01 14 25 City Council Meeting Minutes
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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, JANUARY 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 Arnson, and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Vice Mayor Davis. C. ROLL CALL City Council: Mayor Juan Rodriguez, Vice Mayor Jimmy Davis, Council Members Christine Chavira, Clorinda Erives, Adolfo Gámez, Linda Laborin and Cruzita Mendoza. 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, Development Services Director Jason Earp, Field Operations/Parks & Recreation Director Randy Babchuk, Fire Chief Michael Young, Human Services Director Santiago Cornejo, Library Director Mandy Carrico, Public Safety Director Rudy Mendoza and Utilities Director Jamie McCracken. City Representative: City Attorney Aaron Arnson 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. Proclamation declaring January 2025 as Speak Up, Stand Up, Save a Life Month in the City of Tolleson, encouraging Arizona schools, students, parents, educators, fire and police departments and community organizations to coordinate a variety of awareness and prevention activities designed to make our communities safer and promote a healthy environment for all children and adolescents. – Gina Godbehere, Cofounder of Speak Up, Stand Up, Save a Life The Speak Up, Stand Up, Save a Life Month proclamation is being postponed to a later date at the request of the Tolleson Union High School District. 2. Sound the Alarm Event and Red Cross Tolleson Blood Drive – George Good, Chief Preparedness Officer 3. Tolleson Aquatic Center Update – Randy Babchuk, Field Operations Director and Adaptive Architects 4. MAG 101 for Elected Officials – Ed Zuercher, Executive Director, John Bullen, Chief Transportation Officer, and Samantha Klakulak, Government Relations Project Manager of Maricopa Association of Governments 5. Proclamation declaring January 14-20, 2025 as Community Risk Reduction Week in the City of Tolleson, in recognition of the dedication and efforts of our local fire department, emergency services, and community partners in preventing emergencies and protecting lives and property through education, training, and innovative 3 programs. – Michael Young, Fire Chief and George Good, Chief Preparedness Officer Mayor Rodriguez proclaimed January 14-20, 2025 as Community Risk Reduction Week 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 December 10, 2024. (City Clerk Department) 2. Approve Claims and Bills Report for the period of December 4, 2024 to January 7, 2025. (Finance Department) 3. Appoint Council Members Christine Chavira, Linda Laborin and Cruzita Mendoza as members of the Tolleson Community Grant Program Subcommittee to serve from January 14, 2025 until December 8, 2026. (City Council) 4. Adopt Resolution No. 2593 of the Mayor and Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, approving the Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Tolleson and the State of Arizona, acting by and through its Department of Transportation (ADOT), for the construction of a pedestrian bridge system over Van Buren Street at 96th Avenue. The City has received Fiscal Year 2023 Highway Infrastructure Programs (HIP) Congressionally Directed Spending Projects funding for this Project, including federal aid in the amount of $3,500,000 and a City match of $256,559 as detailed in the Agreement. (Development Services Department) 5. Approve Replat of Tolleson Landing as submitted by Maria Grishina with Sunstone Two Tree, on behalf of the owner, STT 99th and Van Buren, LLC, for a final plat located at the southeast corner of Van Buren Street and 99th Avenue in Tolleson, AZ. The site is approximately 7.64 acres and zoned General Commercial (C-2). The APN surrounding the parcel is 101-09-678 and also includes all subdivided lots. (Development Services Department) 6. Approve Sixth Amendment to the Lease Agreement between the City of Tolleson and Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, represented by American Tower Delaware Corporation, and authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said Agreement. This Amendment extends the current lease term and provides for seven additional five-year renewal terms. The Agreement includes updated terms for rent escalation, a one-time administrative fee payment of $15,000, and provisions for revenue sharing from additional sublease agreements. (Finance Department) 4 7. Approve First Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement between the City of Tolleson and Extrication Concepts, LLC for Holmatro rescue equipment and maintenance services, and authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said Agreement. The City desires to amend the existing Agreement to increase the annual aggregate amount from $100,000 to $130,000 for additional equipment and services. (Fire Department) 8. Approve First Amendment to the Cooperative Purchasing Agreement between the City of Tolleson and CDW Government, LLC for Software Value Added Reseller Services, and authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said Agreement. The City desires to amend the existing Agreement to increase the annual aggregate amount from $200,000 to $250,000 for additional services. (Information Technology Department) 9. Approve the Professional Services Agreement between the City of Tolleson and Unplugged Performance, Inc. for the procurement, assembly, and upfit of electric police vehicles, and authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said Agreement. The City shall pay the Contractor an annual aggregate amount not to exceed $300,000 for equipment and services. This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect until June 30, 2025 and shall automatically renew for four successive one-year terms. (Police Department) 10. Approve the Chemical Purchase Agreement between the City of Tolleson and PureOps, LLC for the emergency procurement of equipment for the Tolleson Wastewater Treatment Plant (chlorine room), and authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said Agreement. The City shall pay the Contractor an annual aggregate amount not to exceed $200,000 for the equipment. This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect until June 30, 2025 and shall be renewed for up to three successive one-year terms. (Utilities Department) Council Member Gámez moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1. through 10.; the motion was seconded by Council Member Laborin. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye I. REGULAR AGENDA – ACTION ITEMS 1. Approve/Deny the Professional Services Agreement between the City of Tolleson and LEA Architects, LLC for architectural and engineering services for the design of a new utility operations building, and authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said 5 Agreement. The City shall pay the Consultant an amount for the services at the rates set forth in the Fee Proposal. The maximum aggregate amount for this Agreement shall not exceed $860,943. This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect until June 30, 2025 and shall be renewed for up to two successive one-year terms. (Development Services Department) Council Member Laborin moved to approve the Professional Services Agreement; the motion was seconded by Council Member Gámez. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye 2. Adopt/Deny Ordinance No. 613 N.S. of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, amending the Tolleson City Code, by amending Chapter 9 Animals, Article 9-1 General Rules and Regulations, Section 9-1-20 Control of Cats; and Article 9-2 Cruelty and Neglect of Animals, Section 9-2-4 Neglect Prohibited and Section 9-2- 7 Impounding and Disposing of Dogs and Cats; Reclaiming Impounded Dogs and Cats; Pound Fees; providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances; providing for severability; and providing for penalties. (Police Department) Vice Mayor Davis moved to adopt Ordinance No. 613 N.S.; the motion was seconded by Council Member Chavira. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye J. WORK STUDY AND PRESENTATIONS – FOR DISCUSSION 1. Discussion pertaining to the potential development of an extended stay hotel, Echo Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham, on the property located at the southeast corner of 91st Avenue and McDowell Road. – Jason Earp, Development Services Director K. MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER’S REPORT OF CURRENT EVENTS – FOR DISCUSSION 1. Notice of cancellation of the City Council Meetings scheduled on Tuesday, July 22, 2025 and August 12, 2025 for summer recess, Tuesday, November 25, 2025 for fall recess and Tuesday, December 23, 2025 for winter recess. 6 The City Council Meeting scheduled on Tuesday, November 11, 2025 will be rescheduled to Wednesday, November 12, 2025 due to Veterans Day. The City Hall holiday closure is scheduled from December 22, 2025 to December 26, 2025. L. CONVENE INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION 1. Motion to go into executive session. Council Member Gámez moved to convene into executive session at 7:52 PM; the motion was seconded by Council Member Erives. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye 2. Convene into an executive session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(3) and (A)(4) to receive legal advice and discuss and consult with the City Attorney regarding the City’s position relating to negotiations for a development agreement. 3. Convene into an executive session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(1) and (A)(3) for discussion or consultation for legal advice with the City Attorney regarding the findings of an investigation related to a complaint received against a public officer. 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 Mendoza. The motion carried 7 to 0. Mayor Rodriguez – Aye Vice Mayor Davis – Aye Council Member Chavira – Aye Council Member Erives – Aye Council Member Gámez – Aye Council Member Laborin – Aye Council Member Mendoza – Aye The meeting was adjourned at 9:02 PM. Pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.01 and A.R.S. § 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the Tolleson City Council and to the general public that the Council of the City of Tolleson will hold a meeting open to the public. Council Members of the City of Tolleson will attend by telephone/video conference call. 7 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. CHECK NUMBER CHECK DATE VENDOR NAME AMOUNT 183027 12/12/2024 PIERCE COLEMAN PLLC 148,500.00 183068 12/19/2024 AZ MUNICIPAL RISK RETENTION POOL P & C 131,879.13 182959 12/10/2024 PEORIA FORD 95,332.43 182962 12/10/2024 PEORIA FORD 95,332.43 182958 12/10/2024 PEORIA FORD 89,507.70 183073 12/19/2024 ASR CONSTRUCTION GROUP LLC 88,346.31 182960 12/10/2024 PEORIA FORD 87,456.82 182961 12/10/2024 PEORIA FORD 87,456.82 182963 12/10/2024 PEORIA FORD 87,456.82 183031 12/12/2024 PUREOPS LLC 80,925.14 182952 12/10/2024 ADAPTIVE ARCHITECTS INC 77,785.00 183127 12/19/2024 SAN TAN AUTO PARTNERS LLC 67,668.93 City of Tolleson Checks Recorded Check Dates: December 4, 2024 to January 7, 2025 PAYMENTS OVER $50,000 CHECK NUMBER CHECK DATE VENDOR NAME AMOUNT 183146 12/19/2024 VEOLIA WTS SOLUTIONS USA, INC. 47,382.40 182978 12/12/2024 SUPERION LLC 47,268.34 182937 12/05/2024 SAGUARO SUMMIT, LLC 43,012.84 100167 12/20/2024 AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, FIRE 42,319.02 100137 12/09/2024 AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, FIRE 41,943.27 100178 01/03/2025 AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, FIRE 39,083.88 100172 12/20/2024 KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC. 34,930.50 100179 01/03/2025 AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, POLICE 34,667.36 100168 12/20/2024 AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, POLICE 33,882.96 100138 12/09/2024 AZ PUBLIC SAFETY RETIREMENT, POLICE 33,282.39 182940 12/05/2024 ECONOLITE CONTROL PRODUCTS, INC. 29,161.04 183068 12/19/2024 AZ MUNICIPAL RISK RETENTION POOL P & C 27,482.36 183068 12/19/2024 AZ MUNICIPAL RISK RETENTION POOL P & C 27,296.85 182936 12/05/2024 CDW-GOVERNMENT INC 23,224.85 183067 12/19/2024 ADAPTIVE ARCHITECTS INC 21,050.00 183120 12/19/2024 PIERCE COLEMAN PLLC 20,250.00 183120 12/19/2024 PIERCE COLEMAN PLLC 20,250.00 182956 12/10/2024 FACILITEQ AZ LLC 19,998.00 100180 01/03/2025 DH PACE COMPANY, INC. 19,977.04 183149 12/19/2024 WACO LLC 19,742.03 183012 12/12/2024 LYFT, INC. 19,714.32 182912 12/04/2024 LYFT, INC. 18,256.01 183077 12/19/2024 BROWN AND CALDWELL 17,923.80 100163 12/17/2024 KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC. 17,180.00 100146 12/09/2024 MATLICK ENTERPRISES INC 17,074.79 182964 12/10/2024 TRANSACT COMMERCIAL FURNISHINGS INC 16,619.78 182926 12/04/2024 VAN LOON INDUSTRIES 15,824.15 100180 01/03/2025 DH PACE COMPANY, INC. 15,673.36 100180 01/03/2025 DH PACE COMPANY, INC. 15,673.36 183151 12/19/2024 WEST TECH LLC 15,550.35 183117 12/19/2024 Metropolitan Life Insurance 15,496.54 182953 12/10/2024 ANDRUS PROPERTIES INC 15,235.00 183172 01/02/2025 HILL BROTHERS CHEMICAL CO. 13,774.00 183120 12/19/2024 PIERCE COLEMAN PLLC 13,500.00 183094 12/19/2024 FERGUSON US HOLDINGS INC 12,290.05 100166 12/20/2024 ARMOR PROTECTION GROUP INC 12,000.00 183192 01/02/2025 VERIZON WIRELESS SERVICES LLC 11,474.76 182902 12/04/2024 CONTAINER CANOPIES LLC 10,765.76 100133 12/05/2024 CITY OF TOLLESON-MEDICAL 10,561.01 183118 12/19/2024 MOBILE CONCEPTS TECHNOLOGY LLC 10,321.94 182957 12/10/2024 HAYDON BUILDING CORP 10,048.50 Check Dates: December 4, 2024 to January 7, 2025 PAYMENTS FOR $10,000 - $49,999 City of Tolleson Checks Recorded CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 1 of 59 Post-Production File City of Tolleson City Council Meeting Minutes January 14, 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 JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 2 of 59 MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right, folks. I think my green light's on. It is. Good evening. Today is January 14th, 2025. And I'd like to welcome everybody here to our Tolleson City Council Meeting. I am your Mayor, Juan F. Rodriguez. And we're going to get started with our invocation and our Pledge of Allegiance. I'm going to ask our city attorney if he will please provide us with the invocation, and then we'll follow with Vice Mayor Davis giving us the Pledge of Allegiance. ARNSON: Lord in Heaven, with gratitude we approach thee in prayer, thank thee for this time to gather as a public body, as elected officials, as staff, as citizens, as residents of this good city. We ask thee for thy blessing and guidance, that thy Holy Spirit might direct our paths. Bless us that we will be able to act in accordance with thy will and in the best interest of those whom we serve and love. Bless our families, bless those who are experiencing struggles and challenges, especially in times of strife and war, of times of fire and natural disaster. We pray that we might be inspired with the ability to see ways that we can assist and provide aid. And grant us these blessing we pray, in thy son's name, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. DAVIS: Amen. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Amen. ALL: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. City Clerk, please let the record reflect that all councilmembers are present. Roll call is complete. Final Call to Submit Speaker Requests. That was a final call to submit speaker requests to the City Clerk. All speakers will be limited to three minutes for comments only. Actions taken as a result of public comments will be limited to one, responding to criticism; directing staff to review the matter; or three, asking that a matter be put on a future agenda. City Clerk, do we have any at this time? ZAMORA: We do not, Mayor. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Moving on to Call to the Public. This is for non-agenda CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 3 of 59 action items, or non-agenda items. It's now time to Call to the Public. City Clerk, do we have any submissions for non-agenda items? ZAMORA: We do not, Mayor. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Scheduled Public Appearances. The first one is on our agenda, but just for general purposes, it was going to a Speak Up, Stand Up, Save a Life Month proclamation at the request of the -- the people that filed it. They want to postpone to a later date. So it's still a great cause; we're just not going to be proclaiming it right now. So we're going to watch a Sound the Alarm Event and the Red Cross Tolleson Blood Drive. I want to turn it over to our Chief Preparedness Officer, Chief Good. I turn the floor over. GOOD: Council, we have a couple big events coming up with the Red Cross this Saturday and the following Saturday, the 18th and the 25th. And here to tell us more about it tonight is Jim Olson; he's the director of the American Red Cross, the Central Region, the Board Chair. So Jim, if you would please share it with them? OLSON: Thank you so much. I appreciate the time today, and, you know, everybody on the council and leaders within the City of Tolleson, you guys have been great partners for us already. And little bit more background, we're working on community resilience across the country, the American Red Cross is. And we're very proud that the City of Tolleson is working with us hand in hand to make your community more resilient. God forbid there is a, you know, any kind of natural disaster that would happen here like what's going on in California. Our hearts go out to everybody there. But that's a part of what we're trying to build. So I just wanted to talk briefly about two upcoming events. The first one, as was mentioned, was a Sound the Alarm event. And it's a canvassing event that we're doing in cooperation with the fire department to put smoke alarms in homes of people that otherwise don't have the means to get them. So we're going to canvas the community, we're going to put smoke alarms into people's homes, and give them opportunities to CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 4 of 59 basically, you know, save lives, if God forbid something happens to their home. The location of the event is here. We are taking volunteers. We have about 60 different people that are be -- going to come out here for that particular event. But more the merrier. So if anybody on the council or anybody on the City is still interested in helping and coming, you're more than welcome to be there. The event is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. with registration and breakfast at 8. And then we're going to conclude at about 11:30 with the fire department making hot dogs for us. So very excited about that cooperative effort. Secondly, on the 25th, so the following Saturday, we're actually doing a community blood drive. And that's something that the Red Cross obviously desperately needs too, is blood, so that we can service our community and the greater community around us in Phoenix and quite frankly, the region. So thank you for your partnership. It's truly appreciated by us at the American Red Cross, and we look forward to continuing to work with you to help your city be resilient in the event that there is a disaster. So thank you very much. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, thank you, Mr. Olson. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Obviously, partnerships is a two-way street, so we want to thank the Red Cross for picking our city and our fire department and our staff to partner with, and we look forward to really good things coming out of this effort. OLSON: Yeah, thank you, Mayor. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. GOOD: Mayor, if I could just finish this up and that is that we've always asked and leaned on council because of your leadership in the community and you -- people look up to you folks. If we can ask you guys to recruit for the blood drive for the 25th, that would be great. I know we did that before and we got kind of a -- we had -- well, we had a great turnout the day we did it. And any input or advice that you guys have or encouragement to other people in the community to sign up for the -- that blood drive, would be greatly appreciated. We've talked about it before, how it's Latin Gold, that CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 5 of 59 Hispanic blood, that O plus. So let's get all we can. We never know when we're going to need it. So if you guys can do that, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And I did see some stuff on Facebook for the upcoming event this Saturday. And so, if you have Facebook or other types of social media, please share it, get it out to the community so we have a really good turnout and we can benefit the maximum amount of residents, especially when it comes to the fire department, that's pretty awesome. GOOD: They're looking, very humbly -- he didn't say, but they're looking 800 to 1,000 (indiscernible). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Oh. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh, wow. GOOD: (Indiscernible) get our fire department cooking, but they'll also be out there patrolling during the event, making sure everybody is safe in the street and so forth. So yeah, here they are now, so. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Wonderful. GOOD: They'll be out there for that event. GAMEZ: Good. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. CHAVIRA: George, if someone wants to sign up, how can they do that? GOOD: We will get you the link, their QR code, and we'll get that to all of you when you -- CHAVIRA: Okay. Right. GOOD: We'll get it shared on social media and get it out to you. CHAVIRA: Okay. Perfect. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mayor -- Mayor (indiscernible). CHAVIRA: Perfect. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). CHAVIRA: Awesome. Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 6 of 59 CHAVIRA: Okay. Perfect. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Other Council Members, any questions, comments? GAMEZ: Just really quickly. Now, the Red Cross is also coordinating the efforts in terms of raising funds for the wildfire in L.A., is that correct? OLSON: Yes, that's correct. So there's many ways that you can donate. If you just go to AmericanRedCross.org, you can donate specifically to that fire event. And we're doing that clearly all across the county. But -- GAMEZ: (Indiscernible). OLSON: -- there is a big need there. We do have shelters set up there currently, so we're housing people that are otherwise unhoused as a result of losing their home. And we'll typically be there for 30, 60, 90 days, quite frankly however long it takes. Just as an example, I had mentioned this just earlier, but the Maui fire that happened, we just recently left there. We were there that long. So we're there as long as we need to be to help cities recover. But that's why we want to build resiliency so that the recovery is quicker. ERIVES: Great. GAMEZ: Well, Mr. Mayor, I just -- I would like to know if it's possible, maybe consider the city maybe giving some kind of donation to help L.A. and then pose a challenge to the West Valley Cities to do the same. I'm sure we have family in L.A. and California, people on the council, people in the community have relatives. Any help they can get I'm sure they'd appreciate it. We go through the Red Cross, if we can put it on our website, have our community members say you guys want to give, give to the Red Cross and make sure that you want it -- it goes to L.A. to help them out out there, that'd be great. Just to get the word out. And I don't know if we can in this city or not, but I think if we could, I would love for us to do that and challenge others. Because they do need the help. You look at the fire, watch TV, it just -- it just unbelievable. And these people are left with nothing. Nothing. So, you know, anyway we can help, and I -- I think that we -- if we can, we should. That's just, again, me saying it. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 7 of 59 OLSON: Yeah, very much appreciate that. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Good idea. Yeah, it's unfortunate what's happening and hopefully they get control of it sooner than later. But yeah, the staff can look into it, see what possibilities we can -- if it's possible to do a West Valley challenge or even a valley-wide challenge, and then of course we can get with the finance folks and our attorneys to figure out how -- GAMEZ: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: -- how to work all that out. But great suggestion. We should definitely look into it. OLSON: Yeah, we can talk more about that for sure. GAMEZ: That's great, thank you. OLSON: Thank you. ERIVES: Thanks. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. Olson, appreciate it. OLSON: You're welcome. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. We're going to move on to Item Number 3. This is a presentation on the Tolleson Aquatic Center update, Adaptive Architecture. And where's Mr. Randy Babchuk? BABCHUK: Thank you, Mayor and Members of Council. Back in September, if you remember, we came to you guys with four different layouts that we presented. And then you guys did have some recommendations that you guys would like to see. We have Vince Di Bella here tonight with us with Adaptive Architects, and he'll be going over some of those requests and how they incorporated that for you guys. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. DI BELLA: Hello, Mayor and City Council, thank you. I have a brief presentation tonight for you on the Aquatic Center. But I want to give a shoutout to your staff; they've been fantastic to work with, especially Randy and Chris (ph.). We bug them constantly for information, and -- and they've been great, great response to them -- for them. All right. So the Aquatic -- Tolleson Aquatic Center -- oops, go in advance here. So the CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 8 of 59 site, obviously on Van Buren Street, the police station is to the east, there's a water conservation canal on the west. The site access is from Van Buren. You can see that, kind of, swoop and swerve of the driveway as well as the building form. On the east is all the parking. On the west are the two aquatic pieces, the competition pool on the north, the recreational pool on the south. And is -- and it's kind of divided with this center pavilion piece that we've been working on as well. It's all consistent with the plans you've seen before; we just have more detail for that. On the right is an enlarged floorplan of the building. So is there a pointer on this? No. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No, is there a pointer on there? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: No. DI BELLA: Okay. So the center -- center where the red spot is there on the -- on the plan on the right is the main entry. To the left of that is the main pool house, bath house that takes you out to the aquatics deck area. And then to the right we have a classroom space, interior concession space, as well as administrative offices in the yellow. As you progress further to the -- up to the north, there's another bath house that serves the competition pool. And that purple space is the fitness center as it relates to fitness component to the facility. The orange pieces on the two endcaps of the building is all the pump equipment and filtration equipment that serves the -- the competition pool and the recreational pool respectively. Kind of a bird's-eye view, it helps you out and visualizes more of the recreation pool on the lower right, competition pool on the -- on the upper left. That center pavilion piece is where -- it's a turf area, artificial turf. The idea of the area, it's a completely shaded area. And that'd be also a location for we would hold the movie nights. That was kind of a big piece in the programmal [sic] -- program space of the -- of what the community wanted to see was the opportunity to have movie nights in the pool -- in the pool area. We have a fantastic slide, two-structured slide for the recreational pool. Still a work in progress. But again, that's two slide pieces, one's higher, one's lower. One for the -- for the older kids, one for the younger kids in the -- in the dive -- in the pool area. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 9 of 59 We have rock outcroppings and as well as play features that relates to the zero entry side of the pool. So you don't see a lot of detail yet, but there's a lot of play features related to the zero entry. And zero entry is on the kind of north end of the recreational pool where you can just walk right in and there's all kinds of play features for smaller kids. And then it -- then it goes into the lazy river piece where more of your teenager- style or adults would -- would frequent. So another view from, kind of, at the recreation pool looking towards the slide. Sorry. Kind of gives you an idea on how high the slide is, the nature and character of the lazy river, the rock outcroppings where water would be filtering over that edge as it relates to that, and kind of looking towards the pavilion and the entry of the -- to the -- to the deck area. A view from the other side looking towards the lazy river. There's the -- again, you see a slide piece, gives you orientation. And then you kind of see a glimpse of the -- of the pavilion piece as it relates to the lazy river. From the competition pool looking towards that center pavilion space. So this is where the comp area is; the diving wall is off the screen to the left. And as you look down, you can see the kind of pavilion structure, that's kind of the center -- center showcase of -- of bridging the space between the two pools. The idea there is that when the competition pool is not in use or when the lazy river pool is not in use, we have garage door-like structures that come down. You can separate the two -- the two bodies of water so that if you have a competition pool in the wintertime where they usually have the tournaments, you can separate out from the recreational pool and not have to worry about maintaining and/or staffing that area of the pool. So it's -- it's provided you those dual functions. And this is kind of underneath the canopy over the centerpiece of the pavilion space. Looking out towards the lazy river gives you a sense of how that is covered and shaded. We also have a lot of other shade elements along the pool deck that we're working on. This is kind of the key area; as you come out of the bathhouse or the main entry, you're walking underneath this pavilion space. And it bridges -- again, it's transition between CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 10 of 59 the competition pool to the left and the recreational pool to the right. That concludes the presentation as to where we're at. It's a work in progress; we're still working on it. And Randy, turn it over to you. BABCHUK: Thank you, Vince. You know what, Adaptive Architect's been really good with changes and everything that we've been throwing at them. So they've done a lot of work to this point. I know we have Jason to talk about some of the timeline for you guys from Chase (ph.). I know that's what you guys are all, you know, in tune for, so we'll give it over to Jason. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Before we go, I did have a question. Is there any part of the pool that's going to be heated? BABCHUK: The competition pool will be heated, yes. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So we can train lifeguards in the wintertime for example. BABCHUK: Absolutely. Yep. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Good to know. Thank you. If there's any other questions, Council Members? EARP: Thank you, Mayor, Members of the Council. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: What'd you say? EARP: I said thank you. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So no questions at this time? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I had questions. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yes, go ahead. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Lockers. How many -- I mean, you're going to have enough lockers for people to come and when they have competition and stuff for everybody? BABCHUK: Yeah, we will have lockers on both sides in -- in both sets of restrooms, yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Sorry about that, Jason. EARP: Try it again. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Members of Council. So before I go into schedule, I just wanted to say a few things about this project. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 11 of 59 So we came to you several times, and remember we had all the concepts, and we think we kept -- we don't think, we know we captured everything that you wanted in the design that Vince just portrayed. Now, we have all the bells and whistles in this building. So we just got a -- an updated number today, which is -- is a lot more than what our budget allows for. So just a question since we're -- now we're going into budget, is it something that we want to -- this is -- we want this to be our one and only chance, you know, feature here in Tolleson. Keep as is. Then we'll figure it out during the budget season, or -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Wait, what did you say? EARP: -- do we want to do some value engineering, start changing some things, keep all the same basic functions obviously? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: What are we talking about as far as numbers? I mean, how big of a difference are we talking about? Because I know we have some reserves, but I just -- we talking 30 million extra or? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). EARP: What was our original budget? 22, so you're looking about $15 additional million dollars. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Additional million? EARP: Correct. Which we knew. For example, Avondale, their initial budget was 16 million, and they ended up spending 30. Casa Grande was the same way. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: My thought is, we got -- we got one opportunity to make this a great facility. And that's great for our community, but it's also great for our staff. So the bells and whistles a lot of times, you know. But really, it makes the functioning of the building that much greater. And if the building is easier to manage, the service to the community is that much greater as well. So I think we do it right the first time and if we have to do some -- some smart moving the money or whatever we need to do, we have the right person to figure that out. And we can certainly look into it. But I would like to build it as it's supposed to be. EARP: Okay. Then so, the reason why we wanted to bring it up tonight was so now we CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 12 of 59 can start working with Vince now if there was going to be any kind of changes and stuff. GAMEZ: I agree with the Mayor. I think that if you're going to do it, do it right, do it now. Also think that down the road, we'll be able to have competition state-wide to come to Tolleson because we'll have state-of-the-art pool. The competition will happen here. Something that probably doesn't happen in the West Valley right now. So we'd have a corner of the market on that sucker. EARP: Absolutely Councilmember. And that's one of our goals is to bring Olympic trials to the West Side. So our -- our facility would be an Olympic size. Everything matches up. We've been working with the best of the best to make sure that the requirements are met so we can bring those types of events to our city. So. GAMEZ: Perfect. EARP: I mean, yes, the -- the cost did go up, but we went from a three-acre area to a seven acre. So a lot of things, kind of, were able to be pushed out a little more, and made a little more comfortable for -- for the community as well. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And when we started this, our revenues were much lower, and those have increased as well. So other comments from -- Jimmy? DAVIS: Let's do it. I mean, well, our community wants this, let's do it right, let's give them the best because they deserve it. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely. EARP: Thank you, Mayor. So on the schedule, we're -- on the design, sixty-five percent submittal is planned for early February, ninety percent early April, and final, sometime in May. Right? And then, more than likely, right in June we'll jump into construction, and Chase has given us about a 16-month buildout time. So 16 months from -- from June. Unless you have any other questions, that's all we have. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: About three years out from -- two years from June? So about three years. Okay. Questions, comments? No. A year and four months from June. GAMEZ: Good job. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Well, we just need to get it done, yeah. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 13 of 59 As far as the design goes, I like the shade. I mean, a lot of people don't -- don't -- they think of a pool they think, oh, you know, you can cool down and stuff. But the reality is, a lot of people that fall out in public pools, is because of the heat exposure. So the fact that we have incorporated heat that's not a plant, so if a tree falls down, you lose your shade. You know, not to mention the trees would cause a lot of debris to fall into the pool, but to have it incorporated where it's going to be consistent, it's a really good -- it's a really good thing. I like the lazy river, you know, we got to get people away from the canal, so this would be a good place to put them. And I like the fact that it has a turnoff at the top where the pumps are at, so if -- if we are going to do, let's say a chlorine system or whatever -- whatever chemicals need to be delivered, it's -- it's kind of on its own and it's -- it's a secure area, separate from the programming element. So I like it the way it -- the way you guys have redesigned it. So I thank you for your efforts. And I will open it up to Council if there's any other comments -- DAVIS: I have kind of a silly question; doesn't that artificial turf stuff get kind of hot in the summertime? BABCHUK: It does. What you can do to mitigate that too is you rinse it off and then it's -- it'll be shaded too. So -- DAVIS: Okay. BABCHUK: -- it won't get as hot. DAVIS: Okay. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Good question. Other questions, comments? CHAVIRA: I just want to say thank you. I think we had some concerns about how it was going to look from the street and safety with a canal and with a street, and you did a beautiful job. And I think it's just -- it's going to be wonderful to have that buffer in between and just really makes it look park-like. So thank you, it was a great job. And the changes that were made. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Last call. All right. Thanks again, sir, appreciate it. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 14 of 59 Thank you, folks. Look forward to swimming pretty soon here. All right. We're going to move on to Item Number 4. This is MAG 101 for Elected Officials. And our executive director of MAG, Ed Zuercher, you will have the floor, sir. Thank you for coming out and joining us today. ZUERCHER: Thank you, Mayor Rodriguez, Members of the Council, good to be here with you this evening. As the Mayor said, I'm Ed Zuercher, I am the Executive Director of the Maricopa Association of Governments. We were invited to come here tonight to just give you a little bit of information about MAG. You maybe hear about it or read about it occasionally, and this will just kind of help give some context. I want to thank Mayor Rodriguez; he's a faithful attender and participant in our MAG meetings. Also, your city manager. And I'll show you a couple of slides here where they fit into that. Also, with me this evening is Assistant Executive Director Audra Koester Thomas. She'll talk to you about some of the substantive programmatic issues at MAG. And also, Samantha Klakulak, who is our Government Relations Director, is here. With that, I'll just jump into it. So the MAG region is one of the largest regions of this type in the county. MAG was almost -- is almost 60 years old. Councilmember Gamez, I know you had experience at MAG and had been down to the building more times than you wanted to probably as well. It is a voluntary association of all the governments in the region. It serves several functions, which I'll get in to. But it was formed on the idea that the local governments together were the best ones to serve the residents of the region. And so, we'll talk a little bit about some of the things that happened through MAG and how they benefit Tolleson and the region as well. It is a forum for cities, the counties, and Native nations to get together to talk about issues that are important. MAG was actually formed to -- when some -- when mayors got together and said, you know what, we need to have a way to have consistent street construction guidelines across the region. That was some of the first work at MAG was designing consistent street construction guidelines, and it's grown since then. This is the region; there's 32 members of MAG. All 27 cities and towns in the region, CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 15 of 59 including in northern Pinal County and Pinal County, Florence, and the City of Maricopa are members. As well as Queen Creek and Apache Junction, which are in both Maricopa and Pinal. Pinal County itself is a member. And then all the cities and towns in Maricopa County plus the Maricopa County Government itself. In addition, our three Native nations, Salt River Pima-Maricopa, Gila River, and Fort McDowell Yavapai are also members. So those are the 32 members. There's actually now about 5 million residents in the region. So I always say by size, if this were a state, it would be the twenty -- it would be the -- it's larger than the State of New Jersey by size. And by population it would be the 25th largest state in the United States. So this is a big area, and these are the members who come together to work on issues at MAG. This is a structure, which is -- I won't get into the details. But the yellow are the committees that staff members sit on. And I want to commend your staff for being very careful and deliberate that Tolleson staff members are on all the committees that are relevant to you. You've been very good about having your staff members attend. They work on issues and then they -- we -- we send them up the chain. As you see the chain sort of goes through the Management Committee. Mr. Medrano is a long-standing member of the Management Committee. The Management Committee sends it on to the Regional Council. Mayor Rodriguez is a member of the Regional Council. Every city, county, and Native nation has one vote, so there's 32 equal votes on the council and on the Management Committee to pass things. And that's really, I think, the secret of success for MAG. As regardless - whether your Phoenix, with 1.8 million people, or Gila Bend with 1800 people, the mayors and leaders come together with one vote each and they make things work. And it's -- it's worked out very well. There are responsibilities. MAG is both a Council of Governments, which is where governments get together and talk about things that are important, like building codes. We are also a Metropolitan Planning Organization; that's a more technical and legal construct that really has to do with transportation funding. So the Federal Government in the 1970's said that for any region of 50,000 people or more, there had to be one of these Metropolitan Planning Organizations to plan transportation. Because they didn't CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 16 of 59 want to give -- have to give money -- figure out how to give money to Scottsdale and also then to Phoenix, and then Tolleson, and then Gila Bend. They wanted us to figure it out, and they'll give money in one batch to one group, and then we figure it out. And so that's what's happened here. So largely what -- what MAG spends a great deal of its time on is transportation. This map just shows in the State of Arizona there are a few metropolitan planning organizations in Prescott, in Flagstaff, MetroPlan, here in MAG in the Phoenix region, Tucson, Yuma, Bullhead City, Lake Havasu City. Those are the -- the Metropolitan Planning Organizations, but everywhere is represented by a Council of Government. We happen to be both at once; it's more efficient that way. Tucson is the same with PAG doing the -- the same thing. Our responsibilities from the Federal Government designation as the Metropolitan Planning Organization, it's really about transportation. We also do water quality management planning. That's not water supply; that's others. This is water quality, which is sewer related. So we work with your staff on water quality management, which is sewer plants and making sure that they're supplied and serviced throughout the region. The air quality has become more and more important for us as we do planning for air quality, which impacts your economic development. And we've talked more than Mayor Rodriguez probably ever wanted to hear and learn about ozone and particulate matter, but we are responsible to do the air quality planning here. And solid waste management planning as well. So all the solid waste jurisdictions come together at MAG to talk about planning that as well. From the State, we have responsibility for freeway planning, arterial streets, and transit. We also help population projections. We are the ones who develop what's the growth rate this year, how many people live in which -- which part of the region. And then we do some human services planning as well. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Audra. She'll walk you through the -- the main areas that we do, and a little bit of how that impacts Tolleson on a daily basis. So Audra. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 17 of 59 KOESTER THOMAS: Thank you, Ed. So I'll start with transportation. That largely our core business, we spend a lot of time talking about the work that we do in transportation guided by these three core documents. The first is our Regional Transportation Plan. That's a federally required document that's intended to articulate a vision or a blueprint long range for the region, looking at least 20, 25 years out into the future. Also guided by the Transportation Improvement Program, which is similar to a near- term program, not dissimilar to your Capital Improvements Program here at the local city level; it's a nearer term, so the next five years the specific projects and investments that we see on the horizon. And then this is all guided ultimately here in this region by the Regional Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Investment Plan, which is a really long name for the document that guides now the successful Proposition 479 program for the next 20 years here in the Maricopa region for transportation improvements. This is that Prop 479 plan for which was developed at MAG over the course of five years with the leadership direction provided by each of our communities. Ultimately successful at the legislature a few years later, and then, of course, November 5th with an overwhelming amount of support from Maricopa County voters two months ago. We won't spend a lot of time on the discreet projects here, but this is another way of looking at that exact same plan. As Ed had already mentioned, there's three major components to that plan. A freeway component, an arterial program component, as well as a transit component. The map I showed you previous shows the geographic distribution of some of those projects. This is looking at that exact same program with kind of a quantitative element to it. You see here the miles of freeway investment or transit investment that we have in that 20-year program. Key issues in transportation right now, of course, was the extension of the dedicated half-cent sales tax, which was successful in November from voters. What we're doing now is completing the existing Proposition 400 program. It will conclude its collections CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 18 of 59 at the end of this year with collections for Prop 479 starting January 1st of 2026. So we're concluding one major program, a 20-year cycle of investments, and we'll be initiating another 20 years of investments for the region. So the implementation work associated with Proposition 479 quite frankly is filling our Management Committee and Regional Council agendas really for the remainder of this year as we identify the policies to guide development and implementation -- excuse me -- of that program. Another core area of focus is our environmental work. Ed has touched on several of these components for which we have a federal authority received. Our Air Quality Planning is taking a lot of attention right now as it has over the course of the last 25 years' worth of regional work to improve our air quality. That includes developing -- or having the responsibility to develop air quality plans to address air pollutants that we are in what's called "nonattainment" for. We exceed a threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency. We have several of those pollutants for which we exceed; that includes grown-level ozone, as well as particulate matter in the sizes of 10 and 2.5. We also do the conformity analyses associated with our transportation plan. In other words, all of our transportation plans as well as the individual projects themselves, because we're in a nonattainment area for air quality must go through an air quality conformity process that inquires very sophisticated air quality modeling as well as sophisticated transportation modeling to ensure that we're in conformance with federal air quality standards. And so that work takes up a considerable amount of energy at MAG and for which we have been doing proficiently for decades. As Ed mentioned, we're also the Water Quality Management Planning Agency. And this is associated with 208 permitting and addressing the Federal Water Quality Control -- or Pollution Control Act, excuse me. As well as working with members of staff on our Solid Waste Management Planning, addressing solid waste and landfill activities throughout the region. Key issues as it relates to environmental work right now. As I mentioned, ground-level ozone, it's probably our highest level of concern. We recently -- well, 40 years' worth CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 19 of 59 success in decreasing ground-level ozone, just in the last five years or so we're seeing a spike or an increase in ground-level ozone even though the contributing pollutants and emissions are going down in this region. So we've been working heavily with EPA as well as research faculty from both ASU and the University of Arizona to better understand what might be happening here. But not just here in this region, something we're seeing throughout the Intermountain West or the Western part of this county. We suspect wildfires and the increasing prominence of wildfires has something to do with this matter. As well as addressing particulate matter 2.5, we have now just exceeded that standard and are working with member agencies as a new nonattainment area is developed here in our region. So which we've been providing updates, of course, to our management committee and Regional Council as well. Final area of major focus at MAG is Human Services. Chief amongst those is addressing those experiencing homelessness in our region, which continues year over year to increase. As part of that, the overseeing body is the Maricopa Continuum of Care; that's the policy making body in charge of our work with the health and -- or HUD division and the funding that comes directly to MAG to help address homelessness. That's guided by our Pathways Home Plan that addresses and endeavors to reduce the number and ultimately relieve the region of homelessness altogether. That work also is in partnership across the region as we address heat, which continues to become a bigger concern here in our region. Certainly, exacerbated or addressing -- excuse me. Certainly, our population's experiencing homelessness have a bigger impact when it relates to our -- our summer heat issues. So obviously, carrying that conversation forward both from an environmental perspective as well as those experiencing homelessness. Other activities in Human Services including domestic violence, for which that work has been at MAG for several decades. In partnership throughout the state addressing aging and how we can enable folks aging in place. And that includes addressing ways of transportation for folks to get to medical appointments or other needs. And then, CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 20 of 59 continuing to address emerging issues in Human Services. Big issues on Human Services right now continue to be homelessness. At the end of this month, we'll be participating in the annual required HUD Point-In-Time Count where we send folks out, volunteers throughout Maricopa County, to count the number of those experiencing homelessness both in the street as well as those in shelter. That is an annual number that helps to measure and guide our decisions associated with homelessness. Continuing to address housing, not only the availability but of course the affordability of housing in our region. As other -- as well as an ongoing assessment as it relates to Human Services and the work that we're doing at MAG. Working with staff as well as leadership to better identify how MAG can best address homeless -- excuse me -- Human Services matters here in our region. So with that, I'll turn the podium back over to Ed. ZUERCHER: Thanks Audra. Among the more, you know, direct things in relation to what does Tolleson get from being in MAG. We, in the last several years, have funded a street sweeper. You all have a relatively brand-new street sweeper, which MAG funds probably ninety-five percent of that for you. Also, we know there's been some funding of transit vans, improvements to bus stops. But the big one is of course, what's going on I-10, 101 interchange. There's a big construction project coming, and we're working very closely with Reyes and the staff on ensuring the 91st Avenue connector is part of that. All that funding and planning goes on through MAG. Mayor Rodriguez is ultimately on the policy body that directs that work, and Mr. Medrano is part of that as well. So we know that's really important to you all and that is something that is planned at MAG and funding comes through MAG as we work with ADOT to get that project done. So Mayor, with that, we're happy to answer questions that you or the council may have. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, first of all, thank you for the presentation; that was very thorough. It gives true breadth to the enormity of what MAG actually does. You know, people hear MAG and they're like, oh, yeah, it's another organization, you know, it's CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 21 of 59 government. But the reality is, you guys are in everything. And in many ways, as elected officials, A-type personalities, it's sometimes very difficult to get somebody to be the glue that holds us together. And I think MAG in many cases -- you know, the East Valley has their priorities, the West Valley has their priorities, each city has their priorities; someone's got to referee that. And it is -- its surgical when it comes to refereeing. You know, and we sit down, and we hash things out and we come up with regional plans. But most recently 479 is a perfect example. I mean, that's -- our transportation funding was going to run out. As mentioned, it was going to run out next year. And the fact that MAG got behind it and started pushing it, all the cities did, and the chambers of commerce, all kinds of them, we got enough to push it through. And so now with 479 we're good for another 20 years. And so, how does that impact our region? Well, nobody wants to build a business where the transportation is terrible. My employees can't get to work. You know? And so, so now, with a better transportation system, we have a better economic system because people want to relocate here in our valley. And so, I think MAG has been a tremendous game changer. And I haven't been involved with it too long; I've been there since I've been the mayor. And I got to say, a lot of the initiatives that start at MAG have ripple effects all the way down to every single city, every single region in the entire valley, including the Native American tribes, and in the county itself. So I'm very thankful for the work that you guys do. Questions or comments from the Council? GAMEZ: Great job. Fantastic job. Whatever you do, you cover everything from A to Z. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Clorinda. ERIVES: I just wanted to say thank you for -- we hear from outside (indiscernible) the other companies (indiscernible) are (indiscernible) they're part of that, they're part of that, but I didn't realize all the (indiscernible). How (indiscernible). I just, for some reason, thought it was plain transportation, just like that. But the homelessness that goes with that. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 22 of 59 And then you said something about counting, right? So they're going to go through and not just -- we think about this many. Well, this is an actual count of how many. Because those are true representative numbers. So yeah, appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. (Indiscernible). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. And the last pitch I'll give, this is something that Mayor Tovar did at the time, she -- I was her Vice Mayor. She goes, which MAG council would you like to be on? I'm like, what are you talking about? But again, you know, it's MAG and, you know, there's all these councils. So everything you see on there, there's a council and have good representation on the MAG councils is critical. Sometimes the staff, but a lot of times it's elected officials. And so you guys literally become -- we become the voice for our city on these MAG councils. Sometimes there's funding that is allotted because of it, sometimes there's not. But ultimately, being an active advocate for our community through MAG is very critical. So if you guys ever have a desire to want to sit on a MAG board or council, talk to Pilar, talk to Reyes, talk to me; we'll try to figure out the best way to do it. And we'll hook you with Mr. Ed Zuercher, who, by the way, is a former city manager of the City of Phoenix. And never fired me, so that was good. [Laughter]. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I just hit 25 years, so I'm very happy with that. But no, thank you for all the work that you do. Pleasure meeting you. Thanks for coming out. And Tolleson is always a place where you guys are welcome. So. ZUERCHER: Thank you. Yeah, I want to come back when the Aquatic Center opens, man, it's beautiful. Congratulations on that. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, bring your trunks. ZUERCHER: Yeah. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, sir. ERIVES: Thank you very much. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. We're going to move on to Number 5, which is a CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 23 of 59 proclamation declaring January 14th through 20th, 2025, as Community Risk Reduction Week in the City of Tolleson. In recognition of the -- the dedication and efforts of our local fire department, emergency services, and community partners in preventing emergency and protecting lives and property through education, training, and innovative programs. So our Chief, Michael Young, and our other Chief, George Good, Chief Preparedness Office, you have the floor. YOUNG: Mayor Rodriguez, Vice Mayor Davis, Members of the Council. Community Risk Reduction is a plan that includes the various initiatives to minimize the risk associated with emergencies and disasters that happen in our community. These initiatives include public education, fire prevention programs. And the key piece of this is collaboration with our community partners, especially our residents, to identify those potential hazards. One of the Community Risk Reductions pillars is the importance of smoke detectors. It is very vital for our residents to have working smoke detectors, not only for their safety, but for the safety of our public safety officers as well, like, the fire -- excuse me, like the firefighters and the police officers. Not only do they alert the residents to get out if there's a fire, okay, when our police officers and fire get on scene, we can try to confirm that everybody's out of the residence. If they're not, I know the police officer that we have, they're going to attempt to go in there. When we show up that's our primary goal is life safety is to do that search. And so, this is extremely important. I'm extremely proud of the work that we've done the past couple years. We've installed a little over 250 smoke alarms in our residences throughout the past two years. I'm extremely proud of the work that our fire department has done. I appreciate the sentiments from Mr. Olson from the Red Cross. But this smoke detector walk that's coming up I think truly shows the power and strength of the City of Tolleson when we collaborate. And I have to give that credit, that would go to Chief Good. His relationships, his work with the Red Cross has brought this to our city, and like I said, although I'm proud of the work that we've done, the fact that their goal is to do 800 to a thousand smoke alarms this Saturday alone, is monumental for our city in terms of CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 24 of 59 Community Risk Reduction. So. GOOD: Thank you, Chief Young. Well, it kind of goes in line with Mayor and members of the Council with what we saw the fires in California, the preparedness. So later this year our fire department and police department and public affairs folks will be getting out information about how we can make our homes safer in our community. How you clear brush around your house. How you don't have trees that are going to serve as ladders to take fire from the tree to your house, that type of thing. So it will indeed make our community safer. And again, this is just such a huge thing, and we're seeing it now primarily in California, but again, it crosses over to the other natural disasters we saw. And he mentioned Lahaina and also the East Coast, the Southeast part of the country where we had these hurricanes and so forth. There's always something going on. Red Cross is responding; they're very involved in all of these. And so, we're lucky to be able to partner with them. But one of the other things that I think -- it's an opportunity for me to share something with you that where we helped another community be prepared. And that's thanks to Chief Young and Public Safety Director Mendoza. And I'm going to ask Steve Holliday if you could roll a tape, and I'll give a -- it's a 40-second video that I took here on Saturday night. And this is in Rocky Point, they had a large fire. [Video] GOOD: And so, what we saw was a fire that was out of control. That burned for over a half an hour before I took that video because I have the other video also. So they had a lot of problems down there in terms of infrastructure and equipment. One of the things that Chief Young did was last week he got some equipment to me, and I took it to their fire department on Friday morning. That fire was on Saturday night. Those firefighters used equipment that was donated by the City of Tolleson, so they were more prepared, they were doing the best they could. But they did a better job and those firefighters were safer because of the equipment that Chief Young donated. I was just the Uber equipment guy delivering it to them. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 25 of 59 But it came from the fire department and then with Chief Young and Chief Mendoza's approval. And this goes back to something that we've been doing for many years with council approval, legal approval, finance director approval. So we're helping out not just people in Tolleson, but people in other areas also. I know then Vice Mayor Laborin and I went to the fire department one time and donated a bunch of equipment. So we've been doing this for a while. But those people benefitted Saturday night directly because of something that Chief Young did. So I just wanted to give them a shoutout because they deserve it. Also, Steve, Steve's always -- he's -- we couldn't do these things without Steve's input, so thank you, Steve, for always being prepared and helping us with the presentation. So if you have any questions for Chief Young or me, we're here. GAMEZ: I have a question. What exactly did we donate? I mean, were they hoses, were they Jaws of Life? What did we give them? GOOD: Mayor Rodriguez and Councilmember Gamez, we donated personal protective equipment that they wear during the fire. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: No, I think that's great work. And when there's opportunities to help a neighboring community, and I know this is in Rocky Point, I'm glad that we have that relationship and we're able to help everybody. I mean, that's, to the end, I mean, if -- what that equipment if it can't help our guys anymore because we got new equipment, let's find a place that we can get a home for it and make it work. So I think that's awesome. So thank you folks for doing that. Comments or questions from council? GAMEZ: Just a quick history. We've been doing this for a long time. We would give equipment to sister cities and then were seal, we'd take stuff over there when Chief -- what's his name? GOOD: We -- Pickett (ph.). GAMEZ: Pickett. GOOD: Yes. GAMEZ: Jaws of life. I mean, they couldn't use it here, it didn't meet the standards, but CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 26 of 59 they used them over there. So and if they can use it, save lives, this will be it. That's great. So we've been doing it for a long, long time, and I just want the people to know that we've always been a giving city. And I think we'll continue doing that. Thanks. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Council. Others? Council? Clorinda? ERIVES: I just wanted to say the -- you know you see these -- these images of these fires, right, and it's been on the news; that's all we've been watching for the last week it feels like, and I have high-school students that are nervous, like, what's -- is the -- can the fire come this way? Are we safe? Will the smoke come over it? And so, they have lots of questions because that's all their seeing (indiscernible) fires. And then there's our -- I have family in California. I have family in California. And so, you know, what's going to happen to them. But I can easily say we have family in Rocky Point as well. A lot of my family go down there, they go visit, they go travel, they go tour, like, they -- that could -- that fire that you showed, could be -- could have been larger in the restaurant next door. So, you know, these fires are happening, they're around us. But I love to hear stories that say how we can help one another, how we can support one another. How in times when we're in need, we give out that hand. And so, what Mayor -- Councilmember Gamez, when you're mentioning that we need to help out California, we absolutely need to do something, right. We need to reach out. Thank you for taking this equipment down. Thank you, Chief Young, for donating and making sure that what was -- what we couldn't use could help and benefit someone else -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's right. ERIVES: -- and that they can find ways. And it's evident in the video that they put it to great use. And so, I see firefighters as well; thank you for your service. Fellow brothers and sisters that are fighting those fires, we're praying for all of them. I know your hearts with them as well. So thank you again for your all around services. GOOD: Mayor, one last thing. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I've also taken down equipment a number of times from the Tolleson Police Department. So it's not CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 27 of 59 just the fire department; police department is helping as well. And the people down there are so appreciative when we show up and we have equipment that they don't have; you have no idea until you see their faces. So it's all made possible by the support of the council and city manager level. But then the folks that are making it happen outside of your support are, you know, are Chief Mendoza and Chief Young. So. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Both do great work. That's awesome. DAVIS: That'd be a great story to share on social media even, you know, so our community knows that we're doing that. GOOD: Yes. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I mean, they call Rocky Point -- I hate to say this -- but they call it Arizona's Beach. DAVIS: Yeah, it is. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So it's a lot of people from Arizona, a lot of people from Tolleson that go down there on a year-round basis. DAVIS: My family vacations there every year. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So do we. So this is great. Yeah, but -- Colinda. GAMEZ: Excuse me. ERIVES: (Indiscernible) I don't know if it's possible, or I don't even know if -- GAMEZ: I'm okay. ERIVES: -- it would be staffed or how, but you know we're always trying to learn something from these disasters. And so, I've seen a lot of posts on social media about preparedness, which is where I'm going with this. They were talking about, like, to-go bags or to-go -- like, in case of an emergency we need a to-go bag. To-go bag. I know we're just doing the smoke alarms, but maybe in the future thinking of, you know, that's one step, you know, to prevent you from getting injured. But in an emergency and there's a fire, like, your house is -- next door to your home or something, where's your to-go bag that has that birth certificate, that has a copy of, you know, your driver's license. So if they're in an emergency and you need to flee, you know, you've got somewhere to go safe, but those documents, a copy of the -- and I've seen that, like, on CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 28 of 59 a social media that they're saying that this is like a to-go bag where you -- where you -- you've got them, you don't have to scramble and look, where did I put my -- where, you know, you're able to grab and go. I don't know, maybe that could be like a follow up or something with -- GOOD: Mayor Rodriguez and Councilmember, we'll address that also. We've talked about it a little bit in the past, but it always is worth mentioning, and there's a website called Ready.gov, which tells you what to put in your -- in your to-go bag. What are you doing with your prescriptions, your pictures, your pets; if you have pets where are they going, who's going to take care of them. What about feeding them. Who's taking care of your plants. Just all kinds of different things. And in this area especially, we have certain areas where there's large livestock. So it's not taking someone's cat; it's a horse. Right? So it's, you know, a larger animal. So we have a lot of information regarding that, and we'll be sure to get that out here through our social media folks and our public affairs professionals here as well. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. Well, thank you both. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We appreciate the presentation. Great work. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So now, therefore, I, Mayor Juan F. Rodriguez, will hereby proclaim January 14th through the 20th, 2025 -- and of course I had to put a candy in my mouth right before I read this, right -- as Community Risk Reduction Week in the City of Tolleson, be it proclaimed. I do have a proclamation. Pilar, did you want folks to come up here? Come on up, guys. Let's take a picture. Yeah, come on up. Yes, sir, there. Stand up here. Hi. How you doing man? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: How's it going guys? ERIVES: So who was the video? There was somebody with video. Very nice. Thank you for coming out. Thank you for coming out. Thank you for coming. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 29 of 59 GAMEZ: (Indiscernible) MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: A tall guy. ERIVES: How you doing, man? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good, how are you? GAMEZ: Fine, thank you. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: How you doing? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). ERIVES: Okay. I've got to move some chairs around too. Oh, wait, we're going to move this way. This way. There she goes. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Perfect, thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, again, folks, for all your work. ERIVES: Thank you, guys. LABORIN: Thank you. CHAVIRA: So good to see you. LABORIN: Thank you for your service too. CHAVIRA: Thank you, guys. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Have a good night. Thank you. (Indiscernible). CHAVIRA: Thank you. LABORIN: Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. We'll see you guys. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Goodnight. ERIVES: It's the famous video guy. I saw you on that one. That was adorable. That was adorable. Have a good night. Have a good night, hun. Tyler (ph.), it was you on the video. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). ERIVES: No? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. ERIVES: Today it was both of you, right? Yeah. I saw the fingers that go like -- CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 30 of 59 DAVIS: Some of them are as tall as we are, from the floor. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think that's more a matter of how short we are. DAVIS: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: But I mean, it was good. It was the first time, I think we've had an item with the fire department where the -- some of them didn't have to leave to respond to a call, so. DAVIS: Yeah, that's true. That's true. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: That was cool. All right. Moving on on the agenda, we're going to go on to G; this is Business From the Floor, Public Hearings and Action Items. We don't have any, so we're going to move on to H. Consent Agenda, Action Items. I think we have ten items on here. DAVIS: Yep. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I can either entertain a motion or we can call out individual, but -- GAMEZ: Motion -- move to approve. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We have a motion to approve all ten items. We have a second. Is that Linda? DAVIS: Um-hum. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Linda gave us a second. So all those in favor approving item 1 through 10 on the Consent Agenda item, please signify by saying "Aye". ALL: Aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All those opposed please say, "Nay". Not hearing any, this motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. We're going to move on to I, Regular Agenda Action Items. This is to approve or deny the Professional Service Agreement between the City of Tolleson and LEA Architects, LLC for architectural and engineering services for the design of a new utility operating building and authorize the City Manager to execute and deliver said Agreement. The City shall pay the Consultant an amount for the services as the rate set forth in the Fee Proposal. The maximum aggregate amount for this Agreement shall not exceed $860,946. This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect until June 30th, 2025, CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 31 of 59 and shall be renewed for up to two successive one-year terms. Are we saying that it can be renewed for that amount twice or it can be renewed but that amount is going to be the maximum expense? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Exceed. EARP: Not to exceed that amount, yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. So -- EARP: It's just if it took longer than it should have or some -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: -- if expenses (indiscernible) -- EARP: Some kind of delay or whatever. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Okay, but we know what it won't exceed -- okay, cool. Development Services, Jason Earp, you have the floor. EARP: Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Members of the Council, if you have any questions, I'm here to -- as it's for our utilities building, it's the architect for our utilities building. So. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: But where's it going to go? EARP: We don't have a specific spot, but obviously at the plant somewhere. That's going to be part of the design and figuring out where the best spot for it to be, but. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. So it's got to be over across the water. EARP: At the treatment plant. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Any questions or comments from council? GAMEZ: How much land are we talking about to build this? EARP: For the actual building, I'd have to ask Councilmember Gamez and get back to you. We have a total of 80, right? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: 83 exactly. EARP: 83 acres. So. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Thank you. Okay. Well, having said that, I will entertain a motion to approve or deny. We have a hand up. We have a motion to approve Item Number 1 on the Regular Agenda Action Item. Do we have a second? GAMEZ: Second. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We have a second by Councilmember Gamez. All of those in favor CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 32 of 59 please signify by saying "Aye". Aye. ALL: Aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All those opposed. All right. Regular Agenda Action Item 1 passes unanimously. We're going to move on to Number 2. Adopt or Deny Ordinance No. 613. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good job, Jason. EARP: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Good job, Jason. I just figured I would go along with everyone else. All right. Adopt or Deny Ordinance No. 613 N.S. of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Tolleson, Arizona, amending the Tolleson City Code, by amending Chapter 9 Animals, Article 9-1 General Rules and Regulations, Section 9-1-20 Control of Cats; and Article 9-2 Cruelty and Negligence [sic] -- negligent [sic] of Animals, Section 9-2-4 Negligent [sic] Prohibited and Section 9-2-7 Impounding and Disposing of Dogs and Cats; Reclaiming Impounding [sic] Dogs and Cats; Pound Fees; providing for repeal of conflicting ordinances; providing for severity [sic]; providing for penalties. Police Chief Mendoza, you have the floor. MENDOZA: Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. So I know I was in most of the one-on-ones, but -- and I did miss some. I had -- I've been having a very busy week. So I apologize for that. So it is very convoluted and -- if you just read it like this. So I kind of wanted to break it down so we can actually have like a visual of what we're asking for the amendments to be. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Thank you. MENDOZA: So let's start with the 9-1-20, Control of Cats. This is the whole city code here. And what we're asking for, the part that is in yellow is to be -- to strike that from -- we're adding for city code for screaming during the city council -- no, I'm just kidding. To strike the language portion (C) and (D). (C) it says, "It shall be the duty of the enforcement agent to impound all cats found at large" -- that's the important part because it's talking about the cats that are not owned by anybody or don't have an identified owner -- "in violation of this chapter, or not in charge or under the care of CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 33 of 59 control of some person in the street, alleys or other public places or vacant or enclosed lots in the city". And the other part that we're asking to be struck is, (D), "The city may: by resolution, require the payment of appropriate fees, vaccinations and licenses for cats". So the reasoning behind removing (C) is that there is no place that will take in a stray cat. So we have no place to impound that animal. So what we like to do is what we call a trap and -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Neuter return. MENDOZA: Trap, neuter, return. And that's kind of how we deal with stray cats. If we were to impound them, there's nowhere to take them. We would essentially have to become the animal shelter ourselves and keep them for eternity until we find new owners, right? So we don't want to get in that business. So that's kind of what we do with -- with stray cats or -- or cats that we find at large. There's just no place to impound them, so that's why we're asking for that to be removed. The second part talks about licensing. You don't have to do that in Maricopa County with cats. So there's no reason for us to -- there's nowhere to house that information or keep it or send it forth. They're not going to get anything in the mail that's requiring them to get tags for their -- for their cats, and that's been pretty much for forever. So we don't -- we don't need to have that language in there any longer. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yes. GAMEZ: Thank you. Now I have a question. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Councilmember Gamez. GAMEZ: You know, years ago we had a lady who was on Council. And she had, like, a trillion cats. And these cats were all over the place. As a matter of fact, right east of the fire department. MENDOZA: Right. GAMEZ: And they were causing all kinds of havoc. So we had to tell this lady, you got to get rid of these cats. And she said, they're not my cats. Do you feed them? Well, yeah. Then they're your cats. And that was -- that was a, you know, back and forth, back and CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 34 of 59 forth. The thing is, there are people that feed cats but will not claim ownership. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Um-hum. Um-hum. GAMEZ: But the cats are there and they're doing their business all over the place. So if they were to trap them, and you guys would take them away and but they -- after you do what you have to do with them, you bring them back. Doesn't solve the problem; they're still here. There has to be a better solution, because it's like the cats are here, they're over there, you don't get rid of them. You know, what do you do? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, I will say this, it will control the population moving forward. MENDOZA: Yeah, so -- GAMEZ: But they still (indiscernible). MENDOZA: But Councilmember Gamez, yeah -- yeah. No, no, and I -- prior to bringing this city code and these changes up, I did not have a grasp of the cat situation. I've been in the law enforcement side of it, not dealing with cats. Maybe the fire department might have to deal with cats more than we had to, so I -- I did not know. But yes, there are alternative methods. It's not one that we are on board with. There is a -- basically a trap and euthanize; some other cities have tried to go down that road. It doesn't look good in the public eye. It doesn't really pass the headline test. And so, we don't really bring that option forward. But that is an option. And ultimately, you know, a call that you guys would have to make. I would be reluctant to go down that path. The trap and neuter, it does help with the reproduction of new cats, and then we basically have to wait out the natural life of the cat, which can definitely be frustrating. No doubt about it. GAMEZ: Well, we can ship them up to Ohio. No, I'm just kidding. MENDOZA: Now, in -- go ahead, I apologize. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). DAVIS: My number one constituent, my mom, is up in arms about this. So we need some type of solution for dealing with the cat problem because it's pretty terrible. Particularly where my mom lives. Garfield Street is -- they run the street. They're everywhere. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 35 of 59 GAMEZ: (Indiscernible) too. DAVIS: They're like a -- they're like a gang over there. GAMEZ: They're pretty bad on Monroe too. DAVIS: And it smells -- it smells like a litter box, like a dirty litter box. It's -- so it's got to be -- there's some health issues there as well. You know, unfortunately one of her neighbors, like you described, feeds the cats. And they literally follow her across the street, like 20 of them. I'm not exaggerating. So there needs to be a solution because I know on many of the streets in Tolleson there's the same problem going on. So if we're not going to be impounding them, and I get, you know, we can't just kill the cats, you know, we can't. So at least if we catch them and we fix them and we put them back, at least they're not going to procreate so there won't be more of them. So what's the solution? What do we do? MENDOZA: So Councilmember Davis, again, this has brought up a lot of good dialogue and a lot of good conversation. I -- again, I had -- I did not -- I was somewhat taken aback by the amount of problems that we have been having with cats, and shame on me for that. But I will say this, it has a lot of dialogue at the police department, specifically with myself and Becca (ph.) and Chief Grow, we've been talking about maybe looking at other city codes to address people feeding animals. Maybe that's something that we can write in specifically to cats and to stray cats, that we're not feeding them. And you're right, they will congregate to food. Any animal will move to where the food is, and if it's humans, they will become attached to that food source and they will remain in that area. So I'm sure somewhere out there somebody is addressing this issue, and that's probably how we should look at trying to address it. But I'm hearing you guys loud and clear. DAVIS: Yeah, I think in the past the cats helped with controlling mice because there were fields everywhere. We don't really have that anymore. So yeah, the cats is literally on my list to talk to management about. It was funny that it was on the agenda this time around. So yeah, please fix it. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Clorinda? CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 36 of 59 ERIVES: Question. And just, I didn't know this Chief Mendoza. My dog has to have a license, my dog has to have a tag or some weird microchip, but that's because I want my dogs back if something happens. Why are cats not? So let's just role the reverse because I love my dogs, I'm not a cat person. But if a pack of dogs was running around the neighborhood because somebody's feeding them or doing -- would they get, you said spayed and neutered, so I guess that was another -- because you said neutered, but I didn't hear spayed. Why are the -- you know, anyways, I'm just saying. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). ERIVES: If there was a wild pack of dogs, we would be treating this different. I don't know enough about cats that they're not licensed and -- like, you should have a -- know who to give this back to so that you can say your cat got out of -- we found him in the street and you need to get your cat back. MENDOZA: So Councilmember Erives and Mayor and Council, I think it has to -- I don't know, my best guess, it has to do with the number of cats versus the number of dogs as far as licensing and impounding. There's just more cats. I think by sheer volume is probably the major part. I know that you can get your cat chipped, correct? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). MENDOZA: So owners can still chip their cat; it's just never been something that Maricopa County -- and I talked to Becca and she said, you know, for as long as she's known and she's been in this world like, you know, probably the majority of her adult life, I'm guessing, Maricopa County is just not -- is just something that they've never sought after, licensing cats. I didn't know that either until we started this discussion. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, Chief, why don't we do this, I mean, I think you've heard council; they have some cat concerns. If we can do some cat research and come back and report findings about potential direction. Because I think there might be a variety of options out there; we're just not -- that's not kind of what we're here to do right now. But maybe if he comes back and you can present a couple of different options of other cities or counties or whatever are using, it would -- maybe one of those may be a good fit for us or it'll trigger a thought where we can develop our own resolution for our CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 37 of 59 community. Because I don't think -- I don't think we're going to have that today. I think what I'm hearing is either spay and neuter or put them down right now, and that's night and day. That's two completely different things. I think there's something in between. We just got to do some research. MENDOZA: So Mayor and Council, yes, so we'll definitely do that. And again, anybody that has an issue with cats, this doesn't mean we're not going to respond to them. What we're asking for to be removed is that we -- that we're impounding them. Because there's literally no place to take them. We can't take them to the Maricopa County Animal Shelter; they won't take them. So by keeping this in here saying that it's -- they shall be their duty to do this, it's basically telling Becca that she needs to pick up stray cats and impound them, and we don't want to do that. We'll fill our kennel really, really quickly. So that's what we're asking too. But yes, I'm in agreement with you. Based on all the conversation that we've been having tonight and in the one-on-ones, I think we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out a solution because I have heard a lot of people that are dealing with this issue. GAMEZ: (Indiscernible). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We'll call this Make Jimmy's Mom Happy Initiative. [LAUGHTER] DAVIS: So I have a question. Is it possible to maybe table this until we have, like, a game plan for -- so we don't change the code again? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think the stuff that's being presented is code specific, right? MENDOZA: Correct. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So we would have to -- potentially we'd have to vet with our attorney and then either add to the code or create a procedure to that's the direction we're going to go in. In other words, what I'm trying to say is, creating a new direction in the future doesn't impede including or adopting the changes that you want to make today. MENDOZA: Mayor and Council, I don't think so. I think this is a completely separate CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 38 of 59 from what we're trying to work on on the other side of it. This is, again, dealing with impounding at-large cats, and we just can't impound them. And this also is speaking to licensing cats, which nobody does. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay, well let's continuing and then we can come back and have that discussion at a later date. DAVIS: I guess my question is, so then who's responsible for it? It just -- they just hang out on Garfield Street or whatever street until we figure out what the plan is? Is that what I'm hearing? MENDOZA: Councilmember Davis and Mayor, yeah, the truthful answer is that stray cats are just roaming our streets. And there is -- and I -- again, without doing any research into what other cities are doing or what the county is doing about them, I know from just limited experience, we have been trapping cats here for some time, even prior to Becca being here. And that's the program that we've been a part of. But anything in addition to that (indiscernible). DAVIS: And we continue to do that? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh, yeah, for sure. DAVIS: Okay. MENDOZA: In fact, we're in the process of trapping some at the fire station. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, if the Chief would stop feeding them. We'd be (indiscernible). UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). CHAVIRA: I have another question. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Hold on, we have a question -- we have a comment over here. CHAVIRA: Well, just a comment. That I think that, you know, we don't want to become a cat shelter either. We don't want to go into that business. I don't think we do, at least for myself. That's not a business we want to go into. So I don't think we want to euthanize them all, but there is a problem, we need to address the problem, but we don't want to be a shelter either. So we'll see -- we'll see what other cities are doing maybe, and. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 39 of 59 MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think it's an option. I mean, I hate to say it, but euthanasia, that's an option. But that could be one of many options -- CHAVIRA: Option, not a nice one. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: -- they could present to us partnering with a non-profit that maybe does take them. You know, maybe Maricopa County doesn't, but maybe there's a non-profit or a couple non-profits that are open to that. I don't know. I think we have to do a little bit of research and scratch beyond the surface. Colinda, do you have a comment or question? ERIVES: So when you -- so tomorrow, right, when the cat gets trapped and you -- because he was at the fire station and you got him, who pays for the neuter or spay? Who's we? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible) Department (Indiscernible). ERIVES: The Police Department. So we're currently paying the vet, I don't know, $150 to -- did you say neuter and spay or is it just the female -- MENDOZA: Or spayed. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Sorry. ERIVES: I can't see you. Sorry. ERIVES: It's okay. MENDOZA: It's neuter or spayed. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah, it's -- the price I think is $25 a cat for the program we go through. And it -- yes, the name is trap, neuter, return, but it's spay and neuter. ERIVES: Okay. Okay. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If it gets in the trap, it gets fixed. ERIVES: Thank you. MENDOZA: Mayor and Council, I just think it reduces the acronym. Right? I think that's probably what it's for. DAVIS: So just to be clear, you're going to continue catching the cats and fixing them? Yes. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 40 of 59 MENDOZA: Correct. Yeah. That program is completely separate from this. DAVIS: It's on the record. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yes, absolutely, it's on the record. And again, and as far as ownership of cats and number of cats, subsection (E), which is in red here, that will become the new (C) that is still standing. And that talks about only owning four cats, I believe, and anything over than that -- and that's if, you know, we get a complaint or call and we find -- we go into houses that have a high number of cats, we're able to use that part. So that part is not changing. But cats that are at-large, again, we're not going to impound them, we're not going to require licensing; that's what we're asking to go away. But yes, we'll continue the trapping, and I can tell you we will go back and we're going to try to find alternative solutions as well. There has to be something out there, I'm convinced of it. GAMEZ: So do you cite individuals that continue to have large amounts of cats, even though they don't claim to be the owners, and they're going back and they're feeding them because they're feeding them? MENDOZA: Mayor and Councilmember Gamez and the rest of the Council at this -- we do not. That is something that I'm saying that maybe we have to look at is, like, feeding animals, right? Like Game and Fish has laws that you can't feed wildlife. It's very clear, like, you're not supposed to feed wildlife. People will put feeders out there or water troughs and they'll attract elk, deer in all these neighborhoods, and it's very strict rules. Maybe that's something that we look at, like, no feeding stray cats. GAMEZ: But with the cats, you can find -- we can have them go somewhere else. Have them go to Avondale or (Indiscernible). No. I'm just saying -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Mayor and Council, I'm a proponent of sending them to Buckeye. It's closer to the sunset I always say. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: There's a lot of coyotes out there too. GAMEZ: Oh my God. Okay, sir. CHAVIRA: Put them on a trip to the wetlands. DAVIS: All right. PETA's going to love this meeting. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 41 of 59 MENDOZA: Okay. So moving on to the next code. So this the -- this is quite a bit shorter and probably not as much conversation. But this is under the neglect portion of our Animal City Codes. And basically, if you look at subsection (C), the part in yellow is what we're asking to be removed. In subsection (C), it says, "Provide access to natural or artificial shelter to the animal throughout the year. The shelter must be maintained in good repair to protect the animal from injury and the elements and must be sufficient size to permit the animal to enter, stand, turn around and lie down in a natural manner." Previously, the city code had "Livestock and fowl are not included in this subsection". We're asking that be removed. I can just -- well we all know, we've been having a lot of dry, hot summers. And to see any animal be out where there's no opportunity for shade, it's just -- it's just not a good thing. And this is probably something that when we had better weather was probably okay. But given our circumstances and our heat, we would just like to have that removed to make sure that all animals are provided some type of shelter, some type of relief from the heat, specifically. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. MENDOZA: And this last portion is 9-2-7. And this is -- what we're asking to have is additional language. And in 9-2-7 it's impounding and disposing of dogs and cats. And right now, let me get to where it's -- I have my notes. So 9-2-7 addresses the impounding of stray dogs and cats, but it doesn't provide for the impounding and disposition of animals abandoned as the result of the owner being arrested, hospitalized, eviction or death, in which no other person is identified or available to take custody of the animal. So we're asking for that additional language to be added to the city code. So basically, giving -- the enforcement agent will have the authority to seize and impound for 72 hours any animal that becomes abandoned as a result of the owner being arrested, hospitalized, eviction or death, in which no other person is available to exercise the property rights of the owner. That and code will provide direction for the disposition of the animal whether or not the owner makes arrangements for reclaiming CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 42 of 59 the impounded animal. So believe it or not, we have run into this several times. Either having an impounded animal via arrest. We had an owner who passed away in their vehicle and had a cat that was with them. So we also took that cat; that comes to mind is one of our previous cases, but this is happening. We don't have any direction that's given us the authority to do that. We're asking that to be codified now. Because we want to be able to do that. We can't just leave the animal. We have had people that have been hospitalized; that is definitely one that's been fairly recent, right? So a long stay in the hospital, there's nobody to take care of the animal. So we'll be able to take care of that animal, and keep it for 72 hours. And then deal with whoever can take the animal or figure it out where we can get that animal to. And those are the changes that we're asking for. DAVIS: So -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Question? DAVIS: Yes. So let's say somebody is in the hospital and they don't have anybody else to take the dog, what happens after -- or the cat -- what happens after the 72 hours? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So Becca's -- obviously she's -- she does a great job for us. I don't -- I think our animal control -- our Mayor and Council, our animal control is never been in a better spot than when Becca's been here. In fact, I think last year she was our employee of the year. She does a great job of reconnecting animals with their owners. And so we're always trying to work towards that goal. So she would probably make visits to the hospital and figure out a timeline. In the event that they can no longer take the animals, so we had them stay in the hospital and not come out, then she figures what we can do with that, and that's through non-profits, animal shelters and adoption. Am I about right on that? Okay. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. I did have one item, and I'm not sure if it's related to codifying or what, but I noticed recently there's been people that have been building shelters in their backyard, and I'm thinking of Tolleson Farms in particular. And it makes me think that they are going to start to use their backyards to house other people's CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 43 of 59 animals. And I've seen this in different parts of the Valley, and I mean, I've driven by those parts and literally a horse dies that's being -- what's the word I'm looking for? ERIVES: Boarded. MENDOZA: Boarded. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Boarded. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Boarded at a house, and the horse dies, they literally tie -- get it from the hind legs and they drag it out and leave it dead on the corner, and it's like (indiscernible), and then they act like it wasn't theirs. And of course, somebody else has to take care of that horse or get rid of the corpse. But is there something that we can consider -- again, I don't know if it's part of this or maybe code enforcement -- to prevent boarding in Tolleson Properties? Because it's technically a business, and all they got to say is I'm just keeping the dog -- I'm just keeping the horse for my friend. But there's got to be something that prevents that kind of activity before it becomes a problem. MENDOZA: Well, Mayor and Council, yeah, none of the changes addresses boarding, but if that's something that you guys would like us to look into, I don't -- again, Becca has a pretty extensive list of contacts, so I'm sure she can reach out to people and see where other cities are sitting on boarding animals. And yeah, we can definitely get an answer back to you about that. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I would want that (indiscernible). I mean, what do you guys think? ERIVES: (Indiscernible). My dad knows where to take place -- the horses, so he would come around and pick up horses and take it somewhere. But, yeah, where -- what do you do with that, how do you dispose of it. But even dogs, I remember we did bulk trash. Dogs, their body would be in the bulk trash. And when people went to go pick it up there was -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Oh. ERIVES: -- oh, we got this issue. So I mean -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think the issue is more superficial. Boarding animals in general in residential areas that are not designed to be businesses. And so, I think we can look CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 44 of 59 at -- see what we can do to prevent that from happening and becoming a problem. Because the reality is, Tolleson Farms has nice -- nice land. I mean, half an acre, five- eighths of an acre, one acre, acre and a quarter, that's a lot of money making. If you get a 500 or $300 a horse a month and you can put ten of them back there, I mean, you can do the math really quick, you know. I don't have to work, I've just got to feed these horses and keep them alive and their owner comes by and rides them around and then, you know, this become my income. That's what I'm trying to prevent. And if we can prevent that, then we don't have to worry about horses being left on the edge of the road dead or any other kind of issues that come along with it. MENDOZA: Mayor and Council, yeah, you know what, just as you were saying that I was just thinking there's an app called Rover where people sign up to be -- to watch other people's animals either at their own home or at the owner's home. So maybe that's -- it's a fairly new thing, and it's -- is pretty actually robust. There's a lot of people that are signed up to be dog sitters. So maybe that's what we're seeing the uptick in, and maybe it -- maybe it goes on to horses. I don't know, but we'll look into it. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Well, that'd be great. Other than that, I think the recommendations are good. Any questions for the Chief? No? GAMEZ: Have a good night. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So a little bit of homework, Chief. MENDOZA: Not a problem. No problem. Happy to do it. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: But at this time, I will entertain a motion, call it "Meow". DAVIS: I'm not meowing. But I guess I just did. A motion to adopt. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We have a motion to adopt; we have a second by Christine, Councilwoman Chavira. All those in favor, please signify by saying "Aye". ALL: Aye. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All those opposed? All right. Motion passes unanimously. Thanks, Chief. We're going to move on to Work Study and Presentations for Discussion. Number 1, Discussion pertaining to the potential development of an extended stay CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 45 of 59 hotel, ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham, on the property located at the southeast corner of 91st Avenue and McDowell Road. EARP: Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Members of the Council. So yes, 91st and McDowell. This is between the Fairfield Inn, the office building, and it's not the hard corner, but it'll be next to the office building. And then we're saving the hard corner for some kind of -- hopefully some kind eatery or restaurant of the sort. But I'm just going to pass it on -- again, this is just for discussion and feedback -- to Mr. Jeff Hunt to present his project. HUNT: Mayor and Council, thanks for having me here today. Very nervous. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: (Indiscernible). HUNT: Not a lot of presentations here and to Mayor and Council, kind of caught me off guard, but that's all right. I have my own notes here, so as we present, I'll take feedback and capture that here. Not sure who to direct to scroll through the presentation if that's -- Crystal, thank you. So we also have on the Zoom call, couldn't be here today, Carter Rise. So we may hear from him if he chimes in from a place that I don't actually know where the speaker will come in, but if we hear from Carter, just be prepared for that. But I'll do my best to present the project. So this particular project, ECHO Suites, it is extended stay. Wyndham is the overarching, kind of, owner of the brand; it's a subset of Wyndham. Everybody knows the Wyndham name. But the ECHO brand is intended to be sort of a premier version of extended stay hotel. They feel there's a need to service that clientele, but they want to do it in a high- end and respectful way. So if we want to go through just a couple of the renderings here, just to give you a flavor of the project. Probably doesn't look a whole lot different than a lot of newer hotel architecture. Keep going through, I think the important part might be, Crystal, to get into some of the interior shots of the project. And just present, I think the finish. I think this is really critical for you guys to understand the expectation that's being set with the hotel, right. That the experience and how people are going to work within the hotel and CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 46 of 59 what's going to service them if they need to be in town for four or five days, or a little over a week for business. And have an opportunity to be here where you would have those amenities that are going to be critical for you to have in that extended stay sort of opportunity. So let me move on to -- we have a narrative that was included. And we can go to -- the site plan is going to be two more pages down. And here's sort of a site plan to give you guys a visual. Not too far down the road, obviously, is 91st Avenue and McDowell; everybody's familiar with the location. There is another hotel that's not the same type of brand, nor are they servicing the same type of clients immediately east of here. The intent here is to kind of sit back off of McDowell Road, east of 91st Avenue, and present well from as you come across the freeway; the RID canal provides a nice little buffer from the freeway. But certainly it lets us get back off of 91st Avenue and allow future users to, sort of, live between the hotel and McDowell, so you can have higher turnover sort of establishments that would supplement kind of the hotel being there behind it as what would look like a place you might be, like I said, for a handful of days and you might need to have those amenities at your fingertips. RISE: Thanks, Jeff. Can everyone hear me okay? This is Carter Rise; I'm from a developer Sandpiper. HUNT: Yes, (indiscernible). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, we can hear you. RISE: Yeah. Jeff, thank you, that's a great intro. You know, I think you hit the nail on the head. Just to kind of provide a little more context before we get into any questions about who we are as Sandpiper. We're a national developer who has a pretty wide range of portfolio of hotels. A lot of it is extended stay though, and ECHO Suites is a brand that we have really gravitated towards in the last couple years as something that can be sort of an industry leader in the mid-scale extended stay space. Particularly for the business traveler. The traveler who's in town for a length of stay probably over seven days, that's generally our target. You know, these are not going to be run necessarily like apartments, which I know can CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 47 of 59 be a concern with extended stay. But really, our concept is high-quality FF&E, right-in- room entertainment systems, really spacious, clean kitchens, for the traveler who's coming into town, doesn't want to eat out every night, wants to cook. But also, is not going to spend a lot of time in the hotel. They're going to be using it as a living space, a place for them to rest. But they're going to be in town for travel nursing, you know, construction and development, work conferences, you name it. But they're going to be out of the room, generally, and that is sort of our model where we have the amenities that people need and not the ones they don't. We have a fitness center, we have guest laundry, and like I said, a very spacious lobby. But I think really what sets us apart from a lot of other extended stay brands is what we think is the look and feel of the hotel. You know, these are all -- nationwide as a new brand, these are a hundred percent new construction. And that means we feel like the consumer is going to associate it with a higher class of brand here. And we hope that the exterior signage, the interior cased goods is really going to drive up a very high quality of customer coming into the City of Tolleson. The only other thing I would want to highlight before I turn it over is we have at Sandpiper an internal management company which we believe is excellent at ensuring things like hotel cleanliness and safety. We are experienced in the extended stay world, and we feel like we can run a really tight ship and a clean property here. So look forward to your questions. Thank you for hearing us out today. HUNT: Thanks, Carter. And I didn't have anything else to add. And open to any questions and comments. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: So thank you for the presentation first of all. I'm going to take a question from Councilman Gamez. GAMEZ: Yes. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. GAMEZ: How many rooms are you going to have? HUNT: Carter, can you confirm the total number of rooms real quick? RISE: Yes, it will be 124 rooms. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 48 of 59 HUNT: Great. RISE: Mix of singles and doubles. GAMEZ: The rate? What kind of rates are we talking about? RISE: So it varies by market. I believe we are looking to try to get into the sort of upper- $80-range for a weekly rate. Generally, the business model we're going to run is that if you're staying for seven nights, that will be a lower rate than just staying for nightly. We generally try to optimize a business model where we have a certain percentage of extended stay guests, which would be defined as seven days or longer. So generally, we're looking for an averaged-out rate of probably in the high 80's, but a nightly rate would be more than say maybe a weekly rate, which may be in the low 80's. GAMEZ: Thank you. HUNT: For the record, clarify that's nightly rate. The metrics that you were stating were pay day. RISE: Yes, that is correct. HUNT: Yeah. Just so that it's on record. RISE: And actually, I can pull up our latest projections, which have been kind of -- if you bear with me for one second -- that we've sort of forecast based on how we feel we'll sit into the competitive set -- yeah, that one. Basically, obviously, there'll be a small ramp up, but by the time we are fully ramped up, our hope is to be in the mid to high 80's. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Clarification. HUNT: Yeah, I just -- I sensed -- you're not here Carter; I just sensed there might be a clarification question coming. So I figured get it out of the way. RISE: Yep. HUNT: All right. GAMEZ: Another question I have, is what type of an employment opportunities will be available there for the community, if any? HUNT: That's a great question. So if we're -- if Sandpiper is managing it, do you see hiring local resource pool to assist with that or on site facilities, Carter? RISE: Oh, absolutely. I mean, we are not necessarily in the business of relocating our CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 49 of 59 folks to Tolleson or any other city where we're developing. So we would definitely be looking to recruit locally. We don't have a massive staff at these hotels as we don't have a restaurant. But definitely something where, you know, assistant GMs, managers, maintenance, you know, whatever -- whatever you can think of in terms of daily staff, that is definitely something we are -- we'd be looking for, local area staffing there. GAMEZ: Thank you. One more question. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Go ahead. GAMEZ: Do you guys allow cats? Just kidding. RISE: I actually -- I was ready for that joke. We do not allow -- we do allow dogs under a certain size, but I think this -- the Council will be happy to hear, no cats. GAMEZ: Thank you. Jimmy? DAVIS: I don't want to see another cat for a while. So our community has a pretty rough history when it comes to extended stays. So I guess, Jason, my question is to you, this is comparable to the one on 99th Avenue I'm going to assume? EARP: Yes, that's correct. So the $80, 89, $90, you know, if you calculate that, that's anywhere between 600 and $700 a week. DAVIS: Yeah. EARP: The one that was converted to an apartment thing was about $200 a week. DAVIS: Okay. EARP: So you can see the difference. DAVIS: The difference in the clientele. EARP: So you're looking at, you know, 30, $25, $22 a night, versus 80, $90 a night. And you're going to get two different kind of clientele. DAVIS: And then just -- thank you. Then another question, Chief Mendoza, we have not seen an uptick still from that extended stay in any type of activity? Good. Good. HUNT: I think the goal is not to be a residential alternative. DAVIS: Yeah. HUNT: But instead be a place to manage business dealings when you need to be here for long term. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 50 of 59 DAVIS: And that's exactly what the other one was, a residential alternative. I like that term. I'm going to file that away for future reference. Because we do not want that. RISE: No, that is not our intent. You know, our intent is really the business traveler who may need to be in town for two to three weeks. We don't want someone who's going to be there for three to six months. That's not -- that is not our business model. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Other Council Members? CHAVIRA: Jimmy answered my question. Thank you, Jimmy. ERIVES: (Indiscernible). CHAVIRA: Yeah. ERIVES: Think that's my fair question too with our history from before. There's currently one thing built less than a mile -- do they typically -- do we typically see extended stays clustered together? Is that like a new model that's coming through? HUNT: Carter, I'll let you answer that one because I think you probably would know nationwide kind of how that's -- are they clustering or how that -- RISE: It's not uncommon to see them in sort of a close confines. You know, I will say extended stay is -- it's becoming a popular investment in hotel community. I believe what you're referencing is the -- I think it's a LivAway that's coming into town. So yeah, that's something where, obviously, if there was a scenario where there was less competition, we feel like that would be helpful, but at the same time we think it's -- it can be beneficial as a proof of concept that we are, you know -- our market instincts were correct that Tolleson is a great place to want to build a hotel right now. So I don't think that that's going to have a negative impact on the rate numbers I was citing earlier. That's something we factored into those numbers, and I think there'll be a good, healthy competition that will absolutely, you know, allow both properties to operate very well. That's a brand that I think is a pretty good comp for the ECHO Suites in terms of trying to enter this market space as, you know, kind of a clean, more upscale, not necessarily Four Seasons upscale, but more further up the chain of scale than what people maybe have a negative connotation on the extended stay side. ERIVES: Thank you. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 51 of 59 EARP: Mayor and Vice and Council Member Erives, it's also with my colleagues, you know, I -- we talk to -- usually make quarterly, it's kind of been the new thing in Peoria and Goodyear and Avondale, you know, it's just we're saturated with the stadiums, the raceway, all the construction coming to the West Valley where you need construction managers, you know, or different trades or the traveling nurses in the area with the hospitals is -- is it's the place to be here in the West Valley. You know, years ago the East Valley got the mall and they're just kind of now because all the movements coming this way. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Clorinda. ERIVES: My follow-up question was, is there currently an ECHO Extended Stay here in Arizona somewhere? Do you have one in Scottsdale, do you have one in -- HUNT: Carter, if I remember our conversation, there is one coming close, yeah? RISE: So we -- we are the developer for the Phoenix MSA. We have two under development right now. We have one in Peoria that we broke ground on a few months back. And we have one that's under development in Chandler that we are hoping to get a building permit on in the next few weeks or, you know, hopefully not months. So, you know, we're really, really committed to Phoenix and hope that this will be the third ECHO that we get in town, or maybe -- maybe even the second if it can beat Chandler. HUNT: Highly likely. When on the Peoria do you think it'll be? How long for construction? RISE: Based on my conversation with our GC this afternoon, I think we're targeting early October to open. That might slow up a little bit, but certainly before the end of the year. HUNT: So, it -- yeah, Mayor and Council, just to let you know from timing if you -- you could expect to see it, so. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. RISE: ECHO is a relatively new brand. There's only, I think, five open, maybe six open nationwide. We are hoping to open a location in Richmond, Virginia, in the next week; we're targeting the 22nd right now. So fingers crossed that our -- all of our final CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 52 of 59 inspections go well there. But we have three others in construction right now, one in Peoria; one in Reno, Nevada; one in Sterling, Virginia, near Dulles Airport. So this is a brand where we are hoping to expand rapidly, and it's really our -- our top commitment; we believe in it immensely. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: (Indiscernible). DAVIS: No, I do have something else to add. So is this -- it's back from the street? Yeah, it's back from the street? HUNT: Yes. DAVIS: But will it be visible from the street at all? HUNT: Course, yeah. DAVIS: Yeah. Okay. HUNT: In all directions. DAVIS: Okay. So, well, so one thing that I will just point out is that we have a TIA initiative here in Tolleson; it's the Tolleson Initiative for the Arts, so we do place a great deal of importance on the arts and culture. And so, just something to keep in mind when you are designing public art. And you're going to be one of the first things people see when they come into our border. HUNT: Just for qualifying for record, some context on that, is it a request from Mayor and Council to see art on the building, is it a suggestion -- I just want to make sure we understand and maybe Jason -- DAVIS: There's a process for that; that's exactly what Jason's going to say. But yes. HUNT: Okay. ERIVES: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Clorinda. ERIVES: I'm just looking at the renderings and some -- I saw the (indiscernible), I saw (indiscernible). Can you explain a little bit more what's in the kitchen in your units? HUNT: Of course, yeah. Carter, can you take that question, please? RISE: Yes. So if someone can pull the presentation up for a visual aid, but I can start explaining. In the kitchen, you're going to have a microwave, you're going to have a full- CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 53 of 59 size refrigerator with freezer. You're going to have a, you know, hot cooking surface with ample cabinets. Generally, how we'll operate these is we'll have dishes for rent or purchase at the front desk. So it's -- we're not going to have a full oven or anything like that, but I think for the one week business traveler, I think it really has everything you could need. In certain municipalities we have put in dishwashers, but that is more market driven on whether other hotels -- whether, you know, a Residence Inn or maybe other competitors have -- have that. So I would have to look and confirm whether other hotels have dishwashers before suggesting that's something we're definitely going to do either way. But as you can see, there's the microwave above, you know, our 88 rooms; that's sort of closer to the ground. But any other questions on the kitchen? ERIVES: So you mentioned renting dishes -- you rent out the dishes or purchase the dishes. Like, what about, like the stove -- the -- the pots and pans and to cook that meal on? HUNT: It's more of a warm-plate cooktop. There's no -- there's not going to be any baking, necessarily, no stove. So it would be the ability to heat stuff up outside the microwave on a -- on a hot plate, essentially. ERIVES: (Indiscernible). HUNT: Yeah, I want to try and stay away from some of the language that's popping up in my head. I don't want to explain like a college hot plate, right. RISE: Nice. Hot plate (indiscernible). HUNT: But hot plate, I think that would be -- that would create a negative connotation, but essentially the ability to heat up food. Yeah, but a hot surface. RISE: It is a stove top. Whether -- usually we're probably not going to see someone go to the store and buy pots and pans. But someone -- we definitely have had guests to go to Target and buy a -- a $20 frying pan and cook plenty in their apartment, especially -- or, not their apartment, in their -- in their room. If they are going to be there for maybe two, three weeks, you know, I think a lot of our guests get sick of sort of the fast-food business travel that a lot of people would say if you're staying at maybe, like, a Holiday CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 54 of 59 Inn. And so we definitely have a lot of people who cook. Or if they are getting take-out, the fridge is a great place for leftovers, and then the microwave and the stovetop allows for reheating pizza or you name it. I also should note that there obviously is a sink in the kitchen as well. HUNT: Thank you. ERIVES: Thanks. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All good on this side? All right. Good on that side? Yeah, my two cents is pretty straightforward. The content of we've been burnt historically by other long-term stay, to me, it's still short history. And we've gone through a lot of effort to try to change that business model and try to convert them to apartments. And it's helped; I got to say it's better than it used to be. And hopefully it'll continue to get better. But I'm not a fan of this product. Not to pick on you guys, but I don't -- I don't like extended stays. I would prefer a hotel where they can stay for a day or two, maybe a couple days and they got to move on. But I think the market is saturated. If people want to come to the Valley and stay somewhere, I'm okay with them staying somewhere else. I don't like them. They tend to start looking very nice when they're first built, and then they go downhill. And now, you got direct market competition across the street, which is going price the drive down, which is going to increase the possibility of other populations moving in there. And we've had all kinds of activities and in -- I got to -- I'm not a fan. I just -- I don't think the product is a good product. I know there's a market out there. I just don't, you know -- call it selfish. I would not want to go down the same road that we already went through during the lessons that we learned and then end up in the same place and try to find external solutions, try to fix something that we could have avoided. So me personally, I'm not a fan. And I just want to be honest with you up front. HUNT: Yeah. Mayor, I appreciate your candor and -- and I think, all we would ask as a development group is as we move forward in the process if there are suggestions, I -- I hear you loud and clear. And I don't want to meet your statement with just, okay, tell me what we can do. I think you made it clear that you -- you may not even see a CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 55 of 59 solution. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. Avondale, Phoenix, Surprise. You already got one in Peoria, Buckeye. Those are all suggestions. HUNT: Sure. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I just don't want it in my backyard. I'm just trying to be completely honest with you, and -- HUNT: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I let everybody go first to try to create a balance because I already know where I stand on extended stays. And so, I think, that's my two cents' worth. And this is work study, so this is a -- I appreciate you taking the time to come out here and discuss this with us. HUNT: Yeah. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: But it's important to me that -- that you understand kind of my stance and the rest of the council as you guys decide to move forward or not -- HUNT: Right. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: -- because there's no sense in lying to ourselves. HUNT: Right. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: You know, this is the reality, this is where we're at. And so, let's just -- let's just see each other for what it is. HUNT: Appreciate that. We may ask for suggestions as we move forward in the process on what you think might make it a viable product for you. And look forward to that feedback. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I think Wyndham has -- is a great -- is a great provider for hotels. I think having a hotel there would be great. It would mirror the Marriot. Marriot's doing pretty good; having a Wyndham there, okay, well that's -- that's more revenue coming into our city. It would trigger the possibility of getting a hard, good restaurant on the corner or a couple of them, to feed the population that's going to be staying in the hotels. You got Desert Sky Pavilion there, they got -- they got concerts throughout all the summer. People come here and stay, go party and come back. That's great. They CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 56 of 59 come over and hit up the hotel, and then they go and eat breakfast at hopefully a Denny's or IHOP or whatever on the hard corners. And that's more (indiscernible) for our community. But extended stays doesn't have that vibe to me. I just, I don't see it. There's enough options out there. And I understand we have a hospital down the road. I think we have more than enough extended stays in the region to take care of the nurses. There's construction. It is -- it's here. But I think -- I think we have enough rooms already available to serve the construction population. Again, that's just my two cents' worth, but at end of the day, you know, that's what the discussion is for, and I appreciate you just taking the time and hearing us out. CHAVIRA: And Mayor, I just want to note that I actually agree with you. I'm also not a fan, and I believe we already have two other extended stay type models. Not something that I personally would think would benefit Tolleson for that area. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: And to be clear, there's another development right across the street being built on the Phoenix side that would mirror this property. ERIVES: That's an extended stay too? MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I believe so. But I don't know for -- I mean, that's a Phoenix deal. Yeah. CHAVIRA: I just think it's helpful for you to know that up front. HUNT: Absolutely. That's why we're here. Thank you for your feedback. RISE: Yeah. Thank you. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. One last call, anybody else? HUNT: Just out of respect for Carter who couldn't be here, if there's any last comments, Carter, otherwise we'll allow everyone to close it down. Okay. Thank you, Carter. ERIVES: Thank you. RISE: Yeah, thank -- thank you all. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Good. Okay. All right. No, thank you, man. Okay. Okay. We're going to move on to K, Mayor and City Manager Report of Current Events. I was asked to read this. So "Notice of cancellation of the City Council Meetings CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 57 of 59 scheduled on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, and August 12th, 2025, for summer recess, Tuesday, November 25, 2025, for fall recess and Tuesday, December 23, 2025, for winter recess. The City Council Meeting Scheduled on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, will be rescheduled to Wednesday, November 12, 2025, due to Veterans Day. The City Hall holiday closure is scheduled from December 22, 2025, to December 26, 2025". So it's been read. Any questions or comments? Okay. That is not an action item. I just wanted to make sure everybody's aware of it way in advance, and here we are in January. So all right. We're going to convene into Executive Session. I will motion to go into Executive Session. GAMEZ: So move. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. We have a motion. ERIVES: Second. DAVIS: Second. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: We have a second. Yes. Go ahead. DAVIS: Oh. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Go ahead, Randy (ph.). UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible). MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Awesome. GAMEZ: A nacho lady. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: I'm glad you mentioned that because I went on a trip out of town, and it was a last-minute kind of thing. And I got back to work, and my pile is -- my plate is, what do they say -- run it over, is that what they say? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Runneth. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, there you go. I have a lot of work at work. So we have had two grand openings, Mesquite Grill and then today was Salt and -- CHAVIRA: Salt and Soak. DAVIS: SoakNSalt. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: SoakNSalt. And so, I know Jimmy has been there to say a couple CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 58 of 59 of comments and welcome them into our community, so he's also going to be there Saturday morning at 7 a.m. to do the Red Cross event. And he's also going to be there for -- for third Friday to help say some comments or two. So Jimmy, thank you very much, appreciate it. And thanks to everybody else that's attending these events. DAVIS: I will actually be Emcee Jimmy. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Emcee Jimmy, there you go. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Emcee Jimmy. DAVIS: On Friday. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: As long as it's not Emcee Kitty Cat Jimmy. DAVIS: No. [Laughter]. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Okay. Is there anything else for the good of the order? DAVIS: I like animals for the record. [Laughter]. MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: All right. Well, now we will convene into Executive Session. Do we have a motion to go into Executive Session? All right, we have a first and we have a second. You got them? It's Adolfo and Clorinda. Okay. Now at this time, as the Council convenes into Executive, we are asking that members of the -- okay. So now we're asking members of the public and those that are not involved in the Executive Session to please exit the meeting at this time. The only action items after the Executive Session will be to adjourn to the public. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Five-minute recess between the -- MAYOR RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, we can have a five-minute recess. CITY OF TOLLESON JANUARY 14, 2025 CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Page 59 of 59 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 JANUARY 14, 2025. I FURTHER CERTIFY THAT THE MEETING WAS DULY CALLED AND HELD, AND THAT A QUORUM WAS PRESENT. ____________________________________ CRYSTAL ZAMORA, CITY CLERK