and Talaina Kor
Holbrook City Manager Ted Soltis presented a letter of resignation at the end of last week’s city council meeting on June 22, after filling that position for the past four and a half years. The announcement came as a surprise to a majority of the council and community response has been one of relief and excitement for the city moving forward. It appeared even city staff were pleased as city sirens sounded off as word of the announcement spread.
The timing of his resignation may be due in large part to a shift of support from a majority to a minority of the council with the seating of Mayor Kathleen Smith in a recall election late last year, new council members seated at the beginning of the year and the appointment of Councilwoman Teri Tafoya, who was sworn-in at the beginning of last week’s meeting.
During his time as the city’s top administrator, Soltis has built a reputation of being unapproachable and unavailable to members of the public and has also displayed a lack of understanding of community needs, an issue addressed numerous times by members of the public at council meetings. Soltis has presented no evidence of economic development during his time with the city, has eliminated key staffing positions and has failed to address the city’s extensive blight and street repairs among other concerns.
He noted in his letter that his resignation date will be Aug. 3, but his final day at the city will be July 10, with the remaining time to be taken as time owed. His departure comes half way through the final year of a two-year contract put into place by the previous council, with Mike Nilsson and Tim Dixon all that remain seated of that council. With his departure, an interim manager will need to be appointed to the position until a new manager can be determined, with that appointment likely to fall to Finance Director Randy Sullivan who has served as interim manager in the past.
Also, during the meeting, the council held a public hearing for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 primary tax levy and a public hearing for the FY 2024 Final Budget, with no public comment for either.
A resolution for adopting the FY 2023-24 final budget was presented, during which Mayor Kathleen Smith brought up questions she had in relation to the budget that had gone unanswered by Manager Soltis. Some questions were related to implementing employee recognition program, setting aside funds to join the RealAZ organization, investing more in the senior center and additional funding for conferences. Smith stated she also wanted to provide new Councilmember Tafoya ample time to look through the budget as well. “I’d like to propose tabling this and then having one more work session just so we can answer any of these questions. I believe we have time.”
In reply, Manager Soltis stated, “If your goal is to have a work session, and to increase the budget, you can’t do that. You already have approved the tentative budget.” Councilmember Robert Black stated they didn’t want to increase the budget but discuss potentially allocating funds differently to better serve the community.
Councilmember Tim Dixon was not in favor of further discussion and made a motion to approve the final budget, a motion that failed with Dixon and councilmembers Mike Nilsson and Arcenia Pacheco voting in favor, and councilmembers Black, Karina Pack, Teri Tafoya and Mayor Smith voting against.
Councilmember Black then made a motion to table the resolution to approve the budget until the next meeting on July 13, so that another work session can be held prior to that meeting at 4 p.m. The motion passed with councilmembers Black, Pack, Tafoya, Nilsson, Pacheco and Mayor Smith voting in favor and Councilmember Dixon voting against. This delay will not affect the timeline for submission of the budget to the state.
Mayor Smith announced her selection of citizens for appointment to the charter review committee. Prior to doing so, she read from the charter code of ethics and warned council to limit their replies to either yay or nay regarding consent for those selected without disparaging remarks regarding citizens selected. Those appointed are Rebecca Slade, Richard Peterson, Robin Gonzales, Kent Darris, Gretchen Herndon, Steven Carbonneau and Mark Romo. Councilmembers gave their unanimous consent to the selection with the exception of Dixon who only supported the selection of Mark Romo and Pacheco who supported only the selection of Rebecca Slade, Kent Darris and Mark Romo.
A first reading for an ordinance was held, levying a primary property tax upon the assessed valuation of property located within the city subject to taxation, for the FY ending June 30, 2024. The rate is $0.4784 on each $100 of assessed valuation of property.
The council also approved a liquor license application for the Cameleon Café.
During the summary of current events, Mayor Smith stated that there will be a meeting with Local First Arizona to provide input on a new online marketing tool and invited business owners, community leaders and residents to join. The meeting will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 10, at the Machusak Center located across from city hall.
Mayor Smith related that she was able to meet with some younger residents to discuss the city and shared a letter she received from one of them, 12-year-old resident Riley Patterson. “I love living in Holbrook and growing up here, Holbrook is a wonderful place to grow up,” the letter read, “But there’s a lot of little things that isn’t so wonderful around town.” Patterson stated in her letter that she noticed all the empty buildings and thinks the owners could sell them or fix them up. Patterson also stated she would like there to be more activities and places to hang out for the youth of Holbrook.
During the call to the public segment of the meeting, resident Esther Dawson spoke in regard to the management of the Holbrook community swimming pool.
Dawson stated in her concerns that there will often by only one lifeguard watching over 30 or more swimmers. “Many times, the lifeguards are not alert, focusing only on one side of the pool for over two minutes. A child can drown in less than 60 seconds, and they would be none the wiser,” she stated.
Dawson also spoke of taking her siblings to the pool and noticing that during customary hourly checking of the pool where all patrons must get out, protocol was not followed. “No fewer than nine people remained. Some halfway submerged and one child was over five feet away from the wall with the water up to their neck. The lifeguards do not seem to notice nor care.”
She stated that the pool is not family friendly either and often plays songs over the loudspeaker that are explicit and sexual, and there are no reprimands by lifeguards for those using inappropriate language around children. Dawson added the clothing choice of some lifeguards is not conducive to their job as well as a lack of cleanliness at the pool and closing prior to the stated time. “These concerns are shared not only by my parents, but by numerous others that I’ve interacted with in the past few weeks.”
Sun Valley resident Lynn Huenemann also addressed the council, sharing his views on what the city has to offer and its advantages as a community.
