By China Cassidy During the May 14 Holbrook City Council meeting, Levee Superintendent Tim Kelley gave a report on the obstacles faced during levee inspections caused by unauthorized recreational vehicles and let the council in on what the city’s been doing with down time during the shutdown. Aside from performing weekly visual inspections of the levee, Kelley is responsible for ensuring that the levee passes inspection with the Army Corps of Engineers every five years. One of the main issues that could affect the grade the levee gets in an inspection is the damage caused by unauthorized recreational vehicles. Kelley explained that despite efforts to deter people from entering the levee on a recreational vehicle using signage and barriers, the city still deals with ramifications during inspection as citizens ignore the warnings and have even cut the fence to access the levee. Kelly stated, “This is what we get deemed unacceptable on. The problem is motorcycles and ATVs. This is something that we really can’t control, all we can do is clean up after the fact and that’s something the Corps of Engineers understands, they see it everywhere.” The deep ruts created by the recreational vehicles can potentially create bigger problems when it rains. Kelley showed the council a photo of deep reels up the sides of the levee created by the unauthorized vehicles and explained, “When we get a hard rain, these tire treads will dig into the side of the levee, they can go as deep as four to six inches and it’s not good for the levee.” The superintendent said he performs weekly visual inspection and fills in any holes along the sides of the levee by compacting the dirt back into place. Originally, they suspected that gofers were responsible for the numerous holes along the levee but then it was discovered that it was cattle and have since addressed the issue. Kelley also reported on the facility upgrades and remodels within the city. Beginning with the fitness center, Kelley explained that the carpet that was there previously was beginning to mold and needed to be replaced. “We added some rubber mats for flooring and cleaned up the equipment and reorganized it.” The changes have opened more space, making it easier to walk through. Kelley also recognized the City of Holbrook’s Director of Economic Development Jason Foutz for loading the majority of the six tons of rubber matting into the fitness center. The Machusak Recreation Center also had some modifications done, allowing for a larger capacity of people to occupy the venue. Workers are now completing work on the building in the serving area. He also announced that the reconstruction of the airport runway is complete and is open as of May 15. In other business, City Manager Soltis gave a brief overview of happenings within the city. Soltis reported that three entities within the city will be getting new payment systems. He explained, “We are upgrading the financial transaction security system at the golf course, swimming pool and transfer station. Depending on requirements of the location. We’ll be adding a computer, receipt printer and a locking cash drawer.” According to Soltis, those three locations will now be able to accept credit and debit cards and will be given a printed receipt, where previously, they could only accept cash payment. Mayor Merrill Young expressed his gratitude to the citizens of Holbrook for their efforts during the pandemic. “To the citizens, I know it’s been a trying past few months. We’re starting to open. Things are starting to get back to normal, whatever normal is going to be. But I really appreciate all the citizens and businesses who complied with the need to. A lot of the restaurants were given the okay to open. You will notice that there are a few that still have not opened, they’re not quite ready and that of course is at no discretion of ours (the city administration), that’s all the discretion of the business owner so be patient with them. Those that aren’t open are still doing takeout and delivery. So, thank you to all the businesses in Holbrook, you guys have done a wonderful job. Regarding the closures and response to the pandemic, Councilman Tim Dixon expressed his disdain. “People that talk about a new normal. Well, there is no new normal that is acceptable to me and I think the old way of life is what we should go back to.” He stated that he would personally never obey any edict that comes down from any government official that violates his constitutional rights. “You know we’re looked at people hiding in their homes, they’ve been sequestering themselves and quarantining themselves and I got to hand it to Arizona that we never really had any kind of quarantine orders and if they did, I would have, personally again, not obeyed this.” Councilman Mark Jackson agreed with Dixon’s comments and added that he was very impressed with the manner in which residents are taking care of one another during the crisis, “They’re helping each other when it comes to food baskets and doing things for others. (They’re) having cruises so they can kind of socially gather together. I mean, that’s what we need to do. We can’t just sit in the house and freaking lock our doors and think the big bad monster is going to come and get us.” Vice Mayor Francie Payne added, “The people of Holbrook have done a wonderful job of stepping up and taking care of each other and it’s been great to see and it’s much appreciated. I think when things get a little better, we ought to just have a big picnic with everybody.”
