By L. Parsons A mayor and three new council members were elected to the Winslow City Council last month and last week, those elected were sworn in during a special meeting of the council. Outgoing council member Judy Howell had this to say. “I have been here for 40 years and have spent 24 of those working with the city. I have enjoyed every minute of it. I am very proud of all of the accomplishments that we have been able to achieve because of the great citizens, city administrators and especially the city workers that have done all the work, the Council and the Mayor. We all came together and made Winslow great.” Vice Mayor Marshall Losey, who is also outgoing said, “I would like to thank all of you for your support over the last 12 years. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this community and I wish the new council all the best.” Finally, Mayor Tom McCauley addressed the Council with his farewell message. “I have been serving the City of Winslow for 45 years. I want to thank the staff and all the citizens of Winslow. I have been very humbled to be your mayor. I would encourage everyone to continue the Shop Local program, and to keep the tax dollars in our town.” Council members Jim Maclean, Peter Cake and Melissa Nelson along with Mayor Roberta Cano then took their seats and were sworn in by City Clerk Suzy Wetzel. Councilwoman Samantha Crisp was appointed vice mayor following a unanimous roll call vote after both she and Robin Boyd were nominated to fill the position . City Manager John Barkley gave a status update in which he said, “In one of the Governor’s most recent executive order, it offers an opportunity for our restaurant community to expand into the public rights of way. This means sidewalks (and) alleys so that they can help their bottom line by offering dining and beverage service outside. There is over a million dollars there for the taking to help our restaurants. The city staff will make sure that we have an expedited permit process so people can get going on this if they so desire. We have invited our restaurants to come to city hall with any questions they may have about the grant funding that is available. There are requirements they need to abide by but the city is pledging to make it an easy process.” In the future agenda items section of the meeting, Mayor Cano said, “During the last meeting, Councilman (Rickey) Jackson asked for a strategic plan for the city. I think that is something we need to focus on and try to implement. We need to start looking at how we, as a new council want to move forward with some of the projects going on in the city, so a strategic plan would be ideal. I would like to see that on an agenda in the near future.” Barkley said, “We will be scheduling that strategic planning meeting very soon and will be getting back to you.” Cano continued, “I know that our employees had a pay study done in the spring last year and I would like to get an update on how that transpired and how our employees are being paid, I would like to see a current list of the salaries and an employee organizational chart.” Adding that this would show where additional employees will be needed or how to redistribute employees. “Also, I know that we were awarded $1 million from the CARES Act. I know some of that is being used for first responders but I would like to know how else that is being used and how it is impacting our budget. I would like to know how it benefits the city and our citizens including small businesses. I would like these on an agenda soon.” There was no COVID 19 update during the meeting despite it being on the agenda. For clarification, City Attorney Trish Struhan explained, “That will just be a standing agenda item from this point forward. That way there is always an opportunity for you to discuss it and or have someone present an update to you.” Cano stated, “The next two months are going to be the most detrimental in the pandemic. I have asked the Winslow Indian Health Care Center to send an employee to update us on their mitigation strategies. We get that from Little Colorado Medical Center but rarely from WIHCC. They serve over 17,000 people at their facility and their concerns are impactful to our city and our citizens. I would like them to have the opportunity to present the sobering reality of this pandemic as part of that standing agenda item.” The next meeting of the Winslow City Council will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 12, in the main hall of the Hubbell Building, located at 523 W. Second Street.
