The Holbrook City Council held a meeting Thursday, Aug. 11, during which the council heard the results of the canvas primary election that was held Aug. 2 from City Clerk Lisa Hunt, who reported that there were 2,334 with 936 ballots cast and zero blank ballots cast. “Council member write-in votes were 11. Votes cast for council members totaled 2,264 as follows: Karina Pack received 439 votes; Robert Black, 434 votes; Arcenia Pacheco, 387 votes; Adam Marsh, 372 votes; Christy Patterson, 360 votes; Barbara Blythe, 259 votes.”
With those results, the top three vote getters were Karina Pack with 59%, Robert Black with 58% and Arcenia Pacheco with 52%.
Hunt gave Pack, Black and Pacheco their certificates and congratulated them on their new positions. The new council members will begin their terms when the current council members end in December of this year.
Hunt then went on to the election results for mayor. “Votes for mayor, Kathleen Smith 572 votes and Jay Merrill Young 330 votes. Kathleen Smith received the majority of ballot votes cast for mayor and is hereby issued a certificate of election.”
Young thanked the city for allowing him to serve for the past three years and outlined a list of accomplishments by the city during that time.
“At this time, I would like to say to my council, thank you. I’ve enjoyed working with you. It’s been a wonderful experience. Thank you to the city manager. Thank you to our city staff. It’s been a joy working with you.” Council members also extended their thanks to Young for his service.
Due to this being a recall election, Smith was sworn in as mayor at the end the meeting.
The council also approved an intergovernmental agreement for the White Mountain Regional Special Response Team (SRT) to enhance the ability to respond to situations when a specialized response team is appropriate with council member Earl Kester absent and excused from the meeting.
Police Chief Nathan Christensen explained this is a five-year contract which requires a $3,500 annual payment. “This year the payment was made on our behalf from RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) Funds that were donated to the City of Holbrook from the Navajo County Attorney’s Office.”
The council received a presentation on the Hashknife statue by the captain of the Hashknife Posse Mark Reynolds.
Reynolds explained that he traveled to Utah to meet with Scott Rogers, the artist creating the statue, to see the progress being made. In a video taken by Reynolds, the statue can be seen depicting a posse member atop a horse with a postal bag.
In the video, Rogers explains the man on the horse is left-handed, which was requested by the Hashknife Posse members.
“Because of where this sculpture is going in the city of Holbrook, for the public to be able to see it and really to have the impact that they wanted to have for passersby in their vehicles, they wanted the mailbag on the left side. In order to do that we had to make him a left-handed cowboy, which means he has the reins in his right hand.”
Reynolds stated that $60,000 of the $80,000 has been raised for the project and they’re working diligently to earn the rest of the money.
During summary of current events, City Manager Ted Soltis gave a list of things the city is currently working on, including renovations being done at the community center at the city library.
“The police department has a new roof that is complete. We’re also installing a new cooling unit in the storage shed.”
He added all the parks in town have new picnic tables, with the latest one being Lewis Park. “We’re also going to be installing some guardrails on McLaws Road,” he stated, adding that they will be working with the county to make it happen. Soltis also mentioned he is working with the owners of the abandoned motel that recently burned down on Hopi Drive to clean up the site.
