City Council - Regular Meeting

you Thank you.

Welcome to the Goodyear City Council meeting. We're excited to have you be a part of this important public process. Tonight, you will have the opportunity to address City Council on both non-agenda and agenda items. You must fill out a speaker request card in order to address the City Council. The agendas and speaker request cards are located in the back of the Council Chambers. Please drop your completed card in the tray next to the blank speaker cards. If the meeting has already begun, please hand it to the City employee at the back of the room. You may check the I do not wish to speak option on the card. This allows you to let Council know your opinion without having to speak. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, please contact a staff member if you need any assistance. Public comment on a non-agenda item will take place during the citizen comment portion of the evening. These are items that don't appear on tonight's formal agenda. The city clerk will call your name when it's time for you to speak. At that time, please approach the podium and tell us your name for the record. You'll have a maximum of three minutes. The timer is on the screens visible from the podium. Note that you may also choose not to speak if other speakers before you have said what you wanted to say. Shouting, cheering, and loud noises will not be tolerated and violators may be removed for disrupting the meeting. Goodyear City Council meetings stream live on Facebook, YouTube, X, and online at GoodyearAZ.gov. Follow the City's social media pages so you don't miss out on all that's happening in Goodyear. Thank you for coming to this meeting and being an active part of your city. And remember, it's a great time to be in Goodyear.

I'd like to call the regular meeting to order for September 14th, 2026. Can I get a motion and a second to excuse Council Member Beckles?

I have a motion by Council Member Campbell and a second by Council Member Gillis.

Okay, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Unanimous? All right, great to go. Now, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation. 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. Almighty Father, I ask that you provide wisdom to all of those, this council, so we may make wise decisions for our community. I also ask that you help heal this nation which suffers from a lack of civility so that we can come together as a nation and work towards a more civil society for the betterment of all. Please protect our men and women in uniform here and overseas from injury and provide those in the meeting safe passage home. In your name, amen. Now's the time for the members of the public who wish to address the City Council on any non-agenda items. The jurisdiction of Goodyear City Council. We have any speaker cards?

Yes, Mayor, I have one speaker.

Come on up.

Chris McLaughlin.

Sir, before you start, the Council will listen to comments and take any of the following actions. Respond to criticism, request that the staff investigate and report on the matter, request that the matter be scheduled on a future agenda. Each speaker is limited to three minutes. There'll be, I guess, a light somewhere. You got it? All right. When you get to 30 seconds, sir, you're on. Just tell us whether you're a Goodyear resident. You have to give an address.

Hi, my name is, uh, Goodyear evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Chris McLaughlin and I am a Goodyear resident. I'm here to address Goodyear's use of automated license plate readers, um, and flock cameras. I have recently had a, I recently had a very cordial conversation with our police chief. I appreciate him taking the time and to hear my concerns and explain the department's position. I respect that conversation, but fundamentally we still disagree. I previously asked that flock cameras be placed on council agenda for public discussion. That has not happened. I asked that it be put on an agenda. I went back through city records. I found that funding of license plate readers and city budget goes back to 2019. What I have not found is a dedicated public discussion where residents were asked whether we wanted the surveillance system or whereas privacy and constitutional implications were openly debated. Approving funding within a much larger city budget is not the same as public debating government surveillance. My objection also goes beyond privacy. This raises a fundamental Fourth Amendment question. Should the government be able to build and search a history of our movements without a warrant? A license plate being visible to the public is not the same thing as government continuously collecting those observations. storing them in a database, and making our movements searchable. That distinction matters. In Carpenter, the Supreme Court recognized that technology can transform individual pieces of public information into an extraordinary detailed record of a person's movement, and that the Fourth Amendment cannot simply ignore that technological reality. Flock and other ALPR systems give government capability that once we would have required officers to physically follow someone, now it can be done automatically at an enormous scale and potentially searched after the fact. The Fourth Amendment exists to place limits on government surveillance. Technology should not become a loophole around a warrant requirement. And the potential for misuse is real. Policies may restrict how these systems are used, but they cannot eliminate their capacity for abuse. I understand why law enforcement finds these cameras useful, but usefulness of law enforcement is not the standard by which we measure constitutional rights. There has to be a line. For me, creating a searchable history of movements of people who are not suspected of a crime and allowing government access to that history without first going through a judge for a warrant crosses that line. So I'm asking the council to cancel contracts and end Goodyear's use of flock cameras. If the city surveillance of this scope is necessary, make that case publicly, put it on the agenda, let residents speak, debate the constitutional implications in the open. That discussion should have happened before these cameras were deployed. Cancel the contracts.

Thank you. City attorney, city manager, I know you've already had the discussion with the chief. Can you give him back? You mentioned some legal issues in there. I know we have talked about this before. Can you draft something and make sure that gentleman gets it? A response? Okay. We're good? All right. Thank you. Anything else?

No, Mayor.

Okay, thank you. All right, well, City Clerk, please read the consent agenda items one through five by title only.

Yes, Mayor. Item 1, approval of Series 12 Restaurant Liquor License for Fogo de Chao, Churroscaria. Item 2, approval of budget amendments and related expenditure authority. Item 3, approval of intergovernmental agreements with City of Avondale West Valley Sex Trafficking Task Force. Item 4, approval of the Drug Enforcement Agency Equitable Sharing Agreement and Annual Certification Affidavit. And item 5, adopt resolution number 2026, 2539, authorizing the city manager and or their designee to execute a license agreement with the Bicental LLC, a Florida limited liability company, and to enter into separate agreements for in-kind exchanges, which may include fiber and or conduit.

Thank you. Any speaker cards? No, Mayor. Okay. Thank you. Anybody in the audience like to speak on the issue? Anybody want to take anything off the agenda? Can I get a motion? Remember, we're going to say visually here now, since we don't have the thing in front. We got a motion? Did you get that? You got the motion and the second?

I have a motion by Council Member Kano and a second by Council Member Kimball.

Correct, thank you. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it, thank you. All right, let's see. We have two, oops, we have to go to the work session. That's it, right? Going right to the work session. All right, for the discussion only, no action can be taken. We have two work session items tonight. I would like to remind Council that staff will be pausing every so often to answer any questions. First item is the update on the Fire Resource Management Building. Could you go ahead and please introduce yourself for the audience?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Paul Luizzi, Fire Chief, and with me tonight is Tim Wayne, Deputy Fire Chief. So tonight we'll be taking you through an overview of the Fire Resource Management Building. We'll also talk about the design of the new building, plans for construction, and then we'll both be available for any questions afterwards. Currently, staff operate out of old Fire Station 181, which is located at West Yuma Road and Litchfield Road, just west of that intersection and noted here on the map. Since 1982, Fire Resource Management has operated out of that small section of that fire station. In 2016, firefighters were actually moved out of that station and they co-located with Fire Station 184 crew after we discovered some environmental concerns within the building. And then since 2017, resource management has expanded into the entire old 181 building. Those environmental concerns have been rectified and the building has been deemed safe since that time. In May of 2021, we actually opened new Fire Station 181 at 143rd Ave and Van Buren Street. And then 2023, a geobond, which included a resource management building, was issued by the voters. Here's some pictures that will take you through. So this is the old fire station, 181. As noted on the map, this has four apparatus bays, which is very nice from a storing equipment standpoint. But as you see, this building is old. We are maximizing our storage and maximizing our space. Any place that we can find a spot to store equipment, we are doing that currently. In the apparatus bays, it is very tight. Apparatus is bumper to bumper. And the rear apparatus are right up against the garage doors. So not a lot of space there. We are using, as I stated earlier, every interior space that we can find. This is some of our emergency medical service equipment storage throughout the building. It has to be in an air-cooled or air-conditioned environment. So these are actually the old dorm rooms. And you can see from the lockers there that used to be for the personnel, that's where equipment is now stored. Further interior storage. This is some of the personal protective equipment and the storage there on the bins and the racks. You can see that there. And then we also have our air management room, which is a clean room. Staff does a great job of keeping contaminants out of that room. But as you can see, all of these rooms have been modified for their current day use. The new building that we are proposing, you can see the map here, and that would be located just west of the future solid or hazardous waste building that Public Works is considering. So now I'll turn that presentation over to Chief Wayne.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Tim Wayne, Deputy Fire Chief. As you can see, this project, the CIP 315 sits directly right next to the public works facility. This is going to be MC 85 just south, and what you see is Broadway. On the south side of the structure, we'll see SR 30 run through there. So just to give you an idea of where that sits within the city. So in 2023, the voters approved through a general obligation bond, a resource management as part of that, that bond went along with the training center. That was the current project sits at $31,140,000. To note, the design is currently in design and we're working through that process. The construction phase has been moved out of the five-year CIP. So we have allotted 1.76 approved in FY26 for design, and the construction aspect of that would be $26 million. Furniture, fixtures, and equipment sits at around 3.36 with $965,000 being FF&E, and the balance of that would go to IT cost at $2.4 million. Currently, we're at 60% design. WE HAVE RECEIVED COMMENTS BACK FROM DEVELOPMENT SERVICES AND WORKING THROUGH THE COMMENTS WITH OUR PLANNING TEAM. Of note, the solid waste facility just to the east of Ushall, previous slide, is going to benefit from this project and the offsite improvements. Approximately $1.73 million of offsite improvements will benefit the public waste, solid waste facility. Because they're ahead of us, we're going to transfer some of that money, and so that piece of the infrastructure can be completed. We are anticipating design to be complete in 2027 in January. So the overall product description or project description, we're a 30,000 square feet working facility sitting on 10.1 acres. This is going to combine a lot of things throughout the fire department so we can all come under one roof. That'll include office space, a 40-seat classroom, PPE storage and all the other things that we're struggling with currently. We did tour multiple partner sites to learn how best to approach this project. We got some great information from our partners in Surprise and Glendale and even traveled out to Gilbert to see their facility as well. Well, this is just not another warehouse. This combines a lot of services under one roof and promotes a lot of efficiencies and will address a lot of department needs. So kind of zooming out a little bit of what that structure looks like, this is the overall footprint. I'm gonna walk you through in a little greater detail so you have a better idea of some of the aspects and the components that we're planning to provide to this structure. So we're super excited about this. As you come in through the front door lobby, you immediately go into a 40-seat classroom that has a little kitchenette next to it. This classroom is set up to be somewhat of a dirty classroom, meaning that we can do air pack training in there and all other sorts of training. It gives us the ability to do quick clean and solid services so we can turn that over and make it safe again. But it has some flexibility. Its central location throughout the city, I think, is a benefit to the city as a resource. Further, as you move through the building, you see a fitness center. And we've also included kind of what's a new concept, and that's that recharge room slash recovery room where it's a sauna, red light therapy, and cold plunge. Together, those things are proven to be really beneficial for improvement of sleep and then rest and recovery. So as we move through the building a little bit in the center, we have two air conditioned bays. Imagine it's 120 degrees and you need to swap out into a new truck. Typically that happens either in the bays or in a parking lot somewhere fleet. Now with this facility, we can drive those apparatus that are going out of service for maintenance or repair and swap out into a new apparatus in an air conditioned setting. In addition to that, so as the units will roll through there, you have access to air fill. You have access to decontamination. And the cool part is when we install new equipment onto these vehicles, like we're going to do in the coming months with new air packs, all the trucks can roll through here. We can pull the old equipment out, insert the new equipment on, and then they're back in service. So it really increases efficiency and an opportunity to keep our firefighters out of the elements. Sorry, can you go back real quick? So during design, because of these drive-through apparatus bays, the group thought it would be important that we included an ability to host a mechanic in this building. While there's not one funded currently, we have in design a mechanic station, if you will, office, supplies, so that individual could do maintenance and light repairs. Going to the right of it, there's 13 stalls currently you saw in the previous slides. All of that equipment is jammed into the apparatus bay currently, and then there's quite a bit of equipment that sits outside. So 13 is a hefty number. It not only meets our needs currently, but it will for a considerable amount of time. Before you move off, it's important to note that we thought about scalability in the future and ensuring that this building is capable of expanding if necessary at the time where the need arises. So a little review of where we're at, where we came from. Core construction was selected as the CMAR, designed to be completed in 27. We'll do permits, submit permits and get approvals. That takes a couple months or so by spring of 27. We would like to begin construction in July of 27. That construction duration is approximately 13 months, with 12 of it being construction and then one month for FF&E and move-in.

Okay, thank you. Any questions? Go ahead, Vicki. So completion date. Completion date would be about 13 months, so July 2027, so figure July or August of 28. 28. Yeah.

Okay. Anybody else? Go ahead, Laura.

So at the beginning you said that this was outside of the five-year CIP, so it's not on the plan. Correct. And so what you're asking for essentially is will we fund it?

Through the normal budget process, yes, ma'am. Through the budget process. Yes.

Okay. All right, thank you. Anything else? Go ahead, Vice Mayor.

I'll go back here. I guess to piggyback on her question, so you want to move it up from the five-year to, sorry, back to the dates here. to now, to right now, right? It would be in fiscal year 28.

So it will come through the normal budget cycle process. So we'd start collecting that information November internally and then be internally reviewed by the city manager's office and then presented to you guys typically in April during the normal budget process.

And you're saying we can move it up because of that bond that we have? So we're asking for the funding to be used because it was identified in the bond. That's why we're able to bring it up because that bond got approved. Okay. And then I said some questions here now as well. So all the stuff that's going to go in there is all sitting in that one station now?

Yeah, as Chief Wayne stated, it allows for expansion for, we're thinking 30 to 40, maybe 50 years from now. The other piece is a lot of our equipment is still outside, so things that we cannot fit inside have to go outside. This allows everything to go under one roof, as Chief Wayne stated.

Okay, and it's all air-conditioned, the whole, everything, both sides, everything's air-conditioned. Correct. The storage of everything, all the apparatus.

The apparatus bay would be the only one that wouldn't, where they park.

Oh, I was curious.

The drive-thru bays where, yeah.

Okay, so it's a covered parking lot. It's covered, yes, inside. Okay, and then what happens to the old building?

Good question. I think that's something that certainly city manager's office, CIP, would consider for future use.

Okay, so it goes back to... Maybe for fire, maybe for other use.

It is city-owned.

Yeah. Okay. And then I'm sure you guys are already all over this. So it all has storage there right now, and I'm sure does our warehousing, do we store anything over there right now? Is there room over there right now? No, we don't. The fire keeps their own storage? Correct. Okay. And is there any, I'm glad we have the mechanic, I think that's smart. Is there any way while we're doing this, seems it's pretty comprehensive, but is there anything that we can get while we're building that, that we can also build, I don't know, I'm thinking like the last time we had that area, I'm thinking the hazardous waste lay down area, some other little things that we can, if we can add on there while we're building something for economies of scale, potentially, or something that the fleet needs. I don't know. I'm trying to think of other ways to maximize what we already have going on there. So if we can get a twofer out of it, I think that'd be. That would be great. But I like the mechanic being there. I think that's smart. Especially if they can do some work. Because the 303 is going to be ready. You're going to go, can we pass underneath that 303 in the future? The 30? The SR30. The SR30. I apologize. The SR30?

Yeah.

Good. Well, yeah, it's going to be right next to that location. It will be coming through next to the resource center and the solid waste facility right adjacent to it.

Okay.

All right.

How many other fire departments have a cold plunge and a red light therapy?

It's becoming certainly more popular, and I think some are retrofitting into their current locations, but others, I think, taking opportunities like we are with new construction to try to implement those programs.

Okay. And that's just for, not just for, maybe it needs some kind of therapy?

It's typically for recovery. So post-shift, there's not a lot of research or science that supports on-shift for that. So it's mostly post-shift recovery.

Okay, so to be on their time, is that what you're saying? Is that what you're trying to get at? Yes. Okay. Okay. Yeah, it's unique. I feel like it's unique. I'm not an expert in fire, new fire buildings, but I'm just curious. And then... But, no, I think it definitely needs to be done. I think the training will be really great for you guys, too. How many people can fit in there? You said 40 people, 40 seats?

Yeah, we would have 40 seats, yeah, which is amazing for us because we don't have a location like that to fit that many personnel. And as Chief Wayne stated, if you're going to do dirty training, you know, with air packs, radios, other types of new equipment that we're trying to implement, this would be kind of a perfect location for them. And then it would be easily deconned so that it could still remain clean afterwards.

Yes. Because you used to do training in that where you store everything now, right? Correct. Because I remember when I did my Citizens Academy, whatever it was called at that point. Yeah, very small room. Yeah, I remember touring it at that time when it was operational. Yeah, yep. And it was older back then. Yeah, yeah. with the 911 call center and everything else. So, okay. Okay. No, I think it'll definitely, I mean, obviously it'll help out. So I'm glad we can, I'm glad it's funded appropriately. And I think it'll get a lot out of it. But like I said, if we can, I mean, we've already done a lot, 60% of the design, but if there's anything else we can add, attach, things like that, that'll help other city functions or I know you're building out for long-term, 40, 50 years, but if there's a, another section we can add on there while we're building it that can help us in another pinch of department that we have going on that might be helpful, whatever that looks like. All right. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

Did you have something?

Yeah.

So kind of piggybacking off of Councilwoman Kano, this NOT QUITE FULLY FUNDED THROUGH THE BUDGET PROCESS YET. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT IS FINISHING UP IN THE PLANNING PHASE, AND WE SHOULD EXPECT TO BE SEEN BROUGHT FORWARD WHEN WE BEGIN THOSE BUDGET DISCUSSIONS. I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S COMING UP AT OUR RETREAT NEXT MONTH OR OVER THE COMING MONTHS. THIS IS JUST SOMETHING THAT MAY BE ADDED TO OUR FIVE-YEAR CIP. IS THAT CORRECT?

Yes, sir. That's what we would propose to do. And I think there's, as the design has progressed, the timing of when the facility was going to be ready to move to construction was something we weren't sure about. And I think that's why it wasn't included in the CIP. So, as those details have been finalized, that's what we're proposing is that we bring it forward to you in the retreat and then in the spring in the budget process to be included in the 28 budget.

Okay. Design makes sense to me. I look forward to the budget discussions.

Wally?

Wait a minute. I'm sorry. Chief, we've talked about this for over 15 years. I had had this conversation when I was on the Public Safety Committee when we recommended that we try to bring police and fire under one roof for each department. when we had people scattered all over Goodyear. And we also had the recommendation for the ambulances and several things that we're just now seeing come to pass. I know that this building has been a problem for us for many, many years. I remember it flooding in the kitchen. I remember the mold. I remember the smell. And I know I was so grateful when we were able to move your crews out of that building, but we knew we still had the building and we were gonna use it as best we could. So I'm glad to know you've mitigated a lot of the issues that we had. And I think it's a wonderful, time for Goodyear to put everything together for fire. And I don't necessarily want more departments put in that building because fire is kind of exclusive to themselves. And I don't mean it any other way than they keep track of everything and they have everything right there. And it's just really important. And it saves time, it saves money, and it really saves lives because you're training, you're doing all of the stuff. I do want to know, are you planning on shade structure, either the sailcloth or something over where those trucks, the bay where the trucks are? Because even backing them in there and letting them sit there, they're just going to bake.

We are. So that piece I didn't show, the overall footprint on the backside of the facility, there is covered parking, probably 12 spots or so.

Good. Now, do you have an office in that building? Are we going to have actually fire staff on duty there?

No, fire staff will be on duty. This will all be support personnel.

That's what I meant. I'm sorry.

The office space has seating up to eight spots. Good.

Okay. Well, I'm excited. I can't wait to see it. I'll come back and see it when it's done because you all certainly deserve it. It's just going to be a wonderful thing for our fire department. Thank you.

I'M KIND OF PIGGYBACKING ON BRANNON'S QUESTION. I HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS, ACTUALLY. THE RED LIGHT THERAPY AND THE COLD PLUNGE. DOES THIS HELP AT ALL, ESPECIALLY THE COLD PLUNGE? YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THEM DOING THIS AFTER THEY'VE BEEN ON SHIFT, BEEN AT A FIRE, DONE WHATEVER, BECAUSE I'M BIG ON THE CANCER ISSUES WITH FIREFIGHTERS. DOES THIS HELP AT ALL ELIMINATE SOME OF THAT OR HELP WITH SOME OF THAT, YOU KNOW, OR DO WE NOT KNOW THE FINDINGS OF THAT AT THIS POINT?

I think the research is still pretty new. From a cool-down perspective, on shift, what the science does show is some type of immersion just of their forearms, actually, to cool them down. But this is more inclusive of their total body wellness, not specifically after one or a certain disease process.

So no chemicals. We have not gotten to that point where we know that it helps take care of that.

No, we've seen some evidence with the saunas that can be very beneficial, open up and clean the pores out, but that I think still is being tested.

And there are saunas in here as well? Yes. Okay. That's part of the red light therapy? Okay. All right. And so what does this cost? for that particular that the that particular red light therapy sauna that you know that whole thing what does that cost for that room you know yeah yeah yeah good point i think anywhere probably between 20 25 000 for just the equipment Can I finish? So what we're saying is that we're talking $20,000 for the people that are listening to this. And how much does a fire station cost now? $18 million, roughly?

Roughly.

Roughly. We're up to that amount, but that's understandable. So $20,000 really isn't a lot when we're talking about how much the final cost of the fire station is going to be to have the welfare of the firefighters, correct? Correct. That's what we're talking. That's what I wanted people to hear out there. I think it's a wonderful idea and I think this is going to be a great station. Thank you very much.

Well, I also wanted to piggyback on comments that our Vice Mayor Hampton made regarding the construction and then going on, expanding into public works. I mean, the bond is for public safety. I don't think we have any bond for the public works facility, do we? OK. And if we are contemplating that as an option, we would discuss that at the budget hearing.

That's right. Yes, I think for the solid waste facility, I think there is some enterprise funding for that, but I do need to check on those, and we'll be able to bring that back to you as part of the budget process.

All right. Because I'm thinking funding sources are separate.

Yeah, it wouldn't be a geo bond like we're talking about for the fire station. It would be a different funding stream. All right.

Thank you. Did you have something to add?

Just piggybacking on that, that's why I brought it up. If there is an opportunity that we can help out another department while we're there, then while we're recycled up, ready to go with this construction company, there might be a benefit.

But thank you. Right, to look at them together as one project potentially of how you can try to maximize the space. We can certainly look at that.

Great discussion. You know, when you bring that back, we have a five-year CIP already funded. So when you come back to us, either we're going to have some extra cash that we can throw into that five-year CIP, or we've got to move some things around inside that. I mean, that's the mechanics when it comes to budget time to get this funded. But I think if you've got the design out there, it doesn't make any sense to let it sit around and not build a thing. So we need to find the way to make that, at least in my humble opinion, make that happen. Yeah. Okay, thank you. All right, next up, let's see, receive a strategic plan update on efforts to increase the use of non-portable water sources for park irrigation. If you would please introduce yourselves for the public that's watching.

Well, good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Rachel Garcia, Deputy City Manager. Today we're going to be receiving an update on the city's strategic plan action item related to increasing the use of non-potable water for park irrigation. And I'm pleased to welcome David Lopez, our new Parks and Recreation Director, who will be presenting today with Barb Chappell, our Water Services Director. David and Barb are going to walk us through the current non-potable water uses. potential opportunities for expansion, and the key considerations involved, including water availability, infrastructure needs and costs. There is no immediate fiscal impact or funding request associated with today's discussion. Today is an opportunity for Council to receive information and provide direction to staff on opportunities that warrant further evaluation. As those opportunities are evaluated, the staff will develop more detailed information on potential project costs and funding needs. And then the hope is that this information may be brought forward through the normal budget process and capital improvement program process as specific projects are considered. So we hope to come back through that budget process with more information after today. With that, I will turn it over to David and Barb. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and members of Council. David Lopez, Director of Parks and Recreation. A quick overview of tonight's agenda. We're going to go through this item as a strategic plan goal of a safe and vibrant community. We're also going to look at how Parks and Recreation currently utilizes alternative water sources within our parks and trails system. We're going to look at expanding into some future opportunities to make our system more sustainable. We're going to also be fully transparent about some challenges and how we can overcome those. We'll also be comparing costs between the various water providers, as well as getting your feedback on a sustainable path forward. So If you can suffer me, I'm going to read verbatim our strategic plan update of increasing city non-potable water uses, develop strategies to transition parks and recreation departments' water usage to non-potable sources where possible. There's a ton that goes into unpacking this, and we've learned a ton of lessons for what we've already observed in utilizing it within our current system. But I am going to pass the mic and keyboard over to my colleague, who will be laying the foundation for tonight's presentation in terms of some definitions that we'll be using.

Thank you, David. I'm Barb Chappell, Water Services Director. Is it not on?

Is it on?

Oh, yeah, it sounds like it. Okay. Thank you. So just kind of for reference, as we're speaking this evening, and David's going to do the majority of this presentation, I wanted to go over some terms that we use when we talk about potable water. I just want to make that clear. That is our drinking water that's within the distribution system that's protected. And that potable water could be from the city as the service provider. We have EPCOR. We have Liberty Services. It's all potable when it's in the distribution system. That is the drinking water supply. There are non-potable supplies. Those are ones that were not meant for human consumption, but they're perfectly safe for things like irrigation and other uses. And in that non-potable kind of bucket, we have a few options. We have reclaimed water. That is water that was once wastewater collected from or has been used. It's been collected and treated through a water reclamation facility and is safe for the environment. So that is a type of non-potable that is at our disposal. We also have irrigation districts within our limits where we sit on some historical irrigation lands that were once agriculture and there's resources tied to those lands. We have remediated water. And I just, for clarification, the difference between remediated and reclaimed water is remediated water is groundwater that had a contaminant like one of the Superfund sites. So we have a PGA North and PGA South are two of our Phoenix Goodyear Airport Superfund sites. So they remove water and treat it for the contaminant of concern. And it can be reused. So that's when we say remediated water or we talk about the Superfund providers, we're talking about that supply, not reclaimed water that was once wastewater. Just wanted to make that distinction. And so, again, as I mentioned, we have several providers, the City of Goodyear, primarily south of I-10. We have the Phoenix Goodyear Airport South Superfund site. Those are our partners with Goodyear Tire and Rubber. We have the Avondale School District owns and operates an irrigation well that we have some agreements with them. We have our partners in Estrella. They have the reclaimed system that runs the southern part of the city. And so they are a provider for those areas in the south. We have the Roosevelt Irrigation District, which is one of our districts that we have lands in. And Liberty Utilities, I crossed over that one, sorry. But Liberty Utilities is another one of our providers. And they have both reclaimed and potable supplies, just like the city of Goodyear does. And I don't think you have any parks in EPCOR yet. Maybe never. I don't know if they're in the plans, but.

Thank you. Okay, so we want to talk about what success could look like in this plan's implementation. So we're going to triage those opportunities for non-potable sources within our system. We'll also need to coordinate with those respective water providers to ensure that it's feasible with their infrastructure. And then we're going to look at... and the reliability, the availability of each source, and then get some of your feedback on phase implementation to include in future park projects that will be coming in the next few months, as well as some operational opportunities to be considered within the annual budget process. So here's a quick snapshot of our park system with our four community parks. As a reminder, community parks are those that are 30 plus acres. They're packed with amenities such as ball fields and maybe splash pads and playgrounds. Your neighborhood parks are smaller. We've got 11 of those within our system, but there's a lot of water demands for some of those green spaces. Specialty parks such as the GSQ Plaza and even the dog parks, we've got six of those. And linear parks like Bullard Wash and the extension project that's underway now. So when we talk about our current water resources, we just wanted to provide some framework of what we're already using. And also, we want to use these as case studies for how we can sustainably move forward. We've got a lot of data, so we can make some informed decisions. So here are the existing alternative water locations. And we'll go into detail for each of these sites momentarily. But we have Foothills Community Park, Loma Linda, Rio Paseo, the Reds and Guardians Development Complexes, as well as Bullard Wash Park 2. So for Foothills Community Park, we're looking at about a 20-acre park that is rich with athletic fields. It's got a playground. But we have a heavy reliance upon water for this park's health and safety. And that water provider is Estrella Non-Potable. Next, we have Loma Linda Park, which is located in historic Goodyear. It's about five acres. It's one of those neighborhood parks that I had mentioned previously. Again, a ton of green space. And this one relies on Avondale School District well water. Rio Paseo Park is about 14 acres. This park does have a water feature as well as an irrigation pond that we use to boost into and then pump out into the irrigation distribution. This is on utilities. This utility source is Liberty non-potable. For the Reds and Guardians Development Complex, this is a part of the overall ballpark footprint. And this uses a portfolio of three sources of water, namely PGA South Remediated Water, City of Goodyear Potable, as well as Reclaimed. I would say 90% to 95% of this is on the remediated water supply. But we have to have the other two sources as a contingency. For Bullard Wash Park Phase 2, it's about 31 acres. It's mostly used as a linear park system for trails, hike, and bike. But there's a ton of green space within the system that has to be kept healthy and alive. This one is on Liberty Utilities Non-Potable. So right now with our existing acreage, our non-potable irrigation acreage is about 27%. As our system expands and grows and we consider some opportunities, we think we can get it reasonably up to about 75% of our irrigated acreage on a non-potable or alternative water source. Some current challenges that we're working through are reliability, availability, and cost. And I'll go into definition of each of these. But these are important to consider as we look at these opportunities. So for reliability, we have to look at, with some of our existing sources, disruptions due to inability to meet quality requirements, especially when it comes to the reclaimed water and treating that. Those saline levels being high have adverse effects on our turf and soil. And also, in the event that they're not able to meet our water quality standards, there's disruption in service and that they can't distribute water to us. And so we have to find alternative. We got to have the alternative sources available and on hand should that occur. Also, availability. So when we look at our complete park system, we have to look at those adjacent water sources, where they're distributing to, as well as some infrastructure and containment. So when it comes to irrigation water, for instance, we have to have some containment, whether it be groundwater storage, elevated storage, or a pond system, because you're boosting out of the reservoir into the holding tank, and then you've got to have enough PSI to distribute this water effectively through your irrigation system. And with cost, we have to look at the ongoing cost of potable water. We know this is probably our most expensive source. And also, we want to ensure we divert it back to the residents for human consumption. But also, there's an associated cost increase, or at least one time increase, for some of these alternative sources because you have to build that infrastructure with each of these projects. So some future opportunities that we've identified working with the RID water providers for some adjacent sites. Again, I'll go into more details momentarily, but we also see some upside in opportunity with increasing our capacity and our production for Goodyear non-potable water in the future and also extending what we're currently using for the PGA South remediated water. So again, here's a quick snapshot of our park system and those parks that are on those alternative sources that we see this opportunity. And a bit of details about each of these. So with Goodyear Community Park, it's currently on Liberty Potable water. I apologize for discrepancy that may be in your packets. We had this marked earlier as Goodyear water supply, but this is actually on Liberty Potable. With the cost of Liberty potable or even non-potable versus RID, there's not a huge savings, but there is some savings to be realized. So we would probably technically need to check the lower operational costs on this one. There's a one-time cost for the pipelines for distribution, but we think those ongoing costs will be cheaper. For Goodyear Recreation Campus phases one and two, phase one, we would love to retrofit, and we're looking for opportunities to build a sustainable path forward for water usage at phase two, which is actually coming before you all for an update next month. And we'll be able to dive into more of those details in terms of costs and opportunities. With Rio Paseo Park, it's on Liberty Utilities non-potable. We see this. Although it's non-potable, there is somewhat of an issue when it comes to the reliability of that water, for instance, If it's not ready, if we don't have the quantities that we need for distribution because it doesn't meet the quality standards, then it's just out of service. And ultimately, the park system could suffer because of that limitation. That could be shored up. Again, on a case-by-case basis, we want to consider all options before us. So Boulder to Wash Part 2 is currently on Liberty Utilities non-potable. RID is an adjacent water source, and we see this as a sustainable path forward as well, although same thing with the cost considerations on that because it is a really cheap source with Liberty non-potable, even versus the RID. With Roscoe Dog Park, this is a site that we have earmarked as a possible customer for a Goodyear non-potable water system. As that system expands, it's really close to the existing facility. And last but not least, Goodyear Ballpark. We would love to expand our utilization of remediated water to also provide service to the ballpark. And this would be substantially cheaper. So with cost comparisons by supplier, we have a quick illustration. And I touched on these already a bit earlier, but I'll just give you all time to sort of compare some of these costs. I won't go through each one of them, but you can see that ultimately potable water is substantially more expensive than all of these alternative sources. OK. So for next steps, again, we want to prioritize those opportunities as they come up in that five-year CIP park project update. We've got one coming up next month with GRC phase two. Again, if we identify the opportunity, the next step is to coordinate with our water partner to ensure that all of our systems are aligned and the timing is right for their benefit as well. We see potentially good partnerships. We've been in discussion with some of these groups, such as Roosevelt, and both parks and the irrigation district being in the forever business. They're losing their ag partners. We're expanding our park system, and so we see a ton of upside and opportunity there. And then with implementation, again, that will be on a case-by-case basis that will bring back for your consideration, whether it be in the CIP update process or the annual budget process. And at this time, Barb and I are available to take any questions that you all may have.

Okay. Who's up? I'll just go around this way. How's that? Go ahead.

Sounds good. Thank you, Mayor. I definitely support the direction and look forward to the discussions going ahead. I guess one of the things I want to make sure we're concerned about when moving to non-potable water will be probably the salinity in it. We do have some nice parks expanding. We want to build nice parks. We want our communities to have nice parks. My concern with heavy volume of salt in there is potentially you water the grass, you still kill the grass. You water the tree, you still kill the trees. It's making sure that we don't just do it for the sake of saving every penny that we possibly can. But at the same time, moving in that direction is a good thing. So I just kind of wanted to register that as we, like the previous discussion, head towards the budget phase. I just kind of wanted to throw that out there. It's not really a question. It's a concern that I have. That's all.

Where would this pond be that we're talking about for overflow or whatever? Where would that be held? Or would that water be held?

This be for GRC Phase 2?

The pond you were talking about, whatever it was you were talking about just a few minutes ago, about where water would be held.

Oh, that would be if we had opportunity to use irrigation district water, we would need a containment pond. So that would vary by site. And some opportunities, it's, you know, retrofitting may not be feasible for some of the existing parks, but for the construction of a new site, that would be, you know, something identified in the schematic phase. And so, for instance, next week with GRC phase two, we will show some, a couple of concepts that would demonstrate that.

Would there be more than one of those around the city or just, would there be a reason to be more than one?

There could potentially, on a case-by-case basis, there is one existing with Rio Paseo Park, and it's seen as a water feature, but really it's an irrigation holding pond. Okay.

Do they have any trouble with mosquitoes or anything with that kind of?

The actual water feature is going to basically aerate the water.

Aerate it so that we don't have that. Okay. And it's really nice to hear you finally come before us and say something. I'm really glad. Thank you.

Wally? I just want the golf courses and any of the public grassy areas, just use the non-potable. It just makes sense. And we know that we have certain areas that we have to put in a water fountain, and that's good water. But it just makes sense to do that. And because we're in the desert, as much water features as we can do, that will... enhance what we have, I would like to see that, just because every, you know, for the extension of our Goodyear Recreation Campus, they wanted to do a fishing pond, and I can get that, because Glacier Field Park has a nice fishing pond, and the kids go over there and fish a couple times a year, and that's maybe not feasible to us, but maybe we can put a little water feature in there or something, just something unique, so. Thank you for bringing it forward. Barb's on it right on the top, I'll tell you.

Laura, anything? Go ahead. And then I'll come to you. Thank you.

All right, let's go to slide four, if you don't mind. We've got the potable and non-potable water. And then I didn't realize those three columns below were actually a definition when I got my packet. The potable water is obviously the most expensive one. And you put that on another slide. You didn't necessarily put a cost for the non-potable water. But one of the things I wanted to share with anybody interested in the public, and surprisingly, people are interested in water discussions, is the fact that there is a value to non-potable water. So besides for using it for irrigation, it gives us opportunities to put it back in the ground and get credits for it. So it's not something that doesn't have a value. It does have a value. So considering when we are looking at irrigation, if we're putting it on turf, then we're not getting credits for it. So that needs to be a conscious decision. And this has been talked about before from the dais. I mean, the water department is the largest water user in the city of Goodyear, obviously. And that is taxpayer money that pays the water bills. certainly quality of life, sports, just amenities. People want and need parks and recreation. And that is, when we look at that, we want to budget our water also. I mean, not everything can have all the water. And so we have to kind of pick and choose. So I just wanted to clarify that the non-potable water does have a monetary value or a I guess maybe a statutory value as well. But it is, we're very fortunate that we also have these other sources such as the Roosevelt Irrigation District and although we're not thrilled that we have the remediated water, the reason for it, but the fact that we can actually use that for our large water users is really important. So if we look at slide, Until today, I thought that this was an HOA park. I had no idea it was a city park. In the time that I've been on council, I know that there was one time that I went there on city business and it was pre-COVID and we were going to different neighborhood associations or HOAs. They were doing, I don't know, like a good neighbor day. And we stopped there and That's the only time I've been there. I thought it was a HOA park. And so it was kind of a surprise to find out that it's a city park, because we don't program it, as far as I can tell. I don't know that we've ever actually done anything there. I know parking's limited to neighborhood parking. But it's 14 acres. I mean, it's definitely a different size. I appreciated meeting with Keeney and Rachel today to go over this. That was really helpful because, yeah, the question was, does this water fulfill a purpose? Can you elaborate on what this water does?

Yeah, this is actually used to irrigate the park. Which park? Rio Paseo. So all the green space there is what it's used for. It's pumped out of there and distributed through the irrigation system.

Okay, I know it's, is the park itself more than 14 acres or does the 14 acres include the water? It's not clear.

Yeah, I'm not sure.

It's a pretty big water feature.

My assumption is it includes the footprint for the water containment area as well within this, you know, the overall space.

Okay.

OK, I'll get back to that one. The next one is slide 14. And this is the Bullard Wash Park 2. This is sort of a tucked away, hidden thing. It's listed as an amenity for walking and biking. Certainly, it's an amenity for the multifamily that has gone up there. They have a view of water. But can you tell me what that water is used for?

That's also used to irrigate the blood wash.

The whole entire. The green space. Okay. So that itself is 31 acres of water that also evaporates. And the Rio Paseo water evaporates also. Okay. I had no idea that we had this much open water. I knew we had it at the ballpark. I know we were discussing it GRC. So it was a little bit of a revelation to find out that we we had this much. It's a great presentation, by the way. It's just a lot to scroll through. So I'm now at slide 24. I think that anything that is a Goodyear amenity that is on potable water, definitely support looking at alternatives for that because the cost of that is the highest. And as we've been talking about, it would be great to get GRC ballpark off of our water portfolio. That allows us to use water for other things. And then... Even if we found other sources and we, I mean, it looks like really the only thing we might in this batch use our Goodyear non-potable water for would be the dog park. which means we wouldn't be using it for other things, and we can put it back into the ground or maybe in the future for advanced water purification, but for now, back in the ground and get our much-needed storage credits. So I am really supportive of a plan to get us off the non-potable, I mean, off the potable water, and granted, the cost of the infrastructure is going to have to be factored in, But certainly, the RID runs by the community park. It runs by Paseo. And it runs by this Bullard Wash Park. So hopefully, that would be something that would be become cost effective. On slide 26, when you have the water source comparison, maybe when you come back, you can put what the cost is for the reclaimed effluent water costs, because that is missing from that equation. RID water is quite expensive, but yet it's less than potable water. Potable water. Potable water. So, I mean, that is different use. And I guess my only thing as we evaluate that, we have certain maybe parks or water features that we've had for a long time. And as the cost of water is going up substantially, we're going to have to determine what the return on our investment is going to be. And as looking at a, for example, Rio Paseo, we have this large amenity for that neighborhood which looks like a neighborhood, I mean, like an HOA park, but it turns out it's a city park. We don't, again, we don't program. I mean, as the cost of water goes up and things, we may have to determine how we're gonna best allocate. And I just don't want us to be in the mindset, well, we've always done this, and so we'll just keep funding it forever. I mean, at some point, the water becomes expensive for the taxpayers, too. And you have to balance it with what is the usage, what are the residents getting from it when we spend that water money. So that's my only content. If things sort of look like maybe they're just a passive thing, whether or not that makes sense, but it's interesting as we're talking about maybe putting more things on RID, it looks like we'll have more ponds. And I think that that's an important thing to note because, again, then we continue to deal with the evaporation and maybe becoming sort of an attractive nuisance for others and things like that. Anyway, I applaud the effort to look at our system objectively, be cost effective. I mean, you're going to have to balance the cost of the infrastructure versus the benefit, but then for how many years? And so there's definitely a lot of things to it, but I think this is a conversation that we've needed to have, and I really appreciate that today. Thank you.

All right. Yeah, thank you, Barb and Tia and David. Welcome to Goodyear again. So thank you for coming out. Yeah, thank you for your both creativity. I think all these little tiny changes and upgrades over, I mean, with all the portfolio that we have, but I mean, this is one part of that portfolio. So thank you for being, continuing to be creative and proactive and trying to look for ways to save money, save water, and be more efficient with our water. I had a quick question, a couple questions here. Do we still use the purple pipe and would this be purple pipe and which water is purple pipe water?

Reclaimed water is the purple pipe water. So that is the treated wastewater. So the Liberty non-potable parks that are served by Liberty non-potable are purple pipe parks.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

I thought we still used it. I thought we still used it. I mean, so I'm just curious about that. And then I know we have these ponds and I know Council Member Cano was talking about the ponds. I know we're going to build any more new recreational ponds, but is there an opportunity to, if we're going to have a pond, large pond, to put fish in there for recreation?

Typically, fish are used in a water storage supply more for maintenance of the lake or the pond or the storage facility, whatever you want to call it. They're really containment to store the water so that it's on demand when the park needs it for its irrigation. And in order to maintain that, the most cost-effective way is to stock it with fish that will eat algae or other grasses. clean the, you know, stuff off the bottoms. So there's usually fish in there. None of our storage facilities are fishing. There's no fishing allowed in any of our parks. That's not what they're for.

Yeah, I just think there's two things we can do while we're doing the one thing, and it also comes with an amenity for recreation as well. Obviously you're not eating those kind of fish because you wouldn't want to eat that water.

In my experience, if you get into the fishing arena, then you get into game and fish and they'll manage your, they have to manage that lake.

Just looking at the opportunities, we already have a large body of water that we're going to have anyway. Might as well, if we can make a couple of opportunities out of it, potentially that'd be great, great benefit for the residents a couple of different ways. So, and then Do the HOAs use this same water? Have we had conversations with them? If we're expanding, and I'm sure they want to save water as well, the way for them to be a user of that water to create, I'm sure, more demand. I know you said there's a supply issue potentially, so maybe we don't have to... place to do that, but I'm sure they would love to be part of the system if possible. So I was curious to have those conversations.

We do have some HOA conservation programs that our staff will go out and work with them on. And we've been working with some of the new schools that have been locating on irrigation, on the project lands. So in our ID service area, we've had a couple of new schools we've been trying to kind of persuade them to use that irrigation supply. I'm not going to force them to, but certainly once they start getting those potable water bills, I think it starts looking more attractive to them too. So yes, we do. As a conservation and just as our staff reviews plans, if we have a potential, if there's an alternate supply close by, we usually try to suggest it.

Yeah, I think it would be a great opportunity. I mean, the less potable water they're using, the better we can use it for residents. Yeah, just to make sure that we're not advertising it, but at least that they're aware of it. If we're expanding these lines and letting people know that that might be a potential for those large irrigation users that are like a park, like the schools. Some schools have pretty large areas that are watered very frequently as well. But yeah, no, like I said, I really appreciate you bringing this to us. Continue to, I'm very supportive, so continue to bring any new ideas, things like that, that we can help save water, make it more efficient, have more cost savings. So thank you very much.

You know, great discussion with council. The only thing I want to add is that, you know, drop saved is one we don't have to pump. So when you're putting plants or anything around out to the parks, look for the ones that use less water. You know, they still keep it green, but use less water and the type of shrubs that maybe don't grow as fast. So you don't have to spend as much money trimming them. So that's kind of where my sign is, is from a cost standpoint when it comes to the parks. So with that, thank you. And with that, I'm going to go to any comments from the council.

Barbara, if we had any discussion or any thought that we would drill our own wells, do we have the ability to do that? I know we've got the other wells that were in the Superfund, those wells. But do we do that? Can we do that?

I mean, we have several wells in our system. That's where we get a good part of our potable supply is from wells. So yeah, we do have some. Some options for some irrigation wells that could be a potential.

Okay. For Rio Paseo, the council may not be aware that when we have the floods, it floods right through Pebble Creek. It goes right into Rio Paseo. So it's a lot of water. So that's why you don't have picnic areas and ball fields over there because they'll wash away. But it drains all the way down because we're part of the Bullard Wash, literally. And we do water the Bullard Wash area to keep it green, but we are using the non-potable water.

So that's it. Thank you. Anything from council? Any comments? We all good? How about the manager?

No, sir. We appreciate your time this evening. Thank you so much.

All right. Oh, I like that final remarks there. Those are perfect. With that, meeting adjourned.