By L. Parsons Last week, following a public hearing at the Navajo County Board of Supervisors meeting, the county budget was unanimously passed. In a presentation about the budget, Assistant County Manager Bryan Layton explained that there had been no changes from the tentative budget presented in June. The general fund budget is $47.8 million, up last year by $4.9 million. Various grants including CARES Act funding contributed to the surplus, as well as savvy financial planning. Expenditures will be the highest in the public safety and employee salary categories. The total budget for all funds is $147 million. Over the last few years, the county has cut back staffing and some services in order to manage spending. “We have been too lean in some respects,” Layton said. Currently, there is no plan to return to full staff, however plans are in place to upgrade and replace software in various departments and to account for the increase in operating costs county-wide. Navajo County Public Health Director Jeff Lee gave an update on the COVID-19 situation in the county. He was joined by Christy Ross, the incident commander at Little Colorado Medical Center and Ron McArthur from Summit Health Care. In his remarks, Lee said, “The risk of exposure to COVID is extremely high. It is widespread throughout Arizona and Navajo County. As of today, we have 148,683 cases in the state and 2,918 deaths. In Navajo County, those numbers are 4,877 cases and 162 deaths. While our numbers over the past couple of days have been trending downward, we do know that there is a significant backlog of pending tests. So, we anticipate that our daily numbers will jump back up as those tests are processed at the laboratories.” He reminded the public to lower the risk of contracting and spreading the disease by following recommendations. Those include physical distancing, wearing a face covering, washing hands and staying home if feel ill. Christy Ross commented that while there are more positives being reported in Navajo County, they tend to be less severe than they were at the onset of the virus in March or April. “On April 23, we had already experienced seven deaths due to COVID in Winslow. We have not added to that number since.” She did, however, mention that the length of hospital stays is longer and the emergency department is seeing more COVID possible patients. Ron McArthur of Summit Healthcare also commented, “We didn’t have the surge that LCMC had early. We are experiencing our surge now.” According to McArthur, Summit is seeing between 30 and 40 COVID patients per day and are exploring plans to mitigate staffing shortages. In other business, the board: * Heard a presentation from the Facilities Management Department on the completion of the re-roofing of the Holbrook Historic Courthouse. The project has been completed and been given a satisfactory review of completion of the contract. The total cost of the project was $197, 244. * Accepted an award of $715,760 from the Universal Service Administrative Co., a nonprofit created by the Federal Communications Commission to administer funds. These funds will be used to improve broadband in six school districts and 10 libraries. The public school districts include those in Winslow, Joseph City, Holbrook, Show Low, Blue Ridge and the Navajo County Accommodation district. The public libraries include Winslow, Holbrook, Clay Springs, Pinedale, Rim Community, Pinetop-Lakeside, Show Low, Snowflake/Taylor, McNary and the Navajo County Library District. * Approved a contract in the amount of $928,416 to Hatch Construction and Paving, Inc. for hot asphaltic pavement overlay. This is an annual contract for pavement overlay on public roads in Navajo County. Funds are budgeted in the capital improvements fund. * Approved a request for Anti-Racketeering Revolving funds in the amount of $2,447 to the Navajo County Attorney’s Office. These funds will be used to pay back taxes on and repair a house forfeited to the attorney’s office so that it may be sold. * Approved an intergovernmental agreement between Coconino County Public Health Services and Navajo County Public Health Services districts for the continued use of medical consultant and alternative medical examiners services. * Approved a memorandum of agreement to continue the partnership between Navajo County Public Health Services and the Northeastern Arizona Local Workforce Development Board to provide workforce services. * Approved a memorandum of agreement with IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert and Warning System), a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide warnings and provide critical information to the public in an emergency. * Approved a renewal of the intergovernmental agreement with the City of Show Low for the use of the Ready Navajo County alert system. * Approved the renewal of the intergovernmental agreement with Northland Pioneer College for the use of the Ready Navajo County alert system. * Heard a quarterly report from the White Mountain Lakes County Recreation Improvement District. * Recognized Cameron Crandell from the Public Works Department on his retirement after 30 years of service to Navajo County and Lilene Sanchez on her retirement from the Recorder’s Office after more than 13 years. * Recognized employees Teddi Thomas of the Superior Court, Tom Franklin of information technology and Scott Jamar of the probation department for their excellence in personal performance for the month of July. * Recognized county employees Jason Moore, Travis Burnett, Susan Hilgart and Michael Sandoval for walking over one million steps during a health challenge. * Recognized Dylan Baca for being selected as one of 25 under 25 youth leaders by the United Nation Indian Tribal Youth, Inc. Seventeen-year-old Baca is the son of Supervisor Dawnafe Whitesinger. He is among the 2021 class of Blue Ridge High School, is on the Governor’s Commission serving as chairman of the Arizona Human Trafficking Prevention Committee and the Indigenous People’s Day Committee, and is the founder of the Indigenous Peoples’ Initiative. * Approved the sale of back tax land parcels sold over the counter in the amount of $16,239. * Renamed/clarified the spelling of Appollo Way to Apollo Way in the Pinetop-Lakeside area. * Approved tax exemptions for widows, widowers or disabled people whose property is exempt from tax. * Appointed Marti Landis-Jones as the vocational rehabilitation representative on the Local Workforce Development Board. * Reappointed Steve North as the economic development representative on the Local Workforce Development Board. * Approved a memorandum of agreement between the Navajo County Public Health Services District and the Northeastern Arizona Local Workforce Development Board to provide adult, dislocated worker and youth program services. * Approved a memorandum of agreement between the Navajo County Probation Department and the Northeastern Arizona Local Workforce Development Board to cost share employees for fiscal year 2021. The agreement will allow the probation department to cross train youth care workers to also perform as Arizona At Work intake specialists. * Approved an agreement between the Northeastern Arizona Local Workforce Development board and Reveille Foundation. The agreement will designate a one-stop operator to oversee the One-Stop Delivery System and be responsible for customer flow and overall quality and effectiveness of the Comprehensive One Stop Job Center in Globe and its affiliate sights in Show Low, Payson, Winslow and Eager. * Approved a memorandum of agreement between the Navajo County Community College District and the Northeastern Arizona Local Workforce Development board for shared employees. * Approved constable reports for Winslow, Snowflake, Kayenta, Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside precincts for June 2020, and Pinetop-Lakeside Precinct for September 2019. The next meeting of the Navajo County Board of Supervisors will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11. Instructions for attending the web-based meeting will be on the county website, www.navajocountyaz.gov.
