Taylor Council Hears Requests From Area Groups For Subsidies

By Naomi Hatch
   “Subsidies are for the purpose of getting things going, it’s so they become self-sustaining at some time,” said Taylor Town Manager Eric Duthie at the May 14 council meeting regarding presentations that were made by committees in the community. Duthie said he felt that the town should help organizations to continue to grow and move forward, but they need to see some progress and not total reliance on the town.
   Carmen Shumway represented the Taylor-Shumway Heritage Foundation, which was requesting $10,000 for the 2008-09 budget. She noted that last year they received $10,000, and the foundation held fundraisers and received grants. “We realize that money is scarce this year,” said Shumway, and indicated that they would lower their request to $9,000 and tighten their belts as the town faces monetary problems. She said that the floor in the Taylor Museum has not been finished, but they would wait on that to save money.
   The foundation serves two groups, the citizens of the community, who often bring family members who are visiting the area, and visitors who are driving through town and see the museums. Shumway said they give them a view of the town through the museum, and because they represent the chamber of commerce they keep up to date regarding subdivisions and what is going on in town.
   Shumway also commented that unlike the town, the Heritage Foundation can ask for discounts and vol-unteers.
   Duthie thanked her and told the council, “She’s a hard lady to say no to. That’s a gift.”
   Alison Neff represented the Beautification Committee, which was requesting $28,000. She explained that $16,000 would be used at the north and south corners of Pinedale Road and Main Street, and from Pinedale Road to the Standifird Home, which would complete the Main Street project. Neff was advised by the council that she would be required to obtain permits from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), and that the town could not pay for any improvements on private property. She said that the committee plans to put a fence on that corner, along with landscaping. The request included $5,000 to re-place dead plants, refurbish gravel and so forth, and $6,000 for flowers and soil for the pots on Main Street, as well as replacement of vandalized poles, pots, plaques and so forth. They were also requesting $1,000 for miscellaneous supplies needed throughout the year.
   Greg Hudson, executive director of the Snowflake-Taylor Chamber of Commerce, noted that the cham-ber was requesting $34,600, with $24,600 going to fund it, an increase of $3,000 from this year, and $10,000 to the museum payroll. Hudson said that the chamber is moving its offices and will have to pay utilities. While it was housed at the Freeman Home, the Town of Snowflake paid its utility costs.
   Hudson said that the chamber now has 300 business members and is getting more each month. He also told about the tour of international travel reporters that was in town the previous day, and noted that he ap-preciated Mayor John Cole organizing the firing of the anvil.
   Mayor Cole said that as he reviewed the profit and loss statement he saw that the chamber is making money at Snowflake events and asked if they were doing things at those events that brings in money.
   Hudson said that they were and explained that in the past the chamber has not been involved in Taylor events. He noted that this year Carole Owens has turned the Sweet Corn Festival Parade over to the cham-ber.
   “We’re all one community, and its great to see people visit our historical sights,” said Hudson.
   The Silver Creek Senior Citizens Center was not represented at the meeting, but had submitted docu-ments for its request of $5,000. Mayor Cole commented how important the senior center is to the commu-nity. He asked Jeff Johnson, who is on the center board, if he had anything to share from the center. John-son said that he is aware of the work done for the seniors and said that the seniors seem to appreciate it. Johnson said that the center’s building project was scheduled to begin May 19, and will be funded in large part with $270,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDB) funds that Taylor earmarked for the center. Supervisors J.R. DeSpain and David Tenney provided county funds for the project, Snowflake agreed to purchase the air conditioning unit and the center has also held fund-raisers to help with the pro-ject.
   David Flake, president of Snowflake Academy Foundation, gave a brief history of the Academy Build-ing and said, “I think the capstone of the restoration efforts is the Academy Building.” He noted that he was present to enlist council support in several ways and showed a picture that was in the Silver Creek Herald recently, pointing out many of those who rebuilt the Academy Building after the fire were Taylor men. He explained that the building is being refurbished as a modern library that will be used by the community. Flake said that Snowflake contributed $4,000 last year and the foundation has requested the same amount for this fiscal year. He encouraged Taylor to match that. Snowflake has also contributed nearly its entire CDBG funds to the academy and they are receiving a generous amount of CDBG funds from Navajo County.
   Flake also appealed to the council to individually be generous, noting they have received some very generous contributions from Taylor residents. Flake said, “It’s a worthy project, it’s a wonderful building, it will be a library that will serve both communities for many years in the future.”
   Dr. Don Shumway represented the Silver Creek Irrigation District, which is currently using cement ditches that are approximately 30 years old. He said that cement carries 95 percent of the flow and plastic irrigation pipe would carry 100 percent of the flow. He also pointed out that along with the loss of water, they have had quite a few incidents of drowning and near drowning in that ditch. Shumway said, “We un-derstand funds are tight and limited,” but added that the green fields benefit not only those who are irrigat-ing farmlands, but are beautiful greenbelts in the desert to visitors. He explained that they are undertaking a $1.2 million project to put in plastic pipe that will be covered on the east Taylor pipeline and asked for any help the town could provide, including equipment, technical skills in digging and trenching, and what-ever financial resource they might be able to give to the endeavor.
   Duthie spoke of the White Mountain Partnership. He noted that several years ago a presentation was made to start this group and it was met with great skepticism, even by him personally. “They are doing some things that are remarkable for our area,” said the town manager, noting that the international media tour that come to town was a direct result of the partnership. “There’s a lot of progress being made” in re-gard to bringing tourism to the community. “They are doing some things that are very positive.” Duthie encouraged the council to participate in the partnership.
   Assistant Town Manager Paul Poczobut spoke on the Trail of Many Tracks, a driving tour of the area provided on CD. He said they now have a Web site, www.trailofmanytracks. com, where you can copy the map, download the CD and get information on the trail. It has been in the works for more than nine years and is now ready for the next step, which is marketing. Poczobut chairs the committee and has submitted grants to advertise in various magazines as well as on all 13 screens of the WME theaters throughout the summer months.
   Poczobut also noted that Mike James has designed a wonderful Web site for the Trail of Many Tracks, as well as one for Taylor’s Trapper Days at www.trapperdays.com.
   In other business, the council unanimously approved a contract with the Saline family to accept effluent discharge from the wastewater treatment plant, contingent of the family’s approval.
   Duthie reported that the wastewater treatment plant project and the lift station repair are moving for-ward. The wastewater treatment plant project is in the process of working with Arizona Public Service Co. to get electricity to the plant. Duthie reported that there have been a lot of people interested in bidding on the project. The lift station pump is taking time to rebuild. Recently a notice to proceed went out and that will allow the town to push the company to complete the pump work.