   
Go ahead.  
So today was our second job fair.  And last year we had 500 people.  And I think in the

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first hour we had 210 people.  We made 150 bags, Jay?  To hand out like eighty bags.  I 
thought Tiffany said 150.  Okay.  But they ran out within the first 30 minutes.  
By the time I left, they were pushed.  They were over 400 people with about a half-hour 
left.  So hopefully we got to 500 again.   
But it's more the sense of hope that I felt when I went in there.  Just like last year, I 
know the Vice Mayor visited.  People were really excited to be there.  Last, I think we're 
going to try to find out how many people got hired last year, and we'll try this year, but 
we know for sure at least three people got jobs from last year, so hopefully we get -- 
reach the double digits.  So it went very well.   
Congratulations, Jason.  I'm clapping in my heart right now.   
Strengthening facilities.  Randy drives this home constantly.  Strong facilities, well-
maintained facilities.  It breeds confidence in the community.  It shows the community 
and the people that work in them how much we care about them.  And I'll talk more 
about how we strengthened our facilities in another category.   
We've installed GPS on all of our vehicles, just for safety.  We've had some accidents, 
and we weren't able to track where the person was, so I have we reinstalled it all by 
now?  Is it done or?  Okay.  We're almost there.  I'm very excited that we're relocating 
our afterschool program back to our elementary school campuses.  They started there.  
That's how we stole Pilar. When we met, when we saw what  Pilar was capable of is 
when she was managing our summer programs.  And we expanded into after school 
programs.  So bringing them back on site is going to be a benefit that I'll discuss later, for 
every stakeholder.   
And then reorganizing departments . When I wrote this down, I was thinking of Parks 
and Recreation and Human Services, now Tolleson Social Club.  You can also throw 
utilities in.  But you're about two years old over there now.  And we all know what Jamie 
has done there.  But every time that you see a reorganization in a department, you see a 
rejuvenation.  And what Randy and George has done by empowering their people is 
reaping benefits.  Where we have coordinators at the Parks and Rec that actually are 
coordinating programs.

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They have never been happier because they feel that they have Randy's trust, and they 
can deliver services based on community input.  They have the confidence to ask the 
community, much like the police department does with their software program.  Every 
time you dial 911, you get a call or you get a text asking to fill out a survey to measure 
how well our officer did, or our dispatcher did, you name it.  We rely heavily on data to 
forge our services to the community.   
Go ahead.   
And finally, at least in the core values in action, nothing says more about Tolleson than 
how we embrace everyone.  I have a personal stake in in autism.  I have at least two 
children on the spectrum.  My wife wonders if I am on it, from time to time.  Mostly 
because I talk a lot, but this was one of the proudest moments of my career in this city is 
when we achieved, and I think we're more than 95  percent certified, every employee in 
our organization is certified by the Certified Autism Center.   
Now, we were the second in Maricopa because somehow Mesa got ahead of us.  But 
maybe because Melissa helped him.  I don't know, Melissa from Mesa, but we're 
definitely the first in the West Valley.  We're very proud of that fact.   
Go ahead.   
You know what, before I leave, you can see that everybody knows what's in that clear 
box back there.  Those are all the sensory tools that that we make available to the 
community that attend.   
Homelessness.  This is a big issue throughout the country.  Certainly, in Tolleson it's 
magnified because we're so small.  I'm very excited about the Maricopa County Hand -
in-Hand program.  We hope it grows into what we originally thought it would.  But the 
gist of it is that it's going to be housed at the police department, because it allows the 
police officers to interact with the staff from Hand- in-Hand and identify people in need 
and respond as quickly as possible.   
Not only will they be there two days at PD, right?  Two days at PD?  They're going to 
have a daily response.  So say our officer is out and they run into an unhoused person 
and they -- they're willing to accept services or are interested in accepting services, we

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can call Hand-in-Hand, and they will respond and provide those services.   
We also are annually, every city does it, but we are -- we participate in the in MAG's 
Point in Time Count, and we usually average seven to eight.  Do we know what we did 
this year?  I don't remember.  We never get up to ten.  But it's tough because it's one 
point in time.  That's why it's called that.   
So on any particular day, if we only have seven people in town, that's who's going to get 
counted.  But we all see what used to happen at 83rd Avenue, even though Dutch Bros 
seems to have helped with that.  And Dutch Bros does that.  When they go into 
communities, they tend to help the neighborhoods get better because there's more 
eyes everywhere, because the lines are so long and people are always there.  But so 
we've seen some improvement there.  But MAG does that because they report to the 
federal government, and we apply for resources through that effort.  But again, it's just 
one point in time.  We all know what reality is.   
And a lot of it is, and I talk about it every year.  But we, like the people we grew up with 
that are unhoused.  We know who they are.  Some of my best friends are unhoused that 
I grew up with here, and that's very difficult.  We were talking about one today who 
shook me off during the Little League game, and we lost versus those that are not from 
here, that are strange to us, that we -- that are more unpredictable because we don't 
know what their motivation might be.   
So it's a delicate balance that PD, Fire, and Human Services has to undertake.  What's 
helped a lot with the unhoused is relieving, through whatever means we can, relieving 
the financial burden of just running a household.  So when Kevin came up with the idea 
and how to deal with the -- a lot of the underpayment coming out of the recession -- or 
the pandemic, the water payment option is still available to the community.  And his 
team does a wonderful job helping people through that.  And it's customized based on 
their income.   
The MAG Heat Relief Network policy is an active participant.  We have been for a very 
long time with the Operation Hydration both at PD, Fire, Human Services library.  We all 
have water, but it's very focused on being a hydration station because, as you all know,

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it's easy and it feels like too often a lot of the issue is pushed into dollars because it's 
just easier for the other cities to deal with it that way.  Both CBI locations, we're 
surrounded by them.  So we don't -- we need to maintain a balance on the services as 
well.  Because if we do become a respite center, then you're going to get an influx of 
people that we don't know, and it's going to be our seniors and our library consumers 
that are dealing with that uncertainty.  
So we are a hydration.  We are hydration stations.  Every police car has water in them.  
Fire trucks, I believe, too.  And every field operations vehicle carry water for anybody 
that's going to need it.  They just have to ask.  Or if one of our people, like John 
Turchetto (ph.), is driving down the street and says, oh, that person's not looking good 
and checks on him, says, you need some water.  Take what you need.   
Lighting.  I know lighting sounds just like a normal part of life, but LED lighting in 
particular, it not only saves us money, but what Brandy's done at the parks and is doing 
throughout the city, it allows us to illuminate, instantaneously and then shut it off 
instantaneously and manage it better.  
But it's also safer in this case, and the reason it's under homelessness, it's safer for the 
home, for the homeless count, homeless population, and those that are going to the 
parks that are from town or from the region that just want to enjoy the park.  Better 
lighting automatically reduces bad behavior.   
And we're starting to see a difference with vagrancy calls.  It's down from 115 to 95, 
down by 17.39 percent change.  Fire has bought 35 life-pack heart monitors and pretty 
self-explanatory.  They have those available in the event that they need them.   
Go ahead ,please.   
On to -- any questions.  Please stop me.  You know, I'm just keep going, so stop me.  Yes, 
sir.  Rudy?  
MENDOZA:  So it's just --  
MEDRANO:  It's just a reference code that goes into our system.  So when someone calls 
in and says, hey, there's somebody sleeping underneath the bus stop, that opens up as a 
vagrancy call.  If there's somebody panhandling at QT, that gets opened up as vagrancy

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call.  Vagrancy is the actual code that we put into our system, so the officer knows the 
type of call that they're going to.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  (Indiscernible) a little bit more now that we know what that is.  
Plus, I wanted to give Reyes an opportunity to catch his breath.  And also.  
MEDRANO:  That's very thoughtful of you, sir.  Thank you.  You just voted on this, but it's 
still a source of pride for Tolleson, and a source of pride for all of us.  TAASA.  The name 
just came up generically because we were talking at the league conference last year, 
Tolleson Alliance Against Substance Abuse.  We've all had people in our families that 
have struggled, and it is we talk often about how it is a personal choice, and all we can 
do is be a resource, and to be there when they're ready to make a choice to get better.  
That's what TAASA represents, and I'm very proud to be a part of this organization at 
this particular time in our existence, because we're taking on a full frontal attack on this 
epidemic.   
And to see the Vice Mayor and Councilman Gamez worked together on this, two 
different generations, that I've had the honor of working with all these years, that have 
that same love for Tolleson and the same love for our families, and the hope that people 
are ready to make that choice and get better.  And I'm so happy that you are all able to 
stay, our new board members to help celebrate this moment with us.  So 
congratulations and thank you again.   
Residential demolition program, Tolleson housing stock, at least when I did housing, a 
lot of them were built before 1970.  Very old, dilapidated. The homes I grew up in, my 
grandfathers built them, and my grandma used to say that they were drunk when they 
built it because the doors were all schwecked (ph.), she would say.  You could never find 
a door to replace it.  And it was funny.  My great-grandfathers, not the ones you guys 
know.   
But the demolition program, it's a critical element.  It allows us to partner with the 
property owner to demolish dangerous abandoned homes, primarily.  What it has also 
helped with is substance abuse because a lot of the abandoned homes, they tend to be 
like shelters for people to use.  So we destroyed one this year, and I only put one.  We

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do a lot more partnerships with local homeowners, but they retain them.   
But one in particular this year was a habitual problem.  So we had to take legal action 
and credit to Chief Mendoza and his team, and our City Attorney, to get the legal 
authority to demolish that particular home or to  -- did we demolish it, or shut it down?  
We demolished it, yeah.  It's over on Taylor.  It's not there anymore.  I won't, out of 
respect for the family, I won't give the name.   
We also rely heavily on our drones.  And I put it under substance abuse because Chief 
and his team have done, and we'll talk a little bit more about that under the CAT, a little 
bit later.  Several different, I hate to call it this, Chief, correct me if I'm wrong, but raids 
on different operations, and we've taken -- we've had a lot of success.   
But the drones are instrumental to that success.  Not only does it allow us to monitor 
the suspects, but it keeps our officers safe.  They don't have to go in until they 
absolutely know it's as safe as it's going to be.  And we'll have to, when the 
investigations are over, we'll share some of that drone footage with you.  It's amazing.  
It's amazing to watch our team operate, and the people that are making bad choices, 
they don't even see them coming.  It's that safe.  So we have -- we deployed ten of 
those in partnership with PD and the IT department.  And again, I know the City Clerk 
thing's blocking the County, Hand-to-Hand.   
So the Hand-to-Hand program also provides links to substance abuse resources.  But 
again that's a good example of how it's overlapped from unhoused, substance abuse.  
It's also in mental health.   
Narcan Leave Behind Program.  It started with the police department.  Chief Goode has 
injected Narcan into every public entity in Tolleson and several businesses.  And they 
actually call George for more Narcan.  And I don't know if we still have access to it, but 
we just, we give it out to anybody that needs it.  So the leave-behind component of it is 
if Police and Fire responds to a call that involves an issue pertaining to drugs or drug 
abuse, they'll leave Narcan with the family or even with the user.   
Not because, like I said before, the user has to make the choice not to use.  All we can 
do is help them survive long enough to make that choice and hope that they do.

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Our recreation programs.  That says it all right there.  We've had recreation programs in 
Tolleson forever, but they occupy young people's time.  The more things that we can 
interest them in, like our afterschool programs, and our future aquatic center, the more 
time we hope they spend there, and they're not milling around, being presented with 
opportunities that are, either through peer pressure or otherwise, tempting them to 
make those choices.   
Go ahead, Sololi.   
And I will provide this presentation to you so you can ask questions later, because it's a 
lot of information.  These are mostly highlights for discussion purposes.  So please feel 
free to interrupt anytime.  Not interrupt.  Ask questions please.   
The CAT team.  It's a great, not just because that was Andrés Galarraga's nickname, the 
Big Cat, the baseball player, the Community Action Team.  Chief Mendoza just stepped 
out, but he started this team to directly address substance abuse.  And in his first year, 
they opened four cases.  They closed 18, because there must have been four others that 
were already open.  And there was one case in particular, and I won't get into detail, but 
I was on a tour with someone, and they told me, hey, you see that white van right 
there?  That's a problem.   
Within a few weeks, PD took, that CAT team, took that van down, and that's part of 
that, those 38 arrests made, but part of that 15,000 fentanyl pills seized.  And that 
number is a few months old now.  I don't even know where they are now.  I thought we, 
I think we had another big one recently.  But we haven't got the results of that.  
Possible drug /alcohol overdose year to date.  It's down by two.  So a change in 33 
percent.   Narcan deployments is up by one.  Those are very difficult to track because we 
don't know who is deploying Narcan that we've given Narcan to as well.  Those are 
either PD or fire dispensed.  And then Narcan saves, it's up 66 percent.  And again, the 
live pack heart monitors is another overlap into substance abuse from the other 
category of unhoused homelessness.   
Go ahead.  Thank you.   
Opioid settlement allocations.  Chief Good oversees that through his role initially with

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emergency management, but now as the director of Human Services and Tolleson social 
club.  He's our renaissance man.   
This is the breakdown thus far.  Every year the amount changes, so we don't know what 
we're going to get every year.  I -- we don't we still haven't received word on what we're 
getting this year, right?  Or have we? 
GOOD:  Thank you, Reyes.  Members of the council, we will -- we receive it on an 
ongoing basis.  So it depends on when the settlement time is, when it was originally 
done with the federal government, as it's passed on to the State of Arizona through the 
one Arizona agreement, and then filters on down to Tolleson.  So that money will be 
trickling into Tolleson throughout the year.   
But as we're on the topic, I would like to mention -- and I'll get ahead of Reyes a little bit 
there -- but on the unspent portion, we are going to be -- or I will be making a donation 
to TAASA as part of the opioid settlement funding.  So we'll have some seed money in 
there along with some other funds that we've already got.  So we're -- we're really 
focused on TAASA, as you can see, as it ties in so much with the whole substance abuse 
issue here in Tolleson.  
MEDRANO:  Thank you, Chief.  I also want to -- I'm very excited to report that Chief 
Davis (ph.), my chief, the guy that hired me at City of Tolleson in 1992, and the 
grandfather of our vice mayor, he's agreed to be a member of TAASA on the advisory 
committee from the senior center, along with two others.  So we're excited.   
But as you can see, we -- we're spreading the money across a conglomerate of -- of -- of 
nonprofits so that we're attacking it from every angle.  You can see the diversity of use 
of recipients.  TERROS we've worked with since before I started with the city.  And they 
provide substance abuse therapy.  Banner Health is very active in opioid use disorder, et 
cetera.  I didn't realize that until we were developing this, along with the connections to 
CARE.  Live and Learn -- 
What does live and learn do, George? 
GOOD:  (Indiscernible).  
REYES:  Thank you, George.  That's what's exciting about the ASU program as well.

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They're the -- they do what's -- they do offer a lot of the same services, but the neonatal 
abstinence syndrome -- I never even heard of that until -- until we did this.  So -- and I 
forgot -- I'm glad you mentioned the TAASA donation.   
Go ahead.   
Emergency preparedness is another area for George, but it crosses over into PD and fire, 
certainly.  Public affairs -- everybody contributes to it, but they're the main facilitators.  
What I love about our efforts on -- with the emergency preparedness is George talks 
about normalizing preparedness.  That should be on the tip of our tongue at all times.  
Randy has done incredible work with our facilities that we'll talk about here in a minute.  
But more than anything, we do a lot of drilling now, a lot of training on -- on mass 
shootings, et cetera.  We've all -- every department has done evacuation drills in the -- 
in the dead of summer.  But they're all necessary, obviously.  And he's also done those 
at the schools, offered it to every school, offers it to schools outside of our city because 
a lot of our kids, they do go to the private schools, the Catholic schools, et cetera.  I 
know in my wife's school, St. John Paul II, we have a lot of our -- few Tolleson kids that 
go there.  And he's offered it there as well.   
Randy just hardwired the Parks and Rec center because it's now our emergency 
management center.  So it's hardwired to be able to accept power from this gigantic 
generator we bought.  That thing's as big as a diesel truck.  And we -- it wasn't -- we 
knew it was big.  We didn't realize how heavy it was, but how -- how lackluster our 
wiring was.  So it's taken a little time to get the building prepared to take that surge of 
energy in the event that it does go down and we have to -- and eventually, once we're 
ready -- for those that were on council, when we did an emergency management 
citywide drill, we're going to do another one to involve council to show you exactly how 
it would go down.   
Strengths and facilities -- so Randy and George have worked together to bulletproof 
glass throughout the city.  Blast proof safety film, I'm not going to say where.  I mean, I 
trust everybody in here, but we also record these.  Perimeter boulders, those will go -- I 
can say those are going to go right outside this building just to prevent someone from

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trying to crash through that wall.  Even though -- imagine if Justin's not here one night 
and we can't rely on him.  We need those boulders, yes, to stop it.   
Oh, yes.  We're going to put some up front because a few months ago, remember that 
we had a crash and the -- the cars hit, and we have video of this young high school 
student running away, just getting missed by the car.  So we're putting boulders up here 
so in that instance, she could have dove behind the boulders for some protection.  
They're up already?  Oh, good.  I haven't seen them.  I haven't paid attention.  
GOOD:  Yeah, if I could.  Sorry to interrupt. 
MEDRANO:  No, no, go ahead.  
GOOD:  We have -- and council, we have a meeting tomorrow with a company that 
provides vehicle barriers.  So we've noticed a lot of times in New Orleans last year and in 
numerous places throughout the country where vehicles have been used as weapons.  
They drive through parade routes.  And so we recognize that, although unlikely, it could 
happen here.  So we -- we are meeting with a company tomorrow at 1:00, and it 
involves our Streets Division, and Public Works, and Police Department, and Fire to look 
at equipment which will make us safer for those types of events.  Also at the park and 
also at the P.L.A.C.E where those types of events -- anywhere we have large gatherings.  
So we're -- that's happening tomorrow.  It hasn't happened yet.  So it didn't make the 
slide yet, but it'll be on -- it'll be on -- if he gave it tomorrow, it would be on the slide.  
MEDRANO:  Well, it's on now.  Thank you, George.   
And then, finally, at least under facilities, we've -- we've installed the -- the gun boxes.  
And have we had any users?   
Oh, good.  Okay.  Well, good.  Good.  At least they're there.   
And then back to the lighting.  Again, another overlap in this case secure our lighting will 
help with -- with security at our bigger events.  It promotes readiness and emergency 
response in the event that we have to use a park at night.  We don't know.  If we have 
severe flooding, like the thousand year flood we had a few years ago ,and we -- or even 
better yet, we almost had to evacuate the south side of town -- what about five years 
ago when we had that leak along Harrison? A business -- one of the older businesses

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had an ammonia leak, and if the wind shifted, it would have come over southern 
Tolleson.  That would have been a good opportunity to move people away from the 
south side to the north side in one of our parks, and lighting is crucial for that.  And it 
also reduced the risk of injury during large scale gatherings.   
And then more -- another overlap, GPS installation all city vehicles because say one of 
our -- during a major event or some kind of catastrophe, one of -- our -- our people are 
in a truck, and they're disabled.  They get knocked unconscious.  We need to know 
where they are, for example, or it helps with our response times, with our readiness.  
Because that's the whole point of emergency preparedness is trying to plan for the 
unpredictable.  
The special events calendar, if you look at our expanded special events, it's like a 
rehearsal for us so that we can execute components of our emergency preparedness 
efforts during an actual event.  If it's not -- even though there's no emergency going on, 
we use a lot of the same techniques to manage our -- our events, so it allows us to 
exercise all of our plans.  
Public engagement partnerships, we've done an incredible job.  George and Mike with 
the Red Cross.  They are -- they are one of our most ardent supporters, ardent partners.  
Not just the blood drives and fire alarms, they're there for all of us.  And I'll talk a little 
bit more about what we did in Globe.  And they were there, as well as the Salvation 
Army.  
Community preparedness efforts, smoke detector walks, emergency shelter readiness, 
and our CPS -- our CPR training.  We're constantly, not just our public safety divisions, 
but everybody gets trained in CPR and everything else that -- that we should know.   
And then we again, are a part of the MAG Heat Relief network.  We're hydration station 
in all the areas that I mentioned.  
Our emergency repair program, that -- I'll talk more about how that inspired the 
Tolleson Social Club.  But that was two summers ago when it was really hot and our 
seniors had nowhere to go.  And a lot of seniors, they won't turn the AC on because they 
don't want to have to pay that bill, right?  So that's when we started to loan out

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portable AC units, provide actual inspection and repair recommendations if their AC 
units are down.  So you can see we did 14 between March and July and six AC units this 
year, city funded.   
Go ahead.   
Regional dispatch, one of my favorite topics.  I still talk in radio codes, mostly to Chief 
Mendoza and George, because they understand me.  And I do it to Jason because it 
really annoys him, but I've been trying to teach him for a long time, and he's getting 
there.  And my family hates it because I do it to them too.  It's just a lot of fun, because I 
am technically trilingual, if you count my ridiculous attempt at Spanish.  But regional -- 
What's that?  Okay.  Good.  I don't blame you, bro.   
Regional dispatch center -- we are a regional dispatch center.  The City of Tolleson, for 
those that don't know in the audience, the City of Tolleson Police Department 
dispatches for the city of El Mirage -- the whole City of El Mirage.   
How many people would they have there now?  Over one hundred thou (sic).  They're 
pushing it.  They're up there.  Yeah.   
And the Tohono O'odham Nation casinos.  So -- and we --  
Do we still jail for them or no more?  Okay.   
We used to jail for them.  We used to take their property.  We did a lot in the 
beginning -- dude -- yeah.  So we do their property.   
So you have two casinos -- major casinos -- and the entire City of El Mirage that we 
dispatch for.  And it's easy to ask, well, why?  Why would Tolleson want to do that?  
Well, it's a matter of resources.  So Chief Mendoza and I, at least from a dispatch 
perspective -- and I look at it from a dispatch perspective first -- when we were 
dispatchers -- and it was years apart because I'm much older than Chief Mendoza -- we 
were -- it was one dispatcher per shift.  And when I was there was it -- it was one cop 
with you, sometimes two.  It was one dispatcher, one police officer for the whole city. 
And working nights, it was terrifying.  I used to worry for the police officer just because 
they were alone.   
But as a dispatcher, you have to handle regular -- just call -- general calls to the police

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department for nonemergency reasons.  You have to handle radio traffic.  Radio traffic is 
when the police officer -- that is like what you see on TV, where a police officer calls the 
dispatcher and gives a license plate.  The dispatcher -- we actually run warrant checks on 
the driver, warrant checks on the vehicle, the registration, everything to determine how 
safe it's going to be before a traffic stop.  And a lot of dispatch work is that, where police 
officers, before they pull someone over for speeding, they run the plate to make sure 
it's safe, as safe as it can be.  So you're doing general calls, radio traffic, and 911.   
And when I was a dispatcher, the phone system that we worked with had literally been 
bought in 1959.  That's not a joke.  I was a dispatcher in 1992 to roughly '95.  And it was 
so old, 911 would ring -- toward the end of my time dispatching, it would ring, you 
answer 911, what's your emergency -- click.  You lose the call, and you pray to God they 
call back if they can.  It was terrifying.  We've come a long way.  It looks like Star Trek in 
there now.  Or what would it be appropriate now?  Star Trek?  Yeah.   
So today, through these agreements with every entity I mentioned, we now have --  
How many?  At least three dispatchers per shift?   
At least three per shift.  So I mentioned every category that a dispatcher is responsible 
for is now covered.  One person answers general calls.  One person runs radio traffic to 
ensure officer safety.  That's our main focus.  And then one person answers 911.  We're 
much more efficient.   
But we haven't seen a drastic increase in cost other than technology, because of our 
partnerships with El Mirage and the Tohono O'odham Nation.  This partnership also 
buys equipment for us.  It supplies more dispatchers as their calls go up.  As you can see, 
if they need more dispatchers, we hire them, and they pay for them, happily, because 
we do it more efficiently and in a much more affordable cost.   
I won't say who tried to steal one of them from us.  Actually, one of them tested us.  
They tested our proposal and went to another city and asked, could you do it for this 
cost?  And that other city didn't even offer a proposal because they just can't.   
Why is that important to us, is because it makes us safer.  It makes dispatchers more 
effective, makes officers safer -- safer.  And the safer the officer, the safer the

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community.   
This is one of my favorite partnerships, my -- my -- my most proud moments.  And I had 
nothing to do with it.  It was Rudy's predecessor, Chief Rodriguez (ph.).  I was proposing 
that we take all the wastewater flow from El Mirage and Tohono O'odham.  And I'm 
thinking we're going to get that flow.  And they're, like, yeah, no, thanks, but we want 
you to dispatch for us.  And I remember telling the chief at the time, why would we do 
that?  And he explained exactly what I explained to you.  And you should have -- I should 
have gotten it right away, but you can see the volume speaks for itself.   
So Tolleson PD, we've had a percentage increase of five percent fewer dispatch calls, 
year to date.  El Mirage is up 19 percent.  Tohono O'odham is up 11 percent.  As they go 
up, they need more dispatchers.  So we hire more dispatchers.  We don't hire dispatcher 
and we say, hey, you're just for El Mirage.  That dispatcher answers calls for everybody.  
So Tolleson is always covered no matter what the real demand is, El Mirage is just 
bigger.   
That has been one of the most efficient partnerships I've ever seen in my time because 
it's made the community safer, and that's really our ultimate goal.  One of the best 
examples of the efficiency of the system is the first day of school this year, we had a 
rash of bogus gun violence threats.  Tolleson High got it.   
Elementary school, get it?   
Elementary school, El Mirage schools, everybody we dispatch forgot it.  But because of 
these agreements and how close our PDs are, we're able to debunk those right away 
and reduce the panic on campus.  But it had it been real, I mean, we -- we sent 
everybody we had anyway.  But that's another advantage of these intergovernmental 
agreements is that we always have enough resources.   
When we are dispatchers, we have a pursuit.   
I don't mean to get my back to you council.  I'm sorry.   
We would have a pursuit.  And I remember one in particular where I -- we didn't have 
this agreement.  We didn't have the technology.  We would have to call other agencies 
on the phone and say, put your helicopter up.  So I had County and Phoenix helicopter

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flying around helping our people pursue -- I forget what the suspect did, but it was a 
pursuit.  So I literally had two old-school dial phones at my ear and the radio talking to 
both entities and our police officers all at the same time, and we got them.  
Today, you have three dispatchers managing that whole thing.  And if you've ever even 
seen a dispatch operation, especially the one we lived in, I think you would appreciate 
as much as I do, certainly.  
We also have several hostile event active shooter readiness training programs.  We do it 
virtually.  We do the run, hide, and fight training that PD offers.  Obviously, if you can, 
you run, you get the heck out of the building, hide if you can't run.  And the worst case 
scenario, you have to fight.   
All right.  We also have other threats from our ammonia, both at our utilities 
department, but several -- Tolleson has some of -- the law -- I believe we're the largest 
ratio of hazardous material to resident in Arizona, simply because we're so small.  And 
that's just not because of our industrial operations.  Farming operations use a lot of 
ammonia.  And I mentioned we almost had to evacuate before, but we do these 
trainings.   
We had an issue recently that several departments had to -- had to respond to at a local 
business along the railroad tracks, an old farming building.   
And then the implementation, we're constantly updating our fire codes and building 
codes.   
Go ahead, Salena (ph.), please.  Did it move?  Good.   
After school program also helps with emergency management.  It enhances safety 
during peak traffic hours.  So that's one of the main advantages is we -- before we 
moved it back -- moved the programs back to the schools, we were transporting kids 
from the schools to the Parks and Rec Division where their parents would go pick them 
up there.  Now they stay on campus.  They get the same level of service, actually better 
level of service, more diverse level of service.  And their parents drop them off at school 
and they pick them up at the same place.  They don't have to traverse the traffic during 
peak times.  And in Tolleson, as you know, those are treacherous.  It helps us get around

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the congestion, and it ensures faster, more coordinated emergency responses.   
Did you have a question, Mayor?  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  No.   
REYES:  The fire department -- 
Does PD participate in the car seat checks?  Just fire, right?   
So for those that don't know, fire does -- and this year, we've done three child car seat 
events where we make sure the car seats are installed properly.  And then you can see 
fire and their special hazardous investigations at several different businesses.  And this 
is all public information, but a lot of these have to do with ammonia.   
JBS fire watch -- a fire watch is when fire suppression system is compromised.  The -- the 
company would have to pay for what's called a fire watch.  You basically have a fire 
inspector, a fire someone, on site making sure that the fire starts.  They just call 911 
because the system is down.   
The one I remember most recently is one of the hotels -- 
We'll see you, Mr. Cortina (ph.).  Thank you.   
We constantly are doing training.  Actually, we had fire and PD at our job fair today.  It 
was awesome to see them there on various topics.  You can see special projects, injury 
prevention, GIS pre-planning.  And the first -- what's the -- I didn't know what this one 
was.  The AZDEQ Grant, the first submittal.   
Who did that one?  I don't remember that one.   
Was that you guys?  What was it for?   
Oh, the gas detectors.  Okay.  Cool.   
Thank you, Chief.   
And obviously, cybersecurity is a big issue for every entity.  And Winnie (ph.) is now 
overseeing it with Richard (ph.), so is our new IT manager, and they work on that 
constantly.   
And our Sister Cities program.  This is one reason I wanted to do this in private, but I can 
still talk about it because I don't think anyone's going to listen.  But to us, it's important.  
Yeah?  I'm sorry.

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So the Sister City is -- it's important.  It's -- it's good to -- to -- to have that partnership, 
given our -- our proximity to Mexico and the fact that that we're 85 percent Latino, and 
we're very proud of that.  But there's -- there's a -- there's several added advantages, 
but there's long-term potential to that -- to that partnership because eventually Arizona 
is going to have to start to use desalinated water.  And that could be well after we're all 
literally dead and gone.  We don't know.  But the -- the stronger our relationships are 
along bodies of water, in this case the Gulf, the better we're -- we have that 
relationship, and hopefully, it's long term, and we'll make sure it is, so that if we get 
wind of it, when that opportunity comes, we're there.  We're up front.  We're right in 
line with whatever mechanism would be used to get that kind of treated water to our 
region.   
But there's so many other benefits to it.  But from an emergency preparedness 
standpoint, sometimes our planning goes out decades, and that's one example of it.   
Go ahead.   
This is my favorite aspect of what we've done lately.  We have -- what are those buttons 
called?  What do we call -- panic buttons?  I have a panic button in my desk.  A few of us 
have them in the event that we need to push them.  We haven't had to do it yet.  I think 
someone did it by mistake.   
I did this by mistake, actually.  
This is the Rave system.  This is an app.  That's the actual that's on -- that comes from 
my phone.  So if we have an active shooter, I just open the app, and I hit that button, 
and it notifies every person that has that app on their phone, city owned phone or not.  
And it's for those that actually are here every day.   
Because, say, I'm out to lunch and something happens and Pilar and Wendy are in the 
office.  They hit the button.  I'm notified, don't go back to City Hall.  There's something 
going on, whether it's active shooter, fire, whatever.   
It's meant to keep people safe, obviously, but to help PD discern, identify the threat as 
soon as possible.  Because it also tells PD where in this case, the shooter is, or it comes 
from, what building it's in.  It's an incredible program.

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We haven't had to use it.  We did a -- we had a drill last month?  I think it was?  Two 
months ago.  So it's gone really well.  And -- and George and Rudy brought that to Steve, 
and we implemented it.  
Anyway, please move forward.   
Now we're on to our short-term.  And this one is near and dear to my heart, me and 
Jason, because we did housing at one point.  And the reason that I share that affinity 
with Jason is because we value Noel Shel (ph.) so much, because she's done it better 
than we could ever imagine.  We had always wanted to have a true housing professional 
take our place, because we knew she would do a better job, and that's a gross 
understatement.   
But you can see the results speak for themselves.  This comes from her latest update.  A 
lot of what you see -- we're hearing about tonight, you've seen throughout the year.  
This is one of those things.   
So housing rehab was a direct quote from council -- or is it especially CDBG BG and 
seniors.  So this year we repaired 12 homes, served 32 people, 11 seniors, 8 people with 
disabilities, 9 children.  We replaced the six AC units.  You can see we did three electrical 
panels, four roofs.  Other repairs like windows, plumbing, electrical systems.  Our 
emergency repair program comes from a different funding source.  And again, that's 
where you have the 14 portables and the -- and the 60 -- 6 AC units that we've done.  
The residential demolition, a lot of this is overlap from -- from homelessness and 
substance abuse.  Again, the one structure was demolished, but we do constantly look 
for other opportunities with willing participants.  A lot of times we'll -- we'll take it down 
and leave it clean for the owner, so they can sell the lot or build their own home on it. 
Rather have something new.  We don't we're not looking to make money on it.  We're -- 
it's about -- it's about addressing the slum and blight in town.   
This year, I'm happy to report through the leadership of council member Erives, who is 
our representative on CDAC, Tolleson requested $500,000.  We got 425,000.  That never 
happens.  When we did it, Jay, as Jason can attest, if we got 50 percent of our requests, 
we were overjoyed.  We got well over 50 percent, and I think that's a direct reflection

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on Noel and George's team, because the County knows we spend the money, and we 
spend it the right way, and we spend it expeditiously.   
We're wrapping up $1 million grant, ARPA grant through the Biden administration.  
That's what was on today, right?  
GOOD:  On tonight, we just have completed that.  We finished the full one million.  
MEDRANO:  We had to spend 14,000 of our own to maximize that million, to get to that 
million-dollar mark.  And this year, we did $650,000 alone of that grant.  So that grant's 
over.  I doubt we're going to get another one from the federal government, but I won't 
get into that.   
And then MAG did a housing needs assessment plan, and we'll provide you the full plan.  
I've given you some highlights here.   
If you could flip forward, Salena.   
So we're getting younger.  We've grown at a moderate rate.  I wouldn't even call it 
moderate.  I think it was under two percent.  But we did go from 7,300 people to 9,300 
people.  A lot of it has to do with a lot of the multifamily we've done.  And that is our 
goal.  Our goal is to get to 10,000 and then shut it down.  We might go slightly over, like, 
for example, on the retention basins up by the freeway at the confluence of the 101 and 
I-10.  Very likely it's going to be a mixed-use development with residential, multifamily, 
and major retail.  As Jason constantly turns away multifamily developers that want to do 
nothing but multifamily, because most cities do that, because they have the space. We 
don't.  We need to maximize every square inch of land we have left.  So in the future, 
we -- we likely will welcome more and get over 10,000.  But that's not our goal is to get 
too far over.   
We've gotten younger, and we've gotten more diverse.  And again, that's a direct result 
of having more multifamily in town.   
About six percent of our community has a bachelor's degree, which is outstanding.  We 
always want to do better.   
Our median income in 2022 was 47,000, and lower than the rest of the county.  Median 
renter income was substantially lower than overall household income at 27,000, and

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that reflects a heightened financial vulnerability.  And that's what the plan -- or the 
assessment has identified is -- are people struggle even to rent properties not -- not just 
own.  Poverty rate is 18 almost 19 percent, and that's twice Maricopa County.  And 
approximately 6.4 of Tolleson households are overcrowded.   
That's how they define it.  As you know -- those of you who know where I grew up in my 
house on Fillmore, there were four generations of us.  My great grandparents, the 
Feroes (ph.), all the way down.  Didn't feel overcrowded.  It was awesome.  I had three 
aunts that would play ball with me all day long.  What more could you ask for?   
But again, that's higher than Maricopa County.   
And subsidized rental housing plays a significant role in our community.  And I know in 
the past we've said Tolleson has enough affordable housing.  That doesn't have to 
change just because this plan recommends it.  Or if council feels that we do need to do 
that, we will, obviously.  
Go ahead, Salena.  
Housing stock, 2,700.  Housing units, 59 percent of them are detached homes.  Our -- 
our housing stock is slightly newer, and a lot of that's because of Villa Rica.  Villa Rica 
wrapped up around in the mid '90's -- '96, '97.  Tolleson Meadows by the park.  And all 
the current multifamily probably contributes to that statistic, but our vacancy rate is still 
above three percent.  
Go ahead. 
EARP:  I have a question.   
MEDRANO:  Yes? 
EARP:  And that 59 percent is that -- including those apartment communities that are 
detached?  
MEDRANO:  Yes. 
EARP:  Those are in that number, too?  Okay.  That was my question.  
MEDRANO:  No, wait.  Well, no, we'll have to find that out, Jason.  The Christopher Todd 
Homes, because they are technically detached.  We'll verify that.  Yeah.  They probably 
do.

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Go ahead.   
Rental market affordability remains a significant challenge in Tolleson, like I mentioned, 
to afford a home in 2022 -- the median rent of 1,100, you had to make $44,000.  17,000 
more than the median renter household income.  Tolleson median renter income is 27.  
Again, this -- this slide and the study has identified a severe challenge for people to even 
rent homes.   
So -- where's the one stat I really like?   
So severe cost burden is defined as spending over a half year income on rent.  And that 
was significantly more common in Tolleson than in most areas in Maricopa County.   
Go ahead, Salena. 
Ownership, between '17 and '22, the value of homes had gone up 43 percent, outpacing 
local income growth.  Median household income represents 52 percent of the amount 
needed to afford a median home value in 2022.  '23, our ZIP code median home sale 
price was almost 400,000.  And when you adjust for inflation, it's for almost 440,000.   
Go ahead, please.   
Housing gaps.  So we're short, according to this plan, 417 housing units, including 168 
ownership units and 249 rental units.  This elevates housing costs.  Overcrowding -- and 
again, I struggle with the word overcrowding -- and reduces housing stability.  By 2030, 
will be short 468.  Which makes sense because we won't -- we don't have a lot of land 
left.  I doubt we even add much -- many more going forward.   
Go ahead, Salena.   
Key strategies, this is the slide I wanted us to get to.  Establish a workforce housing trust 
fund.  The state has a housing trust fund.  I don't know the status of that given what's 
going on at the federal level, because a lot of that money, as you know, Councilwoman 
Chavira, comes from the federal level.  But that's not a bad idea.  And that's a good 
example of something we can do once we get a good idea of what it's going to cost to 
run the Aquatic Center.  But a local housing trust fund makes a lot of sense in Tolleson 
because we're so small.  And given our revenue generation, I think we can make a big 
impact.

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Expand housing options through zoning updates that allow ADUs.  We've done that.  
ADUs are now allowed and statewide is allowed, but we did it before that.   
More mixed use to support retail.   
Reduce regulatory barriers.  There are no regulatory barriers in Tolleson.  If it makes 
sense, we're going to make it happen.  That's our competitive advantage.   
Support aging in place.  We've done that.  We are doing that.  That never ends.   
And then leverage public land, state and federal funding to accelerate the delivery of 
affordable housing.  That's really a council decision.  We work with the county primarily.  
They proposed housing in the past -- affordable housing.  It's a much better product, 
different product.   
And CPLC -- CPLC had a change in leadership, and we'll get with them to see.  I was 
thinking especially on senior living over off of 91st and behind Starbucks and QT . 
Go ahead.   
Any questions so far before I move into wastewater?   
All right.  Jamie, jump in anytime.   
So we are currently --  
Yes, sir?   
MCCRACKEN:  First of all, does anybody need a restroom break, or water break, or 
anything?  Okay.  Well, that was it.  I just want to make sure.  
MEDRANO:  So yes, we are still renegotiating -- or in the process of renegotiating our 
deal with EPCOR.  EPCOR, for the community's benefit, is a private water -- Canadian 
private water company.  And I'm doing my best not to say more than that in public.  We 
have a very good relationship with them.  They brought back a man named Shawn 
Bradford (ph.) from Canada.  I've known him for years.  He used to be -- 
You know, Shawn.  Remember Shawn?  I thought you knew Shawn.   
Anyway, he came back from Canada.  He's the president of Arizona, New Mexico 
operation.  We have a very good relationship.  And they proposed starting to negotiate 
earlier, which is a good sign, and that's going pretty well.  They are going to contribute 
another million gallons of daily capacity.

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We're in the process of processing that.  
Jamie has made a major emphasis -- pursuit a major emphasis on vault & haul.  Vault & 
haul is exactly what it sounds like.  We literally would partner with companies that 
would truck raw sewage to Tolleson, and we would inject it into our system, and we 
treat it.  Not a lot of -- does any other city do that?  Very few.  
MCCRACKEN:  Thank you, Reyes, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council.   
Some municipalities do it.  It's somewhat rare.  I think Prescott or somewhere up north 
does.  We've been talking to a municipality back east that does it.   
But we have the ability to work with potential users that could bring in what -- we get to 
select one user, one potential user that we turned away would have brought in up to 
$18 million a year in revenue.  Fortunately, it was way too strong for what we could 
handle.  But those are the types of business opportunities that are out there for -- for 
our community.  
MEDRANO:  Thank you, Jamie.  That's just another aspect of Jamie's brilliance.  He's not 
afraid to pursue anything.  We're very excited about these possibilities.   
So we are constructing a connection at 75th and Buckeye.  It's on a piece of property 
that PepsiCo deeded to us as part of our development agreement when they built the 
big PepsiCo warehouse where they sell Gatorade online, which I wish they would do 
more of.   
And we were -- like Jamie explained, we're cultivating relationships with more 
businesses that provide this service to other businesses.  And we also talked about 
becoming a regional solids handling facility, because a lot of -- and this is another reason 
I wanted this in this session, but I'll just say -- all I can say, and I can talk to you 
individually about it, as to why we take an inordinate number of solids, so we have more 
solid material that comes into our plant, and it can shock our plant, and we're taking it 
from every city from the north.  I'll stop right there because the rest needs to be 
confidential if we ever get to that point.  But the project that council's worked on with 
Jamie, and Vlad (ph.), and the rest of the team to get federal funding for digester four 
will help with that.

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And then Jamie had a brilliant idea of rebranding the operation and to do something like 
the West Valley Regional Water Treatment Facility, because that's what we are.  We are 
the first in Arizona.  Mesa does it.  Several cities do it now.  We started doing this in 
1968.  That was the year before I was born.   
As you know, and for the public's benefit, we used to treat all of Peoria.  All of Peoria's 
sewage used to come to Tolleson.  We helped Peoria grow into two counties, and they 
left us, left us hanging.  We love Peoria.  I'm just joking.  But they did leave us hanging.  
It was.  That was a whole rigmarole.  I won't talk about it, because if they called right 
now and just texted me and said, hey, Reye, want to come back?  I will -- Jamie and I 
were driving over there right now to sign a deal.  We'll sign whatever they want us to.  
Because if we get Peoria back -- losing Peoria, that was 65 percent of our flow.  Huge 
impact to our -- our operation.   
We are a regional facility.  We don't want to become one.  We are one.  It's a matter of 
convincing the region that we're a viable option.  And, again, I've said it many times, we 
don't want to take over anyone's operation.  We want to augment their operation.  We 
want to augment their water portfolio.  We want to make them more efficient.  We 
want to offer them redundancy.  Because today, if a plant in Avondale goes down, they 
don't have it.  We could be that plant.  There's so many advantages that we always talk 
about, and we'll never stop.   
And what I'm most encouraged by is having Jamie and his role, because he has 
developed quite the reputation throughout the region as a -- as a professional, as a 
master in water management, both wastewater and water.  He is a 4x4.  A 4x4 is the 
highest level of certification a water professional can get.  He's certified to a great -- 
level four in wastewater and water.  We couldn't ask for more.  And Jamie's doing an 
incredible job along with his award-winning team.   
To the extent that last week Globe reached out to us asking for help with their flooding.  
So we sent a team down and they did an incredible job.  We're very proud of them.  
Helping with the rescue effort, because one of the big obstacles was their sewer system 
was demolished and needed to be cleaned up.  So our vactor truck and the whole team

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went down.  PepsiCo -- I should have added that.  PepsiCo provided a major donation of 
product to the Salvation Army that serviced Globe as well.  We transported it down 
there last week.  It was an incredible effort.  
And I can't thank you and your team enough, Jamie, for being so thoughtful.   
Yes, absolutely.   
We -- we offer assistance to everybody.  But most recently Litchfield Park.  We helped 
with Goodyear.   
Yeah -- was it yesterday Goodyear needed some help?  They needed to store some --
some product with us.  And I believe they're doing that right now.  And we're always in 
search of new users, always, in constant search.  If we're not trying to attract business, 
we're trying to attract sewage.   
Please.   
Water independence.  We purchased a parcel at 95th and Harrison.   
Is it three acres?   
Was it three, Jay?  What was it?  Or three million?   
It was $3 million.  It was $3 million, six acres.  And eventually we'll build our own potable 
treatment -- portable treatment plant.  Right now, as you know, majority of our water 
comes from Phoenix.  Then we mix it with our well water.  Well, it's supposed to be the 
inverse.  So we'll build our own plant, become the main source, and Phoenix will be our 
backup like it's supposed to be.   
In addition to that, we have a direct connection to the SRP system, because we are all 
SRP.  We have our own allocation that we'll be able to siphon off at 99th Avenue in the 
area of Harrison.  I don't know exactly where.  That would go into that new plant and be 
able to connect all of our well sites into one plant and may have better control of both 
quality, pressure, and capacity to residents at all time.  It has multiple advantages to 
that.   
We are always in the process of studying our rates.  We'll have a better idea once the 
master plan is finished what we're going to need to do at the plant, and not just at the 
at the wastewater plant, but in our water system as a whole.  And we've made major

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progress on, well, nine the procurement and we that --  
We finished the drainage project?  It looks finished.   
So the drainage project well late that we received federal funding for but still haven't 
got a penny yet.  We just went ahead and did it ourselves because the cost of 
skyrocketing.  It's along 96 Avenue.  It'll allow us to drain -- well, eight when we need to 
refurbish it, repair it, maintain it, and all that water will run off into our drainage system 
into the big drainage basin behind Public Works Field Ops by Harrison.   
Go ahead, Salena, please.   
Mental health.  Tolleson Social Club, I think, is -- is the best intervention we've had in a 
long time.  Well, we realized when the pandemic hit, the first thing we did was send 
home the seniors because they were the most susceptible to infection.  And they 
would -- they'd be the ones that would be greatest in -- realize the greatest impact.  
What we did -- we realized, but didn't think about it at the time because we were just 
trying to manage that whole situation, is the isolation they experienced.   
But what actually prompted this idea was the summer two years ago and how hot it 
was, and we realized we need to extend hours at the senior center, so they can stay 
there longer.  And at the time I was just telling Santiago (ph.), just extend it, so they can 
be there, watch TV -- I don't -- they don't have to do anything.  They just have a cool 
place to be.  And that's when George, Wendy, Pilor, Randy, so many others got 
involved -- Mandy -- all helped too, and we -- we -- they -- they cultivated this concept of 
the Tolleson Social Club to where it would extend hours and provide programing into 
the evening year round.  And as you know, Senator Diaz (ph.) got us that money to be 
able to do just that.  And we ran a pilot program, and it's gone incredibly well.   
The reason it needed to happen, the Esther Angulo Community Center, where the 
senior center is housed, was built in 1976.  The programing hadn't changed since then.  
It was always the same.  I know you worked there at one point.  I almost worked there 
at one point.  So the goal was to shatter the paradigm, strengthen our already strong 
rapport with patrons, foster inclusivity and trust, enhanced socialization more than 
anything, and adapt to expanded responsibilities.  That's part of that reorganization that

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George has instituted, where he's empowered his people to respond to the needs of the 
senior population, CAP office clientele, et cetera.  Showing agility and versatility.   
The daily social club, we have over 80 participants a day.  A lot of it is because Assistant 
Police Chief Jeff Groh.  Jeff Groh (ph.) does his Neil Diamond impersonation every 
Monday.  He's really good, apparently.  I haven't heard him yet.  We get 80 people every 
day.  We're getting 70 people on Saturday.   
There was some trepidation when we proposed this idea.  There were some that said, 
it's not going to work on a Saturday.  I said, look, I don't want you to work on a Saturday.  
I just want someone to work on a Saturday, so people can be there and enjoy, at a 
minimum, the temperature and not worry about running up their bill.  It's become so 
much more.   
Everything that you offer -- we offer during the week, we offer on Saturdays, and we're 
getting 70 people every Saturday.  And George is already working on Sunday service.  
We're very excited about it.   
And I just learned a few months ago, we offer grief counseling to seniors with one of our 
former employees.  He does it part time.  He's outstanding with our people.  And it's for 
anybody that needs it.   
And she comes out twice a week, George?  Once a week.   
Maddie (ph.), if you don't know Maddie -- is it  Hernandez (ph.)?  I don't remember.  
Yeah.  Yeah.   
This is another example of overlap.  Strength and facilities.  Supportive environments for 
community programs, including those that address mental health needs.  Recreation 
centers, they're safe places for respite, et cetera.  They offer that socialization for 
emotional well-being.  The after-school program is another outlet for our young people 
that may have -- they're latchkey kids, and they're -- they're home alone.  They have a 
place to stay at a very affordable cost.  And that contributes to their overall mental 
health.   
Go ahead, Salena, please.   
Special events.  I mean, I -- I don't have to tell you, our special events are like a family

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reunion.  If you're from Tolleson and you see people, you -- my favorite is when we 
did -- we opened Paseo de Luces and that was the night War played.  So I was pumped 
up just by that alone.   
But Jay Burton (ph.), the Burton son, he was in my class.  I hadn't seen him since I 
graduated 8th grade, and he was there that night.  It was amazing.  It was incredible.  
There are so many examples like that at every event that we have, and it promotes all 
those things.  But more than anything, it's a reminder of why we're so proud to be from 
this community.  Because I would challenge any community to demonstrate a universal 
love for itself than more so than Tolleson.  And we all want the best for each other.  And 
those special events do just that for us.   
So 4th of July, we have a -- we're using a new company right for the app.  We found an 
app a few last year that helps us do an accurate count of attendees.  We apparently 
changed companies, which we have no problem with, but this 4th of July we had 4,500 
people just at the park.  Now you know what happens at 4th of July.  People fill the park 
up, and then they park everywhere else, right?  Or we used to sit on a rooftop in my 
grandma's house.   
The Aquatic Center promises to help, not just with the physical exertion and all the -- 
the -- the hormone benefit, but to help to reduce stress and to encourage socialization, 
again, on a multigenerational level.  And then again, another overlap, hand in hand, 
provides resources for mental health.   
Go ahead.   
Opioid settlement.  We went over in detail the contributions, but another overlap from 
homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health, our opioid settlement in the 
organizations we partner with have a direct benefit there.   
Go ahead, Salena. 
Education.  The Aquatic Center speaks for itself.  Water safety, swimming instruction, 
lifeguard training, and equitable access.  That's critical is equitable -- 
Yes, sir?  
MCCRACKEN:  I just want to add something here because I'll forget it.  I don't know how

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many more slides we have, but -- 
MEDRANO:  We have a lot.  
MCCRACKEN:  I should have probably said this in the beginning.   
MEDRANO:  That's --  
MCCRACKEN:  (Indiscernible) almost to the red, Reyes.  
EARP:  Yes, I've been monitoring.  We are almost to the red.  
MCCRACKEN:  All right.  So my -- my point -- 
MEDRANO:  Under two hours.  
MCCRACKEN:  My point here is that it's important that as a council, we identify who we 
serve.  And the reality is we have internal customers, which are employees, and external 
customers, which are all of our residents.   
And you have to ask yourself the question, at least I do, when we propose these 
programs and expenditures, as you look through all these slides and every single 
section, you know, how did this expense or this program benefit those that we serve 
day in and day out?  And as a council and staff, we also serve the People of Tolleson. 
And I can't think of one slide or one -- one category within a slide that doesn't define 
that.  And I can't envision a memory in my mind that doesn't highlight exactly what 
we're doing here.   
And so I just want to bring that up as we go through these slides.  When you talk about 
youth and adult sports -- you know, I used to go to the Parks and Recreation Center.  I've 
seen the kids at the aquatic facility.  We've seen it being built.  All the things that you're 
pointing out, it manifests itself in a benefit to the people that we serve day in and day 
out.  And I think it's a critical thing because that's a holistic goal.  We know who the 
customers are, and this is how we manifest the benefit to them day in and day out.   
And so, I just wanted to point that out as we move through this, because a lot of this 
stuff is visual -- I mean, you can visualize, and those people that work here can see it day 
in and day out.  And so, thank you for all the work that you do.  But I think it's important 
that we ask that question as we move through this.  And I got to tell you, I haven't found 
one exception that doesn't meet that.

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MEDRANO:  Good.  Glad to hear it.  And we do have an idea for next year's presentation, 
but I'll talk about that later.   
MCCRACKEN:  Will that include Graph? 
MEDRANO:  Yes, it will.  
MCCRACKEN:  Nice.  Okay.  All right.  
MEDRANO:  So relocating programs back to the schools.  Obviously, all the other 
benefits we discussed, but academic enrichment is critical.  Obviously, we can't expose 
our people enough -- our young people -- enough to those opportunities.   
But what relocating those after school programs back to the school also does, it allows 
us to diversify our offerings at the Parks and Rec Center.  As you know, it's a multi-
generational facility now, and without the after-school program housed there, we can 
do more during that time slot.   
Go ahead, Salena. 
Education.  And Tolleson Talks is a great example of a direct connection to the 
community to offer -- to offer updates on what the community offers. The TIA program 
itself, what it does, at least from my perspective -- and I'm sure the Vice Mayor has his 
own thoughts on it and the rest of the team -- through the murals, utility boxes, and the 
art gallery, it allows us to preserve our history.  It allows us to preserve the history of the 
evolution of Tolleson, so that there's never a question of where we came from and 
where we're going.   
The art gallery, I spoke about it earlier, speaks for itself.  It offers access to quality 
master -- masterful art to a community that -- that seldom has had that, if ever before.  
Henry Borunda (ph.) is the only artist I can remember off the top of my head.  The -- he 
used to paint the gorge -- Joey's big brother.  And today it's -- it's systematic, and it's 
constant.   
Library website allows people to access that can't -- that may be homebound, to have 
access to the resources at the library.  And the Library of Things offers opportunities to 
enlighten and to educate and to learn.   
And the Marvin Andrews Fellowship -- our first Marvin Andrews Fellow in the back

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there.  Ms. Melissa Leal Esquivel (ph.), she's the first of many we've had.  We've had 
other.  We had Miguel Cantu (ph.), but she's the first Marvin Andrews Fellow.  And then 
Marvin Andrews Fellowship is one of the top three of its kind in the country.  It rivals the 
JFK School of Public Affairs (ph.).   
Go ahead.   
And she's a great example of it.   
And yes, it is through ASU.  I forgot to mention it, Mayor.  Sorry.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Thank you, I appreciate that.  
MEDRANO:  Aging in Place -- Tolleson Social Club again.  All for all the same reasons.  It 
offers an opportunity to our aging community to age well.  And what George is working 
on is diversifying the actual clientele.  We are moving toward -- it started at 55, and now 
we're moving down to 50?  
GOOD:  Down to 50 started on September 1st -- or October 1st.  
MEDRANO:  So we're trying to diversify that.   
And if -- the other idea is if we can attract senior living next to your house, 
Councilwoman, that's more clientele to hopefully further diversify this.   
And this is the mural that's going to go up.  Hasn't gone up yet, but it'll go up soon.   
I hope I didn't reveal anything too soon, George.   
But for me personally, I think we can all tell our own stories.  It reminds me of me and 
my grandfather -- because I grew up very close to him -- because he was left-handed.  
And the older gentleman's hand is his left-hand, and the child is holding on with his 
right, and I'm right-handed.  But that was what it meant to me.  And I know we'll have 
our own interpretations of that, but it's a great symbol of our commitment to Aging in 
Place.   
Go ahead, Salena.   
ASU was commissioned to write an Aging in Place chapter, and it won two awards both 
the Urban Planning Institute Student Project and the Western Planner Project of the 
Year, and that will be included in our general plan update and -- as a -- as a commitment 
to providing services that allow Tollesonians to age well, well into the future.

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Strengthens facilities, speaks for itself.  Expanded special events, again, it fosters that 
socialization.   
The Aquatic Center and diversity of services, both in services and clientele, will offer 
multiple benefits to that.   
The downtown Wi-Fi is very popular.  What I loved about this is our emphasis on 
storytelling.  We just met with TCC and my cousin, Stephanie Medrano (ph.), the 
daughter of Gregorio (ph.) and Elena (ph.), my aunt and uncle, that reminded me of that 
generation.  They're both in their 80s and they have so many stories to tell, and I grew 
up hearing those stories.  We all have those different stories.  The Wi-Fi provides -- 
encourages gathering downtown and people sharing those stories.  We need to do a 
better job of capturing those indefinitely.   
Go ahead please.   
Smart Cities.  The Tolleson Initiative for the Arts activates unused wasted space.  It 
promotes placemaking, community pride, and beautification of Tolleson.   
The State of The City development showcase economic development by highlighting 
strategic investment in infrastructure and positioning Tolleson for future growth.  
Federal funding tracking system is -- Pilor created this to do just that, to track funding 
opportunities.  And once we received the funding, trying to get the funding actually 
disseminated.  It's always a challenge, but it's about building sustainable relationships at 
the federal level.   
Civic Center tours, it allows us -- we get requests monthly from everybody, every entity 
that we're associated with.  We just had a great tour with the PNZ Commission.  They 
hadn't seen the facility.  So we were just going to do a tour of Tolleson, and I forget who 
mentioned -- I think Megan (ph.) mentioned they hadn't seen the building, so we did 
two hours inside the building before we even went outside and did the whole city.  That 
was fun.  And it's a great opportunity to showcase our investment in ourselves.  Other 
cities, smaller cities, have told us they're inspired to do the same because for a city our 
size to build such a beautiful facility, it means that they -- that there's a possibility for 
them to do the same.

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Digital request tracking system in Notion, that's an internal system we use to monitor 
your request.  And it's all online and we're constantly communicating online moving 
forward.  Obviously, we recently electrified -- started to electrify our fleet and PD. Fire 
has done it, I believe.   
Jamie, are you doing it?  Or Randy?  
Someone else mentioned they'll be electrifying -- starting to electrify their fleets.   
The GPS installation system and Library Website are also examples of relying on 
technology to provide services to those that otherwise can't physically make it into our 
facility.   
Go ahead, Salena.   
Library of Things, I shared every advantage there as well.  But it's another example of 
inspiring innovation.   
The EnvisionWhere, our software, it improves public computer reservation payment and 
access, and responds to residents diverse needs and fosters curiosity.  More so it 
expedites interacting with the City.   
And the Tolleson Art Gallery, again, is another example of providing visionary access 
to  -- to the arts.   
Go ahead.   
We're starting to rely even more so on technology.  We have several software programs 
that will improve our utility billing system, our -- our infrastructure mapping system, our 
remote software installation.  So like, we have employees that our IT department can 
access our computers, and fix them, and yours remotely without having -- you having to 
bring them in.  We're using more SharePoint. Where we're starting to rely even more so 
on AI.  Wendt and Pilar are helping me do a better job of that.  I tried it with this.  It 
didn't work, obviously, but I'm going to get better for next year.  So we're -- we'll be --
there'll be a major emphasis on AI moving forward.   
Go ahead.  Oh, it's okay.  Go ahead.   
Smart Cities.  This is my favorite example of -- of our emphasis on Smart Cities is our 
Microtransit program.  As you know, even though we don't win awards, awards don't

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matter.  The award -- the reward is that our community has access to the transit grid 
24/7.  So we've had 30,000 rides.  It cost $282,000.  We used to budget over 700,000 
for -- for transit.  Average cost per trip is $9.  Average ride per month is 2,500.  Highest 
ridership was 3,000.  And the unique riders to Uber and Lyft, people use Lyft more.  I 
didn't realize that.   
Go ahead.   
Maybe we'll win an award next year.   
Yeah?  
MCCRACKEN:  Is that right there. 
EARP:  The total of rides on the top is that for, like, the last year, or is that total for the 
program?  
MEDRANO:  I'll find out.  I think it's for the last year.  No -- no.  We'll find out.  It's 
probably for the year, yeah.   
Go ahead, Salena.   
Economic development, my favorite topic, because that drives everything.  Sound 
strong facilities helps us sell the community.   
Expanded events -- our events have become a major economic development attraction 
tool.  We've -- like, we landed (indiscernible) because they came to one of our events 
downtown, and they wanted to be here.  And even though they didn't work out, it 
didn't -- it proved that that was a viable site, and now (indiscernible) is doing really well.  
They had an hour and a half wait this Saturday because we thought about going.  
The relocation to the elementary schools will help with bringing people wanting to live, 
work, and play in Tolleson because they know that their children will have access to 
programs like that.   
The Art Gallery improves the quality of life for the Tollesonians.   
The Aquatic Center itself will be a major economic engine because we will host regional 
meets, much like the YMCA does in Goodyear.  If you ever driven by during one of their 
meets, it's jam packed with those pop-up tents.  Well, we're going to take a lot of that --
or actually augment that because Avondale has their own and Goodyear.  We're already

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talking with them.  Randy is about attracting regional, even qualifying events, 
throughout our region.  So every city benefits from that because they'll need a place to 
stay in our hotels.  They're going to want to eat at our level, et cetera.   
Sale and rezone of former Civic Center property.  That deal worked out well.  Even 
though it's a parking lot now, we were able to rezone the property along 99th Avenue 
from QT to Harrison, and that'll eventually be retail.   
Tyler Munis software implementation to improve our customers' experience when 
working with the finance department.  
In the northeast and the southeast corners of Van Buren and 81st Avenue, that's where 
our grocer is going to go.  I don't want to say too much in public about some of the 
things we're doing, but Jason has challenged the brokerage community, saying, look, the 
first one to bring us a quality grocer is the one that's going to get the finder's fee, and 
that's going pretty well.  And it'll -- it'll be accompanied with retail suites, mixed use, et 
cetera.   
Go ahead.   
We've done a lot of work with our Brownfields, so we've received a of -- 
That's okay.   
So the Brownfield, it's like contaminated land, gas stations, anything that had heavy 
uses on it.  So we've done five phase ones for Rousseau, Taqueria, Aldrete's Body Shop, 
Tony's, and -- I don't know what DI-Mor is.  And --  
Oh, the old Saguaro (ph.)?   
The old Saguaro manufacturing facility, we bought that.  So they have to go through 
environmental testing.  We've done three phase twos with the same companies. 
Jason started this -- this five-year pavement preservation program when he was over 
field ops.  Jamie accentuated it.  Now Randy's doing it at a -- at a whole other level.  In 
fact, we're doing a lot of the work now so that we're budgeting to maintain our roads 
going forward.   
City's first Safety Action Plan.  That's through Safe Streets, I would imagine.   
The Micro-transit contributes to economic development because it provides mobility to

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people to access our restaurants and different experiences.   
Improving the drainage holes in farms is critical because we want to improve drainage 
everywhere.   
The more pedestrian friendly we become, the more attractive we become to consumers 
of our downtown.   
And business retention and expansion seeks to reduce closures, retain businesses, and 
encourage growth.  Dutch Bros is still number one in the state.   
Wasn't it on 83rd, right?   
And at one point was it number one in the country or top three in the country or 
something when it first opened?  And again, we're trying to wring every all value out of 
every remaining piece of land.   
So our partnership with the chamber is important too.  The grand openings, ribbon 
cuttings, and the re-grand openings help communities get started like the one we just 
did at Ahuevo.  And now other -- other well-established businesses are hearing about it, 
so they want to do these re-grand openings.  So Irma's was the last re-grand opening we 
did.  That was fun. 
Go ahead. 
And this is our usual list of -- of attractions.  As you can see Jason and his team have 
done an incredible job.  I won't go through all of them, but some of the highlights, 
Vanguard Trucking.  A lot of, like, the Starbucks and smaller boutique retailers, those are 
more meant to meet the -- the demand of the community, the services like restaurants, 
et cetera, but you get something like Vanguard Truck Center, Volvo, that's going to be a 
major contributor to our retail sales tax collections.  Cumulatively, all those wouldn't 
add up to that.   
So the larger revenue producers you don't even see in town.  And I given all of you the 
tour by now, but -- and that's important because we -- that's part of balancing telling 
our story.  That's part of the story that we need to control and the land acquisitions.   
So like the future convention center, the old medical -- the medical office under 
construction that we just bought, eventually will be used for a diversity of purposes.  I

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call it convention center, but for weddings and quinceaneras, meetings, whatever it is. 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Retirements.   
MEDRANO:  Yeah, all of it -- all of it.   
Saguaro Camper, we just purchased that.  Aldrete's, we own it.  We most likely 
recommend housing on it.  We figure you could fit two homes on that.  And it's in the 
middle of Polk residential district.   
County property over at the by the QT on 83rd avenue and Buckeye, we now own.  And 
93rd Avenue just closed -- 
It'll close in two weeks?   
You just approved the purchase of Magdalena.  We call it Magdalena's parcel.  That will 
complement the convention center with parking.   
Go ahead.   
MCCRACKEN:  Currently has a for sale sign on it.   
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  (Indiscernible). 
MCCRACKEN:  No, I'm not saying that's good.  It's --  
we got it now, so.   
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Oh, yeah.   
MCCRACKEN:  Awesome.  
MEDRANO:  So it's anything.  Economic development applies to everything, and it 
promotes balance.  It allows us to provide the services that we provide.  And it begins 
with property tax collections from every zoning category.   
So from property taxes alone, we collect over $8 million a year.  Our assessed valuation 
is over half a billion now.  When I started in management, we were approaching 200 
million.  We're over half a billion.  And that's based on all the rooftops in town.  And the 
major contributor to our assess valuations are all these bigger warehouses.   
We were able to decrease our property tax rate.  Primary property tax collected from 
every property in town goes into the general fund like retail sales tax.  But it's the 
secondary property tax that satisfies bonded debt.  It allowed us to -- it allowed us to 
bond for this building, for everything that you've seen, PD, fire, downtown.  It allows

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schools to bond for new schools in dome stadiums, if they want to.  I'm not -- that's 
not -- that's not in my purview, but -- 
And at least in Tolleson -- Tolleson -- 95 percent of that debt is retired by these large 
warehouses, mostly industrial.  We have several industrial facilities.  The larger -- I -- I -- 
Okay.  We're good.  Other cities and spies sometimes.  
The larger revenue producers are in industrial districts.  And you know who they are.  I 
won't talk about it now.  But it's crucial we protect those.  
We -- we're able -- because of that assessed valuation, we issued the bonded debt for 
the Aquatic Center, which is obviously under construction.  We're very excited about it.  
We're -- Kevin was able to optimize the investment strategies and make about $4.5 
million where we -- otherwise if we stayed stagnant, we wouldn't have realized that 
benefit.  And then we're planning for a permanent base adjustment coming up soon, so 
we don't have to deal with Home Rule for at least five to ten years.  And obviously, 
we're conducting our wastewater study, water study.   
Go ahead, Salena.   
So these are the sales tax trends, you'll notice.  March was particular interest to me 
because we saw a major influx.  Sometimes we'll see an influx of -- of revenue that 
comes out of nowhere because a business may start some operation that they don't 
have to tell us about, it's just included in their regular operation.  And that happened at 
one of our larger industrial facilities where we saw a major spike.  And that's why you 
see March higher in '24 than in '25.  But the trends are very healthy.   
Go ahead.   
And these are the actual numbers.  We're doing remarkably well, as we always do.  We 
always are very conservative in our projections, and we typically exceed.  If this 
recession that's allegedly coming does, we simply just adjust our spending and report to 
you and say, we have to wait this out.  That's what happened during the Great 
Recession.  During the COVID recession, it was a little different.  We found ways to use 
that money to actually combat that issue.   
Go ahead.

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Future goals.  And this is -- I guess begins your -- your advancement process.  These are 
just top of our head that we thought about while we developed this.   
And this is the last slide.   
Obviously, we want to complete the Aquatic Center.  That's going to be a major boon to 
the city.   
Strengthen business retention.  Jason's team already has a plan so that we're not losing 
these large contributors.  Attracts retail to the remaining land.  We have very large 
parcels, all of those are outlined there.  The retention basin radius is over there on 83rd 
Avenue, I-10 with a trucking Kenworth everything is.  
The PIT -- The PIT -- I don't know if we're going to generate too much revenue, but it's 
going to be a -- it'll help in terms, like, if we did residential there and our ability to 
attract a grocery store.  
91st Avenue South behind QT, we want to attract senior living there.  And then there's 
several other smaller parcels that are adjacent to these and strewn throughout the city 
that provide opportunity, maybe not for major retail, but to satisfy a lot of the 
community's clamoring for like, a Church's Chicken or -- I forget what else we've been 
asked for.   
And then, obviously, completing a new convention center.  We'll budget for that 
convention center for next year so that we can start renting it out.  And, again, I say 
renting it out because we have to charge.  It's not to make money.  We're not going to -- 
it's not going to be like an enterprise fund.  
And Veterans Park expansion, I'm not saying we'll do it next year, but that's always on 
our radar because we own the back half behind Veterans Park.  That's six more acres 
that we bought for a future expansion and very likely we'd recommend we pay cash.  It 
all depends on what we want to do there.   
But we're done.  Did I make two hours?  Yes, I did.  I made less than two -- less than two 
hours.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Go ahead.  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Mr. Mayor, members of council, the question regarding the

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question regarding ridership.  Gabriel Elisa (ph.) did let us know that it's just for the 
fiscal year 25.  It's just for one year.  
EARP:  That's still way under the -- 
MEDRANO:  No joke.  
EARP:  How much the circulator bus cost?  That's -- 
MEDRANO:  Oh, absolutely.  So since July?  That's amazing.   
And I'm glad you brought Gabe (ph.) up, because that guy is incredible.  He's been 
invited by other cities to do his presentation, so they can see what we've done.  It's just 
a matter of priorities.   
Yes, sir?  
DAVIS:   Going back to telling our story, maybe that's something we should push out.  
And maybe talk about the cost savings with the ZOOM circulator bus and -- and that I 
think that's a great piece of messaging to push out there, so I can send it to my Valley 
Metro people.  
MEDRANO:  Great idea.   
Vice mayor is on the Valley Metro Board.  For those who didn't know.   
Go ahead, (indiscernible). 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  It's -- it's kind of funny how we came up with a program that 
meets the needs of the community, saves money in the process, and maximizes 
experience.  Yet neighboring cities increase their fleet, increase their staffing, their 
expenditures.  The service is not as great as ours, and they get an award, and we don't.  
Just thought I would put that on the public record.  
EARP:  Did they golf with them?  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Yes, sir. 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Mr. Mayor, I also know that you -- sometimes you rely on 
me   -- well, I think you rely on me for some perspective with -- with regard to other 
municipalities in Arizona, since we work with so many of them.   
I am aware of several municipalities who have -- have reported that their -- their -- their 
sales tax revenues are -- are lower than what they had projected.  And -- and they are

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looking to adjust those sorts of things.  So the information that you've been provided 
here, I think gives you some perspective.  The management is doing a really good job 
either of being conservative and preparing for that, or -- or just continuing to -- to get 
the tax revenues in that are -- that are necessary for -- for proper management here.   
So I from -- from my perspective, I saw that slide and in terms of the -- the fiscal year 
thus far and -- and it -- and it looks like you're in a great -- you're in great shape.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  I completely agree.  And you don't have to go very far.  Just drive 
to the valley in other cities and you feel it.  The communities feel different.  They're 
not  -- they're not growing.  They're not necessarily in a -- in a place where they feel 
comfortable and safe.   
And I think here in Tolleson, the residents, after seeing a presentation like this, not only 
feel comfortable and safe, but they feel as if we're moving in the right direction.   
And I got to say, you know, before I forget, because I think Reyes deserve applause, but I 
think we're definitely moving in the right direction.  It has a lot to do with our 
leadership.  It has to do with all the people that work around with him.  So just give him 
round of applause.   
MEDRANO:  Great job everybody.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  And I will add that it does come down to defining who you serve 
and how are these expenditures, every last one of them, every last slide, ends up as a 
positive benefit to the people that we serve day in and day out.  And at the end of the 
day, if we can answer that question, would this program or this expenditure, result in a 
better way of life, or lifestyle for this -- for our community, if the answer is yes, then it 
was worth it.  We made life in Tolleson better for the people that live here, and I got to 
say, that's a collective goal that we all share.   
But at the end of the day, there can only be a quarterback.  And I got to say, Reyes, 
you've been a quarterback for many years and you've done a tremendous job.  You 
surround yourself with great players, built an amazing team, and I think collectively 
we've all moved in the right direction, and I don't see it stopping anytime soon.  
MEDRANO:  Thank you, sir.

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MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  That's open -- the floors is open to anybody who would like to -- to 
make comments, or staff, or anybody.  Don't get me talking, because I'll take the 
microphone, and we'll be here for another two hours.   
Okay.  Go ahead Jimmy.  
DAVIS:  Yeah.  I mean, everyone, you know, you guys are all doing amazing work, so just 
keep it up.  I mean -- I mean, it's -- the numbers are there, but the programing shows it.  
I think our community is generally pretty happy, except the Aquatic Center is not done, 
but other than that.   
That's the only thing I -- that's really the only complaint that as a council member, I ever 
hear about, when is the Aquatic Center going to be done?  When -- and that just goes to 
show they don't -- there's not a lot of other issues going on, right?  You know, the other 
city services are happening like they should be happening.  Things -- things are flowing.  
So keep it up keep.  Keep -- keep rocking it.  You guys are doing amazing.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Absolutely.   
Anybody else?   
Well, I think, Reyes, in general -- you know, I think as a council, we all believe that you're 
doing an amazing job.  You're moving the city in a in a good direction.  
In that slide, there were some hidden gems of opportunities moving forward.  You 
talked about development, but you also talked about some deficiencies when it comes 
to, you know, maybe programs to do in the summertime for AC units, or -- or improving 
our housing, or -- or different lots that can maybe help us increase the amount, or -- or 
diversify and increase the amount of housing opportunities for residents.   
Like one of the big things you touched on is how expensive housing is today.  But we 
know that there's other housing options that have an ownership component that we 
can do here in town that will give young people here in Tolleson an opportunity to own, 
to stay home, and to help build a better, stronger Tolleson as we move forward.   
And so I think you're already thinking in that direction, which is great because I think a 
lot of us have been thinking kind of the same thing, you know.  And so we're already 
developing the next chapter.

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And I should say we do have our -- our advanced guru in the background.  We'll be going 
into our -- our advance -- and it's something that we do here in Tolleson.  You know, 
we -- we -- we have a strong commitment to look forward and advance our community.  
We don't retreat like other organizations, we advance.  And so, you know, we're going 
to -- we're going to have that coming up here in a couple of weeks, I believe.  Next 
week, as a matter of fact.   
So this was this presentation was timely, and it's designed that way.  Let's talk about 
where we're at, what we've accomplished, and where we need to go.  And I think that 
sets an amazing foundation for the conversation.   
And -- and I will say, you talked about third Fridays, the first one had this much and now 
it's got this much.  But I would say the same thing with Tolleson Talks.  I remember the 
first ones that we had, you know, we had maybe, if we were lucky, maybe 30 people.  
The last one we had, I would say, was probably closer to 70.  You know, it's amazing.  
And so everything that we're doing is a -- a effort, intentional effort, to reach out to the 
community, capture information that they -- that they're working with, or suffering 
through, or struggling with, bringing it to us, and then we program -- because 
immediately after this advancement, we go to the holidays, and we come back in April, 
and we start a budgeting session.  So to have all that information ready to go, categorize 
and put some of these extra revenues that we're experiencing in the right programing 
ability assist -- allows us to fulfill those needs that are still -- that are still existing.   
And so this is the beginning of a great dialog.  And I think you got to start off great.  I'm 
very excited for being from Tolleson to being the mayor.  And I'm very -- I'm more 
excited for the future of where we're going as a community.   
But when you sense it -- I mean, you said it best, people want to enjoy the process of 
public service.  And I don't think we have one employee that I've come across in this 
organization that, number one, doesn't understand the blessing to be employed by us, 
because I do think we are an extension of a family; and two, the blessing of being able 
to deliver great public service to the people day in and day out that we treasure so 
much.  And in our case, those people are neighbors that happen to be our family,

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friends that we went to high school with, and people that we come across throughout 
the years.  It is a true, true, beautiful blessing.  And I can't think of a better way for you 
to tee that up -- going back to our golf tournament -- than your presentation here today, 
Reyes. Amazing job.  
MEDRANO:  I appreciate it, sir.   
And I'd be remiss if I didn't thank council for establishing such a strong foundation.  And 
we have an idea for next year, I think that'll give you even more detail and give you 
more time to consume it, so that when we have this meeting, you can -- you can ask any 
question you'd like, and it'd be something for you to keep much in line with what other 
cities.  We've done this format since I've been manager, and that's fine, but we're 
always trying to get better, and I think we'll do an even better job next year.   
But we know how lucky we are to serve you in this community.  I speak for everybody 
on this team.  We know who you are and that makes all the difference, and it makes our 
job joyous, and we can't thank you enough.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  (Indiscernible), do you have something to add?  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Yes.  Mayor, members of council, I definitely want to thank 
you on behalf of staff for all the support that you give all -- all of us a staff, but especially 
to Reyes.  Reyes is a phenomenal leader that always talks to all of us here at staff about 
self-love, and putting ourselves first, and putting our families first.  And I know that he 
leads like that and allows all of us to lead within our departments in that manner, and 
that's because of the support that you give him.  And we appreciate the support -- the 
continuous support to give us that consistency with Reyes.   
Reyes is for us is a strong foundation, is the rock of our organization.  And it's because of 
his leadership that I think that all of our staff always rises, you know, time and time 
again, because of how much he invests in the organization.  And he's able to do that 
because of your support.  So thank you.   
And thank you, Reyes, for what you give all of us.  Thank you.  
MEDRANO:  Thank you.  
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  So with that, I'm going to give council one -- one more opportunity

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if you have comments.  If you don't, that's fine.  Or staff for that matter.   
But I will say this much, I had me a coffee and I had me a water.  So when I was asking if 
anybody needed a restroom break earlier, I was talking about myself.  And since we did 
not go into executive session, we're good to adjourn.   
I will entertain a motion to adjourn for the evening. 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Motion. 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  No -- oh, yeah.  There was there was another one that we needed 
to talk about.  The -- the nonprofit? 
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Oh, the TCC.  
GOOD:  This should be pretty quick.  
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  (Indiscernible). 
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  Any questions?  All right.  Another partnership.  What a great 
thing.   
With that, I will entertain a motion to --  
DAVIS:  Motion to adjourn.  
GOOD:  Okay.  We have a motion to adjourn by Vice Mayor Davis.   
We have a second by Councilwoman Chavita.   
All those in favor of going to the restroom, please signify by saying aye.   
ALL:  Aye.   
MAYOR RODRIGUEZ:  All those opposed?   
Everybody, have a wonderful evening.  Thank you. 
 
APPROVED: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
_______________________________________ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUAN F. RODRIGUEZ, MAYOR 
 
ATTEST: 
________________________________________ 
CITLALY SALAS, DEPUTY CITY CLERK

CITY OF TOLLESON 
 
OCTOBER 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES 
 
 
Page 66 of 66 
 
 
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 OCTOBER 14, 2025. I FURTHER CERTIFY THAT THE MEETING WAS 
DULY CALLED AND HELD, AND THAT A QUORUM WAS PRESENT. 
 
 
________________________________________ 
CITLALY SALAS, DEPUTY CITY CLERK