The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) of Arizona awarded the City of Tempe the 2015 Community Action Award on Saturday, Feb. 28 at the 11^th Annual HRC Arizona Gala Dinner.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, is recognizing Tempe for advancing city-wide equality through a city ordinance, a Charter change through a local ballot initiative, and updating policies to be named one of 38 national “All Stars” on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index. Tempe earned a perfect score of 100 in the 2014 Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s annual Municipal Equality Index, a gauge of how cities are doing on LGBT equality issues.

“The City of Tempe is honored to receive this recognition,” said Mayor Mark Mitchell. “We have long been an inclusive community and we will continue to work with our community partners to ensure that Tempe is always at the forefront of creating opportunities and taking down barriers.”

Tempe has a history of valuing diversity and taking action to prevent discrimination.

In 1999, the city was one of the first in Arizona to begin providing domestic partner benefits. In February 2014, the City Council unanimously approved an anti-discrimination ordinance that secured broad protections for all community members. In August, Tempe voters resoundingly approved an amendment to the city Charter (more than 68 percent approval) to prohibit discrimination or favor for city positions on the basis of race, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, familial status, age, disability, political affiliation and United States military veteran status, except as such favor may be authorized by law. Protections apply to employment at the city and at businesses in Tempe, as well as to contracts, housing, public places and appointments to city Boards and Commissions.

The Human Rights Campaign of Arizona will also recognize Aiken Schenk Law Firm and Lambda Legal as the Corporate Equality Award recipients, and Bobbi Lancaster as the Individual Equality Award recipient. For more information, visit www.hrcazdinner.org.

A look at Glendale’s 100 year water history

Water; we all use it every day for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and public health and safety. On Feb. 25, 2015, Glendale Water Services Department will commemorate its 100^th year of providing safe, reliable, high quality water and wastewater services to the community. As part of the Glendale Water Services Department Centennial Celebration, a traveling display featuring historic photos and captions titled, “Glendale’s 100-Year Water Story” will be on display across Glendale through the year. The display was developed in partnership with Arizona Public Service, Central Arizona Project, Glendale Arizona Historic Society, and Salt River Project. A century ago, the then-town of Glendale purchased the Water Works Company from Floyd Holmes Sine for $12,000 and created the new Municipal Water Works Department on Feb. 25, 1915. The initial system had two wells, two elevated tanks, distribution pipes and 160 customers. The town immediately upgraded the system by drilling additional wells and installing new pressure pumps. A storm water disposal system, fire protection system and sewage system were installed just a few years later.

The water tower that was part of the purchase of the Water Works Company from Floyd Holmes Sine, which was sold to the Town of Glendale for $12,000 on Feb. 25, 1915 and resulted in the new Municipal Water Works Department. Photo courtesy: Glendale Arizona Historical Society.

Although Glendale has changed significantly over the last century, one thing remains constant; the city’s commitment to providing exceptional water and wastewater services to more than 230,000 people. Glendale uses state-of-the-art technology and a highly trained workforce to operate four water treatment plants, two water reclamation facilities and maintain more than 1,000 miles of water mains and more than 680 miles of sewer mains. Glendale Water Services Director Craig Johnson said “lessons from the past have helped us plan for the future.  We have a remarkable wealth of talent and experience among our employees.  Working in partnership with the community, the Water Services Department is committed to building on this firm foundation to meet the challenges that come our way.”

Members of Floyd Holmes Sine’s family join members of the Water Services Department at the Jan. 27, city council meeting where the proclamation was read declaring February 2015 through February 2016 as Glendale Municipal Water Service Centennial Year.

For a full listing of when and where the Glendale Water Services Department display will be located, visit www.GlendaleAZ.com/waterservices. Partner locations include the Arrowhead Towne Center, Glendale libraries and recreation centers, and Glendale Community College.

Mia Amundsen’s rise to football fame pretty much began with the Goodyear Parks and Recreation Department – and a lot of dedication.

The Goodyear girl, who is a fourth grader at Palm Valley Elementary School, ended the National Football League’s prestigious Punt, Pass and Kick competition by finishing first to win a state championship.

She scored 129.5 points, the best in the girls’ 8-9 year-old division in a portion of the football program’s state championships held on the field of University of Phoenix Stadium during the Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday, Dec. 7.

The Punt, Pass and Kick Program has been recognized by the NFL for more than 50 years. The free competition gives boys and girls ages six through 15 the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in punting, passing and place kicking.  Each participant is given one punt, one pass and one kick to accumulate a score.  Scores are received and calculated with distance and accuracy providing the final scoring distance.

Mia, who is the daughter of Ty and Diane Amundsen, advanced to the state competition after placing first in the Punt, Kick and Pass sectional competition at Sahuaro Ranch Park in Glendale on Nov. 1.

Although there was no guarantee Mia would advance to the state finals as there are other state competitions held throughout the state and the top four scores overall advance, her parents later received word via email that she advanced to the state finals. Her age group included more than 100 kids throughout the state.

For her state championship, Mia was shown on the Jumbo-Tron video screen and awarded a football for a trophy during the third quarter of the Cardinals’ game.

Mia also plays volleyball, basketball and softball, and also is a member of her school’s chorus.

Her mother said that she became interested in the program when it was held at her school in September.

“She just thought it would be fun to give it a try for the fun of it,” Diane Amundsen. “This was her second year of participating in the program. She’s a busy one.”

Competitors begin competing at the local level with high scores advancing to a sectional competition.  Goodyear’s local competition was offered by the Parks and Recreation Department and held at Goodyear Ballpark on Sept. 30.  The four top scores from the five sectionals in each age division for both boy’s and girl’s advance to the state competition held at the University of Phoenix Stadium prior to an Arizona Cardinals game.

All NFL teams host a state competition with the four highest scores in each age division advancing on to the National Competition usually held prior to an NFL playoff game (city yet to be determined).  During each competition participants begin with a new score of zero.

By Haley Paul, Gilbert Water Conservation Specialist
During the month of September, with all those rains, you took notice! Our water production data indicates that Gilbert residents and businesses did an amazing job of responding to the rainfall by reducing outdoor water use.
It’s rare in the world of water conservation to see drastic decreases in water use in a short amount of time. We’ve seen a steady decrease in household water use over the years, with the implementation of new indoor technology such as water efficient toilets, showerheads, and clothes washers. However, to see real-time water conservation responses is a rare treat indeed.
After the September 7th and 8th flooding rain event, you responded by reducing your total water consumption by 20 million gallons… a day. You kept those controllers off too, and the savings persisted for about a week.
Then, with all the predictions that Hurricane Odile was going to drop another whopper on us, you anticipated the rain and proactively shut your controllers off. Production dropped from an average of 42 million gallons a day the few days preceding the storm, to an average of 37 million gallons a day—a savings of about 5 million gallons of water a day. Even though that storm didn’t deliver the anticipated rainfall, a lot of you figured you could keep those controllers off given the cloudiness and moisture that remained in your soil from the previous storm.
The final story in this water production data picture is that when it rained again on September 27th, you overwhelmingly responded. Water production dropped even lower, from an average of 43 million gallons a day preceding that rain event to an average of 35 million gallons per day. Another bulk water savings, this time of 8 million gallons of water a day.
In total, all that amounts to a cumulative water savings of 239,052,000 gallons for the month of September, or an 18 percent drop in water demand from last September.
This is a testament to your keen eye on conservation. You care. It matters. We can continue to improve on this trend by doing things such as adjusting our controllers monthly, checking for leaks inside and outside the home, and paying attention tohow much water we should be putting out on the landscape.
All of your individual actions add up to collective water savings.
The majority of water use is outdoors. That’s why we focus on it so much here in the monthly blogs. If you are bamboozled by your watering system, give us a call (480-503-6098) or email and we can set up a time to go through your system with you and offer you tips for savings.
If you ever want to see how much rain fell near your house, visit rainlog.org. If 0.5 or more inches of rain fell near you, that’s your cue to turn off the controller. When you can no longer easily stick a long screwdriver 8 inches into the soil, that’s when you will want to turn your controller back on.
Thanks for helping to do your part to save water here in Gilbert!

When you woke up this morning, you probably took a shower, set out your recycling bin or drove to work on a safely paved street with working stop lights. Maybe this afternoon you’ll hit up a town park to enjoy this beautiful weather with your kids or check out a book at the city library. This evening, you can sleep assured knowing that police, fire and safety services would be there if you needed them.

Cities and towns are always working, from sun up to sun down, to ensure safety, protection, well-being, convenience and enrichment for all citizens to live, work and play. To celebrate the great things cities and towns do, Arizona will be celebrating its 13th Annual Cities and Towns Week, October 19 – 25!

Arizona Cities and Towns Week is set aside each year to provide citizens with important information about the services and programs provided by their city/town, and to introduce the employees that deliver them.

Arizona has 91 cities and towns, ranging from the large city of Phoenix with a population of 1.4 million, to the small town of Winkelman at 353 residents. 79 percent of Arizona’s residents reside in a city or town and these municipalities are vitally important to Arizona’s economy. In fact, 83 percent of Arizona’s workforce lives in a city or town and 93 percent of the state’s sales tax proceeds are produced within a municipality.

Many of Arizona’s cities and towns are celebrating this week through a variety of community events, proclamations and outreach to residents. Contact your local city or town to find out how you can celebrate with them!

For more information on Arizona Cities & Towns Week and a toolkit with ideas for participation, click here.

The Town of Gilbert celebrates its 2014 Playful City USA status. Gilbert is one of four cities in AZ to receive the award eight consecutive times.

KaBOOM! recently announced its Playful City USA honorees: communities that are leaders in “playability,” the commitment to providing balanced and active play to children.

The KaBOOM! Playful City USA program honors cities, towns and communities across America that are taking bold steps to ensure that all children, especially the 16 million American kids living in poverty, have easy access to balanced and active play in their communities. 212 cities nationwide have been recognized this year, 12 of which are in Arizona.

Playful City USA honorees include major cities such as Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago. In Arizona, these honorees include cities and towns across the state. They range from eight-time honorees like Chandler, Gilbert, Tucson and Yuma, to first-time recipient Prescott Valley.

Tempe is once again recognized by KaBOOM! as a Playful City USA community for its commitment to keeping kids active through accessible playspaces and youth sports programs.

These Playful City USA communities are making a commitment to transform their communities to become more playable by developing unique local action plans to increase the quantity and quality of play in their community.

Playful City USA Honorees in Arizona: 

Buckeye
Casa Grande
Chandler
Coolidge
Gilbert
Maricopa
Mesa
Oro Valley
Prescott Valley
Tempe
Tucson
Yuma

To see the full list of the 212 communities named 2014 Playful City USA honorees, or for more information on the Playful City USA program, visit www.playfulcityusa.org.

The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA) announced that the Town of Clarkdale was selected to receive both of WIFA’s Project of the Year awards. This is the first time in WIFA’s history that both the Clean Water (for wastewater infrastructure) and Drinking Water Project of the Year awards went to the same entity. A special awards presentation will take place at the Town of Clarkdale Council Meeting on March 25th.

The 2013 Clean Water Project of the Year was for Clarkdale’s Broadway Reclamation Facility, a $5.5 million infrastructure project to replace an outdated lagoon treatment system with a recycled and refurbished mechanical wastewater treatment facility. After it was determined that their original plans to construct a new plant were cost-prohibitive, Clarkdale officials decided to purchase and refurbish a decommissioned wastewater treatment plant from a subdivision in Surprise.

“What an incredibly innovative and sustainable solution to improve water infrastructure and protect water quality,” said WIFA Board Chairman Henry Darwin, who is also Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. “Clarkdale staff really thought outside the box on this one and deserve this award.”

The outdated lagoon system posed significant water quality threats to the adjacent Verde River, designated by Congress as a Wild and Scenic River. The new wastewater treatment plant is enclosed and eliminates any potential discharge to the Verde River. The project was selected based on the significant improvements made to protect water quality, the highly innovative practices employed and excellent project management.

The 2013 Drinking Water Project of the Year award was for Clarkdale’s Twin 5s Water Main Replacement project. Clarkdale borrowed $1.6 million from WIFA, which included $800,000 in forgivable principal, to replace and relocate two above-ground 5-inch steel water mains.

The 90-year old exposed water mains were vulnerable to natural disasters and introduction of chemical or biological agents. By implementing these improvements, the Town of Clarkdale has eliminated the security risk and resolved operation and maintenance issues. The project was selected for the award based on Clarkdale’s exceptional dedication to the project and the significant improvements made to protect public health.

Georgia Lord, Mayor of Goodyear Arizona, and AZ Cities @ Work appeared on Channel 3’s Your Life A to Z on Saturday, March 8, 2014 touting the benefits of Cactus League Spring Training to our cities and towns and the state.