During last week’s meeting of the Winslow City Council, City Manager David Coolidge updated the council on several economic development endeavors the city is currently pursuing. He told council the city is applying for a $50,000 T-Mobile Hometown Grant. “It’s for the development of a food truck court on 1st Street and Kinsley. This will include hookups for the trucks and seating for patrons,” Coolidge said. He added that the space will be ADA-compliant and surfaced with a material that meets access standards.
“Those spaces would be leased at a reasonable cost to vendors. They will have the hookups for everything else,” he said, emphasizing that the goal is not profit but economic opportunity: “The intent is to build the entrepreneurial base and allow those individuals that may not have a brick and mortar to start with the food trucks.” This comes after two new restaurants, Cajian Creations and Shorty’s Tacos recently opened brick and mortar businesses in town after long term operation as local food trucks.
Coolidge linked this effort to another project already in motion, the Economic Development Administration incubator grant. “That funding will be used to evaluate the building next to the current (police department) for use as an incubator,” he said. The grant totals $315,000, with a $79,000 city match. “The remaining $240,000 is paid for by the Economic Development Authority,” Coolidge informed the council.
He also provided an update on earmark applications for the FY2026 federal budget. Two Winslow projects were selected by both of Arizona’s senators: one for $800,000 to purchase police vehicles and another for $70,000 to equip fire trucks with medical monitors and defibrillators. Coolidge cautioned the council, “It’s just the first round. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
A separate US Department of Agriculture grant application is being submitted to extend support for the Winslow Farmers Market. The city’s existing farmers market grant expires at the end of September. “We’re not going to know to the last minute if we’re able to continue that,” Coolidge said.
Coolidge also updated on new businesses opening up including the Las Marias restaurant on the east end of town that has received its certificate of occupancy and should open soon. “That one’s been a long time coming,” he said. He also noted that the new Love’s Truck Stop is expected to open by the end of June. “They have built that so quickly. They just put the last of the pavement yesterday.” He also said another truck stop, a Circle K on North Park Drive, has completed development review and will soon begin plan submission.
A new Hampton Inn has also completed plan review. “Once we receive the stamped plans, the permit will be issued,” he said.
Coolidge said Winslow is transitioning into the lead agency for the I-40 TradePort project, a multi-jurisdictional economic initiative. “We sit right in the middle, so it makes a lot of sense for us to be the lead agency,” he said. Winslow will now manage all grants and will contract a third party to help with the additional workload.
In the rest of his report, Coolidge described ongoing and upcoming infrastructure projects. At 9/11 Park, new pavement is finished, and construction on the gazebo is nearly done. “The concrete is nearly complete. It would be complete, but there was one that didn’t meet the contractor standards.” Shade structures and playground equipment have been ordered for Henderson Park, Triangle Park, and Cooperstown Park under the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant.
A new water tank is being funded through the Environmental Protection Agency 595 grant and will replace a 2-million-gallon tank with a 2.5-million-gallon one. “That project will take 12 to 18 months to complete,” Coolidge said.
The city also expects to go to bid on the grant funded all-access playground project later this summer. Street work will continue June 18 and 19 on Aspinwall and Forest streets. “Any vehicles left on the roadways will be towed,” Coolidge said.
He concluded his report by promoting the June 21 community cleanup event. Volunteers will be deployed throughout the city, and those who participate will be granted free admission to the pool that evening. “We’re targeting Mikes Pike, North Park, 2nd Street and 3rd Street for weed removal,” Coolidge said.
Earlier in the meeting, representatives from Northland Pioneer College and its nonprofit foundation NPC Friends and Family gave a quarterly presentation. Betsyann Wilson, the outgoing executive director of the foundation, said she was retiring after 28 years. “It’s been a really great 28 years with Northland Pioneer College,” Wilson said. Wilson introduced her successor, Jesse Reek, and said she hoped to visit again.
Reek said summer classes are underway and that fall registration is open. “We are in the second of three years of free tuition for our summer classes.” She said a scholarship program is available to help with course fees and textbooks. Reek announced a new automotive technology program in Holbrook and said faculty recruitment is underway.
“That program will be open both for NAVIT (Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology) students and public students as well,” Reek said. A site-built house construction project is launching in Holbrook, and the welding and computer information systems programs at Painted Desert Campus continue alongside Winslow’s nursing and Allied Health programs. A children’s storytelling event is planned from 3 to 6 p.m. on July 18 at the Little Colorado Campus.
Karen Zimmerman of NPC Friends and Family reported that a new Career and Technical Education scholarship was awarded to Winslow High School student Jack Ferris for welding.
“The scholarship is $1,500 per semester, so $3,000 for him,” Zimmerman said. She said the foundation has awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships for the 2024–2025 fiscal year and has already distributed more than $80,000 for the upcoming fall semester. Another $20,000 will go to Native American students traveling 30 or more miles to class. “It’s based on the number of miles that they travel each week,” she said.
Zimmerman said the scholarship application window for Spring 2026 will be Oct. 1 through Nov. 13. Students can apply for up to 40 scholarships with a single application and staff offer editing assistance. “We really want to not just award them scholarships at NPC but teach them how to have a competitive scholarship application when they leave,” she said.
In other business the council:
* Approved an agreement with the Northeastern Arizona Law Enforcement Training Academy for Winslow to contribute $10,000 for use of the program.
* Approved an offer to purchase city-owned property located at West Second Street between Hicks and Campbell avenues for $10,000 and on the corner of Douglas Avenue and Fleming Street for $9,000.
* Approved cancellation of Aug. 12, regular meeting.
