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During a meeting of the Winslow City Council, City Manager John Barkley informed the council that the commercial historic district of downtown Winslow has been nominated to be part of the National Register of Historic Places. “There is a nominating committee meeting in Phoenix in November. The district is considered to be from First Street to Third Street and from Warren to Williamson Avenues,” he said.
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Mayor Tom McCauley reported that Bonnie Brennan Elementary School, under the direction of Principal Troy McReynolds has received an A rating from the Arizona Department of Education. “This is the first A rating in our school district. Kudos to Mr. McReynolds and his staff. It is really nice to see how the test scores have continually risen over the last 10 years.”
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Barkley in a report on city activity reminded the council of a planned workshop for Nov. 2. “This business development workshop will touch on business growth, trends and look at providing flexibility and adaptive reuse of existing structures in the city.” The workshop will be held at 9 a.m. at the Winslow Visitors Center/Hubbell Building, located at 523 W. Third St. and is open to the public.
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In the absence of City Council members Rickey Jackson, Robin Boyd and Samantha Crisp, the remaining quorum approved a procurement policy for the city.
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According to City Finance Director Elias Jouen, a policy of this nature was not previously in place. He explained, “The policy will centralize the purchasing function to provide uniformity in the procurement of supplies, services and equipment in a fair, open and equitable manner at the lowest possible cost. This will standardize the way that we do business.”
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Jouen also asked the council to approve fiscal year 2018-19 budget transfers and authorize his staff to complete year-end processes. He said, “What you have here is a comprehensive list of all the accounts and their operating expenses by fund and by department. We represented here the initial budget that was adopted at the beginning of the year July 1, 2018. Also shown are the adjustments made to that budget to make sure we don’t have any negative balances.”
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This is a routine annual process that has no impact on the citywide budget in the current fiscal year. It is simply a reflection of last year’s actuals.
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During the call to the public, Winslow resident Vicki Schaffer addressed the council.
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“I would like to address the discrepancies and lack of transparency on the city’s website. I have tried to attend as many council meetings as possible over the last few months in hopes to hear an explanation or a plan of action from the city in light of the multiple mistakes that have been brought to our attention.
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“The $1.2 million mistake brought to our attention two weeks ago is nothing to be ignored. The fact that there are numerous mistakes leads us to believe that we have at best a high level of incompetence or at worst a high level of fraudulence in our city’s financial department. An investigation into this matter needs to happen. I would like to know what you all are doing about this situation. I am hoping you can address us, your constituents, perhaps at the next city council meeting.”
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No staff or council members replied to Schaffer as is policy during the call to the public.
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In other business, the council:
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* Waived vendor fees and approved city support for the 73rd annual Christmas Parade to be held on Nov. 23.
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* Appointed Peter Cake to the Board of Adjustments.
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* Heard the quarterly report from the Public Housing Manager Kim Salazar. The waiting list for housing is at 42 people, a level lower than this time last year.
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* Approved cancellation of the scheduled Nov. 26 and Dec. 24 council meetings.
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The next meeting of the Winslow City Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 8, in the council chambers located at 115 E. Second St.
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