By Linda Kor Last month the Holbrook Foundation put forth an informal survey through social media asking residents seven questions pertaining to their community. The intent of the survey was to bring awareness to the public’s perception of their community, what they believe is working and what they feel needs improvement or change. Overall, the answers to the questions were not favorable regarding the current administration and elected officials, with a majority of the concerns being blight, economic development and general improvements. In response to the survey, the Holbrook Mayor, City Council and City Manager were asked to detail what they believe is a plan of action for Holbrook for this coming year and the role of the community and themselves as a manager and elected officials in bringing those plans to fruition. Following are the responses received by Vice Mayor Francie Payne, Councilman Adam Marsh and City Manager Ted Soltis. No comment was received by Mayor Merrill Young, or councilmen Tim Dixon, Earl Kester or Mike Nilsson. Councilman Mark Jackson will be stepping down from his position on Jan. 31 for personal reasons and stated he would not be adding his comments. To view the survey questions and answers visit the Holbrook Foundation Facebook page. Vice Mayor Francie Payne I appreciate the time citizens took to fill out the community survey, and share many of the hopes and disappointments expressed. Holbrook did not get to this stage overnight and will not emerge from it without a lot of hard work by both the City and the community. Many of the items noted will happen only when we have growth, and we have to be ready for that growth. To that end, much of our effort has been aimed toward protecting the infrastructure we have in place and generating the money to improve that infrastructure. Progress in this area is marked by the first increases in the cost of services to the citizens in more than a decade. Plainly put, we should have been paying more for services for years. Since we didn’t, the increase seemed outrageous to some. It was not. These are the rates required to balance the water and wastewater budgets. Under state law, these are enterprise funds and must support themselves. The change in trash service companies was also unpopular. The City serves as a pass through agency; we contract for the service and bill citizens along with their water and wastewater use fees. Bids were sought, and were received from two companies. The contract was awarded to Waste Management as the lowest responsible bidder. It did mean an increase, but it was smaller than if we had stayed with the previous contractor. There were many calls for increases in police funding. As it stands today, the 2020-21 budget for the Holbrook Police Department totals $2,197,313, nearly 25 percent of our total budget of $9,244,232. The HPD budget includes contributions to the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) totaling $957,233. We have debt to PSPRS totaling more than $7 million. Using the formula we, along with many other cities and towns in Arizona, were given, we underfunded the system for years. Poor investments made that situation much worse. In 2018, Pew Charitable Trust ranked PSPRS 37th among 41 major public pension trusts on investment returns. The fund has been restructured, requiring higher contributions for members of the department who have served longest. We are trying to pay this debt down, but it’s a steep hill. None of that translates to more money now for officers. I believe we have a very good police department and commend Chief Nathan Christensen for his efforts to recruit and retain good officers under these circumstances. It will get better, but not for a while. In the meantime, we have been doing what we can with what we have…sometimes literally. The recent remodeling of City Hall was completed using City employees and, for the most part, materials we had on hand from the work at the airport and the recreation center. City properties have been cleaned and repaired, buildings have been demolished, lots have been cleaned, and water lines and roads have been repaired. In addition, the City manager continues work to update the City’s codes so that they mesh well, rather than add confusion to the process. He began this process by retooling the budget. It is much easier to gain a good picture of the City’s efforts and how they are funded. It takes a lot of work, but will make future decisions easier. Many of the citizens brought up issues that are also on my wish list, most especially a recreation program that offers opportunities to all ages. These will likely have to wait a bit longer. Other comments relate to issues not under the City’s control. I can assure you that City staff is actively working with anyone who has shown an interest in locating a business in Holbrook. We cannot order Walmart, Target or any other firm to locate here, but neither the City nor the council is trying to block them. We welcome new business. Both Winslow and Snowflake-Taylor were mentioned for their growth and business offerings. Winslow’s business sector has grown because its residents have invested in it. The Standing on the Corner Park is a result of citizens joining together as the Standing on the Corner Foundation to raise the funds and do the work to create it. That, in turn, drew residents to open businesses in the downtown area. In Taylor, one man worked to bring Walmart to the area, then put his money where his mouth was, building the plaza around it. It took years to accomplish both projects, but the citizens stuck with them. We have been working on and implementing our plan for some time now, and while I believe we will be better for it in the long term, it has taken sacrifice on the front end. In my nearly six years on the council, I have listened to citizen concerns and tried to resolve them or explain why we can’t at this time. Because of the pandemic, I have not been away from home any more than necessary. That cut off a line of communication. Citizens are welcome to call me, at reasonable hours, to ask questions or register concerns. My number is (928) 241-3952. Leave a message and I will return your call. Sorry, but the telemarketers have made me leery of answering calls from numbers I do not recognize. Again, I thank you for your input, and look forward to working with you to make Holbrook better and more vibrant in the years ahead. Councilman Adam Marsh I appreciate this opportunity, and I agree that emphasizing positive actions and a way forward is a good thing to feature. Below I itemize a few focus areas and action items that I would like the city to prioritize this year. This is a simple list, not to reflect their own priorities within the list. COVID response and recovery: There is no question that Holbrook, like every community in the US, is hurting from the pandemic. We must as a city government take action to protect our citizens and businesses from the virus itself and its downstream damages. We must work together with our partners like the Chamber of Commerce when our businesses need help. We must consider individual financial hardships when taking action on utility rates, and we must be supportive of providing requested infrastructure that supply aid from county, state, and federal agencies, when possible. Of course, I would still like to see a mask ordinance in place for our community, but I no longer have the ability to bring that to the Council. Recruiting diversity on the Council: Simply put, the makeup of our Council does not reflect the diverse peoples, backgrounds, and viewpoints found within the City of Holbrook, which is 50 percent White according to the US Census Bureau. There is no doubt in my mind that this can make the Council feel unapproachable or potentially ‘out of touch’ with many individuals or groups. We need to decide how to: Encourage and educate more citizens to directly participate in City government (e.g., attending meetings, speaking at meetings, proposing ideas to Council members/staff), participate more in our partner meetings (e.g., Chamber of Commerce, Fair Board and Historical Society, Friends of the Animal Shelter, etc.), and encourage a more diverse group of citizens to run for City Council positions. Diversity means many things, not just race, and it is a strength of Holbrook that needs to be cultivated and encouraged in our government. Long-term planning: We need to revisit key plans and documents with a strong component of public involvement, including citizens, business owners, and partners. This would include the Strategic Plan and Charter Review. Sample individual action items: After discussion and input from the Manager, I believe the following specific actions is a sample of what can be undertaken by the city in the coming year, representing: * Identify source of water leak on 8th Ave. and plan repair. * Make additional improvements to parks and recreation facilities. * Utilize newly-purchased street sweeper to clean streets and finish streets department projects. * Continue to work with property owners to clean up or demolish abandoned or blighted buildings. * Replace servers at City Hall and Police Department. * Review and approve relevant and necessary licenses for existing and new businesses. * Authorize and expend CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) grant money. I want to emphasize that most of what makes Holbrook what it is – the great, the good, the bad, and the ugly – has developed in town for the last 40 plus years, and the parts that need improvement cannot be expected to be improved in a relatively short period of time. The Manager and his staff, the Mayor, and the Council are all working to make improvements in Holbrook, and they will occur incrementally; perhaps not always perceptibly day to day, week to week, or month to month. In the cases of infrastructure and blight especially, we are still laying the foundation for more significant improvements. Each staff member, Council member, citizen, business owner, and partner must constantly be turning inward and asking what each of us can do to pitch in to improve the city in our own capacities. Everyone can make a change. Specific to our roles as Council members, we must be the connection between our constituents and the Manager and staff, as well as our partners and other governmental agencies. We must hold one another and the Manager accountable for the goings-on in the City (both the positives and negatives), and that requires we listen to citizens, staff members, and our partners within the city (and provide opportunities for engagement with those groups). When it comes to decision-making, it is the responsibility and duty of every Council member to represent all of the citizens of Holbrook, not our own opinions or personal beliefs, and not those of the subset of citizens to which we are the most closely aligned ideologically or socioeconomically. We must gather and review all relevant facts and information and fact-check, even against our own confirmation bias. This is easier said than done, but I think with some of the points I make above, in lockstep with the Manager, staff, citizens, businesses, and partners, we can continue to step forward and help Holbrook grow in a variety of capacities. City Manager Ted Soltis I have a passion for helping small, rural communities, and it’s been an honor serving as Holbrook’s City Manager the past two years. Holbrook is a great place to live and has many assets with its location on Historic Route 66, its proximity to the Petrified Forest National Forest, the annual Hashknife Pony Express run, the Hidden Cove Golf Course and nearby petroglyphs, and more. Personally, I believe the quality of life offered in small, rural communities is priceless, and I’m committed to preserving that way of life. Unfortunately, many small rural communities struggle with foundational problems—declining or insufficient revenues while facing major financial expenditures like repairing/replacing aging streets and infrastructure, dealing with slum and blight issues, promoting economic development, and more. Holbrook is facing these issues, but our combined efforts—Mayor and Council, City staff, property owners, and myself—are making a difference. Changes have been made and will continue to be made to ensure efficient, effective, and sustainable service delivery. In addition to a variety of cost-saving measures through dropping unnecessary contracts and re-negotiating others, City positions are evaluated when they open to determine whether the workload can be assumed by another position in which case, the employees assuming those additional duties receive a pay increase. Holbrook has fallen into a state of decline over time, but we are working together to slow and reverse that decline as we work on both foundational and cosmetic issues. Significant progress has been made on foundational issues, including improving the City’s financial condition, cleaning up the community, repairing leaking water lines, and working with businesses to relocate here, but we are also working on cosmetic issues, like making improvements in our parks with new picnic tables through the use of grant funds, some new playground equipment, new signage, removing weeds and debris, and the future addition of a walking trail at Hunt Park. Furthermore, City structures around town have been repaired and renovated. As the City looks to cleaning up its properties and working with major property owners to clean up theirs, we encourage individuals to do the same with their properties—cleaning up weeds on individual properties, fixing and repairing signs on personal property, painting houses and fences. It all makes a difference. In the past two years, in addition to cleaning up City-owned property, the City has successfully worked with property owners of several properties around town to have them cleaned up. Some of these properties include the Magnusson Motel, the Knights Inn, Marlene’s Cut n’ Curl, the Star Inn, and others. As the City continues to improve the appearance and condition of City-owned property, it will continue to encourage residents and owners to clean up theirs. As the City appearance improves, we hope to attract more businesses and residents to the area. The City will continue to help foster economic development by providing appropriate zoning, stable infrastructure, and a positive/responsive attitude to inquiries from the private sector about business and housing construction opportunities. Holbrook has been happy to welcome new businesses to Holbrook, including La Quinta, the China Buffet, and Bienvenidos Restaurant, as well as other potential businesses that are in the works. Unfortunately, Holbrook, like many communities, has water and wastewater infrastructure issues. Communities are not unlike individuals, sometimes we want quick fixes that aren’t for the best in the long run. For example, it may seem easier and less expensive to just put a new road over deteriorating infrastructure–a quick cosmetic fix, appreciated by all–until that road needs to be dug up to replace failing infrastructure. “Quick fixes” sometimes cost more in the long run. Like other small communities, Holbrook does not have the revenues to replace infrastructure at present, but fortunately, through careful financial planning, the City’s water and wastewater funds are now debt free, and a multiyear water and wastewater plan will be implemented to ensure that when citizens turn on the water, that there’s water. As Holbrook continues to progress, which I am confident that it will, housing is an issue. As businesses come to the community, more people will want to live here, but there’s a lack of quality housing, again a problem that exists in many rural communities. People typically flock to the cities, so it isn’t easy to entice developers to build in rural America. That trend may be changing, however, with more people working remotely as a result of COVID-19, and more people are moving to rural areas. Holbrook is a friendly community with much to offer both residents and visitors. The Mayor and Council, City Staff, and I are committed to working towards its continued sustainability and prosperity.