During last week’s meeting of the Winslow City Council, City Manager David Coolidge displayed a spreadsheet containing the financial information of the sanitation department showing that for the last fiscal year, there was a deficit of a little more than $214,000. Coolidge added, “It still has a positive fund balance but if we continue on this path at the end of this year we anticipate seeing a deficit.” He added that if there is a deficit in an enterprise fund like this then it automatically gets funded by the city’s general fund, which has very little wiggle room.
Last year the transfer station generated $32,570 but cost $370,804 to operate. “You’re just not generating enough revenue to operate that transfer station,” Coolidge said to the council. However, later in his presentation he explained that through cost cutting they have only lost another $5,552 after the first quarter of this year.
Coolidge investigated how other cities all over the state operate their transfer stations and the vast majority operate on a per ton basis instead of the voucher system. In Winslow’s current system someone could dump one truck load of waste at the transfer station in exchange for a voucher, which every resident in Winslow is entitled to six free vouchers a year. The system Coolidge sees other cities using would require people to weigh their cars before and after dumping and then paying a per ton fee.
He explained the reason this budget was not an issue for the city before was because the trash and recycling pickup fees were offsetting the cost of operation of the station but several years without increases to those fees has led to this budget deficit.
Vice Mayor Samantha Crisp asked Coolidge if he had or could research how much a vehicle scale would cost the city and he said that he doesn’t know exactly but expects it to cost between $80,000-$100,000.
Councilmember Darcey McKee and Mayor Birdie Cano both offered ideas that would be less burdensome on residents, including keeping the voucher program but increasing the cost and not issuing any for free. Coolidge explained that the Winslow transfer station is by far the cheapest in the area so increasing the fees to being similar to other stations should dramatically reduce the tonnage the city has to pay to be hauled away. Ultimately the staff and council decided to keep looking for answers to this budget downfall and Coolidge said that he and his team will run the numbers to see how much the vouchers would need to cost to make the plan viable and will return to the council with that information.
Also at the meeting, Winslow Farmers Market Manager Laurie Lashomb joined the meeting on Zoom to deliver a quarterly report presentation to the council.
“The farmer’s market has really been a small business incubator this year,” said Lashomb. She noted that there are 128 vendors that have been approved to operate at the market and the average Saturday morning sees about 30 but she added that last week’s market had over 50 vendors in attendance.
Lashomb spoke about the importance of the market’s ability to help lift small businesses off the ground. She gave an example of a coffee vendor who started with a canopy and jugs of coffee at the market’s first meeting earlier this year and now that vendor has their own coffee truck and espresso machine.
She also gave a preview for a future program the market will offer, which would aid local gardeners to start or upgrade their garden for the purpose of improving and diversifying the produce the market can offer to visitors. Lashomb also informed the council about the schedule including that the regular season of the farmers market will end Oct. 28, but there will be an indoor market every second Saturday of the month so residents can still find the items they have come to enjoy from the market.
Old Trails Museum Director Ann-Mary Lutzick also gave her quarterly report to the city council during the meeting. She spoke about an upcoming event, the annual meeting for the Old Trails Museum which is open to the public and will happen from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12, at the Hubble building, located at 523 W. 2nd St. She said that this would be an excellent time for people who want to be volunteers to meet current volunteers to ask about their experience. She urged any member of the public who would like to be a volunteer to please join because they’re always looking for more help.
Lutzick also spoke to council about a submission she made to the Arizona State Library Archive of the Month Poster. The photo submitted by the museum made the state poster and is now hung in city hall and there will soon be one hung in the museum.
She also spoke of working on a book in which photos from historical buildings in Winslow will be needed. She’s currently looking for historical photos of the Root Beer Stand.
Councilmember Daniel Tafoya said he spoke to Darrell Hancock who is the former owner of the Root Beer Stand, and two Catholic churches in town to see if they have any historic records and photos that might be useful to Lutzick’s book.
The museum director also spoke about how they’re currently conducting interviews for an oral history collection in which she interviews residents about their lives in Winslow. Anyone who lived or lives in the community is welcome to contribute. This will all be added to a collective oral history that people will be able to learn from and research and learn about the town for years to come.
During the call to the public portion of the meeting resident Alice Pinkman used her time to speak about the council bringing back the catch, neuter and release program for stray cats. This is something that Pinkman has brought to the attention of the council multiple times and explained her frustration with Animal Control for the number of stray cats on the streets.
The council also proclaimed Oct. 8-14 Fire Prevention Week and there was a short presentation from Fire Chief Michael Duran. Duran spoke about the importance of fire protection and informed the council he would be visiting all the schools to speak to children about fire protection and what to do in case of a fire.
The next meeting of the Winslow City Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24, in the meeting room located at 523 W. Second St.
