260120_CEC MEETING MINUTES.DOC
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Minutes of the Community Engagement & Connection Council Subcommittee meeting held on Jan. 20, 4:00 p.m., Hybrid Meeting – Tempe City Hall, 31 E. Fifth St., 3rd floor conference room and virtually through Microsoft Teams Members Present: Vice Mayor Doreen Garlid – Chair Councilmember Nikki Amberg City Staff Present: Eric Anderson, City Attorney Jared Morris, Director, IT Lisette Camacho, Deputy City Manager Velicia McMillan Humes, Director, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Office Eric Iwersen, Director, Transportation & Sustainability Kris Baxter, Director, Communications & Marketing Office Shauna Warner, Director, Neighborhood Services Laura Calder, Director, Financial Services Anthony Butch, Assistant Fire Chief Tanya Chavez, Mayor and Council Relations Director Rebecca Strisko, Director, Human Resources Shelly Seyler, Deputy Director, Transportation & Sustainability Ryan Levesque, Deputy Director, Community Development Mary Mezey, Deputy Director, Community Health & Human Services Jessica Jupitus, Deputy Director, Community Services Shawn Wagner, Deputy Director, Community Services Melissa Westbrook, Council Assistant Quincy Carrillo, Council Assistant Ty Lee, Council Assistant Parrish Spisz, Council Assistant Maraina Pena, Council Assistant Vanessa Lopez, Council Assistant Kimberly Sotelo, Sr. Management Assistant Zeena Kilani, Vice Mayor Garlid Intern Minutes Community Engagement & Connection Council Subcommittee Jan. 20, 2026 Stakeholders: Julie Kent Franklin Zyriek Suri Wall, Neighborhood Advisory Commissioner Lane Carraway, Neighborhood Advisory Commissioner Gace Wombacher, Mayors Youth Advisory Commissioner Braden Castaneda, Mayors Youth Advisory Commissioner Members of the Public: Lilly Sapiano Alexandra Albert Call to Order: 4:02 p.m. Agenda Item 1 – Public Appearances None. Agenda Item 2 – Approve Meeting Minutes from Dec 4, 2025 Councilmember Amberg motioned to approve the meeting minutes from the subcommittee’s December 4 meeting with a second from Vice Mayor Garlid. Minutes approved 2-0. Agenda Item 3 – Review current methods for community engagement and connection Kris Baxter, Director of Marketing and Communications, provided an overview the city’s current strategies and methods for communicating and engaging with residents. The city uses multiple channels to communicate and identifies audience demographics to design messaging and distribution decisions. There are over 24 touchpoint options to reach residents from several social media platforms to email and print. The city has about 54,000 active email subscribers demonstrating the trust and value of information shared. Agenda Item 4 – Comparison city research on community engagement methods Parrish Spisz, Council Assistant and Zeena Kilani, Vice Mayor’s Intern reviewed a comparative analysis of peer city engagement methods and approaches. 16 cities were asked to participate with 9 cities responding. This included one out-of-state city, Dayton, Ohio. Four questions were asked that led to seven categories being analyzed. Pathways to leadership through citizen academies were highlighted in the high-performing cities. Tempe scored mid-range as compared to other cities in community engagement. The data will be used to formulate the subcommittees final recommendations. Agenda Item 5 – Future Agenda Items Vitalyst Health presentation on Community Engagement and Civic Health. Next meeting date: Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026 Meeting adjourned at 4:47 p.m. Prepared by: Parrish Spisz, Council Assistant, (480) 350-8599 Reviewed by: Tanya Chavez, Mayor and Council Relations Director, (480) 858-2215