Dr. Adam Marsh was voted in as the newest member of the Holbrook City Council during the June 26 meeting. Vying for the seat was Marsh, Phil Cobb, Pastor Rodney Gish and Louie Baldonado Jr.
The candidates were publicly interviewed during the meeting with a list of questions that ranged from what they felt were the biggest challenges facing Holbrook and the success seen in the city, to why they wanted to be on the council and if they have an ax to grind in seeking the position.
Cobb, a long-time resident of Holbrook, gave kudos to the city for the street upgrades, as well as the splash pad. As president of Holbrook’s Elks Lodge, a former Holbrook councilman who served for eight years and a retired teacher from the Holbrook School District, “I would like to see advancement and would like to see it done properly. I think one of the issues we will see in the near future is water. The water litigation; we do not know where it will end.”
Gish, pastor of the First Assembly of God and a Holbrook resident since 2006, noted, “From the vantage point of being a pastor in the community, one of the things I see is a significant lack of provision for health care needs. We have private clinics, group clinics, but Holbrook needs a hospital.”
Baldonado, a life-long resident of Holbrook, who worked in the water/wastewater department of the city for 17 years, talked about wanting to make Holbrook a destination, but has concerns over the aging water/wastewater system, saying, “Our biggest challenge is to repair the water and wastewater system without destroying the roads on top of it. We have 32 miles of water and wastewater pipe that has probably not been addressed for the last 17 years.”
Marsh conducted his interview via phone from Austin, Texas, where he was serving on a panel at the University of Texas. He shared that he had moved from Austin to Holbrook in February of 2016 and works as a paleontologist at the Petrified National Forest.
Marsh noted, “We need to give the residents a chance to connect with their roots, to embrace all the resources that make Holbrook what it is. Within those resources, we can bring more people into the town and make more people proud of where they are from.”
The council voted by ballot, with Councilwoman Francie Payne, and councilmen Richard Peterson and Earl Kester voting for Marsh, councilmen Tim Dixon and CJ Wischmann voting for Gish, and Mayor Tyler voting for Baldonado.
Marsh was sworn in over the phone by the Superior Court Judge Michaela Ruechel and immediately assumed his duties of councilman, ending the deadlock for the vice mayor position with he, Payne, Kester and Peterson voting for Peterson, and Tyler, Dixon and Wischmann voting for Wischmann.
In other business, the council approved the items of the consent agenda with Wischmann giving the dissenting vote with no discussion as to his objection. The agenda included the claims and payment approval in that amount of $136,036, minutes of special meetings for May 29 and June 19, and a special event liquor license for the Navajo County Fair for Sept. 12-15.
A special meeting for the budget adoption will be at 6 p.m. tomorrow (July 5) at the city council chambers.
