Holbrook’s mayor and council hosted a meet and greet with the community last week, in order to discuss topics of interest to the citizens and to ensure that the direction taken by council reflects the needs of the community.
The interaction was a positive experience for those in attendance, with a brief survey provided to the mayor and council an understanding of what those in attendance value most about Holbrook and their top priorities for improvement.
There were 15 people in attendance to discuss issues such as ways to gather the community in order to increase social interaction, expansion of recreation, housing concerns, economic development, activities for the youth and how to best communicate what the city has to offer both to its citizens, and to those who may be interested in moving to the community. Other topics included a desire to have the abandoned commercial buildings along Hopi Drive and Navajo Blvd. addressed and how to develop a more capable workforce.
A topic of shared agreement was that citizens need to come together and voice their opinions, and also learn to understand processes, time frames and resources. By doing this, the council can best serve the public with a plan for improvement.
“We are excited to start our strategic planning sessions, the first being our meet and greet. I feel it is important for the citizens to know who their council members are and to have an opportunity to meet us so they are comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns with us,” stated Mayor Kathleen Smith.
“We will be holding more meetings to give our community members a chance to be a part of our strategic planning sessions. As a council we see things that need improvement, but we don’t see everything, that’s where it is important for us to hear from the public on what is going on in their neighborhoods and the same goes for our business leaders. This is Holbrook’s strategic plan; it will take the community working together to make the big changes needed and I am confident that with all of us working together it won’t take long to make a positive impact,” she added.
In addition to Mayor Smith, elected officials in attendance included Vice Mayor Mike Nilsson, and council members Arcenia Pacheco, Karina Pack and Teri Tafoya. Also in attendance was Interim City Manager Randy Sullivan. Councilmembers Robert Black and Tim Dixon were not in attendance.
This meet and greet was planned as an alternative to a second council meeting for the month of October. The council will continue to hold just one council meeting at 6 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. On the fourth Wednesday of each month, the council will hold work sessions, which the community may attend but not comment. The next council work session will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 15, and be facilitated by Evelyn Casuga, Certified Economic Developer with the Center of the Future of Arizona.
