Discussions Continue On Fire/Ambulance Services

“It started with a committee wanting to look at fire services for the Town of Snowflake to get a better idea of what are the needs and what are the possibilities to meet those needs,” he continued.

“It progressed to the first step, which will be to integrate the fire and ambulance services of the two communities. In order to do that, by law there has to be an IGA.”

The Administrative Committee, working with both town attorneys, put together and developed an agreement. “What we have tonight is the draft being recommended for approval,”

said Watson, noting that it was not an action item, but was on the agenda for discussion and public comment. No comments were received from the public.

“We really wanted to improve the fire and ambulance for Snowflake and Taylor,” said Councilman Terril Kay, who serves as chairman of the committee. “At the time we were looking for Snowflake, they are an agency just like any other agency that lacks funding.

“A lot of it was safety and response time…and we put a lot of pressure on our volunteers,” said Kay.

The committee spent nearly a year looking at how costs could be cut, then looked at creating a fire district, but with the economy like it is, they realized that wasn’t an option.

“We went to the town of Taylor to join the committee,” Kay said, and “had a lot of good debates,” but were able to work on an agreement.

“In my opinion, this is the best we could do in the situation,” said Kay.

The Town of Taylor was scheduled to hold a special meeting April 21, and the agreement was on the agenda.

Watson said that there will most likely be a joint meeting of the Snowflake and Taylor councils on Tuesday, April 28.

In other business on April 14, the council:

* Adopted Resolution No. 15-06 adopting a Fair Housing policy.

Librarian Cathie McDowell advised the council that in order to receive grants, the town must approve a proclamation setting aside April as Fair Housing Month. She noted that grants have been received for the refurbishing of the old Academy Building, which will become the municipal library.

* Approved a staff recommendation to award a $227,000 construction contract for the Southern Solution, Reach 2 to Western Grading, LLC, the low bid of the two bids received.

The project is being funded by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that pays 75 percent of the cost. The remaining 25 percent is being paid by a partnership that includes the town of Snowflake, Navajo County and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).

“Through this whole project we have had two grants,” said Finance Director Brian Richards.

It is anticipated that work will begin at the eastern crossing in two weeks and it would close Highway 277. Work should be completed in approximately a month, though the bid specs allowed three months for the project.

* Approved the exchange of property by the town and Rimrock View Estates located on or adjacent to the golf course.

It was discovered during recent surveying activities that a portion of the Snowflake Golf Course green on hole No. 6 and the adjacent tee box on hole No. 7 were located on Rimrock View Estates property, and in order to correct that situation, property currently owned by the town, doing business as the Snowflake Municipal Property Corporation, but not being utilized by the golf course could be exchanged.

Watson said that both properties were appraised and are similar in value, noting that neither property has direct access from a public or private street.

* Approved a $7,331 change order to the town’s contract with Tetra Tech for engineering services for the 12” water line relocation and extension on Seventh South, bringing the contract total to $32,992.

The engineering project encountered several alterations throughout the project due to the fact that Tetra Tech had to coordinate the town water line relocation with the ADOT consultant doing the design work for the Seventh South Road Reconstruction Project. Richards noted that in addition to the engineering services resulting from the complex coordination with the ADOT consultant, inspection services were also requested of Tetra Tech for the installation of the new water line. As a result of the additional engineering services and increased field inspections, Tetra Tech proposed a change order to the original contract.

* Approved Amendment No. 4 to the Personnel Policy Manual, effective July 2, 2016.

Watson explained that the current policy states that an employee can accumulate up to two years accrued vacation, but says that if not used, it will be lost by the employee. He noted that there are individuals who accrue more and want to use it in March. The computer software will track accrual of vacation leave time and stop accrual when the maximum accrual limit is reached until vacation leave time is used and drops below the accrual maximum limit.

* Entered an executive session to discuss Watson’s resignation and how to select a replacement.

“We won’t be doing any voting on this when we come back, it’s just for discussion,” said Vice Mayor Kerry Ballard, who was conducting the meeting.

Watson has taken the newly created post of assistant county manager with emphasis on economic development.