Introduction:

Man, school starts a week from today. It was nice having you around summer! In this issue you’ll find:

1. An updated list of upcoming events.

2. We’re trying something new with ads and you won’t see any this week (but they typically they live here).

3. A summary of last night’s City Council Meeting.

4. A summary of last night’s City Council Special Work Session.

Upcoming Events in Holbrook, AZ:

Don’t see your event listed? If it’s non-profit and for the whole community, we’ll probably list it for free*. Email us at [email protected]. *_{We do reserve the right to not list any event if we feel it does not belong in this section.}

City Council Meeting Summary

Here’s a quick recap of the city council meeting on 7/24/24

• Calls to the Public: There were no calls or presentations from the public.

• Fire Department Presentation: Fire Chief Baker reported on the following:
  - Currently the Volunteer Fire Department has 20 members, but 30 would be preferred.
  - Year-to-date, the fire department has responded to 22 calls - none of them being structural fires.
  - The fire department is looking modernize more this year with the purchase of iPads and software that can help make their team more efficient.
  City Council members thanked Chief Baker and all the volunteer firefighters for what they do and also brought up this year’s 4th of July fireworks. Chief Baker did regretfully report that illegal use of fireworks, brush fires and injuries went up significantly this last holiday due to frustrating citizen activity. Chief Baker expressed that it was much more of an issue this year than in year’s past and that they are working on a communication plan for next year to address that.

  City Councilman Black was concerned about the La Quinta, it being the tallest hotel in Holbrook and the fire department’s ability to access the top floors without a ladder truck. Chief Baker acknowledged that this was a concern but also stated that the La Quinta is the most prepared building in Holbrook for a fire and that there are safety measures in place with building equipment and their own pumper truck if an emergency were to happen.

• Purchase of a new fire truck: The fire department has a fire truck from 1992 that is showing its age. While it can still pass tests, it is needing frequent repairs. The purchase of a fire truck has been a discussion point for years. The council was asked to approve the purchase of a brand new firetruck at $571,521. The approved city budget allowed for a $700,000 purchase this year. While the Mayor did offer to table the purchase since it is a major purchase so soon in the new financial year and in the new city manager’s Holbrook career, the urgency of the bid and reservation for the truck was argued and the purchase was passed unanimously. The construction of the fire truck will be done in October.

• Property tax change: The property tax rate went down! Cool. It was $0.478 for every $100, it is now $0.468 for every $100.

• NALETA: The police chief reported on NALETA is a police training academy. This partnership with Holbrook and its police department saves the police department a TON in training costs, mainly in food and housing costs. The police chief mentioned how much more expensive it was to train recruits through Flagstaff’s academy and this option through NPC is great.

• Report from City Manager: New City Manager Sharon Jakubowski Wolz is still meeting with City employees, city council members, county officials and more. She followed through on her promise to coordinate with the county with setting up a people-on-probation-help-with-city-clean-up-program. There’s been an issue with attendance, but she’s on it.

Special Work Session Summary

City Council met for a special work session. It is required by Arizona Law that a city needs to have a 10-year General Plan. The requirements for these plans differ by population. The last general plan that the city has is from 2005. To update and revise this general plan, Mayor Smith proposed that each council member take 2 sections (aka elements) of the 2005 plan, create committees and rewrite the element that would apply to a 2024 Holbrook and for the next 10 years. The councilmembers present approved of this approach. Councilmembers have until August 5th to review and select from the 15 elements. The elements of the general plan are as follows: (1) Land Use, (2) Circulation, (3) Environmental Planning, (4) Open Space, (5) Water Resources, (6) Cost of Development, (7) Growth Areas, (8) Economic Development, (9) Public Facilities/Services, (10) Safety, (11) Housing, (12) Natural Resource Conservation, (13) Cultural & Historic Resources, (14) Community Design, (15) Impact Fee Schedule.

If a city council member feels that there is an element that is missing, that member may create one. Again, city council members were tasked with selecting two of the above elements and then forming committees to review, make changes, and plan up to 2035. Assignment of elements depends on which councilmembers volunteer and will ultimately be helped by the city manager to make sure all topics are covered. Elements and the assigned councilmembers will be revealed at the next City Council Special Work Session.

A resource that city council members were encouraged to look over was the “Revive Central Holbrook Area-wide Planning Study.” Where through the Brownfield Grant, a company called Stantec studied and reviewed Holbrook and gave suggestions based off of their study. The report can be found here (but the link isn’t so great - sorry) and the 2005 general plan is here. We’ll see what council members pick!

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Thank you for reading! Have any feedback for us? We listen! Just reply to this email or you can always reach us at [email protected].