At a recent meeting, the Navajo County Board of Supervisors discussed an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the county and its municipalities, focusing on the use of opioid settlement proceeds. The aim of the agreement was to use the money from the settlement to best benefit Navajo County residents, with a focus on mitigating the impact of opioids in the respective regions.

Navajo County and the municipalities within the county are parties of the One Arizona Plan. The IGA serves as a memorandum of understanding, outlining the centralization of funding and reporting requirements in order to relieve municipalities of separate reporting and individual project implementation for public health initiatives.

The IGA also establishes a joint exercise of powers through the creation of a steering committee, detailing committee membership and advisory members. This committee will be guided by the Guiding Principles & Core Abatement Strategies, developed by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, as they review projects to present to the Navajo County Board of Supervisors for funding consideration.

This committee will include representatives from the cities of Show Low and Winslow, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, the Navajo County Attorney’s Office and the Director of the Navajo County Public Health Services District.

The MOU has already gained approval from various municipality councils, and the proposed project vetting process guarantees a fair, transparent procedure for spending funds on evidence-based approaches, specifically targeting those most impacted by the opioid epidemic.

In the same meeting, the Navajo County Board of Supervisors considered awarding a contract to three local vendors for the supply of aggregate rock material needed for chip seal projects, as part of the county’s preventive maintenance program. Perkins Cinders Inc., Hatch Construction and Paving Inc., and Brimhall Sand, Rock and Building Materials were awarded the contracts, which are effective from April 11, 2023, through April 10, 2024. The total cost is estimated to be around $1.3 million, reflecting an average cost increase of 1.62% compared to the previous year.

Awarding contracts to multiple local vendors who provide material at various locations throughout the County ensures that Navajo County’s road maintenance operation has adequate coverage for materials by location. This approach is also operationally and financially beneficial to the county, as the use of multiple vendors allows the county to secure the best prices, convenience, availability, and quality for the materials they require. Staff recommended the approval of the contracts, which the Board of Supervisors subsequently approved.

The Board of Supervisors also unanimously denied a proposal to establish a recovery residential facility called Sunrise Health and Recovery for 10 residents in the Linden area. Although acknowledging the need for facilities like Sunrise Health and Recovery, the board deemed the location at 965 Full House Lane inappropriate due to its proximity to Sequoia Village School, a K-12 charter school located across the street. This decision followed comments from nine parents and teachers from the school present at the board of supervisors meeting.

During the meeting, supervisors made numerous proclamations. They declared April 9-15 as “National Telecommunicators Week and the month of April 2023 as “National County Government Month,” “Sexual Assault Awareness Month” and “Public Health Month.”

In other business, the board:

* Approved the re-appointment of Jon H. Saline as a Judge Pro Tempore to serve in the Superior Court for a term beginning July 1, 2023, and ending June 30, 2024.

* Approved the appointment of Tabitha Stickel as a new member of the Northeastern Arizona Innovative Workforce Solutions Workforce Development Board.

* Approved the appointment of Ryleigh Aubuchon, Arizona Department of Economic Security (AZDES) Program Manager Workforce Development Administration, as a new local workforce development board member to fulfill Wagner Peyser representative requirement.

* Approved the appointment of Rochelle Shanta, AZDES Title III Rep, Local Workforce Supervisor.

* Approved contracts signed by county manager/assistant county manager including: professional services contract with JE Fuller Hydrology & Geomorphology, Inc. for Navajo County ALERT system maintenance and improvements for 2023, Strategic Government Resources, Inc. for executive recruitment services for the county manager position, with a cost not to exceed $46,616.

*Approved one back tax land parcel sold over the counter in the amount of $477.60.

*Approved FY 2024 TCPF Court Field Trainer grant application.

* Approved a three-year contract with Microsoft for software services in the amount of $410,515.

*Approved an amendment extending a contract with Ryan Rapp Underwood & Pacheco, PLC. for legal counsel for one additional year.

* Approved the Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. Title 1B Budget Amendment A approved by the Local Workforce Development Board on March 22.

*Approved board membership requirements to the Workforce Administrative Council.