The Holbrook City Council convened for a regular meeting last Wednesday, during which all members were present, with Mayor Kathleen Smith and Councilmember Tim Dixon joining telephonically. Vice Mayor Nilsson conducted the meeting.
The council held first readings for four ordinances, one of which was to authorize the lease of certain municipal real property located west of the Navajo County Public Works Complex on Highway 377 to Daniel Hutchens for a motocross track. For the first two years Hutchens will pay an annual base rent of $1,000 per year, which will increase to $3,500 for third and fourth extensions. Councilmember Robert Black attempted to make a motion to approve the first reading, and was told it was not needed due to it being a first reading of the ordinance. Black then requested City Manager Sharon Jakubowski-Wolz explain to him why voting was not necessary at this time, to which she explained voting would take place during the second reading after a 30-day review.
Another first reading was held to authorize the purchase of certain municipal real property to Northland Pioneer College (NPC). The city will receive a total of $9,100 for two parcels, both of which will be used by the college to build spec houses, with students building the homes and the profits off the sale to fund future home building projects by the college.
Councilmember Dixon questioned how many bids were placed for the parcels and Jakubowski-Wolz explained that there were no bids requested since it is not required. “That was something that I sent all the councilmembers — the legal council’s comments on that. I didn’t hear anything from any of the councilmembers,” she added.
A first reading for the city’s cell phone policy and employee acknowledgement form was also held. Jakubowski-Wolz explained that certain city employees are required to be on call and have cell phones for their job. The city’s current policy provides a stipend to allow those employees to use their personal phones. “(Director of Administration) Misty Hatch has done a great job in reviewing our policies and our expenses for everything, and we found that it costs us less to purchase the phone and have those phones insured than it does to pay the stipends out to the employees.” Jakubowski-Wolz also noted that the current policy allows for the city to confiscate personal phones if they are misused due to the funding stipend from the city, which would also be solved with this new policy. It was estimated that the savings to the city would be $900 per month.
Councilmember Teri Tafoya asked how many employees are paid stipends for their personal phones, to which Jakubowski-Wolz said she didn’t have those numbers, but that it would probably include department heads and all water department employees since they’re on call, and made a rough estimate of 20 employees but reiterated she did not know for certain.
City Clerk Lisa Hunt clarified, “The ordinance is about the policy, not whether we’re getting the phones or not, but its ordinances on the policy.” Council ignored Hunt’s comment and continued with a lengthy discussion regarding phone costs and the number of phones needed until Smith reminded the council, “To clarify, we are just voting tonight on the ordinance and not necessarily on the budget, correct?” Sullivan replied that was correct, “And this is just the first reading as well.” Smith followed up by stating it was important to keep that in mind when voting next meeting, that it will be on the ordinance and not the purchase of the cell phones.
Dixon stated he believed the city needs to do periodic random checks on the phones rather than just stipulating the allowance of them in the policy. Hunt noted that Dixon’s concern was already addressed in the policy, which was provided to the council for review prior to the meeting.
Afterwards, the council tabled the first reading of another ordinance authorizing the lease of certain municipal real property to Navajo County Hashknife Sheriff’s Posse Search & Rescue until the next meeting due to discrepancies found in the ordinance. The meeting will be held on Oct. 9.
The council awarded a bid to J. Banicki Construction, Inc. for a total of $2.6 million for the Holbrook Municipal Airport apron construction. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant awarded to the city will pay for nearly the entirety of the cost, with the city’s portion of the cost totaling $126,762. After discussing who uses the airport, Pacheco appeared confused, asking “So we’re not approving like, $2.6 million. We’re approving $126,000?” to which Sullivan explained that the approval was for the contract with J. Banicki for that $2.6 million.
During the discussion regarding the funding for the apron repairs, Black questioned the need for an FAA approved airport. “Is there any benefits to the city for us to have an FAA airport?” Jakubowski-Wolz replied stating, “I’d have to say that you’re lucky to have your relationship with this company that works with the FAA, because you can get this funding. Technically, this airport does not have a tower, so they don’t have to be regulated by FAA. But I think you have the benefit that you have that relationship, because you’re getting this funding.” She added that without it, the city would be paying out of its own budget to fix the apron. The relationship Jakubowski-Wolz referred to is with Armstrong Consultants, Inc., which is the city’s airport consultants.
The council also approved a contract with Dana Kepner for meter replacement and installation in the amount of $704,000. The city initially planned to install the meters in-house but decided to go with an outside hire to make implementation much sooner. Of the total, $170,000 is a match by the city, with the remainder coming from a Water Conservation Grant Fund that was awarded to the city. The city would have been required to pay the $170,000 even if it was decided to do it in-house, according to Sullivan.
After a lengthy discussion, the council also approved the purchase of four vehicles for the Holbrook Police Department from San Tan Ford in Gilbert in the amount of $196,863. Outfitting the four vehicles with Airwave Communications was also approved for $86,597. Both were expenses budgeted.
A discussion was then had on the city’s policy on charging credit card fees, which Sullivan explained was requested by council and that it is still being investigated. Currently, the city uses Xpress Bill Pay to collect payments for utilities and other fees, including the city’s fitness center. In the past, the city has absorbed the fees associated with Xpress Bill Pay in order to encourage the use of it, which has allowed city staff to utilize their time more efficiently rather than being focused on payment processing. According to information provided, the city has asked for Chase Bank and Xpress Bill Pay to do an analysis on what the possibilities entail for cost savings. During the discussion, councilmembers Black, Dixon as well as Vice Mayor Nilsson all separately mentioned tabling the motion and had to be reminded it was labeled as a discussion item on the agenda, which is not an action item.
A request was made by Mayor Smith for approval of two letters of support to be sent to North Country HealthCare (NCH) to establish an urgent care facility, one to NCH Chief Operations Officer Kim Chen and another to NCH East Regional Manager Page White. According to Jakubowski-Wolz, the letters were prompted by North Country to bolster their case to build a facility within their company. Vice Mayor Nilsson voiced his approval, stating “I’m thrilled that the mayor has written these letters. I would encourage every mom, dad, grandma or grandpa to do the same. I think it’s important that we have those kinds of facilities here,”
When some council members expressed concerns of supporting one health care provider over another Smith explained, “I don’t think this is an exclusive invitation just to North Country. I think we should write similar letters to Summit and Banner and anybody else that we think of that have the capacity and ability (to support an urgent care)”.
The motion to support the letters passed, with Mayor Smith, Vice Mayor Nilsson and councilmembers Tafoya, Karina Pack and Black voting in favor, and councilmembers Dixon and Pacheco voting against. “I feel like if we support this letter and send it off, it’s almost giving like precedence over others that may want to come in,” Pacheco stated. Councilmember Dixon stated he didn’t want to support a private business with the letter in his official capacity as a councilmember but supported it as an individual.
Jakubowski-Wolz clarified that the support does not make it exclusive. “You’re not saying, ‘I’m only going with this.’ You’re just supporting that entity.” She added she will reach out to Summit Healthcare to notify them of the city’s support of an urgent care to see if they would be interested as well.
