By Annyssa Howerton During the Holbrook City Council meeting on Sept. 9, the council discussed the emergency purchase of water well pumps. Water/Wastewater Manager Randy Sullivan stated, “We have three main wells, usually during the summer we have to have two wells running. About a month ago, well number three went down, that’s one of our main wells, in the meantime, we’re trying to get that pump and motor warrantied and we have a backup well. That backup well, we’ve never had to worry about before, it ran for two or three weeks, then that backup well went down as well.” He explained that an emergency replacement was located for $10,514 from Imnitram Liquidation Bargains in Rhode Island but he learned it would take too long to be received so another one was also purchased in the amount of $23,126 from Willis Drilling & Pump and was received the next day. Sullivan said the extra pump will be kept as a backup should something like this happen in the future. This action was approved, all council present. New fee schedules were approved for the Holbrook Magistrate Court. There is a court collection fee of $20, a failure to appear warrant fee of $150, civil traffic default fee of $30, court automation fee of $10, and a court user and staffing fee of $30. The council gave final approval to the sale of five parcels of city property including parcel No. 109-24-075H, located on Airport Road to Trafficade Work Zone Services for $12,000, with the intent to use this property to expand its business footprint. In the Sept. 1 edition of The Tribune it was not noted that the original motion for first read. Another is Parcel No. 109-37-006A, located on East Hermosa Drive to B Brown Construction in the amount of $723,000. It was not noted what the intended use for the property is. Two parcels, Parcel No. 109-24-075K between Mission Lane and Hutchinson Avenue in the amount of $44,550, and another, Parcel No. 109-19-039, located at 550 N. Second St. in the amount of $7,550 both to Peace, Love, and Happiness, Inc. According to Soltis, the property will be used to construct veteran housing. In addition, two parcels, Parcel No. 109-19-076, located at 150 W. California St. and Parcel No. 109-19-074, located at 154 W. California St. were sold to Paige Murray in the amount of $6,251 each. The buyer intends to build homes on these properties. City Manager Ted Soltis stated, “The Apache County Coalition, which includes Holbrook, was awarded a $600,000 Brownfield grant. The money can be used for Brownfield site inventory, community outreach, and engagement, site assessment, asbestos and/or lead surveys of buildings to support renovation, cleanup and reuse planning.” He noted that the goal is to have at least one goal per community and that he would inform the council when a project has been selected for the city. He also stated that the city gym lights are blinking, and that they are working on it being fixed. Both Soltis and Councilman Kip Woolford attended the League of Towns and Cities Conference and were able to learn what was happening in the state and communities regarding development. Soltis was a speaker at the event regarding insurance risk pools. After attending classes Woolford noted, “We all want the same things. I think we’re going to see a lot of good outlook for our future and there’s going to be a lot of focus to these small communities.”
