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Holbrook’s Mayor Merrill Young may be new to his roll as mayor but he is very familiar to the community he serves. Young was born in Flagstaff and at the age of six his family moved to Holbrook to manage the family’s beer distributing business. He spent his school years in Holbrook and has worked a myriad of jobs for the city.
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Young started his career in animal control, then worked at the golf course, water and wastewater, and at the maintenance shop before heading back to animal control as a supervisor where he spent the last 18 years with the city until his retirement. In addition to his employment with the city, he served 25 years with the volunteer fire department and six years on the Holbrook school board.
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When asked why he decided to run for mayor, Young had this to say, “I’ve been here all my life and know a lot of the people. I am compassionate about the community, I like the community and I like the people here. I just felt like I’d be a good fit for the position,” he said. “I’m not coming in here with any agenda other than I just want to see Holbrook get better for everybody.”
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In the next four years Young’s primary focus will be community unity. He said that he recognizes that there are concerns regarding blight and development but the community needs to work hand-in-hand with the city towards improvements.
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“We need to do what we can as an entire community, not just as a property owner or as the city. I think if (the city) stays diligent in efforts in talking to the property owners and managers, and trying to be proactive and ask, ‘what can we do to help clean up the mess?’ instead of going in there with a heavy fist and just telling them ‘you’re going to do this or else.’ If we can get their cooperation with the city’s cooperation and work together, I think we’re going to get a lot more done that way.”
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To make this happen Young says it requires a lifestyle change. “I liken it to going on a diet. You see so many people who want to go on a diet and they go on a crash diet and lose a lot of weight and then they get off the diet and their old habits just return. When you go on a diet it has to be a lifestyle change. You have to change what you eat and you have to change the way you do things in order for it to sustain long term. I think that’s the same view that we need to project onto the community. It needs to be a lifestyle change. You want it to look better so instead of saying ‘why don’t they clean up theirs’ why not say, ‘let’s come together and clean it up, let’s do this together.’”
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Young knows efforts such as this can’t happen overnight but taking deliberate steps each day will make the difference. “I think it will become kind of contagious, where community members will start seeing it and get to the point where they want to be involved.”
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The council currently has a vacancy to fill and Young is hopeful that community members will step up and take part in the changes he believes are coming. “I’ve seen over so many years where someone runs against another council member because they have a beef against that council member or someone working for the city. What I would love to see is people running for these seats on the thought that I want to be part of something great, part of something that’s succeeding.”
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He also believes that the council and city employees need to be accountable to the public in their rolls in serving the community. “I think the city as a whole needs to do a better job of informing the public on things that are happening. One of my pet peeves is these planning meetings, everyone meets and agrees but the next day there’s no follow up. We need to hold city staff accountable to bring those plans back to us once a year and keep us on top of that.”
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He and the council members also have a responsibility before they come to council meetings. “You need to read your agenda, read the backup material and if you have a question, come talk to the city manager before the meeting and get your questions answered. You will still have the opportunity to voice your opinion and concerns and say ‘I voiced my concerns, spoke to the city manager and this was the outcome.’ Instead of asking questions during the meeting that the manager is not prepared for.”
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As the mayor, Young knows that a lot of responsibility falls on his shoulders in making sure the public is heard, not only with their concerns but with their solutions. “I love having the comments. I encourage the public to bring me their complaints and concerns. Hold all of these concerns in one hand, but let’s open up the other hand when you come in and talk to me and bring me a solution. What you think we need to do? How do you think we should handle it?
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“It’s so easy to complain, especially with social media. We’re only seven (members of council), maybe we didn’t think of that solution. Come here and let us know. We have a lot to consider. If someone is focused on one issue and has done their research, then maybe they have a solution we haven’t thought of.”
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Young also believes that part of Holbrook’s success will come from reaching out to the surrounding communities to find out how to promote each other’s interests. “It’s always been Holbrook competing against Winslow, or Holbrook competing against Snowflake. Our businesses and our chambers need to be working together. Promote businesses in Winslow, let them promote businesses here and the same with Snowflake because we’re all different. With each community promoting each community we all come out a winner.”
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Young believes his philosophy of bringing the people of the community together will be the turning point for Holbrook and with that unity, everyone can be proud to say they contributed to Holbrook’s future.
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