West Valley View - May 24, 2017

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 BRANNON HAMPTON WINS GOODYEAR RUNOFF, PAGE 3

westvalleyview.com — the newspaper of Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear, Litchfield Park & Tolleson, AZ 50¢ Wednesday, May 24, 2017 (623) 535-8439

Avondale approves $217M budget

INSIDE Have a news tip? Send it to news1@westvalleyview.com

View photo by Jordan Christopher

PERFECTING HER CRAFT 10-year-old leaves Goodyear for Hollywood — Page 14.

REMEMBERING THE FALLEN West Valley gearing up for Memorial Day — Page 3.

DAILY UPDATES! News Updates and fresh Classified ads posted Monday - Friday at 4:30 p.m. online at www.westvalleyview.com Volume 32, No. 07 28 Pages 1 Section Circulation: 79,061 INDEX Classifieds .................... 24 Editorials & Letters .......... 6 Obituaries ...................... 22 Society ........................... 10 Sports ........................... 15 Briefcase ......................... 9 9 Days a Week............... 20

TRISH WILSON, left, stands with her daughter, Tiffany Johnson, son-in-law, Levi, and grandsons Everett, 5 months, and Weston, 2, in front of a newly installed pool fence May 20 at her Avondale home.

by Glenn Gullickson staff writer

Trish Wilson is feeling better about having her young grandchildren visit this summer after she had a pool fence installed at her Avondale home. “I love my pool,” Wilson said. “We use it all

by Glenn Gullickson staff writer

Pool fence provides family peace of mind Barrier is 1 method of creating safe space around water for children

Funding includes new resource center, expanded transit route

the time during the summer.” But Wilson became concerned about the safety of her grandsons — Weston, 2, and Everett, 5 months — who visit a couple of times a month with their parents, Levi and Tiffany Johnson of Avondale. It’s a concern shared by pool owners, especially when the weather gets hot in Arizona. Already in 2017, there have been four deaths of children 5 years old and younger in water-related incidents in Maricopa and Pinal counties, according to the Children’s (See Fence on Page 5)

Avondale is loosening the purse strings with a city budget that includes funding for a new community resource center, park improvements and expanded transit routes. The Avondale City Council has approved a 2017-18 tentative budget of $217 million, a 6 percent increase over the previous year. The council is expected to give final approval to the budget after a public hearing at its meeting on June 19. The budget year begins July 1. The budget includes $88 million for city operations and an additional $8.2 million to cover supplemental requests for one-time or ongoing new spending. The $66 million budget for capital improvement projects includes $11.6 million for water upgrades, $7.2 million for street projects and $5.6 million for sewer improvements. The budget lists $9.5 million for debt payments and an $11.8 million contingency fund. (See Budget on Page 5)

All Faith’s faithful leader Cassie Wilkins leads West Valley food bank for 21 years and counting By Jack Hines III special to the view

Recycle this paper

Cassie Wilkins

Twenty-one years is a long time. It is more than a fifth of a century, it is the legal drinking age in the United States, and it is how long Cassie Wilkins has been heading All Faith Community Services. And she’s put a lot of hours into it. “As a general rule, my days start at about 7 o’clock in the morning, because we have a lot of programs like the farmers market that we have to be prepared for,” she said. “Last week, it was even working Sunday on Mother’s Day to finish a grant that was due.” “Usually for me, I work about a 60-hour week.” Wilkins

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said, “My day can be about 10 to 12 hours long.” And it is not an easy job. “I have a background in business management and accounting,” Wilkins said. Wilkins does the bulk of the administrative work and bookkeeping for the organization. But she doesn’t stop there. “I do everything from cleaning the bathrooms to unloading trucks and sorting food and taking care of clients, working on special needs, handling the marketing for the organization and handling the books for the D BY SORE

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