$90 million in property tax collected by county

Lopez also spoke about investments and reported $353 million as the total investment balance of short-term investments and government securities. She said, “This last year, yields were a little bit down. The feds lowered the rates and investing went that way too. A lot of our investments are now floaters where if the bottom-line yields and the feds increase the rates, our interest increases.”

The board also approved a request from Lopez to invest and reinvest county, school and special district funds for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

In a special meeting later in the week, the Board of Supervisors approved school district tax rates and the official canvas of the Aug. 2 primary election.

All 14 Navajo County precincts reported with 24,878 votes cast of the 67,247 total registered voters, a 37% voter turnout.

The board was also able to recognize Navajo County citizen Jamie Stuck for administering lifesaving measures to a near drowning victim on July 18 at Rainbow Lake.

Stuck was riding his bicycle past the lake when he heard cries for help from other witnesses. Upon stopping, he found Carol Michaels unable to breathe. Following three minutes of assisted breathing, Michaels regained consciousness and was transported to Summit Health Care in Show Low.

Michaels was later transferred to a facility in Phoenix and released some time after. She is expected to make a full recovery and was able to thank Stuck via Zoom at the Board meeting.

Stuck said, “I would like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to get training in CPR and other techniques.”

Sheriff David Clouse presented Stuck with the “Citizen Lifesaving Award.”

In other business, the board:

* Approved warrant and voucher reports over $1,000 for July.

* Approved constable reports for the Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside precincts for July.

* Approved a letter of sympathy to Miles Begay.

* Approved a contract in an amount not to exceed $7,500 to Ironside Engineering and Development for consulting services on the Pinedale Covered Bridge traffic safety improvement project.

* Approved a contract in the amount of $75,468 to Sentinel Technologies for countywide software maintenance.

* Approved a contract in an amount not to exceed $5,000 to JE Fuller Hydrology and Geomorphology, Inc. for consulting services on the Millet Swale floodplain mapping project.

* Approved a contract in an amount not to exceed $10,000 to JE Fuller Hydrology and Geomorphology, Inc. for consulting services on the Millet Swale hydraulic analysis and detention pond modeling.

* Approved a contract in an amount not to exceed $39,440 to Woodson Engineering and Surveying for professional services for a Summer Pines drainage analysis.

* Approved a contract in the amount of $3,429 with HyperVelocity for a software license agreement for Atlassian Software.

* Approved a partnership agreement for Workforce Innovation with Transition Consulting and Management for transition services due to the exit of the executive director on June 30.

* Approved funding a request from the Show Low Youth Recreation and Sports Foundation in the amount of $2,500 from the County Attorney Anti-Racketeering Revolving funs to support local community youth programs.

* Approved a grant award in the amount of $13,800 from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area through the City of Tucson to pay leasing fees for office space in Show Low for the Major Crimes Apprehension Team (MCAT) detectives assigned to south county.

* Approved funding in the amount of $122,728 from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program to pay for salary and partial benefits for the MCAT Lieutenant in addition to overtime, services, and supplies for MCAT detectives.

* Approved a letter sent to Senator Mark Kelly in support for the City of Show Low for the Savage Road sewer replacement and Woolford Road reconstruction. Show Low requested $1.1 million in Congressionally Directed Spending to replace the Savage Road sewer and $1.3 million for reconstruction of Woolford Road.

* Approved a grant award in the amount of $108,566 from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission to the County Attorney’s Victim Compensation program for salaries and benefits for victims of crime.

* Adopted a resolution cancelling the elections for Joseph City, Holbrook, Heber/Overgaard, Cedar and Pinon Unified School districts and NAVIT (Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology) districts in Winslow, Kayenta and Blueridge due to a lack of candidates.

* Approved a Local Workforce Development Board membership renewal application for Malissa Buzan.

* Approved a memorandum of understanding between Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG) and the Northeastern Arizona Local Workforce Development Board (LWDB) to provide office space for NACOG staff within the LWDB administrative offices in Show Low.

* Approved an agreement between the LWDB and Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. for the one stop operator partnership allowing staff to provide dual services.

* Approved a letter of thanks to redistricting advisory committee members Mae-Gilene Begay, Sadie Lister, Ryan Stuart, Rick Fernau and Cline Griggs.

* Approved an intergovernmental agreement amendment to a contract between Navajo County and the Arizona Department of Health Services allowing the county to continue to provide WIC (Women Infant Children) services and breastfeeding peer counseling services in fiscal year 2023.

* Approved a budget revision to the Child Care Health Consultant grant. The revision allows a correction to be made to the original grant amount of $238,845 which was calculated using the total awarded amount instead of the sub-total. The correction created more funding available for incentive materials to be distributed to childcare providers.

* Approved an amendment to a funding contract in the amount of $427,768 from the Arizona Department of Health Services for COVID funding for K-12 school reopening. The amendment allows the funding deadline to be extended from May 31, 2022, to May 31, 2023, allowing the Navajo County Public Health District to spend down remaining funds.

* Approved the annual renewal of the Healthy People Healthy Communities intergovernmental agreement between the county and the Arizona Department of Health Services allowing for ongoing preventative health services including tobacco, teen health, mental health first aid, suicide mortality, and child fatality.

* Recognized the employees of the month of July as Michelle Duran of the County Attorney’s office, Tavia Petrovich of the assessor’s office, Ron Smith of court administration and Robert Ornelas of the probation department.

* Adopted the property tax rates for all of Navajo County taxing districts for fiscal year 2022-23. The primary tax rate for Navajo County is 81 cents per assessed $100 of value.

* Approved a contract in the amount of $327,617 with Surface Contracting, Inc. for hot asphaltic concrete pavement overlay to rehabilitate pavement near the end of its life county wide.

* Approved an amendment to the Victory Heights Road Maintenance District contract with C/C Paving. The amendment extends the contract until Sept. 13, 2023, with a 5% cost increase on each line item of the contract.

* Heard a quarterly report from White Mountain Lakes County Recreation Improvement District Administrator Mark Honberger. In his report, he spoke of an algae bloom over the summer that led the district to take action. The lake was closed to bodily contact and remains so if algae is present. Honberger said, “All use of the lake is “At your own risk.” The algae is not expected to be life threatening, but can cause irritation to the digestive tract and skin.

* Recognized Public Works Director John Osgood on his retirement from Navajo County after four years with the department.

The next meeting of the Navajo County Board of Supervisors will be held at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 23, in the board meeting room, located at 100 E. Code Talkers Drive.