02 25 25 City Council Meeting Minutes
Extracted text (via pymupdf)
31640 characters
1 TOLLESON CITY COUNCIL MEETING ACTION MINUTES TOLLESON CIVIC CENTER 9055 WEST VAN BUREN STREET, TOLLESON, AZ 85353 ZOOM WEBINAR ID: 840 6967 9194 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 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 6:03 PM. B. INVOCATION/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Invocation was delivered by City Manager Medrano Jr., and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Council Member Erives. C. ROLL CALL City Council: Mayor Juan Rodriguez, Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis, Council Members Christine Chavira, Clorinda Erives, Adolfo Gámez and Cruzita Mendoza. Not Present: Council Member Linda Laborin Department Directors: City Manager Reyes Medrano Jr., Deputy City Manager/Employee Resources Director Wendy Jackson, Deputy City Manager/Chief Government Affairs Officer Pilar Sinawi, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Artz, Chief Preparedness Officer George Good, Chief Technical Officer Steve Holliday, City Clerk Crystal Zamora, Field Operations/Parks & Recreation Director Randy Babchuk, Fire Chief Michael Young, Library Director Mandy Carrico and Utilities Director Jamie McCracken. City Representative: City Attorney Christina Werther D. FINAL CALL TO SUBMIT SPEAKER REQUESTS 9055 W. Van Buren St., Tolleson, AZ 85353 • (623) 936-7111 • TTY users, dial 711 for Relay • www.tolleson.az.gov 2 All citizens and interested parties wishing to speak before the Council regarding non- agenda items or during a public hearing shall fully complete a Speaker Request Form and submit the form(s) to the City Clerk prior to the meeting being convened. Citizens must complete one form for each item they want to address. Speaker Request Forms are located at the entrance of the Council Chambers. For Zoom participants, click the chat button, and enter your name and the item you would like to address. Submissions should be made no later than the Mayor announcing the “Final Call to Submit Speaker Requests”. All speakers will be limited to 3 minutes unless otherwise noted by the Mayor. Speakers are not required to disclose their identities or personal information. You may also submit an online speaker request form at https://www.tolleson.az.gov/speakerrequest at least one hour prior to the meeting. E. CALL TO THE PUBLIC (NON-AGENDA ITEMS) This is the time for the public to comment on non-agenda items. Members of the Council may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on the agenda. Therefore, pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.01.H, action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to (1) responding to criticism; (2) directing staff to review the matter; or (3) asking that a matter be put on a future agenda. F. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES AND PROCLAMATIONS – FOR DISCUSSION 1. Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce (GPECC) Program – Jimmy Davis, Vice Mayor 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 February 11, 2025. (City Clerk Department) 2. Approve Claims and Bills Report for the period of February 5, 2025 to February 18, 2025. (Finance Department) 3. Approve an amendment to the City of Tolleson Employee Handbook to include Section 404, City Vehicle Use and Privacy Policy, establishing guidelines for the use of City- owned vehicles, employee accountability, and vehicle monitoring, including Sections 404.1 (Purpose) and 404.2 (Policy). (Employee Resources Department) 4. Approve an amendment to the City of Tolleson Employee Handbook to revise Section 104, Conflict of Interest Policy, by removing subsection 104.3.A.11(C) to enhance policy clarity and enforceability. (Employee Resources Department) 3 5. Approve First Amendment to the City Manager Employment Agreement to provide the City Manager with a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and merit (performance) increase each fiscal year, consistent with the adjustments and increases provided to all other City employees. (Employee Resources Department) Council Member Gámez moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1. through 5.; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The motion carried 6 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye I. REGULAR AGENDA – ACTION ITEMS 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 2. The City Council Meeting scheduled on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 has been cancelled due to the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference on March 10-12, 2025 in Washington, DC. L. CONVENE INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION 1. Motion to go into executive session. Council Member Gámez moved to convene into executive session at 6:21 PM; the motion was seconded by Council Member Erives. The motion carried 6 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye 2. Convene into an executive session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(9) for presentation and discussion regarding the security and operational integrity of the City's utilities infrastructure, including water and wastewater system performance, vulnerabilities, service reliability, regulatory compliance, and emergency preparedness. Additionally, pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(3), (A)(4), and (A)(7), 4 discussion may include legal advice, a potential contract, and land annexation negotiations. M. RECONVENE INTO PUBLIC MEETING N. ADJOURNMENT Council Member Gámez moved to adjourn the Regular City Council Meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member Chavira. The motion carried 6 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye The meeting was adjourned at 7:24 PM. VENDOR NAME AMOUNT CHECK # CHECK/PAYMENT DATE AXON ENTERPRISE INC $125,522.22 100274 02/12/2025 FELIX CONSTRUCTION COMPANY $95,087.10 183574 02/10/2025 ASR CONSTRUCTION GROUP LLC $48,317.84 183562 02/10/2025 STATE OF ARIZONA $45,000.00 183633 02/13/2025 ADVANCED ENVIRO CURE LLC $44,100.00 100259 02/11/2025 AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, FIRE $39,915.86 100275 02/12/2025 PUMP PROS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION $38,613.17 100269 02/11/2025 AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, POLICE $34,317.59 100276 02/12/2025 BROWN AND CALDWELL $23,819.90 100264 02/11/2025 WASTE CONNECTIONS OF ARIZONA $18,966.19 183593 02/10/2025 BROWN AND CALDWELL $15,097.15 183564 02/10/2025 ADVANCED ENVIRO CURE LLC $15,000.00 100259 02/11/2025 MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE $13,987.96 183619 02/13/2025 CUMMINS, INC. $11,575.73 183572 02/10/2025 MIDWAY WEST AMUSEMENTS $11,000.00 183621 02/13/2025 ARIZONA CUSTOM MILLWORK & CONTRACTING INC. $10,662.50 183597 02/13/2025 ARIZONA STATE TREASURER $10,019.41 183561 02/10/2025 City of Tolleson Checks Recorded Check Dates: Febuary 5, 2025 to Febuary 18, 2025 PAYMENTS OVER $10,000 CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 1 of 14 Post-Production File City of Tolleson City Council Meeting Minutes February 25, 2025 Transcription Provided By: eScribers, LLC * * * * * Transcription is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. * * * * * CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 2 of 14 MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Good evening everyone. I am Mayor Juan Rodriguez. Today is February 25th and I would like to call the City Council meeting to order. First off, we would like to wish a pretty young guy a happy birthday. I think his name is Ray or Reyes, I think? Our City Manager Reyes Medrano is turning 25 so let’s give him a round of applause. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Let's look (audio interference). Well, it's always a joy to celebrate another birthday in good company, so wishing the best, and the rest of the Council is too. All right. So with that, we are -- we're going to move on to invocation of pledge of allegiance. We are going to ask our City Manager Medrano to please use some invocation and Counsel Member Erives, will lead us in the pledge in that order, please. REYES MEDRANO: Lord Jesus, help my unbelief, increase my faith and trust in your saving power, give me confidence and perseverance especially in prayer and help me bring your healing love and truth to those I meet. Amen. ERIVES: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. After that, we're going to do roll call. City Clerk, please let the record reflect that all council members are present with the exception of Council Member Laborin. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you, Mayor. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. The final call to submit speaker requests. Now's the time to submit those to the City Clerk. All speakers will be limited to three minutes for comments only. That's just taken as a result of -- public comments will be limited to: (1) responding to criticism; (2) directly staffed to review the matter; or (3) asking that a matter be put on the future agenda. City Clerk, do we have any speaker requests at this time? CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 3 of 14 ZAMORA: We do not, Mayor. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Now to E, this is call to the public. This is very similar but it's for non-agenda action items. City Clerk, do we have any calls to the public for non- agenda items? ZAMORA: We do not. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And scheduled public appearances and proclamations for discussion. We have the Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce program. I'm going to turn this over to Vice Mayor Davis. You have the floor. DAVIS: Mr. Mayor, as the City of Tolleson has always prided itself on being a welcoming, inclusive and forward thinking community. Today we have the opportunity to take that commitment even further by potentially joining the Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce . This is more than just a membership, it's a statement that our city values diversity, equity and inclusion and every aspect of our economic and social landscaping. By joining this chamber we are creating stronger connections with the LGBTQIA+, owned and diverse businesses ensuring that our local economy reflects the rich diversity of our community. We are also positioning Tolleson as a leader and have equitable business practices, attracting talent, investments and innovation that will benefit all of us. This is not just about supporting businesses ; it is about setting an example. When cities actively stand for inclusion, they foster environments where every entrepreneur, employee and residents feels empowered to contribute and thrive. Joining the Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce is a step towards ensuring that our city remains a place where opportunity is accessible to all. I think we used to be called the opportunity city. I urge us to take the step together to reaffirm that Tolleson is not just a city that values diversity but a city that actively invests in it (audio interference) the future where our commitment to equity drives both economic success and social progress. At this time, I'd like to invite up Michelle White and Clayton -- like that, uh-huh, that CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 4 of 14 one's from the Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce program to tell us a little bit more about what they do. WHITE: I assume here is the right place to be, thank you, all right. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for inviting us out today, we really appreciate it. We've had a great meeting with Vice Mayor Davis, about, you know, joining and collaborating with Tolleson; we're very excited about that. I also want to say that if Tolleson joins soon, they will be the first city to join the equality chamber, which we're very excited about; so as a west sider myself, that's amazing. So I have a quick presentation for you and then I'm open for whatever questions you might have. If you want to -- do I have the thing with me? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. WHITE: Does that work; how was it? You have a great space here, can I just come, do all my presentations here? All right. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. WHITE: So just a quick history. We've actually been around for 45 years doing this work, supporting LGBTQIA+ owned businesses in the Greater Phoenix area. We started in 1980 as the Camelback Business Association. In 2000, we became the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and in 2020 we became more inclusive by renaming the Equality Chamber. Our mission is to promote an equitable business community for the LGBTQIA+ businesses in the greater Phoenix area. And our values are really equality through business, community leadership, diversity in all spaces and respect shown to all. So, we really try to move through the world with those values. We promote economic growth through all of these activities which I will not read through during the presentation but just to highlight a few of them. We really focus on connection and what we're doing right now is focusing on creating safe spaces for our members and our community and that's very important. And I think that we could really work together to make that happen out here in Tolleson as well. CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 5 of 14 We do net mixers, luncheons, a lot of very typical chamber events, but we also do an LGBTBE certification for supplier diversity, which I'll talk a little bit about more later. And we work with other chambers, so if we were going to connect with the Southwest Chamber, we work with the Glendale Chamber, all sorts of other minority chambers in Arizona. We also work with ERG and play resource groups. I'm not sure, does Tolleson have a Pride ERG, do we know? Okay. We can talk about that at some point. We do business development, very focused on training and education, technical support for our business owners, and the visibility; just making sure that our members, our community is seen and working together out in the community. And I'm totally open to questions throughout this if anyone wants to just throw them in there? Yes? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: What is ERG? WHITE: I'm so sorry, employee resource group. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay. WHITE: So a lot of corporations and some municipalities have groups that support their LGBTQIA+ or other minority employees by bringing groups together and supporting them as a group of employees. In 20 -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). Some places are -- WHITE: Getting -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: -- getting rid -- WHITE: -- rid of them, yes. We're seeing groups remain but a lot of them are losing their funding. So in 2025 we have several monthly events that we do every month and these are the dates that we do them, those are consistent if you'd ever like to join us, we'd love to have you. And then we also -- and you see I've got an East Valley net mixer in there. I'd really like to add a West Valley net mixer. So let's talk more about that. We also do annual events. We've got four throughout the year that we focus on. CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 6 of 14 We've got our Hero Awards, which really promotes the LGBTQ+. Business owners and other leaders who have done -- or actually all allies as well who have gone above and beyond for the community. We also do two markets for a lot of our vendors or businesses or makers or artists and we really support them. We had over 700 people attend our last market in November and we put $40,000 into the LGBTQIA+ small business community in four hours. So that was really exciting. And then we do a little party at the end of the year as well (indiscernible). So supplier diversity, this is the certification I talked about a little bit earlier. We are the certificating entity for the Greater Phoenix area for all LGBTQIA+ owned businesses to increase your supplier diversity programs. So we work with a lot of utilities, larger corporations, to connect our diverse businesses with those corporations. There's some helpful ways to get involved if you would like to continue to work with us in other ways: Becoming a member which we hope the City of Tolleson will do; being a donor; volunteering, we have lots of volunteer opportunities to get involved in; coming to our events, as I said we have plenty of those; spreading the word, talking to other people about what we're doing, that's really important, a lot of the reasons -- or a lot of the time, I'd have these meetings and people hadn't heard of us and we've been around for 45 years, so please help me spread the word; and then shop local. So this is just a really important way to support our communities, right? And that is my short presentation, if you'd like to ask me any questions you have about the Chamber, what we're doing, how we can work together, I would be happy to answer them. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Question: are you a nonprofit? WHITE: Absolutely. We're two nonprofits. We have a C6 for our membership side and we have a C3 for our foundation education side, uh-huh. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible)? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Loving it so far, but I have a couple of questions. Where are you located? So you say we have these events and we have these, are you centrally located, do you travel? Do you -- CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 7 of 14 WHITE: We are all over. So we actually don't have an office -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay. WHITE: -- and I've actually pushed back against getting an office, (1), I'd like to put that money elsewhere. I want to put that into programs, I don't need to put into an office; but also, I really enjoy being in the community. So we really work, we have our meetings at our members' coffee shops, we have -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Right. WHITE: We have meetings, we go to lunch -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. WHITE: -- we have our events at all of our member locations, like, we are out in the community every day. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And just another follow-up? WHITE: Uh-huh? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If I was a business and I was interested, how do I become a member, or how does one of our business -- WHITE: Love that question. So, oh, my slide show went away. So equalitychamber. org is our website and there is a link on the site that you can apply right on line. It's very simple, it takes about five minutes. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And what would be the fee for that to join? WHITE: Depends on the size of the business. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay, okay. WHITE: Individuals can join. We have a student rate that starts at $25 -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay. WHITE: -- and then we have a corporate that goes all the way up to $2500 and there's pretty much everything in between. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Okay, nice. WHITE: Uh-huh. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. I'm good. CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 8 of 14 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'm elected official, tier two. WHITE: There is an elected official tier. It's 75, I believe. And you get all the member benefits of coming to the events and getting the discounts and getting all the information. DAVIS: Awesome. Well, not seeing any other questions, I'm going to thank you guys for your time. WHITE: Of course. DAVIS: And I don't know if you connected with ace (phonetic) on this but if we can, get you guys involved with our staff and see how we can pursue the next steps. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We -- barring any concern of the Council, we plan to join. DAVIS: That will support that -- I have no follow-up. I don't feel that anybody else does, so I think it'd be a good thing. WHITE: If you join tonight you'll definitely beat Tempe. DAVIS: Well, then we're in. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We need to move fast. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: It was technically voted on, right? And so consensus was achieved, so we're firm -- (Simultaneous speaking) MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We're number one. WHITE: "We're number one", I heard -- I wrote that, number one. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: All right. You're number one. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Do you remember what we -- WHITE: We've got it, we've got a whole article ready to go in one of our publications about it, so -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. We're not -- WHITE: -- it's wonderful. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: This is another opportunity for us to go out and solicit CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 9 of 14 businesses. So -- WHITE: Absolutely, yeah. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible)? WHITE: Yeah. We really work hard to make it a mutually beneficial relationship, obviously, and anything we can do to help support you and the small businesses in Tolleson, we will absolutely do, so -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, thank you. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, we appreciate it. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. WHITE: I apologize, we have to sneak out to another event, but again, thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you so much. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, appreciate that. WHITE: Be safe. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Uh-huh. GÁMEZ: All right. We're going to move on to item number G, or letter number G, business from the floor. If we don't have any. Item H, which is consent agenda action items. I believe we have five items. We'll turn -- this to page 2. Move for approval, please? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We have a motion to approve from Council Member Gámez. GÁMEZ: Second that. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We have a second from Council Member Davis, Vice Mayor Davis. All those in favor, please signify by saying, aye. DAVIS: Aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Aye. CHAVIRA: Aye. ERIVES: Aye. GÁMEZ: Aye. CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 10 of 14 LABORIN: Aye. MENDOZA: Aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All opposed? The motion passes, great. We're going to move on to regular action items, none; work study and presentation for discussion, none. This is going by pretty quick. We're going to move onto K, Mayor and City Manager's report of current events for discussion. Community events update, Parks and Recreation Director. I'll call on you Mr. Babchuk , since (indiscernible), folks. BABCHUK: Thank you, Mayor, Members of the Council. I'm pleased to provide an update on our events. The most recent being our 3rd Friday which was held this past Friday at the Place. The event was well attended by the community. This event showcased the vibrant makes (sic) of vendors, including six food and snack vendors and eight craft and art vendors offering attendees a diverse selection of food, handmade goods and creative displays. The entertainment was outstanding. Thank you to count -- Vice Mayor Davis, Erives and Mendoza for showing up. They had an amazing time, I mean it's always a good time, but I think this one was well-represented of the community outside of the Halloween trick or treat one, but I think this one was probably the most attended outside of that one. So, I mean just nothing but positive things that people are saying. They loved adding more vendors to the area, so it was awesome, an awesome event. And looking ahead, our next 3rd Friday event is scheduled for March 21st from 6:00 to 9:30 at the Place. We're excited to announce that El Regresso will be providing the entertainment. So, more dancing. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Are you able to do that? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Babchuk. (Indiscernible)? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I just want to say that I got a lot of positive feedback about food vendors, so let's keep that up. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Oh, absolutely. Just from that night, I think we have, like, a long CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 11 of 14 list now, so we have a good variety to choose from. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible) is not here so I can say that. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. That's the one thing that people had mentioned to me in the past, very good additions. So (indiscernible). UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: The only other thing is people have asked about alcohol sales anesthesiologist -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. I think they're still having a good time without it and we'd like to stay away from that. We love seeing the kids and having the kids there in the same section of it, so I'd hate to separate the two. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Any other comments? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: A question after you're done, ma'am. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I am -- I think the Council there was fabulous. I don't know what you're doing with the weather, but, like, oh my goodness, you even scheduled the best evening. It wasn't too cold, it wasn't too hot, not too windy, not too -- like, all those things that make it just wonderful. But I heard from a mom who says this is the place where I can sit, my baby's right there and I feel like all of those eyes that are watching my baby are just as vested in making sure my baby's safe so that I can just be in the moment and enjoy. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Absolutely. And you know -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And she said that with, like, just like this is the -- not -- like she didn't say the only place in the whole planet earth, but, like, that's what it kind of felt. She goes, this is the place where I can do this, where I feel everyone is watching my kid have fun on the bouncy house and running and doing all the things that they -- and I don't have to be that helicopter hovering -- no, you can't go too far from me because, you know, I don't know these -- even though not everyone is related or, like -- it just feels like a safe space. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Absolutely. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And they enjoyed that, like, that -- like, she just went, like, oh, CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 12 of 14 that was beautiful. Because I know I love this place, like, I mean what's not to love, right? Like, the music and the food and the drink and the (indiscernible) comes out and all the (indiscernible) that's -- I get it. But to hear somebody who -- I don't know if she lives within the community, but she says this is -- this -- these 3rd Fridays are the times where I can bring my kids and, like, everyone's taking care of my kid. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Absolutely. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And I, like, love that sentence -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Right. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: -- because I thought that's what we want, that's what we're trying to build. Because she says, I can't go to other places like this, right? Like there's -- in Phoenix or somewhere else, I might not -- you know, it's just a big city and it's harder, but -- she said. So I needed to share the comment, 'cause -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, guys, for your enthusiasm with these events. I mean, you know, Council Member Erives loves to get the party started, you know, so thank you for that. She's always the first one up, but you know, everyone follows closely, so -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Uh-huh. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. So we got comments from -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Uh-huh. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: -- council -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Council Member? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Last, okay. Well, I guess I'm just going to read this. The next item is City Council meeting scheduled on Tuesday, March 11th, 2025 has been canceled due to the National League of Cities Congressional Conference in March, the 10th to the 12th, 2025 in Washington, DC. A number of the council members and myself will be attending that conference, and staff. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And I believe (indiscernible) also? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yes, awesome. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes, seventeen council members. CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 13 of 14 MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: For that reason, we're going to go (indiscernible). Any questions, any comments from the Council staff? No, okay. And so in that case, we're going to go onto L. Randy and Jeff, want to -- something that's -- okay. We'll now convene to Executive Session. Motions to go into Executive -- well, now is the time for the Council to convene into Executive Session. We are asking members of the public and those that are not involved in this Executive Session to please exit the meeting at this time. The only action item after the Executive Session will be to adjourn to the public meeting. So at this time do we have a motion to go into Executive Session? GÁMEZ: So moved. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We have a motion -- ERIVES: Second. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: -- from Council Member Gámez. We have a second, Councilwoman Erives. All those in favor of convening to Executive Session say aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Aye. DAVIS: Aye. CHAVIRA: Aye. ERIVES: Aye. GÁMEZ – Aye MENDOZA: Aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All those opposed? Not hearing any, we are now officially in Executive Session. CITY OF TOLLESON FEBRUARY 25, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 14 of 14 APPROVED: ____________________________________ JUAN F. RODRIGUEZ, MAYOR ATTEST: ____________________________________ CRYSTAL ZAMORA, CITY CLERK CERTIFICATION I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE FOREGOING MINUTES ARE A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TOLLESON, ARIZONA, HELD ON FEBRUARY 25, 2025. I FURTHER CERTIFY THAT THE MEETING WAS DULY CALLED AND HELD, AND THAT A QUORUM WAS PRESENT. ____________________________________ CRYSTAL ZAMORA, CITY CLERK