This week is Arizona’s 13th Annual Cities & Towns Week. It’s a week to celebrate and appreciate the work of Arizona’s 91 municipalities. Cities and towns work everyday to ensure safety, protection, well-being, convenience and enrichment for all those who live, work and play in their communities.
Check out these awesome posters celebrating Arizona Cities & Towns Week!
Lake Havasu City:
Glendale:
Mesa:
Cottonwood:
The summer months are winding down and many cities and towns are savoring their summer successes. Thanks to a new Splash Park, the town of Thatcher can now count itself among them.
From May through September, Arizona’s children are out of school, families are looking for recreational opportunities and city parks, pools and playgrounds are in full swing.
The town of Thatcher recognized a need for more recreational opportunities in its town and began a plan, five years ago, to create a new recreational facility. The park, which opened just in time for this summer, features the town’s first splash pad – and the only splash pad in all of Graham County.
Courtesy Photo – Eastern Arizona Courier
Located just off of Ball Park Street in Thatcher, the recreational facility includes basketball courts, picnic ramadas, barbecues, new restrooms, sand volleyball courts and a playground. The $750,000 facility was constructed with help from a $200,000 community development block grant.
Residents and community members came out to enjoy the amenities of the new park, and children spent the summer splashing around on the new splash pad.
Splash parks have become a new trend in municipal parks, especially in cities and towns in Arizona where summer temperatures soar past 100 degrees and children need a recreational activity that keeps them cool. Splash pads provide benefits that pools can’t – they cost less to maintain and use less water and they are safer for children to use, as their lack of standing water helps to prevent drownings. In addition, the town of Thatcher’s splash playground has the added benefit of being water-conservation friendly. A system within the splash pad allows for continuous water reuse, as most of the water is eventually recycled through a sand filter.
As the temperatures drop and cities brace for fall programs, the town of Thatcher can count itself among the summer success stories.
Avondale is a city full of great people who deserve a round of applause. Recently, two individuals who work for the city were recognized for their outstanding service and dedication to the Avondale community.
Avondale Fire Chief Paul Adams was inducted into the Arizona Fire Service Hall of Fame.
Established in1998, the Arizona Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made a significant, positive contribution to the fire service and their community and which brings credit to the fire service. Individuals nominated are evaluated based on their years of service, service on committees, state and national impact, educational impact, operational impact, contributions to community, organizational impact, legislative impact or other areas that clearly demonstrate the individuals contribution to Arizona’s Fire Service.
The honor was presented during the opening ceremony of the 41st annual Arizona Fire School. Paul Adams presently serves as Fire Chief for the City of Avondale, Arizona, a position he has held since November of 1996. His illustrious career began in his home state of Nebraska, as a fire volunteer in 1969. A career dedicated to service in the fire service eventually brought him to Arizona, when he was hired as Avondale Fire Chief.
This week, Avondale City Clerk Carmen Martinez, earned the prestigious designation of Master Municipal Clerk (MCC). 
MMC is awarded by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, Inc., which grants the designation only to those municiopal clerks to complete demanding education requirements and who have a record of significant contributions to their local government, community and state. Carmen Martinez, Avondale’s City Clerk, has earned the prestigious designation of Master Municipal Clerk, or MMC, which is awarded by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks, Inc. (IIMC).
“Carmen Martinez has worked hard to achieve this designation and it is a testament to the caliber of professionals we are fortunate to have in Avondale,” said Avondale City Manager, David Fitzhugh.
Carmen Martinez is qualified by over 16 years of municipal clerk experience. She has served City of Avondale since 2002.
Congratulations, Chief Adams and Carmen Martinez!
When the Town of Queen Creek was first incorporated on September 5, 1989, it was an area with rich rural roots. 25 years later, those rural roots helped Queen Creek turn into one of the most innovative and family friendly home towns in Arizona. And now it’s time to celebrate!
2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the Town of Queen Creek! The town will host a Founders’ Day event on September 26 to commemorate Queen Creek’s 25 years as an incorporated town.
To help celebrate this exciting time, residents are encouraged to submit photos to the town. These photos may be used for a booklet cataloging the celebration or may be used at other anniversary celebrations or within the town’s social media.
All photos may be submitted here: photo submission.
Queen Creek has been celebrating its 25th year with special events, fun contests, one-of-a-kind Queen Creek keepsakes and grand openings of new amenities. The town has opened the Communiversity, Pocket Park for Pups and Spash Pad! The town will also break ground this year on a new Harkins Theater and begin to renovate many of its streets and town infrastructure to make its community an even better place to live.
It’s been a great anniversary year for Queen Creek so far, we can’t wait for the fun activities to continue!
August means back to school for most students in the community, so families get busier than usual. But as Arizona residents’ schedules fill, it’s important that we all take a moment to remember proper safety around pools.
Arizona’s high child drowning rate is a tragedy only avoided by constant supervision and regular community awareness campaigns, said Surprise Mayor Sharon Wolcott at the August 8 City Council meeting.
For this reason, Surprise has joined Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s collaborative statewide effort—Drowning Impact Awareness Month.
Wolcott proclaimed August as Drowning Impact Awareness Month in Surprise. She added, “Through the hard work of advocates across the state to educate and raise awareness, more and more people are taking action to prevent tragedy.”
The goal of this important awareness month is to encourage safety around water and promote awareness.
It’s an important way to remember that “drownings are preventable,” said Mayor Wolcott.
The Surprise Police and Fire Departments offer Community Life Safety Education events such as Water Safety day featuring free CPR training, swim lesson assessments and water safety tips.
The month-long effort also promotes the use of purple ribbons to remember those touched by child drowning.
“I encourage everyone to request and distribute ribbons through the Surprise Fire Department’s website at www.surpriseaz.gov as we partner with Phoenix children’s Hospital,” Wolcott said.
Ribbons are also available at Surprise City Hall, the Community and Recreation Services offices and the Surprise Regional Library.
Enjoy the last weeks of summer and remember to stay safe!
Tucson recently proclaimed July 28 “Buffalo Solider Resolution Day.”
The proclamation was conducted by the Honorable Jonathan Rothschild and the Honorable Richard Fimbres.
This is part of Tucson’s Buffalo Soldiers Memorial Project, which is a collaboration between City of Tucson, Ward 5, Arizona Historical Society, The Greater southern Arizona Area Chapter, 9th and 10th Cavalry Association, 9th Memorial Cavalry, Inc., 10th Memorial Cavalry, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and Arizona Heritage Tours.
If you don’t reside in Tucson, still feel free to celebrate the Buffalo Soldiers by reading about their history below (retrieved from the Buffalo Soldier Proclamation Program):
In 1866 Congress authorized, for the first time, African Americans to serve in the peacetime army of the United States. Two cavalry and four infantry regiments were created and designated the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry regiments and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st U.S. Infantry regiments. The four infantry regiments later became the 24th and 25th Infantry regiments. The all-African American regiments, commanded mostly by white officers, were composed of Civil War veterans, former slaves, and freemen.
Throughout the period of the Indian Wars, about 20% of the U.S. Cavalry troopers and 8% of the infantry soldiers were African American. The Buffalo Soldiers rose above the challenges of harsh living conditions, difficult duty, and racial prejudice to gain a reputation of dedication and bravery. Thirteen Medals of Honor were awarded to Buffalo Soldiers during the Indian Wars, and five were awarded during the Spanish-American War. Stationed on the U.S. frontier from the 1860s to the 1890s, Buffalo Soldiers played a major role in the settlement and development of the American West. Following the first Buffalo Soldiers, African American regiments later served in the Spanish-American War, Philippine Insurrection, Mexican Punitive Expedition, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. In the 1950s, African American regiments were disbanded when all military services were integrated. At that time, for the first time, black and white soldiers served together in the same regiments.
Buffalo Soldiers were known to have played a significant historical role in at least six parks in the American Southwest: Fort Davis National Historic Site (FODA) and Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO) in Texas; Fort Larned N.H.S. (FOLS) in Kansas; and Fort Bowie N.H.S. (FOBO) and Chiricahua National Monument (CHIR) in Arizona. Buffalo Soldiers were also stationed at Fort Huachuca (still an active military installation) near Coronado National Memorial (CORO) in Arizona. Throughout these sites, the soldiers protected traffic on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, helped build Fort Davis into one of the largest posts in Texas, participated in campaigns against Native Americans, protected settlers and guarded stage stations, constructed roads and telegraph lines, and explored and mapped previously unmapped regions. Colonel Charles Young was the first African-American to head the National Park System.
Buckeye Police Officer Jeffery Lumadue has been named School Resource Officer of the Year by the Arizona School Resource Officers Association!
In March, AZ Cities @ Work featured Lumadue for going above and beyond the call of duty with Officer Michael Miklus. The two helped a boy whose bike was stolen. Cities @ Work is overjoyed that Lumadue is being further recognized for his outstanding initiative.*
Lumadue is a 14-year law enforcement veteran who has been the SRO at Buckeye Elementary School for four years and Buckeye Union High School for another two.
Lumadue was cited by the state group for his strong stance with school children on truancy, drug use and bullying. It’s Lumadue’s pilot program, though, that has attracted the most attention. The program holds some parents criminally responsible for their children not attending school.
The program Lumadue initiated now operates at schools throughout the Buckeye Elementary School District. It has shown a significant drop in truancy rates. Only a handful of parents have been ticketed by police for the continued absence of their children from the classroom.
“This process works because the school secretaries, counselors, assistant principals and principals are an integral part of the process before a citation is ever issued,” Lumadue said. “We make every effort to work with the parent and child to find out what possible issues may be causing the child to miss school. The vast majority of parents have been very receptive to the program.”
Lumadue is humbled by the attention his SRO state award has brought because he feels it’s the consistency in the anti-truancy program – from the classroom to the courts – that has brought the positive results.
“Communication is the key,” Lumadue said. “We don’t want to prosecute parents. We want kids to have the chance to regularly go to school and to succeed, and this program has had some phenomenal results.”
But Lumadue’s efforts aren’t just limited to truancy. Two years ago he spearheaded a move to redefine the Drug Free School Zone around Buckeye schools, a 1,000-foot sign-posted boundary now recognized at all the schools.
An anti-bullying campaign has also been in Lumadue’s focus. The classes he teaches in the schools illustrate the importance of youngsters setting goals, to build character and develop leadership skills.
“We take a very pro-active stance on bullying, if we see or hear it, we indicate that it needs to stop,” Lumadue said. “We tell students that they have a right to feel comfortable when they’re in school, and if they worry about bullying before school and it prompts fear of any kind, they need to talk to someone so it can be stopped.”
Like most professionals in public safety roles, Lumadue isn’t in it for the praise, accolades or headlines. Since he first entered Buckeye Elementary School that first day of school, he’s relished the switch to this different kind of police work.
“All this is part of my job, and that’s why I enjoy going to work every day,” Lumadue said. “I like working with kids and making a difference in their lives. These are critical times in their lives, and these kids really look up to you as a role model and see police officers in a different role.”
*Watch the video that highlights Lumadue’s and Miklus’ outstanding work in March here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zkPQioaDhc
The city of Goodyear wants to see you move to the groove this 4th of July.
During its 9th annual Star Spangled 4th celebration, Goodyear is inviting the public to get on board and be part of The Largest Soul Train Dance.*
This will be Goodyear’s second attempt at a Guinness World Record. Last 4th of July, Goodyear was successful in their attempt to hold the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people wearing false mustaches.
There were 1,957 people who wore a false mustache to set a record for the largest group wearing them, surpassing the previous record of 1,532 fake mustaches worn at the Gilda’s LaughFest held in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 7, 2013, according to Guinness World Records.
“We set an expectation by breaking a world record last year – we just had to attempt another one,” Debbie Diveney, business-operations supervisor of Goodyear Ballpark.
Image courtesy of The Huffington Post: http://huff.to/VnOyRg
This photo was taken at the Philadelphia World Record attempt.
Beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 4, event organizers at the ballpark will start calling down people to begin lining up for the Soul Train. The Party Crashers will get the attempt underway with live music beginning at 7:30 p.m. Although there are expected to be several hundred people in the Soul Train dance, no more than two people can dance together along the Soul Train line.
The current record for the largest Soul Train dance is 291 people set by the Philadelphia Soul Train Line Dancers in Feb. 13, 2012 at the Art Museum in Philadelphia. The record took three and a half hours to complete.
“We believe we can smoke that record,” said Debbie Diveney, “Like last year’s Guinness World Record we set, this is one that involves group participation, which will be a lot of fun. We want everyone to be a part of the movement.”
Goodyear’s Star Spangled 4th event, which averages about 15,000 attendees every year, is presented by Fry’s Food Stores and sponsored by Palm Valley Pediatric Dentistry, Dunn Orthodontics, West Valley Pediatric Dentistry, Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzels, the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds. Other activities include the Wet Zone and Fun Zone with inflatable slides and bouncers, corn hole and a free photo booth. Food vendors will also be present in various locations throughout the event. Fireworks will start after dark.
Gates for the event open at 6 p.m. and Goodyear Mayor Georgia Lord, who will be accompanied by City Council members, will kick off the countdown to fireworks.
Admission and parking are free. Additional parking is available at Desert Edge High School, on Yuma Road, west of Estrella Parkway. Shuttle service to and from Desert Edge High School will run from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
For more information, call (623) 882-3120 or visit www.goodyearbp.com
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*In case you forgot what a Soul Train Dance entails, this is the funky dance that requires those involved to form two lines with a space in the middle for dancers to strut their stuff and dance down the line in consecutive order.
The town of Prescott Valley Police Department is back on bikes.
At least some officers are. As part of the PVPD bike patrol, officers trade in their typical cruisers for bikes, part of the time.
The Prescott Valley program was originally started in 1997 by current Sergeants Scott Stebbins and Brandon Bonney. Stebbins started his stint as a bike patrol officer soon after he graduated from the Northern Arizona Regional Training Academy in Prescott Valley. He patrolled in a vehicle for eight months and then joined the bike patrol.Stebbins said that while on a bike, officers are able to observe and react to things they may not see from their patrol cars.
It’s also easier to connect to the public, he said.
“The bikes are a great community policing tool to meet citizens,” Stebbins said. “When you’re on a bike, people come up and talk.”
The first PVPD bike patrol was active for almost two and half years until the economy and a growing Prescott Valley necessitated more officers on the streets in a patrol car. Those needs coupled with the recession kept the bikes garaged.
Officer Stebbins with his bike
Stebbins never lost his passion for the program. Eager to see the bike patrol continue, Stebbins recently obtained authorization for certified officers to carry their bikes on their patrol cars. The department has certified 11 officers in bike patrol. Two of the officers, Stebbins and Officer Jason Lohman, have logged another 40 hours of advanced training.
These officers can park their car and ride in a patrol area. To maintain the ability to quickly respond to another incident if needed, they stay within a five minute ride back to their vehicle.
Police Chief Bryan Jarrell, who also is a trained police cyclist, voiced the value of the program.
“I have experienced the tremendous benefit to having police officers on bikes,” Jarrell said. “We saw police officers ride right up to people who were doing drug transactions and didn’t realize it was the police.”
Training for the bike patrol is grueling. Officers complete 40 hours of instruction on a broad range of skills and topics, including long ride physical endurance, obstacle courses with steps, curbs and seesaws, timed cone drills, shooting after a hard ride, using a bike to control suspects, and even traffic stops. Stebbins once made a DUI arrest after chasing down an admittedly slow moving impaired driver on his bike.
“It’s an effective tool and just one more approach we can rely on to serve this community the most efficient way possible,” Jarrell said.
Avondale Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers unveiled the city’s new logo/brand during her State of the City Address on May 8.
The launch of the new city logo was the result of a year-long process that involved considerable input, engagement and extensive research regarding Avondale’s identity from more 2,000 citizens from the community.
“Avondale is a community where people share a deep sense of pride in what has been accomplished and how far we have come today,” Mayor Rogers said. “In Avondale, there is strong belief that the blending of cultures comes from a true sense of harmony throughout the community, not mere rhetoric about diversity. In Avondale, people and businesses are welcomed with open arms and supported in a way that exemplifies a progressive, intelligent and driven city.”
The fresh new look of Avondale’s design keeps up with the tempo of the city’s up-and-coming growth in population and businesses, and is, in a sense, a reward to the hard-working citizens of the city who strive to maintain Avondale as an “aspiring, achieving, and accelerating” city, as Mayor Rogers said.
“The new brand is flexible and multi-faceted, and reflects all that is positive about our community,” said Dan Davis, Economic Development Director for Avondale. “The new brand celebrates Avondale’s most powerful assets: its people, diversity and sense of optimism.”
Mayor Roger’s office has said that the city will ensure fiscal responsibility, and use a phased-in approach to implement the new brand over the next few months. The focus is on launching the logo through digital communications and incorporating it wherever possible in public outreach and marketing materials, which are already factored into the current city budget.
Avondale will also work with a variety of community solidify and reinforce a strong and positive identity, “to build a brand which sets us apart from other cities in the region and country and contributes to community pride, appeal and economic prosperity,” Mayor Rogers said.
For more information, visit www.avondale.org, or www.avondale.org/branding . Also, take a moment to view the new video, which shares the Avondale Story from the view of our residents and businesses.