The Navajo County Board of Supervisors convened for a regular meeting Tuesday, July 14, during which the county’s public fiduciary department provided an annual report. According to Public Fiduciary Eileen Rogers’ presentation, the department provides court-appointed guardians or conservators for vulnerable adults and work to protect their rights, well-being and financial interest. “They could be elderly, developmentally disabled and the severely mentally ill. Those are the three main people that we get,” she said.
The scope for the public fiduciary in terms of assistance is far reaching, including a minimum of four client checkups a year as well as insuring proper housing, medications and other best care solutions for those they serve.
Rogers spoke on the struggles of building a new team due to retirement phasing out all previous staff, the extensive training that’s required, as well as the hardships and wins their office sees.
Another facet to the department is reconnection. “We have been able to use technology and DNA to try to get families together.” Rogers explained, “If they have not seen their family or they don’t know where they come from, this is what I personally like to do.” Rogers shared stories of how connecting people to family members can help restore identity, relationships and hope.
Rogers sited a particular incident where a man only had memories of seeing his mother killed at a young age and had no other family. “I had him take the little DNA test and we sent it off and through ancestry, they (the family) connected.” The man found a cousin who sent photos of their family to him, including one of his mother. “I had them put on picture canvases for him so that he could hang them up in his room. He went back and he says, ‘I have a family’.” She explained how these heartwarming experiences are all part of their job. “Mainly we need to keep our people at the forefront, what’s best for them and how can we make them have a quality of life.
During call to the public, county residents continued to speak against the wind turbines and solar panels corporations developing in the area as well as the county’s renewable energy ordinances.
Belinda Quog made claims that two initiative citizen petitions pertaining to renewable entities were unfairly handled, stating, “Navajo County elections Director Rayleen Richards and Deputy County Attorney Jason Moore purposely prevented our citizens initiatives from reaching the ballot by imposing an unreasonably high signature requirement,” adding claims that the 15% of residents signature requirement conflicted with the Arizona constitution and that the timeframe provided wasn’t reasonable.
After being asked for clarification by a board member, County Attorney Brad Carlyon explained that the required number of signatures is dictated by the state, rather than the county. According to Arizona Constitution Article Four, 15% of voter signatures are required for county level initiatives, and 10% for referendum. Carlyon said the same about the timeframe, saying, “The amount of days that were provided were not arbitrary days, those are specific to the letter of the law.”
Quog also made claims that the petitions acquired over 3,100 signatures, but this could not be verified due to the signatures never being turned in to the county by the required date. Despite online speculation that the county might have disposed of the signatures, a Facebook account under the name Kelly Meixler, who has spoken out on the subject in prior board of supervisors meeting, made a comment under one of her posts that the signatures were not handed in “so as to not tip our hand as who supported us.” The comment also stated they would not sell the data collected or “anything nefarious.”
Donna Wastchak spoke as well, including a statistic that 60,000 gallons of water is needed to build a base for each wind turbine. Chair Darryl Seymore replied, “I’ll just note, it doesn’t take 60,000 gallons of water to put a turbine in.”
Louise Liggett raised her voice to the board addressing Native American supervisors by stating, “As a Native American, how can you go for that? How can you allow them to kill our land, kill our hunting and fishing and kill the land, destroy the air?” She then equated the Green New Deal to communism and stated they don’t work.
Michael Pitts, a realtor and member of the White Mountain Association of Realtors based in Lakeside, spoke out against the Lava Run and Black Ridge Projects. Supervisor Jason Whiting clarified that those two renewable energy projects are based in Apache County and not Navajo. “So, I understand your concern around those, but those are not here.”
Holbrook council member Robert Black spoke out against Flock cameras, a specialized Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) that captures still images of passing vehicles and recording the license plate, make, model, color and unique vehicle details that have been installed across the county, stating he called both the Holbrook Police Department as well as the Sheriff’s Office and that neither of which knew about the cameras. “It’s kind of strange that we approved a half a million dollars for this, for our law enforcement, I gather is what it’s for, but yet they didn’t know how to access the data that’s in there.”
Supervisor Whiting stated he wrote a letter to members of Congress, “asking them to review several tax credits and subsidies on these renewable projects.” He recommended people do their own research into federal subsidies and to reach out to members of Congress themselves, urging those to be removed.
Darcey McKee was honored on her retirement from Navajo County after 36 years of service in the public health services district. “Her passion for the tobacco program never wavered through her career. She tirelessly works to improve the health and wellbeing of the communities,” stated Outreach/Education Division Manager Amy Stradling.
The board received an update on the Arizona Public Service (APS) announcement for the Cholla Power Plant conversion to natural gas in 2029, which reviewed the announcement and site tour detailed in the July 7, edition of The Painted Desert Tribune.
Also during the meeting, the board:
* Approved release of property damage claim on one claim against Navajo County in the amount of $7,163 to APS.
* Approved and accepted the Fiscal Year 2027 Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Drug, Gang and Violent Crime Control grant award to pay partial salaries for two dedicated prosecutors to prosecute drug sales and trafficking offenses. The grant will fund $103,346 in salaries and $35,577 in fringe benefits.
* Approved a resolution designating Jayson Vowell as the Navajo County Chief Financial Officer to submit the Annual Expenditure Limitation Report (AELR) for the year ended June 30, 2027.
* Approved the acceptance of the assets, liabilities and current funding ratio of the county’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement System trust funds as reported from their June 30, 2025, actuarial valuation.
* Approved to conduct board member elections for Clay Springs-Pinedale Fire, Sun Valley Fire, Woodruff Fire, Pinetop Fire, Timber Mesa Fire, McLaws Road Fire, Heber-Overgaard Fire and Joseph City Fire on Nov. 3.
* Approved to conduct a board member election for Clay Springs Domestic Water Improvement District (DWID), Heber DWID, Joseph City DWID, Misty Mountain DWID, Overgaard Townsite DWID, Ponderosa DWID, Porter Creek DWID, Three-O-Three DWID, Wonderland Acres DWID, Pinedale Estate DWID and Woodruff DWID on the Nov. 3 election.
* Approved to conduct board member elections for Heber-Overgaard Sanitation District, Joseph City Sanitation District and Pinetop-Lakeside Sanitation District on Nov. 3.
* Approved to conduct board member elections for Northland Pioneer College and Navapache Hospital District on Nov. 3.
* Approved the renewal of the mutual aid agreement between the Sheriff’s Office and the Hopi Tribe for coordinated law enforcement efforts on the Hopi Reservation.
* Approved tax exemptions filed as a request for redemption of waiver.
* Approved Show Low Youth Recreation and Sports Foundation, Inc., requesting Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Funds in the amount of $2,500.
* Approved contracts signed by the county manager for EX2 maintenance change order to the design, construction, maintenance and marketing of fiber optic infrastructure.
* Approved contracts signed by the county manager for The Ardurra Group contract amendment for schoolhouse lane parent drop-off lane redesign at the Linden Elementary School.
* Approved naming an existing unnamed road in the White Mountain Lakes/Silver Creek Estates area to “Waystone Way” (North – South) in Section 27, Township 11 North – Range 22 East in District III.
* Approved contract with Gartner for CISO Executive Access for Navajo County Information Technology. The County’s new Cyber Information Security Officer (CISO) completed a review of existing cybersecurity tools and identified an opportunity to improve the county’s strategic approach to information security. This review recommends discontinuing an existing cyber security contract, $144,000 annually, with duplicative functionality to reallocate funding to a Gartner solution, $137,654 annually, that more effectively supports the county’s long-term cybersecurity strategy. This change results in an annual savings of $6,346 and will be procured through a State of Arizona cooperative agreement, ensuring compliance with procurement requirements.
* Approved sympathy letters to Ethan Thomas and Sheri Martinez.
* Adopted a resolution granting a right-of-way exchange of a portion of “South Meadow Road” in Heber.
* Adopted a resolution granting a right-of-way abandonment and sale of a portion of “Goodwill Lane” in Lakeside.
* Approved a recommendation to the Department of Liquor Licenses & Control for approval or disapproval of the pending Restaurant liquor license application from Jeffery Craig Miller for AZTex Coffee and Taproom BAR located at 2375 Bison Ranch Road No. 113 in Overgaard. No one spoke during the public hearing.
Convening as the Navajo County Public Health Services District, the board:
* Approved a three-year renewal of the memorandum of agreement for Navajo County to access and use The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Program for sending emergency alerts.
* Approved an agreement between AZ Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division and Navajo County Public Health-Animal Care and Control.
Convening as the Navajo County Flood Control District, the board:
* Approved an amendment for the professional services contract with JE Fuller Hydrology & Geomorphology, Inc. for the Navajo County ALERT System Maintenance and Improvements Project for one additional year to Aug. 25, 2027.
* Approved a land purchase agreement between Ronda C. Folland and Christina E. Flemming to sell Navajo County .58 acre of land for flood control in the Linden area in the amount of $58,000.
