Holbrook City Manager Randy Sullivan has been addressing a number of projects in the city, and provided an update last week on what the city is working on.
He noted that many roads and sidewalks about town are in need of repair. “We’re always doing roads and sidewalks. The streets are so wide; it costs twice as much to maintain them. Roads in Holbrook are 48 feet wide rather than the standard of 24 feet, making them twice as expensive to repair and maintain,” Sullivan explained.
To help improve the town’s recreational facilities, the city is making an addition to Lewis Park and a big improvement to Hunt Park. Crews will install a backstop fence on the baseball field in Lewis Park, and, “I’m working on extending the soccer field behind the swimming pool and the library (in Hunt Park),” said the city manager. The work on the soccer field involves reorientation of the field to north and south and resizing it to regulation width.
According to Sullivan, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done at the Holbrook Cemetery. “There are quite a few headstones that have sunk at the cemetery. This winter we’re going to help raise some of those headstones and redo the southeast entrance road off Erie, which is really bad and in disrepair, and then the mausoleum is falling apart, too. It needs new paint and maintenance,” he explained.
In addition to improvements at Lewis and Hunt parks, the city pool requires a lot of work because of its age. “Then another project we’re going to do is the chlorination room at the pool. Our pool was built in the ‘70s, so it’s just an old pool. There are lots of wires that are corroded that need to be replaced,” he said.
Sullivan mentioned the town’s responsibilities for Hidden Cove Golf Course. “The city is trying to get out of the (golf) cart business (at the course), because we can’t afford to keep on replacing carts. So what we decided to do is to build a golf cart hangar, and if the members buy their own cart, then we can store it for them,” he explained. There is already one cart storage facility at the golf course, but another is needed.
The airport needs a major improvement in its ability to provide aviation fuel to its transient and fulltime pilots. “One of the projects we have right now is to move the fuel farm at the airport, because it’s in a bad location. We’re moving it closer to the gate so it will be out of the way and off of the apron (where aircraft are parked, boarded and unboarded). We have runway, apron and taxiway lights, but they are out right now because we got hit by a thunderstorm that completely shocked the whole system. I’m working on an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) grant to help us upgrade the lighting,” Sullivan said.
As for future growth in both building and recreation, donated land on the west end of town needs to be improved. Sullivan explained, “I’m working on a fishing pond as well. Shannon Newman donated about nine acres of land in the vicinity of Arizona, Buffalo and 13th Avenue. Right now almost all the drainage in Holbrook comes down Eighth Avenue, comes down the side roads that run east and west and hits Buffalo and Arizona streets, and 13th Avenue. The drainage just sits out there. It’s a big ol’ marsh and we have to continually fix the drainage that eventually goes to the Leroux Wash and the Little Colorado River.
“I’m working with an engineering firm that eventually will design a pond to contain all that rainwater. Then we can develop that into a new park or fishing pond. If I can get the permit from the Arizona Department of Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers, we are going to start building that pond,” he said. The fishing pond may be stocked by the city as a “catch and release” facility, or by the Arizona Game and Fish department under a “catch and keep” program. Sullivan would also like to add an amphitheater for Holbrook High School students to present performances as entertainment for the city, along with a bike path around the pond for exercise. He envisions the pond being built and possibly some houses built around the lake as a really good development project.
Another addition Sullivan is working on for Holbrook is a second grocery store. “I wish we could get another grocery store here. I’ve approached a number of developers for a second food store, but as of yet, no one is interested,” he concluded.
Sullivan welcomes your calls with suggestions for improvements to Holbrook. He can be reached at 524-6225.
