The Winslow City Council heard from the Recreation Department Director Sandra Knight last week at their council meeting.
Knight explained to the council that spring is going to be a busy season for her department. “This quarter, we have already wrapped up youth basketball as a Junior Suns League. We had 226 participants and the season began Jan. 4. Up next is men’s basketball starting March 8. We are also happy to bring back our annual Easter Egg Hunt in the way we used to do it, with Easter Eggs all over the city park. That will be on April 16.”
Also in April will be a community event celebrating the Eagles song, “Take it Easy” in the Route 66 Plaza. More details for that event will follow as they are available.
Knight then previewed some summer activities as well saying, “The Cancion Tequila Baseball organization is coming back and will be hosting a few teams on May 7 and 8 from Tempe, Albuquerque, Prescott, and Winslow puts together a team as well. That will be at Vargas Field and there is no cost to attend.”
The outdoor pool will open May 31, swim lessons will begin in July and every Saturday in the month of June there will be events in the Route 66 Park including live music and games for the entire family.
All the details of upcoming recreation department activities as well as registration forms are available at the indoor pool from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 500 E. Cherry St.
Winslow City Manager John Barkley also gave a status report in which he spoke again about the abatement of a building located at 104 E. First St. The building, known as the former Desert Scene Lodge collapsed in May of last year. Since, the city has been attempting to contact the owner of the building to proceed with abatement procedures.
Barkley said, “We have served the owners with abatement notices. The deadlines for those have come and gone so we will now have the City inspector inspect the property to declare it a public health and safety issue.”
There remains no timeline on the removal of the building, though it is impeding parking access and is an eyesore according to business owners in the downtown area.
On the City of Winslow social media accounts, the city clerk has announced information regarding the upcoming primary election to be held Aug. 2. There will be three council vacancies as well as the position of mayor.
Interested candidates should visit City Hall, located at 21 N. Williamson Ave. for information and candidate packets. The last day to return those packets will be April 4.
In other business, and in the absence of Councilman Peter Cake, the council:
* Declared a vacancy on the Winslow Arts Council.
* Approved a routine agreement between the city and the Winslow Knuckles Baseball organization for use of city-owned baseball fields.
* Approved a routine agreement between the city and the Lady Dawgs Softball organization for the use of city-owned softball fields.
* Approved a contract in an amount not to exceed $410,052 with C&S Engineers for the reconstruction design of runway 11-29 at the Winslow Lindbergh Regional Airport. Partial funding will be provided by grant assistance from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). The portion of the funding to be paid by the grant was not made available as of press time.
The next meeting of the Winslow City Council will be held virtually at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8, with details on how to attend on the city website, www.winslowaz.gov.
