Proposed Public Bus To County Complex Is Favored By Snowflake Town Council

By Naomi Hatch
   Members of the Snowflake Town Council indicated last week that they are very much in favor of participating in a regional public transit system.
   Show Low Deputy City Manager Joe Weeks attended the March 11 council meeting to make a presentation on the transportation system that would run from Show Low to Holbrook.
   Weeks said they currently have a system that runs from Linden to Hon-Dah, which has been running since 1997. He noted that the first year they had 30,000 passengers and in their 12th year, 2007, they had 109,000 passengers. “It’s been very successful, much to our surprise,” he said.
   Weeks said that Arizona Department of Transportation is very much in support of the project. He said they hired a consultant who has done an analysis and feels this new route will be successful, but noted, “There are some costs involved.”
   They have done surveys on the transit system very regularly, and find key indicators that were a surprise to them, according to Weeks. He said the surveys show that four percent go to the casino; five per-cent, some kind of counseling; nine percent, other; 12 percent, shopping; 22 percent, medical; and 48 per-cent actually ride the bus to work. The survey also showed that without the bus service 20 percent would take the taxi and 50 percent would walk.
   Weeks explained that they partner with a number of agencies for passes, such as charter schools, Summit Health and the Department of Economic Services (DES).
   He noted that they will purchase two busses, one for use and one for backup.
   Navajo County Public Works Director Dusty Parsons said that they are working to get a grant from Hon-Dah. He also said that Navajo County is very much in support of this and will pay most of the matching grant at $43,000, with Pinetop/Lakeside and Show Low paying $16,000, and Taylor and Snowflake, $10,000. He noted that this was a high estimate because they are working on other ways to get money.
   Weeks said that businesses advertise on the buses, which helps pay costs.
   Parsons noted that 255 employees commute to the county complex in Holbrook from the southern part of the county, with approximately half of them coming from the Snowflake/Taylor area. He said he felt that the cost of $60 a month will be more appealing as the price of gas increases.
   Parsons said that they are doing a survey at the county complex to see what the ridership would be, and have had a great response from county employees.
   Councilman Charlie Hendrickson suggested they consider the number of people who commute to Cholla Power Plant.
   Mayor Kelly Wills said, “I think it would be wonderful. There are a lot of people here who commute back and forth…I feel like the interest is here.”
   The council also held the second reading of and unanimously approved Ordinance 0-309, which rezones property located at 301 E. Sixth North from Residential 1-acre to Residential half-acre, as requested by Kent Stratton. This will allow him to split his property into three parcels, with one parcel currently having a rental on the southern portion, and he will install two septic tanks on the remaining portions of the property in anticipation of possible future use by his family members.
   The council had previously discussed the town’s nepotism policy and a request to hire Jenny Hancock, Fire Chief Pat Hancock’s wife. Town Manager Paul Watson had deferred the request to legal council for research on the legality of hiring Jenny Hancock as a volunteer firefighter.
   Town Attorney Robert Hall checked with other towns and asked Watson to contact the Risk Retention Pool officials to make sure they would provide coverage.
   Watson received written confirmation and stated, “It’s not a blanket yes, it talks about some of the concerns which I think we addressed at our previous meeting, but it does say we are covered in having a spouse of an employee in the same department…With that I suggest we move forward in hiring Jenny Han-cock to the Snowflake Fire Department.”
   Mayor Willis asked who would be her direct supervisor and was told that she would be under the direction of a captain, who would report to Assistant Chief Dale Call.
   “She would not be under any direct supervision of the chief,” said Call.
   Hall commented that this is consistent with other fire departments in rural areas.
   “I think we need to consider the training and some of the other qualifications she brings to the community that wouldn’t be in the fire department,” said the attorney.
   “We have a great young lady who wants to be part of that fire department, who is very well qualified, who would be a great addition to it,” said the mayor. “We do feel some pressure about it, but also feel that because it’s a volunteer department and it’s a volunteer of this capacity that I would feel great about you serving there.”
   He then moved to approve the hiring of Jenny Hancock as a volunteer firefighter, which passed unanimously.
   The council unanimously approved submission of the Snowflake Fire Department’s application for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to purchase a new fire engine with equipment.
   Chief Hancock said they are seeking a $450,000 grant with a five percent match, which would be $22,500. Hancock noted that the department is in need of a new fire truck.