At last week’s Holbrook City Council meeting, City Manager Ted Soltis offered a summary of progress he’s made with his efforts to clean up Holbrook and modify some of the outdated equipment utilized by the city.
He explained that the owners of the Magnuson Hotel property on Hopi Drive completed repairs to the remaining structure. There were some broken windows and they also removed the graffiti. He also informed the council that the Family Dollar, located at 407 W. Hopi Drive, painted over the graffiti on the exterior walls.
Soltis addressed the water leak on Eighth Avenue that appears to be a natural water stream, which they still need to locate. Soltis said, “We are in the process of locating some leak detection equipment. Probably in long term planning, we might want to be thinking about budgeting for leak detection equipment because our pipes are really old and we’re having a heck of a time trying to find equipment right now. So, I’m sorry for the inconvenience but I believe the wait will be worth it because we could get a permanent fix.
“We are upgrading our water meter reading equipment and software. It’s very dated. Our handhelds are 10 years old. Our software is a couple of programs behind so we’re in the process of doing that. We’ll also be evaluating a plan for meter replacement. The industry has changed significantly since the city installed those meters. It is unbelievable really, what those new meters will do and I’m really excited about it,” said Soltis.
Looking ahead to the warmer seasons Soltis conveyed the city’s plan to upgrade the splash pad. He stated that they’ve purchased new gaming equipment including golf balls, clubs, shuffleboard sticks, tether balls and horseshoes among other new equipment. “We’ll be repainting the pad and also we have a leak underneath that pad so it’s probably going to be out of service for a while. Hopefully we can get it all done before the really hot weather rolls in,” said Soltis.
He informed the council that he attended an Arizona League of Cities and Towns meeting with the mayors and city managers from the area. “We had a chance to meet our local state legislators. It was a really good opportunity to kind of feel where they were coming from,” said Soltis. He also told the council that he will be attending the Arizona City County Management Association (ACMA) Conference during the week of Jan. 27. “It’s always good to get together with colleagues, go to various lectures, get ideas and share ideas on how we can improve our community,” said Soltis.
The following week Soltis and Human Resource Director Pat Nichols will be attending the Rural Arizona Group Health Press Conference. “I look forward to learning about the city’s health coverage.”
Soltis said he will also be attending the festivities for the Hashknife Pony Express ride next week. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to that.” He also reiterated an earlier request by Mayor Young that everyone take a look at the event calendar and do their best to attend.
Soltis informed the council and public that there is a Little Colorado River coalition meeting at 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Friday March 6, at the Show Low City Hall. “This is something that’s done every year. It’s really a good opportunity. If any of you don’t really have an understanding of what’s going on as far as litigation, it’s really a good opportunity to learn more,” said Soltis.
In other business, the council approved a resolution stating that Navajo County will be handling all elections moving forward. The resolution was set to formalize the process, which had been started previously in light of the last recall election where the county conducted the proceedings. “Then the other issue is that the state stepped in and said we need to do consolidated elections, which is actually a good idea,” said Soltis. He explained that the logic behind the consolidated election is to provide consistency and less confusion avoiding conflicting schedules as was one issue in the past. Vice Mayor Francie Payne clarified with Soltis that it would mean that the county would now carry out all elections within the city to which Soltis verified was accurate.
Holbrook Police Department (HPD) Chief Nathan Christensen was there to update the council on how the hiring process is going at HPD since he sent two of his candidates to the training academy and some news of a new addition to the department.
He explained to the council that one of the two candidates he selected for the academy to fill a vacant position at the department had dropped out. “The circumstances surrounding her leaving the academy brought concerns to me and I addressed them with the academy director. I hope they’re going to take what I had to say into consideration. At least think about it and maybe change the way they view the first day situation at that place,” said Christensen.
Christensen said the candidate wants to recycle back into the academy in July. He said that it would be more financially feasible to send her back than to send a new candidate, although, he does have four other candidates who applied to fill Sgt. Tony Sutton’s recently vacated position.
Christensen noted that Officer Matthew Theobold, who was previously a K-9 handler prior to working at HPD, asked if they could get a K-9 for the department. He sought out the funding and received a $15,000 donation from the Holbrook Tiisyaakin Residential Hall, a $9,500 donation from Circle K and $1,000 from Walmart.
“I’m very proud of officer Theobold and his motivation to look outside the box to where there was no cost to the city,” said Christensen. His training will be handled by the Arizona Department of Corrections in Tucson. The training and housing are free for the 90-day program, but the city will be responsible for his traveling expenses and his salary while he is there.
Christensen also informed the council that they have identified a suspect in the graffiti at the Navajo County Fairgrounds and are working on resolving that incident.
