City of Holbrook has announced their intention to keep the city’s public pool open more hours this summer at last week’s meeting of the city council. During the discussion, Councilmember Tafoya said, “I have heard from the community that they would still like the pool open on Sundays.” She noted that the pool is only open a few months each year and added, “We can do it for a summer and reevaluate.” There were concerns the previous year that it would be too expensive for the city to make such an accommodation.
However, Assistant City Manager Randy Sullivan informed the council that while last year’s budget did not allow for Sunday hours, this year’s budget does. “This year I did budget money for a specific pool manager and two extra lifeguards to stay open on Sundays. We do have money in the budget for that.” Sullivan added that the intention is to open the pool for at least four hours on Sundays and possibly more. Councilmember Mike Nilsson stated that people he spoke with unanimously support Sunday pool hours as a family-friendly weekend activity.
Tafoya and Nilsson both agreed that this is something for families to do on the weekend together without having to leave the city. Tafoya said that many families travel to Winslow or Show Low to swim during the summer when the pool isn’t available, and this can save them that trouble.
During the call to the public, resident Tammy Gray also indicated she believes the pool should be opened on Sundays.
During the meeting the council gave final approval to the termination notice served to City Manager Sharon Jakubowski Wolz. Mayor Smith stated, “The termination notice went out on a non-regular meeting and our policy states the final action has to be done at a regular meeting.”
Mayor Smith, Vice Mayor Mike Nilsson and councilmembers Teri Tafoya, Karina Pack, Tammy Church and Arcenia Pacheco voted in favor, with Councilmember Robert Black voting against the motion. Jakubowski Wolz’ contract was terminated in a special meeting held earlier in the month after eight months of employment.
Black stated, “I’m still against it. I don’t think it was the right move. I don’t think we have the money to do what we did and I think it was unjust in what we did. So, I think it’s a very, very bad decision on our part.”
Following the discussion, Sullivan reported that he has met with department heads to review operations. He also noted conversations with the city’s attorneys regarding ongoing legal matters and costs. “We do have about $10,000 to $15,000 more coming in the next four months in the Patel case which is substantially less than what we’ve been doing,” he said. The Patel case is in reference to an ongoing legal dispute between the city and the owner of the Howard Johnson hotel.
Michael Sample, chairman of the Holbrook Planning and Zoning Commission, and Vice Chairman Aaron Colon spoke about amending the city code to clarify needless complicated term lengths for the commission.
The code currently states that one member will serve a one-year term, two members will serve a two-year term and two members will serve three years. The request is to change each to four-year terms as each term expires on a different year. The amendment would also allow for the removal of a commission member who has missed more than 25% of the meetings. The amendment would also replace ‘shall’ with ‘should’ in the requirement to have one meeting each month, meaning a missed meeting can now be excused if there isn’t anything to discuss. The item was for first read and will be on the agenda for approval at the next council meeting.
The council also welcomed Officer Jacob Newsom as a new member of the Holbrook Police Department. Newsom is a lateral transfer from Navajo County Sheriff’s Office.
During the call to the public, Gray expressed concern over the direction of the council. She said that it appears to her that it’s possible the city has engaged in open meeting law violations, polling of councilmembers outside public sessions, insufficient public notice and decisions made individually or collectively out of public view. She noted that she has nothing specific on her concerns but would be making public records requests.
Gray said she hopes the council will work to become more transparent and called for hiring a city attorney to avoid legal issues. She added that she believes the council has made good progress and encouraged reflection on what is most important and to realign on solving the problems that affect the citizens the most.
During the meeting the council also approved of past meeting minutes and approved a contract with Lochner for crack seal, seal coat and remark the runway at the airport. The contract is $99,670 and is paid for by and required by a grant utilized by the city from the Federal Aviation Administration.
