In his report at the Holbrook City Council meeting on Feb. 27, City Manager Randy Sullivan informed the council that the city was able to purchase a bucket truck and two trucks with utility beds from the Town of Taylor for a total cost of $8,000. “The bucket truck cost $3,000 and was probably worth $15,000,” said Sullivan, with the other two trucks running $3,500 and $1,500 respectively.
Sullivan also shared that plans are ongoing for a La Quinta Inn to be built near the airport across from the Chevron station at the north end of the city. The plan is for a four-story, top of the line hotel that will eventually have a restaurant and possibly another hotel if it is economically feasible.
Remodeling for the Little Caesars Pizza continues at the building next to the Verizon store on Navajo Blvd. in the downtown area. Sullivan said he was told that the owner plans to begin hiring in two weeks.
Sullivan gave a shout out to Linda Kor, who recently acquired the old Sundown Motel on Hopi Drive west of the Wigwam Motel and has been cleaning it up. “Already, just because she is doing that, the Farr’s have jumped on board and are working to clean up their property next door,” Sullivan commented, pertaining to the buildings just east of the motel.
Sullivan said the city is still working with the owners of the abandoned commercial buildings. City Clerk Cher Reyes is tackling the code enforcement side, while Community Development Coordinator Kathleen Smith is reaching out to see if the owners have any plans on creating viable businesses.
In giving an update on the sewage spill that occurred at the Waste Water Treatment Plant earlier last week Councilman C.J. Wischmann asked, “Is there any fine attached to this spill?”
Sullivan replied, “As long as we are working with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) there shouldn’t be a fine.”
Sullivan further shared that he notified ADEQ of the spill when it happened. “There was nothing we could have done to prevent it, and we are taking the corrective steps to fix the problem. The entire spill was contained and all we can do now is treat it. Up to this point, ADEQ has not done a site visit.”
The total cost of the spill had not been calculated at the time of the meeting; however, according to a report given to The Tribune News by Sullivan last week, the total amount of the spill was nearly 2.3 million gallons of raw sewage, which was contained in the holding pond created by the levee.
Sullivan noted his attendance of emergency management meetings with the Holbrook schools, Navajo County Emergency Management, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross. “We are on high alert with the dry conditions,” Sullivan shared. “They are expecting this fire season to be worse than, if not equal to the 2002 season that spawned the Rodeo-Chediski Fire.” Sullivan said the meetings were to give information as to what the city and the schools need to do in the event of a catastrophic fire, so that everything is in place.
Smith did a brief overview of the recent performance of the BYU Ambassadors on Feb. 13 at the George Gardner Performing Arts Center in Holbrook. “We do want to thank our host families for helping us house the performers,” said Smith. “We sold 630 tickets, grossing $6,858 with a total profit just over $1,000.” Smith noted that people came from Show Low, Snowflake, St. Johns and Winslow as well as Holbrook. “We got great feedback,” shared Smith, who got a call from a person in Snowflake saying it was the first time they had been in that auditorium and were super impressed.
Councilman Richard Peterson said that the event came about with a lot of volunteer work and effort. “It would be great if people get in the habit of coming to Holbrook for a cultural event,” commented Peterson.
Sullivan also shared that the sweeper is down again due to a blown engine. He is currently researching whether it will be more cost effective to replace the engine or look into a new one. “Until we figure out what is a good, viable option, we won’t have a sweeper,” said Sullivan. However, he did say that after the last storm, he contacted Arizona Department of Transportation and they were able to bring in a sweeper to help the city out on a limited basis.
Holbrook resident, Buddy DuPree, addressed the council regarding the need for guard railing and signage in the area of Romero and McLaws Road as well as Hennessey Avenue to prevent future accidents.
In other business, the council authorized an agreement with Alicia Washington for rental of the Holbrook Fitness Center and approved the liquor license application for Tom and Suzie’s Diner, located at 2001 Navajo Blvd.
