The Holbrook City Council appointed Mike Nilsson as vice mayor during their meeting on July 13. Councilmembers Robert Black and Nilsson both expressed interest and were nominated for the position, with councilmembers Karina Pack, Tim Dixon, Arcenia Pacheco and Nilsson voting in favor of Nilsson, and councilmembers Teri Tafoya, Black and Mayor Kathleen Smith voting for Black.
With the resignation of City Manager Ted Soltis in the previous council meeting, the council was tasked with selecting an interim city manager while the city prepares for its search of a new city manager. The initial discussion was whether to select Finance Director Randy Sullivan or to hire a firm to assist in locating one.
Mayor Smith voiced her recommendation for Sullivan, stating, “I’ve spoken to many citizens over the last few weeks after we’ve heard about the resignation of Mr. Soltis, and a lot of citizens like the idea of trying to stay local. They like having somebody that’s already aware of our needs and our challenges,” she said, also noting that Sullivan has acted as interim manager previously.
Councilmember Pacheco disagreed, stating she wanted to go through a firm to get a new person with fresh ideas and that the position may take away from Sullivan’s current position as finance director. Sullivan explained that he had proper support from city employees and had done both jobs in the past without issue. “My whole career at the city has been doing double, even triple duties.”
Councilmember Dixon also countered and said he believed Sullivan was a good guy but not able to be as professional as someone hired through a firm. Councilmember Pack argued that they had gone with a professional firm before with the hiring of Soltis and was not impressed. “Meeting with Ted, and going over things on the agenda, to me, one-one-one with Ted, there was a lot of unprofessional things that were said.” She added that she has never had that issue with Sullivan. It was also noted that Sullivan has worked for the city for over 15 years and has majors in both business administration and accounting.
Going to the vote, Sullivan was selected to act as interim city manager, with all but councilmembers Dixon and Pacheco voting in favor.
The council also voted to postpone any action regarding a search firm for a new city manager until more research could be done on the options. Mayor Smith noted that the Arizona League of Cities and Towns has staff that would help the city create a profile of the type of manager needed and do so free of charge. “My recommendation is, let’s start with them. Let’s get our strategic plan and get the instruction we need. If we want a manager that’s strong with a finance background or public works direction, things like that. I don’t remember what the last consulting company was but someone told me it was $60,000 to hire that firm and that’s a lot of money.”
The next item for discussion was the bid for the Sun Valley Water Project, which was awarded to Southwest Tank and Steel, Inc. The project involves the removal and replacement of Sun Valley’s 20,000-gallon tank.
The city received a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for water improvement in Sun Valley, which will pay for $229,423 of the project, and the remaining $7,560 will come from the Water Utility Fund, for a total cost of $236,983. The services provided by Southwest Tank and Steel include providing an 18’x12’ water tank with coatings for $185,997, a new tank foundation for $28,000, demolition of existing tank for $6,000, taxes in the amount of $13,485 and payment and performance bond in the amount of $3,502.
Southwest Tank and Steel, Inc. and Revolution Industrial bid on the project, both of which were over budget. The original bid included two tanks, the 20,000-gallon tank and a 55,000-gallon tank, temporary tanks and water filtration systems with the bids coming back at $896,513 for Revolution Industrial and $656,811 for Southwest Tank. Due to the high costs, the project scope had to be modified. A lower price was negotiated with the lowest bidder by reducing the scope of work to only replacing one tank.
“This is to replace the north tank, it’s the oldest and in bad shape so, this is still going to be a big benefit for that side of town,” stated Sullivan. Black asked if it wouldn’t be better to go with a poly tank for the water issues in Sun Valley rather than a steel tank. Sullivan replied, “It could be but with ADEQ (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) processes and longevity, poly tanks in my opinion, aren’t going to last as long.” He also noted that trading a tank, like-for-like, the city wouldn’t have to go through additional engineering or permitting processes through ADEQ. He added that the steel tank would have an interior lining to protect the steel from any water components that may cause corrosion.
Sullivan stated that he knows the water in Sun Valley is poor quality and has been working with ADEQ for several months to try to make improvements. “We’ve analyzed the water several times. It’s a big, long process.” He explained that ADEQ was able to identify some of the materials that are causing that to naturally occur in the water and are now trying to come up with a process to filter and clean the water before it reaches the tanks.
The council approved a Uniform Video Service License for Cable One, doing business as Sparklight, with the city to pay the license fees required under licensing statute and all other fees imposed, with the initial rate of the license fee being 5%. The contract is for 10 years, from Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2031.
The council also approved an ordinance levying a primary property tax upon the assessed valuation of property located within the city subjected to taxation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. The rate is $0.4784 on each $100 of assessed valuation of property.
Also approved was the FY 24 final budget in the amount of $15.8 million.
