All four candidates who ran for the four open seats on the Taylor Town Council received the majority of the votes allowing the current council to canvass the votes at the meeting on Sept. 6.
New to the council is Bill Baldwin with 602 votes. Continuing on the council is Mayor David Smith, who received 623 votes, Councilmen Jason Brubaker, with 627 votes and Councilman Carl Cosper with 614. There were also 13 write-in votes.
Town Manager Gus Lundberg explained, “The state requires that even though there were only four people running for four seats, they still have to get a majority of the votes. With 936 total ballots cast, everyone pretty much doubled what the majority was. There is no need for a general election in November.”
Baldwin will be replacing Councilman Lynn DeWitt, who will be stepping down at the first meeting in December. Baldwin addressed the council, saying he was excited to be able to work with the people and the community in this position.
Neil Travor, Arizona Public Service (APS) division manager, gave a quick update on the Healthy Arizona initiative. “It is no longer an initiative as it is now a proposition. The Arizona Supreme Court approved enough signatures for it to be on the ballot in November as Proposition 127.” Travor kept his comments brief and offered to talk with the council and public after the meeting if they desired.
Betsyann Wilson, executive director of Northland Pioneer College (NPC) Friends and Family, addressed the board regarding the Scholarship Disc Golf Tournament on Aug. 11. “We had a wonderful tournament thanks in part to the partnerships of the towns of Snowflake and Taylor. My role is to raise scholarships at NPC. I think providing access to education is extremely important and one of the ways we can best do that is by providing need-based scholarships to our students. The scholarships are life changing for our students.”
Wilson shared that her broader vision for the tournament in future years is to increase tourism and visitors to the towns of Taylor and Snowflake. She noted the ongoing success of the upcoming event called Pedal the Petrified, a non-competitive bicycle ride through the Petrified Forest that started in 2013.
“We started with 45 riders in 2013 and for the last three years I have filled that ride in a month with 250 riders. Eighty-five percent come from out of the area, which provides a lot of tourism for Holbrook and Winslow. I would like the disc golf tournament to become that for Snowflake and Taylor,” said Wilson.
Chief of Police Larry Scarber addressed the council on the outside conditions of the police department, including the flag, “I felt I owed you and the community an explanation,” said Scarber, noting that the Town of Snowflake is in the process of putting a parking lot in front of the station as part of the handicap ramp access recently installed. He also noted that the flag had not flown in a couple of weeks due to the top pulley on the pole being so damaged that it could not safely fly the flag. “Repairs are in process,” said Scarber. “The weeds will be mowed this Saturday. And when the parking lot is done, there will be a strip of grass out front eventually.”
The first reading for the Industrial Hemp ordinance was unanimously tabled due to the fact that it had been tabled in the Planning and Zoning meeting. Planning and Zoning Chairman Jack Babb addressed the council on the matter, saying, “We discussed this at great length at the Tuesday meeting. The information provided to us is pretty much what Snowflake has adopted and they took their information from the medical marijuana statute, not an industrial hemp statute that the State of Arizona has yet to adopt.”
Babb went on to say that Arizona should have something in place by August of 2019, but Planning and Zoning was going to work on an ordinance that will be close to what the state will be adopting. Babb anticipated that it would take at least two months before they have something ready for the council.
In other business, the council:
* Approved the Aug. 2018, check register for $335,396.
* Approved an agreement with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office for the Byrne Grant funding that provides the towns of Taylor and Snowflake $38,000 to pay the salary for one detective who will work with the Major Crimes Apprehension Team.
