By L. Parsons Winslow City manager John Barkley is optimistic about the future of the town in the new calendar year and the continued “renaissance” as he calls it, but this will not be without its challenges. According to Barkley, “There is a lot of energy in town and a lot of prospective businesses looking at Winslow.” He understands, however, that 2020 was a difficult year for the hospitality and tourism businesses that help to fuel Winslow’s economy. “We are going to stay positive and do some good projects and carry things through into the next year. We are going to do some infrastructure work and plant some trees. We are moving forward with planting this winter, somewhere around 50 trees or so. “The hospitality and hotel industry has been hit hard. Our chamber of commerce is going to need some support going forward in the next calendar and fiscal year so we are preparing to help them because they will have some shortfalls, probably the most dramatic of anybody in terms of city services. The chamber is going to be hurting because that revenue is not coming in.” He also noted that travel is taking place, “But the circumstances around it are so scary right now. I’m not optimistic that that is going to pick up dramatically any time soon. But you know you can’t stay at a hotel virtually, so the more facilities and amenities we have, the more apt people are to come off of I-40.” A hotel chain, according to Barkley is currently developing a site plan for a location on North Park Drive. The Westerner Hotel, located at 500 E. Second St., is undergoing renovations and visits to the Standin’ on the Corner Park remain strong. Barkley said, “State shared sales tax revenue is still doing okay and that’s good; it’s a good chunk of our revenue. People are still on the Corner and our restaurants are doing okay.” He did mention a program made available by an executive order by Governor Doug Ducey that offers restaurants grants to expand their outdoor spaces. This, according to Ducey, is to allow the industry to survive throughout the pandemic. “We want to allow them to expand if they deem it as a good thing to put up some awnings and space heaters through the winter time,” Barkley said. “There is grant money available and any business owner that is interested in taking advantage of this should contact us here at City Hall.” Projects geared toward Winslow residents are also in the works. Barkley spoke about long term goals of building a new fire station and a library, both have been being discussed for some time. “That’s a bond issue,” he said, “we decided not to take that on due to the uncertainty of the future here but that is long term on the table. “The splash pad is still in the works. We have the funding to do that this physical year, but it’s probably going to carry over to July of 2021. We would like to have it installed and ready for the enjoyment of young and old alike over by the outdoor pool by August or September. We have been talking this up for two years, we just have to do it. We also have a plan for a community center between the indoor pool and the basketball courts. We have an architect working on that now but it’s going to carry over to next year. There is a big demand for that.” He also plans on continuing blight abatement and working toward improving the look of the city. “We are trying to provide dumpsters to people and neighborhoods to help clean up their properties. I think there is a role for the city to be more supportive. To that end, we are installing a pay station, like the one at McHood Park at the transfer station to make things easier for our citizens. It is a way that people can get a voucher on site instead of having to come to City Hall.” Code enforcement will also be a focus in the upcoming year. Properties around town that have been in poor repair or in danger of collapsing are currently being inspected. Barkley said, “We are working to do more assessments, whether those are structural or chemical. We are looking at buildings that may contain asbestos and working with the private owners of these buildings to get them either renovated or demolished.” The other side of removal is always development. Earlier in the year, The Tribune reported the materials recycling business, C6 Zero would be moving to Winslow by the end of 2020. Barkley said, “We are not sure what their specific timeline is for construction, they originally said by the end of December but we will just have to wait and see. It looks like a very conducive project, a good shot in the arm.” Winslow, as most small communities nationwide has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and is facing uncertainty for their budget in the coming year. However, Barkley said, it is not likely the city will be laying off any of their employees. “We have a pretty good range of fund balances through our revenue sources and it sounds like the vaccine is on the way, whether it takes care of things or not we don’t know but at least our healthcare will have access to that pretty quickly. It’s going to be tough to plan ahead, it was tough to plan for this fiscal year, it’s going to be even tougher to plan for the next one because we are in a situation that changes day to day don’t know which way the trends are doing to go through the spring months. We have been fortunate to receive CARES Act money for our police department to supplant some of that shortfall, but that’s a one year deal so there will be ramifications going forward having to do with revenue, particularly tourism and sales tax revenue. We have to keep an eye on it and look at the trends. We just have to hunker down and make the best use of the revenue that we have.” Throughout 2020, City Hall limited in-person interaction by offering options for remote bill pay, and taking precautions at city facilities. That will continue, Barkley said. “It’s been rough and we have had to rally the troops here at city hall and at our facilities to keep services going and that’s what we plan to do in the coming calendar year, is provide the best service we can amidst all the restrictions on gathering and personal contact, and those kinds of things.” One of those services is the new transit option offered by the city. It has been in the works for more than two years and is now on the road and getting people where they need to go. “Our transit program has had great response. It has carried through the winter months as people take advantage of the low cost service. We just do a loop through town. We are following sanitization and protocols to keep people safe. It is dial-a-ride still at this point. You can call the transit number and make an appointment to get a ride anywhere in town but our plan is to connect down to Holbrook and develop a service that connects the community college campuses. “We put the brakes on it long about September or so, and we were also planning to connect with Flagstaff but that’s on the back burner for now, there are funding match obligations that we need to carry with the Arizona Department of Transportation but we are keeping an eye on every dollar that comes in and goes out here.” Barkley offered praise to the Historic Preservation Commission and the Arts Council for their continued work in beautifying the town. “I would like to give a shout to our Historic Commission and Arts Council. We are moving forward with the art car project, we have made a deal with a local auto restorer to donate a car. We have new signage on our eastern and western gateways.” Finally, Barkley said, “We are going to try to develop our capability for remote and telework options. Which is what we were and we all were headed toward technology wise but this just sped it up. And, I want to keep it optimistic and positive and let people know that we are excited about what may happen. We are going to push hard and be hospitable to prospective businesses. We want to stay in the dialogue so that we are in the circle when there are prospective businesses.” The Winslow City Hall can be contacted by calling (928) 289-2422. To dial a ride with Winslow transit, call (928) 289-1462.
