and Linda Kor
The Holbrook City Council completed a brief council meeting along with an hour-long work session last Wednesday. The meeting began with a swearing in ceremony for Mayor Kathleen Smith, council members Mike Nilsson and Teri Tafoya and new council member Tamera Church. Mayor Smith, Councilman Nilsson and Councilwoman Tafoya were previously members of the council. The council then voted for vice mayor as Councilman Nilsson’s two years have passed. Nilsson and Church both expressed interest in the position, with the vote going to Nilsson to serve and additional two years.
A presentation was given to the council by Charles Soffner and Richard Bono of Enterprise Fleet Management regarding a possible solution for the city’s outdated fleet of vehicles. The proposal presented included selling the city’s current 27 vehicles in the white fleet and leasing all new vehicles. Soffner stated that he estimated the sale of the fleet would provide the city with approximately $115,000 to put towards a new fleet lease. These vehicles would be more modern, require minimal maintenance and include backup cameras to improve driving safety.
Under this agreement the vehicle life would be up to five years, instead of the current 10-plus years of the current fleet. For savings, Soffner explained that aside from fuel cost reduction, the maintenance costs for the new fleet would be approximately $17,000 compared to the current costs, which according to City Manager Sharon Jakobowski Wolz, was more than $35,000 from January through November of this year. Approximately 70% of the city’s vehicles are either older than 10 years old or have been driven over 100,000 miles.
Councilman Nilsson asked the presenters if this would lead to insurance prices being increased. Bono answered that this would be dependent on the type of vehicles the city purchased. Black then asked if under this agreement they would need to lease 27 new vehicles again in five years. This answer for this question was that it would depend on the official terms of the agreement. The agreement could be adjusted based on city needs. Black expressed his concern that this purchase would be a huge investment to which it was noted that the lease cost would be less expensive than purchasing. Finance Director Randy Sullivan added that they considered rotating a few vehicles out each year, but the current fleet is sold old and expensive to maintain that it wouldn’t be cost effective.
Councilwoman Karina Pack asked who would be doing the maintenance for these vehicles. Soffner stated that repairs would be done in liaison with Enterprise, with the expectation that regular routine repairs such as oil changes, which could be done by the one of two certified local mechanics.
Councilwoman Arsenia Pacheco asked if the agreement would eliminate the need for a city employed mechanic. The answer to this was no, a mechanic would still be needed to do repairs for heavy machinery and the police vehicles. The police vehicles would not be included in this program because police vehicles need more additions on a regular basis, and their vehicles aren’t in need for a new rotation at this point. Sullivan explained that the police fleet is a more modern fleet currently compared to the city’s white fleet. This item was for information only, with the information to be presented at a future meeting for a decision by council.
The council also approved extending a lease of for Daniel Hutchens, owner of Rutz MX. The original council approval was for a lease up to four years and the request was to add up to five more years, for a total of nine years for the lease. This pertains to the approximately 100-acres south of Holbrook to be utilized as a motocross track. City Manager Sharon Jakubowski Wolz stated that this would help support the financial backing of the business and would help bring in more revenues for the city.
The council also approved an intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) to develop an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) and Flood Routing Analysis (FRA) for North Ponding Dam, which was originally constructed east of the city as a levee. The area functions as a flood retarding structure and is considered a high hazard regulatory dam by the ADWR, due to the size and population exposure downstream of that structure. As such, ADWR requires that an EAP and FRA be performed to aid in assigning a dam safety classification. ADWR is pursuing a National Dam Safety Program grant on behalf of the City of Holbrook to fund the development of the EAP and FARA. As a result, ADWR will grant the city an amount not to exceed $110,620 to hire an engineering consultant to complete the services.
During the work session, council members discussed the 2025-2026 Consolidated Fee Schedule. Amenity fees that were discussed for increase include those for the Holbrook City Fitness Center, Hidden Cove Golf Course, Holbrook City Pool, as well as building permit fees. Discussion on fees for the Holbrook Cemetery and the Holbrook Public Library were both tabled for a future meeting. While rate increases were discussed, no official numbers will be provided until it is presented on the agenda, which will require two meetings to finalize, allowing for public input.
For her updates, City Manager Jakubowski Wolz informed the council that she has had several meetings with community organization to discuss the homeless issue and ways to coordinate addressing that concern. She also met with Roadrunner Raceway, LLC, to discuss moving forward with a proposed drag racetrack on property located south of town near where the motocross track is being development.
Jakubowski Wolz is also working on new website redesign, marketing and branding for the city. During the meeting she also took time to recognize the exceptional work of the staff in streets, at the wastewater treatment plant and the parks departments for all they are doing for the community. She also noted that City Finance Officer Randy Sullivan has the newly added title of Assistant City Manager, and that Tim Kelley has been promoted to Public Works Director.
The next meeting will be held the second week of January.
