SEPTEMBER through DECEMBER 2017
The 5th Annual Dylan Earven Foundation event was a huge
success Saturday (9/9/17)...
Don Earven & KQSS' Big John Libynski
Don & Angela Earven
Also on Saturday, Miami Fiesta was in the swing
from 9:30 AM to almost midnight...
Read Miami Councilmember Susan Hanson's Thank You
REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY
OF GLOBE MAYOR AND COUNCIL
Tuesday September 26, 2017
6:00 PM City Council Chambers
Given the information the city council received at last night's
Regular Meeting of the Globe Mayor and Council, voting for
Ordinance No. 849 to rescind the tax cap on single item
purchases over $15,000 was a rational move. And that's
precisely what they did in a 5 to 2 vote after the city
manager's stunning display of faith. There is no other way to
describe a speech that was routinely prefaced with “I
believe.” Maybe that strong belief is what led him to present
a financial argument that was so lopsided and biased, it
would fall over in even a cursory examination. For the
record, we never did find out how many lost sales were
projected-- and neither did the City Council.
The city manager spoke for quite a while about his figures
and what he thought they represented, mainly that the city
was losing a lot of money, and that he believes that if the tax
cap was eliminated no dealerships would be lost and the city
would gain a lot of money. He did acknowledge that some
cities have similar dual taxation, but claimed it was never
done as an incentive. He followed that interesting
declaration by explaining that dual taxation was usually due
to politics or trying to get new dealerships in town. If
trying to attract new dealerships by lowering taxes isn't an
incentive, I can't imagine what else it could be. In any
event, using the tax cap as an incentive to lure anyone to the
vacant Cobre Valley Motors spot sounds like a great idea to
me-- one that wasn't mentioned in the “I Believe” sermon.
Skewing the information given by McSpadden, in order to
influence the council vote, the city manager waxed
eloquently about it being a win-win for the city with bucket
loads of incoming cash and no downside whatsoever. He
that as taxes rise, revenue falls-but it's easy to do when you
don't include statistics on the estimated loss in sales.
The sentiments of individual council members can be
summed easily. They voted to eliminate the tax cap for the
good of all the people. And based on the “I Believe”s that
they got from the city manager it was easy to believe.
Mayor Al Gameros gave each councilmember an
opportunity to speak.
Lerry Alderman said, 'My moral obligation is to serve this
community. I believe I must put the needs of the community
above those of individual businesses'. (Fine sentiments if
raising taxes in fact benefitted anyone.)
Freddy Rios said he didn't take the decision lightly. 'These
are different times. What worked back then doesn't
necessarily mean it will work today. Actual numbers must
prevail.' (Actual numbers might indeed prevail but there was
no evidence that the numbers the council got were actual at
all.)
Roberta Lee Johnson said the city was losing significant
revenue from big-ticket sales. There was no mention of
losing the sales entirely. She went on to state the tax cap
benefits few businesses but small businesses still have to pay
full tax. (Do I even need to explain the illogic in that?)
Mike Humphrey said he has to think of the good of the
whole and thinks they should look at it again next year.
Charlene Giles erred along the same lines… she said she
has to think about all the residents because we represent all
the people. Hmm.. maybe I do have to explain the illogic in
that.
All the people are benefitted when local sales increase.
Everyone in the community loses when local sales decrease.
Maybe Giles should look into the Laffer Curve.
Mayor Al Gameros and Vice Mayor Mike Stapleton voted
to keep the cap. Stapleton thanked McSpadden for the
tremendous work they've done in Globe. He said he
received a lot calls on the matter and felt the community was
on the side of the cap remaining. He was too.
Gameros quipped that he and the council learned a lot about
the car business over this vote. Above that, he said, 'We're
moving to market and brand this community. We buy local
and our community benefits from it. I support local
business.' The mayor said he would consider a sunset of the
tax cap in the future, but not now.
Virtually every community leader promoting economic
growth in the area was against eliminating the cap. Karalea
Cox from the Southern Gila County Economic Development
Corporation said, 'Being competitive is essential. The city
should support local business with a tax advantage.
Removing the cap is detrimental to the local economy.' You
Ellen Kretsch from the Globe Miami Chamber of
Commerce, who previously read a letter into the record in
support of the tax cap, also spoke briefly, saying, 'A
pro-business climate is essential to our local community.'
Fernando Shipley was the mayor of Globe in 2008 when
the city, like most of the country, faced a severe economic
downturn. He faced the possibility of laying off dozens of
employees. When the big Chevy dealership, a part of the
community for decades, was forced to stop selling new cars,
Shipley met with the two other new car dealers and came up
with the tax cap. It was implemented in 2011 and it worked,
said Shipley who noted both dealerships are still here.
Mayor Gameros asked if there was a sunset clause attached
to the cap originally. Shipley said he couldn't recall one.
Udon McSpadden spoke at length. He said he presented a
lot of financial information to the city and it was all good.
'The incentive has worked. Eleven new vehicles were just
delivered to Safford for Freeport's fleet. If the cap is
eliminated, the average price per vehicle for fleet sales will
rise over $400. Keeping the cap in place will keep sales
local.' He implored the council not to remove it. 'We want
to stay competitive. The mines have seen hard times over the
last few years and will be replacing their vehicles in the near
future. If the sales tax cap is eliminated we will lose millions
of dollars in sales. Since the tax cap was established we've
doubled the size of our staff from 17 to 35 and have done
one million dollars worth of renovation on Route 60 with
working capital, because loans weren't available as the land
is in a floodplain. When the tax cap was initiated, we
helped out further by dropping the $500 dock fee, which
99% of dealers use all the time.”
Alderman insinuated that McSpadden had to move to
Highway 60 to fulfill a Ford Motors requirement, asking
him, 'Didn't you have to do that anyway?” McSpadden
explained that it was never required, Ford preferred it but
didn't mandate it.
Plenty of disappointments to go around, but no real surprises
at the meeting given the way the issue was presented by the
city manager.
On to happy news, Vice Mayor Mike Stapleton mentioned
that Vida E Café is now open after a delay of many months.
Mayor Al Gameros recognized the presence of former
mayor Fernando Shipley and Gila County Supervisor Tim
Humphrey, and the 6th grade class from Destiny School
who won Best of Show at the Gila County Fair for their
five-foot long model of historic downtown Globe. (Check
Gameros mentioned the joint town meeting with Miami went
well. They're planning to have one every three months.
City Clerk Shelly Salazar given an award and a bouquet of
flowers for her 16 years of service to the city of Globe. It
was also announced that City Engineer Jerry Barnes'
surgery went well and he's expected back in town shortly.
Maryn Belling gave a presentation on the United Fund. 99%
of their funding comes from local businesses. They've
supported the community since 1964, raising over a million
dollars since 2012. Their 2018 goal is to raise $650,000 for
the support of 30 different agency projects including Gila
House, CVCA, Cobre Valley Youth Club and Horizon
Domestic Violence Safe House. Not mentioned was the
Taliesin West studio project. United Fund will no longer
support it. $400,000 had previously been committed.
Globe Police Chief Mark Nipp gave a department update
since the 2015 audit. The department is currently operating
at minimum staffing levels. Two sworn positions were
eliminated because they remained vacant for two years,
which enabled Nipp to raise officer salaries. But he's still
having staffing problems as two officers are on extended
medical leave and two are on military leave. Four new
officers are now needed. There was a plan to hire two
civilian employees, but it hasn't worked out well. Nipp
recommended the addition of two sworn officer positions at
a cost of $40,000 each. There are only five people in the
police reserves currently and most have full time jobs so
they can only work occasionally.
The contract to have the Sheriff's Office handle 911 calls for
Globe has produced mixed results. It is undeniably a cost
saver and money is not available to handle it in house, but it
has created customer service and record management
problems. Due to the lack of IT support, Globe is often
unable to search records.
The audit highlighted the need for a new facilities building.
It would be cost prohibitive to rehab the current building, but
there is no money available for a new structure. Nipp also
said that evidence storage is a big problem. The storage
locker is completely filled and filing is a mess. It takes a day
to unload, and by then there's no time to search for what is
needed.
Radios are also a problem. There are two systems. PD1 is
housed in a private business, which is closing. The owners
have agreed to leave the electricity running until a new
location can be found. PD2 was on a tower that collapsed.
The phones are on an old PBX system which is so bad that
the department has to forward calls to employee cell phones.
The records clerk carries a cell phone and takes notes. When
she's on the phone, Nipp would like to find a way to have the
call forwarded a second time to an open phone. He said that
a new VoIP system is under consideration, but the whole
citywide system needs to be replaced.
The Council passed a one-time PSPRS, Public Safety
Personnel Retirement System, payment of $1,115,113.25.
JOINT MEETING OF THE
GLOBE AND MIAMI MAYORS AND COUNCILS
Wednesday September 20, 2017 6:00 PM
Besh Ba Gowah Museum
Globe and Miami might wind up without a pool for a while.
That notion was raised at last night's Joint Meeting of the
Globe and Miami mayors and councils, which featured an
Aquatic Center update. The Aquatic Committee is currently
working on bringing another bill to the state in hopes of a
change to the statutes prohibiting counties from joining
municipal taxing districts.
The issue is somewhat unique to Gila County where the City
of Globe and Town of Miami are separated by
unincorporated county land. For a regional aquatic center to
be funded, all communities must be part of the taxing
district, but Gila County can't put it up for vote until state
statutes are changed. An earlier bill passed the state senate
but died before full passage, so the procedures starts again.
All bets are off if the state doesn't allow Gila County to be
part of the taxing district, but even if it does, two local votes
are needed for a pool to be a reality. One vote would be
taken on whether the taxing district should be created.
Assuming it passed, another vote would be needed to fund
an aquatic center.
In the best case scenario where everything goes
exceptionally well, the pool wouldn't open until 2020. The
reality is that it will probably be later. And in any case,
Miami Town Manager Joe Heatherly is doubtful the Miami
pool can make it that long. Everyone is in agreement that a
new aquatic center is needed, and right now, no one is sure
when it will happen.
The joint meeting was really a Globe meeting with only
Mayor Darryl Dalley and Councilmember Rosemary
Castenada representing Miami. The Town had insufficient
attendance for a quorum but it didn't matter as nothing was
up for vote. Globe had a full contingency with the only
absentees being Councilmembers Mike Humphrey and
Roberta Lee Johnson.
The group lauded a resolution in support of Globe-Miami
Cares, a disaster relief fundraising effort supported by the
Lions Club, Lions Foundation and the local united fund.
Mayor Dalley is working with the group, as well as Miami
High School, to solicit contributions. Though no date was
set, an upcoming “Change Day” where Miami students can
donate spare change to the cause was mentioned.
Discussion was had on partnering for blight mitigation.
Globe Code Enforcement Officer Michelle Yerkovich has
now been on the job for a year. Two blighted properties are
scheduled for demolition along with a building located on a
third property. Miami Code Enforcement Officer Josh
Derhammer reported working with local residents. His goal
is to substitute community service in place of fines for
violations. Miami Town Manager Joe Heatherly said he's
been discussing the concept with local judges who seem
supportive of the idea.
Heatherly was asked about Miami's 'zero tolerance' policy
toward all violations. He said it's been slow in starting, but
stressed it's important to spread the word about zero
tolerance so that people are aware of the policy before it's
enforced. As an example, Heatherly said 'some truck driver
blowing a stop light could lose his CDL over it.'
Partnerships between Globe and Miami for water,
wastewater and transportation infrastructure were also
discussed. Heatherly noted that on Friday night, the week of
Miami Fiesta, the Town got an inch and a half of rain in 45
minutes, flooding Adonis and Sullivan Streets. Both of
Miami's equipment trucks were down for maintenance, but
Globe City Engineer Jerry Barnes, a former Miami
employee, came to the rescue and cleared it out. He was
thanked profusely for that. Jerry said it's a good example of
how local towns can share resources and equipment to keep
money in the community.
There were a couple brief discussions. One was on the
Tri-City Regional Sanitation District, which wants its own
wastewater treatment plant. Both Globe and Miami feel
their plants are well equipped to handle all of Tri-City's
needs and have voiced their disapproval of another plant
being built. It was suggested that a joint meeting between
Globe, Miami, Tri-City and Gila County is needed.
The other was a brief discussion about an upcoming meeting
about the PSPRS issue, the funding shortfall that occurred
after a change in state statutes landed municipalities like
Globe and Miami in significant debt to the tune of hundreds
of thousands, if not millions of dollars, for pension
contributions. The meeting will be on October 3rd at Globe
City Hall at 6 PM. Representative David Cook will be
there.
Both Miami Mayor Dalley and Globe Mayor Al Gameros
proclaimed this week as “Student Gear Up Week”. A
proclamation in support of Gear Up Globe and Miami High
Schools was read. Gear Up is a federally funded program to
help rural students achieve by graduating from high school
and then furthering their education.
Upcoming events for Miami include Small Town Christmas;
a community Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony; and, as
Miami is celebrating its centennial in 2018, a 100th
Anniversary Commemoration on March 5th.
Globe will host the Haunted Jail tour through Halloween; an
Alive at Five Chamber mixer downtown on September 28th;
Oktoberfest on October 7th, benefitting the Pinal Mountain
Education Foundation; Apache Jii on October 21st; and the
annual Halloween celebration on October 31st.
EGGS & COPPER BREAKFAST
Thursday October 26, 2017
7:00 AM Copper Bistro
It was a full house at yesterday morning's Eggs & Copper
Breakfast. The event, held at the Copper Bistro Restaurant
at 7:00 AM, was cohosted by the Globe-Miami Chamber of
Commerce and Resolution Copper.
Attendees included former Gila County Supervisors Mike
Pastor and John Marcanti, Miami Town Manager Joe
Heatherly, and Globe Mayor Al Gameros along with
several Globe council members.
The three speakers represented the three mining life cycles:
Bryan Seppala talked about the future plans and growth of
Resolution Copper, Manuel Estrada detailed the full
production of Capstone's Pinto Valley mine, and Brent
Musslewhite discussed the closing and reclamation process
for the BHP Billiton Mine in Miami.
Estrada said the Pinto Valley Mine is doing so well that the
project is in need of 60 additional employees now. A link to
the opportunities can be found on this page (use the links to
the upper right). Estrada, the project's general manager, also
discussed work being done right now with the Forest Service
to extend the mine's life to 2039.
Musslewhite, manager of BHP's closed sites, is supervising
the winding down of the Miami mine, which he estimates
will take another decade to complete. Many millions of
dollars will be spent on reclamation utilizing local
contractors as much as possible. Musslewhite is also
hopeful that the closed site in Miami can be turned into a
community park, similar to Old Dominion Mine Park in
Globe, which BHP owns.
Chamber of Commerce Director Ellen Kretsch was pleased
with the turnout. She is hopeful that the breakfast will
become a quarterly event.
REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY
OF GLOBE MAYOR AND COUNCIL
Tuesday December 5, 2017 6:00 PM
Globe City Hall - Pine Street
At last night's Regular Meeting of the City of Globe Mayor
and Council, the Council collectively wondered aloud
whether fees charged to new businesses were a deterrent to
any business considering relocating to Globe. Specifically,
the issue was whether it was appropriate to charge the new
owner of a coming RV Park over $4500 for an inspection of
their new sewer line.
Lois Monarrez, owner of the Gila County RV Park on
Highway 60 in Globe, voiced her dissatisfaction over the
amount at a previous Council Meeting. The $4505 fee she
was facing has been increased every year since 2013, when it
was $3580. In almost four years, only one such fee has been
collected-- in February 2014, for the Holiday Inn.
The Council, which was focused on encouraging new
business, saw merit in Monarrez' argument and voted to
postpone the fee until next year, giving the city time to
determine a fair amount. City Engineer, Jerry Barnes, said
he felt $500 would be realistic. Fred Barcon, the contractor
for the RV Park, said he was very pleased with the outcome.
Mayor Al Gameros announced the need for more bell
ringers at the Salvation Army, and his hope that the Safe
House would remain open. The local shelter for battered
adults is facing closure, and Gameros will be meeting the
with CEO to determine what needs to be done to save the
Safe House. Gameros also mentioned that CAG is electing a
new Executive Director this week.
Globe Police Chief Mark Nipp, who is working on his
masters degree in administration, gave a presentation on case
management software he is hoping to acquire. He described
the current programs used to monitor work flow as being a
mess. The software he recommended is cloud based. The
advantage is no new hardware would be required, but the
annual subscription fee would be around $25,000.
Councilmember Lerry Alderman suggested that after the
chief narrows down the vendor he'd like to use, he check
with similar municipalities to learn of their satisfaction.
Ashley Hullinger from the University of Arizona spoke
about water resources in the Globe-Miami-San Carlos area.
She said she's working on obtaining a Department of
Interior, Bureau of Reclamation Watershed Partnership
two-year grant totaling $100,000. She requested a letter of
support from the Council, and was given it.
Globe is getting a HUD Rural Community Block Grant
through the Building Rural Economies program. The
three-year grant provides $45,000 to be used to provide
training, technical and financial advice for rural and native
communities.
Jerry Barnes proposed the acquisition of two easements
near the Crestline water tank to increase water flow pressure
for firefighting. A vote will be taken at the next Council
meeting.
Barnes delivered good news to the Council about WIFA
related expenses. Project plans had called for digging below
the railroad tracks along Pine Street for a water line to be
placed there, at a cost of $250,000. But Barnes announced
his staff had determined an alternate route, which would not
require going under the tracks, thus saving the city $125,000.
The extra $8500 needed for design and survey costs
associated with the alternate route was quickly approved by
the Council.
The Santa event at the Train Depot last weekend was
attended by about 900 people. 500 rides were given on the
vintage fire truck, and two dozen volunteers were on hand.
The Light Festival at Besh Ba Gowah will be held on
Sunday December 17th.
Bobby Ravencamp on behalf of the Lions Club was at the
meeting to accept a check for over $7,000 from Globe
Miami Cares. Also there was Anna Petty from Capstone
Mining, which was a generous contributor.
Mayor Gameros, Anna Petty, Bobby Ravencamp
