The Snowflake Town Council met on May 1 and among the agenda items were a flood control project, a change order for the handicap parking improvements project and changes to personnel policies.
The town has received notification that the grant application for the Fire Station/High School Flood Control Project has been selected for further review. This notification is the first step in securing the grant and as part of the process the town must submit a signed commitment letter stating that Snowflake will commit approximately $141,000 of in-kind or cash match funds to the project.
The town can provide in-kind labor instead of funds for the project. The total cost of the project is estimated at $544,000 and the town must cover an amount just over 25 percent of the cost. Discussions with Navajo County indicate that they are going to contribute to the town’s portion of funding as well. “I have already spoken with the county and they are on board with giving 50 percent,” said Town Manager Brian Richards. If approved, the grant will cover the remaining cost of the project.
“I think that it is important to understand that one of the projects for me when I became mayor, was to enhance our relationship with the schools and try to alleviate some of the water issues. I think this is a great project. I think it is important that we stick with this,” said Mayor Lynn Johnson. The Town previously voted to commit these funds during the grant application process. This letter is simply a formality. The council voted to approve the commitment letter.
Changes to another previously approved project was also on the agenda. The council previously approved a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) contract with McCauley Construction for $179,000 for handicap parking stalls at Pioneer Park and Fredrickson Park. However, the Arizona Department of Housing is disallowing $40,000 of those funds for awning structures at the parks. “The awnings that cover the picnic areas, the Arizona Department of Housing which runs the CDBG program, they are not going to pay for those as they are not true handicap,” said Richards.
In order to spend those available grant funds, the town has opted to add six more handicap parking stalls. Four stalls will be added at Pioneer Park and two will be added at the cemetery. The change order also includes modifying two parking areas at the police station. The council approved the change order.
As Snowflake evolves with their shared services with the Town of Taylor changes to the personnel policies have become necessary. “We wanted to make our benefit structure more in line. They (Taylor) tend to have a little bit richer benefit policy over there on some things. It’s actually, at times, created a little competition between employees wanting to go work with Taylor or vice versus. We want to make that where it is not so attractive to work for the other community,” said Richards.
Minor changes were up for council approval. Those changes included adding Columbus Day as an approved paid holiday, an update in the disciplinary portion that closely matches the town of Taylor’s policies, and the changes to the sick leave policy. The sick leave changes will allow 96 hours of sick leave to be rolled over into 48 hours of vacation pay. The council approved those changes.
The next regularly scheduled monthly Snowflake Town Council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5, at the council room located at 81 W. First St. South in Snowflake. A public hearing regarding water and sewer rates is scheduled for that meeting.
