Tri-City Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning. We'll go ahead and get started if everyone can find their seats. Good morning and welcome. I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the Tri City Council on Wednesday, January 21st, 2026 at uh 10:10 a.m. We are in Kingman. Thank you so much, Kingman, for hosting us uh this morning. If you please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. We'll now have a roll call. Uh Annie, should we move our way around or is there a mic? Uh if you guys want to go ahead and start and then I have Tanya, she will circulate a mic through the audience and then I'll introduce the people we have attending via Zoom. Okay, perfect. Well, good morning. I'm Kel Shahi, the mayor of Lake Cavsu City. Ken Watkins, mayor, city of Kingman. Good morning, Rodney Head, mayor of Bullhead City. I'm Tanya Ferguson, the deputy city clerk of Kingman. Susan Carroll, deputy city clerk of Bullhead City. Debbie Ogden, city clerk, city of Bullhead City. David Diaz, vice mayor, Lake Havsu City.

Nancy Campbell, Lake Havsu City Council and RTAC chair along with Arizona at work vice chair. Jeannie Kent, Mojave County Assessor. Good morning. Toby Carter, city manager from the great city of Bullhead City. Good morning. Anthony Brozich, Arizona Department of Transportation. Steepo, executive director, Bullhead City Metropolitan Planning Organization. Edgarro, assistant city manager, city of Bullhead City. Travis Puit, the other assistant uh city manager, Bullhead City.

Dan Alfonso, vice mayor, Bullhead City, and my wife, Linda. Pamela Smith, Bullhead City Council. Karen Dolman, Bullhead City Council. Jason Nulan, Bullhead City Council. Mike Keys with ADOT. Estella Hollander with AECOM. Jessica Nixon, city manager for the greatest city, Lake Havson City. Cherish family, vice mayor from the heart of Route 66 in Kingman. Good job.

Good morning, everyone. Travis Lingfelter, uh, Mojave County Supervisor District 1, also chairman of the board. Thank you. Ally Blum, senior executive assistant for Lake Havsu City. Good morning. Morning. Kelly Williams, city clerk, Lake Cavsy City. Sarah Hall, marketing and communications, city of Kingman. Good morning. Michelle Begs, AOT Communications. Good morning. Uh, Todd Steamberger, A DOT. Hello, Cameron Moses, Lake Havsu City Council.

Jenny Ko, Lake Havsu City Council. Chris Cranny, large shareholder in Telvantis Corporation, Esports Entertainment Corporation, and Brush Oil Care Corporation, among others. Good morning. Anthony Kazlowski, assistant city manager, Lake Havisu City. Tim Walsh, City of Kingman, the original city. Smiley Ward, Kingman City Council. Jack Edgar, fire chief, city of Kingman. Jake Crawford, Mojave College Dean of Student and Community Engagement. Jolene Puit, Vice President of Administrative Services, Mojave College.

Tina Molen, Deputy City Manager, Finance Director, City of Kingman. Good morning. I'm Jamie Staley, Kingman City Council. Good morning, Brian Zack, Kingman Police Department.

Good morning, Annie Meredith. I'm the city clerk for the city of Kingman. And joining us via Zoom, we have Coral Evans from Senator Kelly's office, Penny Pew from Congressman Gosar's office, Tmaine Rous from Mojave College, Kevin Adam for Rural Transportation, Olivia Tobias from the Kingman Daily Minor, Daisy Nelson from the Mojave Daily News, uh Alyssa Nunees from Protek Arizona, Terry Greger from Lake Havasu City, Sarah Jookuski, Gary Cooper, Shannon Davis from Lake Havasu, city. Renee Guillian from the Arizona League of Cities and Towns.

Excellent. Thank you so much and welcome. Uh if those of you that are here in person, please be sure to sign in. The signin sheet is right here at the beginning of the room. And then also restrooms are just out the double doors to uh down the hallway, I think, to the right. But um if again, thank you all for being here. We're so glad to have you here and engage in this great conversation across our region. Uh we now will um open up for call to the public. Would anyone like to address the Tri City Council at call to the public? Yeah, Vice Mayor Diaz.

So, as I was been thinking of lately and I was driving in here, I thought even more about it. So, uh, this is the beginning of the state legislature, uh, last week, and I believe that, um, this is a really important body that we put together with the tri-ity council meeting. And I was wondering if we could possibly look at the possibility of putting together a tri-ity council legislative committee. And on that committee would be two council members from each city and then our legislative liaison like Anthony Klowski, Travis and I'm not sure who uh Kingman has but and then get get together to make sure the voice of the people and our and our wants and our needs are being properly communicated to the legislature. We all have close relationships with you know Senator Angus and Representative Leo Basuchi and John Gillette and we could continue to foster those I think by having a collective communication to them. Just just a thought and see how would you what everyone thought about it?

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Would anyone else like to address the Tri City Council? All right. We'll go ahead and close the call to the public. Uh item four is approval of the minutes from the October 29th, 2025 Tri City Council meeting. So moved. All right. Second. We have a motion from Mayor Watkins, second from Mayor Head. All in favor, please say I. I.

Motion carries. Uh, moving on to item five is updates from Hobby County Board of Supervisors and other elected officials. We'll start with Chairman Lingfelter. If do you have any comments or [clears throat] Good morning everyone. Sorry to have my back to the majority of the people in this room, but um it's a pleasure to be here. Um it's very important for Mojave County to to continue a very solid relationship and partnership with all of our communities. Um I would say um the legislature has started. Um I would start with water. I've been the lead for the county on water issues um for the last six years. Um, on the groundwater side, um, hopefully, um, you know, city of Kingman and and the county can continue our partnership with USGS and ADWR. Um, those of you that are in the audience and maybe watching online, you may have read that there was a recently an order by a judge that vacated the irrigation on expansion area. Um, county found out about that same time as the city did. Um, I immediately got on the phone with the governor's office and those in ADWR. Um I can tell you that um Tom Bashansky ADWR is not going to back down on that. The governor's office is not going to back down. We've been told directly um from Patrick Adams who's a water lead for the governor's office that we should anticipate a stay of that order or the request of a stay of that order and then the state appealing that. Um, so those of those of uh you that are maybe in this valley that are are worried about this this sudden and massive um new influx of agriculture, um I think that we're doing everything that we can of the county and the city to try to combat that and to make sure that our water um basin is protected. Um on the river side um all of you that are following that process the post2026 um process for the guidelines um the

reclamation has issued their EIS for those guidelines. Um just yesterday at our meeting I had posted an item on our board agenda to have staff and our water attorney Clark Hill. Clark Hill is the same water attorney that represented Mojave County, Leaz County, Yuma County, City of Yuma in the Queen Creek dispute down in federal court and we were we prevailed on that. We compelled a full EIS of that transfer. Um we've requested that staff and Clark Hill um compose uh comments for us as far as Mojave County to to submit those by the deadline in in March. I assume that all of our river communities are also going to prepare your own comments to make sure that you you get those submitted so that our voices on the river are heard. Um, obviously all of us that have been following that process, best case scenario right now in Arizona is we're probably looking at a 760,000 acre foot additional conservation and that's probably best case scenario from what we're hearing. I think that uh mayor, you're certainly actively involved with Maui County Water Authority, mayor also. Um hopefully it's not worse than that. Um any cuts on the river, you know, that hits different because that's 100% of our river community's water. Uh we don't have a bunch of different sources where we can round out our water portfolio and it affects everything that we do. It's our e economic development. It's our tourism. It's our way of life. So we have to make sure that we we advocate as much as we can. Um, so that's the water stuff. Um, also working very closely with with city of Bullhead, and I don't want to steal anybody's thunder, but um, if you've been following what's going on with the airport down there, we've had some, um, Mojave County Airport Authority currently operates the Laughlin or the Bullet City Laughlin airport. They have had some resignations off their executive board. Mojave County is actually the owner of all the property that we leased it, similar to what we did up here in Kingman with that airport authority. We're working very

closely with the city of Bullhead um to to to just basically max maximize the asset down there. Um and hopefully uh we'll get to a place where Bullhead City one day is is running that airport successfully just like Kingman is running theirs and just like Hav is running theirs. Um there's a bunch of other things that are going on. We're still in pursuit of shrinking the boundaries of the Baj National Monument up north. I'm going to DC the first part of uh February to go meet with Secretary Bergam and and uh some people from USGS on that issue because there's there's a possibility that they may take action before the primary or the the midterms. There's just so much going on. I don't want to waste a lot of time. But if you have any other questions county related, please don't hesitate to come and talk to me or any of the others. Um we also started yesterday um a flood control conversation. I know that that's of great importance to our cities. Um look forward to the county and the communities coming together to to really put our heads together and find out exactly what's the best solution. There is no easy solution. Um the county taxing district for the flood control is capped out at 50% or at 50 cents u per $100 of net assessed value. So really how do we um how do we solve um the most problems and make those dollars go the furthest where they need to? So I I look forward to being a part of that dialogue, too. Thank you again.

Yeah. Thank you, Cher. Yeah. Any questions from Actually, I do Travis. Thank you. Um first, I want to thank you for all that you do for our county and of course, especially representing this body and and our water and our water concerns. Silly question, but do you think there were those of our agricultural friends that were waiting to for this thing to be um placated and then now they all of a sudden they're they're drilling wells already or do you think it's going to [snorts] What do you think? What have you heard?

Um I'll tell you exactly what I've heard. I've I've heard from both ADWR and the governor's office that the INA is still in effect. So, if there's anybody out there that's saying that it's that it's null and void right now, such as um there's one real estate um developer guy working with these two firms that that did this lawsuit a couple years ago.

That's incorrect information according to AWR and the governor's office. So, um, again, when I get information, I'll make sure I I get it to you guys post haste if I get it first, but I'm anticipating a a stay a request to stay that order, and I'm request I'm anticipating an appeal of that. Um, that's what the the official stance is from Patrick Adams, the governor's office, and ADWR right now. Um, so we we um if there's anybody that sees that sort of activity going on, I would I would recommend that they contact AWR. It's obviously not in the county's hands or the city's hands. That's an enforcement issue that has to that has to be with the state. Um, inform us. We'd be happy to help inform the state on that on those types of things if anybody sees that activity happening.

Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. Yeah. Any anything else? Appreciate it. We appreciate it. Thank you. and then Mohave County Assessor Gina Kenge.

Thank you board. Thanks for having me and allowing me to speak. I just wanted to announce that uh currently I am now the president of the Arizona Association of County Officers. So we work well with uh the League of Cities and Towns and also the uh County Supervisors Association and I'm going to be there. So, I'd be glad to uh share with what I know with if you do put together a nice legislative team, I would love to be involved in that because I can help in that situation. Um, and if there's anything I can help you with, um, let me know. Um, I'm I'm there. Okay. Excellent. Yeah. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. And then, uh, Dr. Evans, do you have an update from Senator Kelly's office? I do not at this time. Thank you.

Thank you for joining us. And then is that Penny Pew from Congressman Gosar's office?

Penny, did you have an update from Congressman Gosar's office? Yes. Oh, sorry. I was muted. Oh, yeah. No worries. You're welcome. Thank you.

I'm in route to Kingman uh veteran treatment court. So, I apologize. I didn't get an early enough start to get up there. Uh yeah, the congressman, you know, he's he's got the legislation that um for the solar, some love it, especially in LeaZ County. Others have questions, but we did a a trip Saturday or Monday to the to the solar project. It's called QC cells, largest one in the nation. And it's not just solar, it is a whole program for energy. So that's pretty exciting. um happy to send any information that that you folks might have uh feeding into the transmission there. We also took a tour to the border with the Hungarian ambassador um Saturday which was great that you know they're having big border problems in Europe. Um we're not experiencing those now. However, um the future is is vague and laws have to be kept. But it was a good visit with the delegation um from Hungary. And of course, the congressman continues to to work on water, power, natural resources, and especially government oversight on some of these things that are being the lights being shined on overspending, fiscal irresponsibility. So, um I'm not going to take a ton of time, but he continues to work and uh we'll be up in uh Colorado City soon to visit with them on some of their federal issues that they have. So, um appreciate the time and look forward to seeing you all and those who attend the Veteran Treatment Court today at 1:30 in Kingman.

Yeah. Thank you, Penny. And thank you to Congressman Gosar for uh the work that you're doing on behalf of our district. Thank you. Right. Number six is legislative update with the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. Uh Renee Guen.

Good morning and thank you, Mayor. Uh I I have to point out since I am in my office that uh this little weapon is actually from uh the outskirts of Budapest. So from a uh college uh study abroad trip I did in uh well maybe I won't give the year. We'll say sometime in the 2000s. Uh so always nice to hear a country in Europe that I've visited before and have a great affinity for. Um there is a lot to cover so I will attempt to be I guess as efficient as possible. Uh Vice Mayor uh Diaz, you know, as he noted, we are well into the legislative session or I guess early into the legislative session. So I will start with uh the governor's state of the state and um and I apologize on my screen. I seem to be kind of glitchy. I don't know if it'd be better if I turned off my video.

You look good on our end.

Oh, okay. All right. We need to up our internet here at the capital. Uh, but the uh governor, you know, kicked off session with the state of the state, hit [clears throat] a number of topics. I'm just going to cover a couple of them and then it'll kind of bleed into the governor's executive budget. uh because you know she gives her state of the state on Monday, her executive budget on Friday. A lot of these items do overlap and I'm not covering everything, just some of the major items, especially that they the ones that will or may impact u uh cities and towns. So, um you know, it's always nice to hear the governor talk about short-term rentals in her state of the state. Uh she mentioned, you know, the impact they have on housing a

flying in. Uh and one of her proposals this year, both as a uh regulatory uh I suppose measure, but also as a money-making measure, is to impose a $3.50 uh fee or sir charge on every short-term rental. And then she is proposing to use the revenue from that fee uh to uh go into a fund for a frankly for a number of purposes. um mostly for uh I believe what she's calling a weatherization program. Um so that would go to homeowners to fund a number of improvements uh basically aimed at reducing the cost of ownership. So, uh, uh, double pane windows, insulation, uh, I think eventually even, um, uh, possibly solar panels, and then I believe there's it's sort of a waterfall of, uh, funding that could include, uh, down payment or or rental assistance and then ultimately money into the housing trust fund. Uh as you might imagine, uh Airbnb has already come out and noted that they are not uh u uh crazy about the idea about adding uh that search charge to uh as short-term rental stays. Um she also talked about data centers, right, and the uh I guess increased need for data centers to fuel um I guess the advancement of AI both domestically and globally. uh she talked really about two items that I want to hit on uh because they really do I think impact not only cities and towns but I would argue possibly or potentially rural Arizona as um these data centers look for uh additional locations and from what I'm hearing from some of our rural

communities. So one is the uh increased uh need for water and we you know are hearing that with some of the technology advancements some of the data centers will either go to a closed loop system. So there's just sort of a one-time infusion of water that then gets recycled uh internally or they go to an air cooled system. However, I think for for many of you, you know, there's still power electricity that goes to power that data center and most of our electric generation methods require water, right? Um whether it's, you know, gas or even nuclear, you're basically just running a steam engine. It's a steam turbine that generates electricity. So, there's still a water consideration even if it's air cooled. Uh so the governor is proposing I believe a 1 cent per gallon sir charge on water used for data centers. Uh and then also there is a uh incentive uh some people call it a credit but it's really a tax exemption. It's an exemption for TPT for um the equipment for qualified data centers. and that's what the uh largest data centers have been uh using when they locate in Arizona. And so she is calling for an elimination of that incentive. Uh one of the things that uh well and it should be noted I believe last year or at least the last fiscal year of data showed that that was used uh to the tune of $38 million statewide. Um what is interesting and one of the things I will I will note is that uh you know the state of the state is sort of like the state of the union right the governor is in front of the speaker of the house and the president of the senate uh both Republicans and when she announced her desire to eliminate the incentive for

data centers the president of the senate who is running for attorney general against Chris Mays uh applauded and so you know I think everyone is aware where these speeches are typically very political and partisan. And so to see u you know a member of the other party sort of supporting uh an initiative from the governor especially that kind of initiative I think was was interesting. And and you know sort of on that point uh representative Neil Carter in the house has actually introduced a measure that would phase out the uh data center incentive. And so we actually do see a Republican sponsoring that measure. And I think you know what you'll see or what you're seeing is that uh some of those factions that we have at the Capitol. I've talked about them before, right? And and uh Representative Carter was actually in our building yesterday talking with KAG, Central Arizona Governments, Niko and uh Sun Corridor and he said, you know, it came to him from a constituent, but his feeling was that um you know, they're already coming to Arizona, so why should they be incentivized? And then he also said uh I'm sort of uh paraphrasing but the idea that you know he feels it's not good conservative policy when you have a credit or incentive because you're you're picking winners and losers. Those weren't his exact words, but that's sort of the the fiscal conservative sentiment, right? That it's exclusive to one industry and that's why he, you know, ran the bill. So, um it'll be interesting to see where Republican leadership in the House falls on that idea and will the bill, you know, move through the legislature. Uh but, uh but it would give the state more money to, you know, for lack of a better term, play with. Uh but, you know, we have cities with current data centers. We have some cities that are interested in data centers. So, uh that is an issue I think to to be aware of. And you know I think for areas like Mojave County where

water is clearly a concern uh the potential resource needs of some of these largecale AI focused data centers is certainly I think cause for concern at the very least. Uh turning to sort of the to the executive budget uh I believe overall the executive budget is a 4.9 increase in spending or I guess overall spending compared to last year. Uh that is interesting because you may recall from my last presentation uh the uh JBC or or the finance advisory committee had projected that by FY28 the state would only have $67 million uh cash on hand or or um uh cash balance I should say in FY28. So the question is how do you spend I think it's roughly 950 more in uh FY27 than with with that sort of projection. Um you know just being blunt uh there are a number of what the governor is calling revenue enhancements. I think the other side would call them tax increases. Uh so there's quite a few uh major pieces to that. Right. So the uh elimination of the t of the data center incentive would be 38 million. That's not a lot but that's a piece of it. The um water fee u would be a good good piece of it. Uh uh another piece which is a big chunk of it is I believe currently largecale um sports betting venues. I would think of all the sports books attached to the major um I know it's not footprint anymore but I call it footprint but state farm stadium you know the Suns where anyone major plays I believe they currently pay a 10% tax rate to the state uh she's proposing to increase

that to 45% so that'd be a significant increase and then uh you may recall that in uh HR1 at the federal level also known as the one big beautiful bill there was uh uh I believe around $13.8 billion allocated or or set aside to be allocated to the states as reimbursement for costs incurred due to um essentially due to I don't know if there's a safe way to put it but uh I forget what the language is in the bill but basically due to cost incurred for uh inaction from the federal government regard related to immigration enforcement. Uh the governor's proposal proposes that the state would receive about 750 million from the federal government uh in that re through that fund and that goes towards a a major chunk of the governor's new spending priorities. Uh so those are some of the major pieces of new spending. uh as you might imagine, the uh uh majority leadership in the legislature um is uh I guess dubious on the likelihood of of you know or you know and in some cases not supportive of those efforts to you know either raise taxes or raise fees or that you know necessarily you know um I guess counting on money that isn't a guarantee. Uh so these are all things that will have to be negotiated through the course of uh of the budget. Uh one piece that uh will probably inevitably end up in the budget to make you aware of is of course the issue of tax conformity. So I talked about the one big beautiful bill. Well, a major piece of HR1 was a number of changes to uh federal tax code. So that is not unusual, right? It's very common

for the feds to make changes to how they handle taxes and then every year, every state really has to decide how they want to adjust, especially states like Arizona where we have an income tax. Um, so almost every year, Arizona has a tax conformity bill. It's usually dimminimous, for lack of a better term. It's a technical measure. Uh however this year obviously it is a little bit different because of the ramifications. So you essentially had two or have two competing proposals. uh the governor I believe in November directed issued an executive order directing do to start preparing forms for tax filers uh based around her desired form of tax conformity which would be for lack of a better term about half of conformity with HR1. Um shortly after that legislative uh majority came out with their proposal which I would say is about 90 to 95% of uh conformity with with HR1 uh and so the legislature and then uh the legislature um legislative leadership particularly uh Senate President Warren Peterson committed to get their proposal up to the governor uh the first week of the of session and their package is about a total of a billion dollars in tax cuts to Arizona. Uh they got they did get that up this week in the form of Senate bill or sorry last week in the form of Senate Bill 1106 the governor committed to veto it. She did veto that bill. Uh the big piece the big takeaway is that some form of tax conformity will take place right and you know logic says it's not going to be from 0 to 100 it's going to be from 50% to 95%.

Right? It's going to be somewhere from where they both started at. So um you know for cities and towns we get 18% of income tax collection. So there will be an impact. Um the difficulty is uh finding an exact number. So [laughter] right we we'll have to wait and see what you know what gets uh negotiated rough estimates is going off of JLBC's analysis of the one big beautiful bill in the summer. We could estimate that full compliance uh would have been about a hit to cities and towns total in the first year of about 80 million. And so then Governor Hobb's proposal of about half compliance would have been around 40 million. These are rough numbers, right? And so you can kind of say that the Republican proposal would have been, you know, I guess maybe a little shy of that um of that 80 million number. So that gives you just rough estimates of what you're looking at between 40 and 80 million depending on what ultimately uh I guess uh comes out of those those discussions. So uh tax conformity will be a big piece one because of the tax policy and two because at the state level it comes with a price tag right and so it has to be paid for in some way. Uh so like I said even though say to us the Republican proposal was 80 millionish it was a billion dollars to the state. So that is you know why that will be a a major piece of discussion for uh for session as it moves through. Um, water will be a topic and uh the league does not do water because it is so local and regional, but uh I expect that to take up a lot of discussion, especially as uh we see thankfully the lower basin states seem to be in pretty good alignment

wanting to find a solution and hopefully unifying for the sake of knowing that we are better as a united front against the upper basin. But I I expect to see water u be a pretty good uh focus of of efforts at the capital. Uh I do want to mention that there are a couple of public notices bills this year that have been introduced. Um you know I I didn't hear uh Senator Belli or Supervisor Belli in the audience, but I'm going to hearken back to him at one of our prior meetings and just set expectations that uh you know what did he say? I think quoting Mark Twain that don't go against the people that control the ink. Uh so you know uh you know Senator Angus has her bill, Senator Kavanaaugh has a bill. Uh you know [clears throat] the the full elimination if you will of the public notice requirements was not successful last year. Uh Senator Kavanaaugh has a sort of a it's his own idea. It's sort of a middle step where he's trying to essentially keep some reporting through the newspapers but minimize the cost by basically saying we still have to notice through the newspaper but you're really just referring them to your website. So the amount that you have to print is much smaller so the cost is less. Um you know I don't know if you know a half measure will will increase the odds of passage. we we will see. But I wanted to bring that to your attention. And then just wanted to bring up a quick rundown of some bills moved through the legislature that have uh some impacts for for cities and towns. Uh there are a number of measures that will have uh financial hits. So those are tend to be the ones we we highlight, want to put on your radar. Uh so one of them is House Bill 2269. This would eliminate um the state tax state TPT on utilities.

So we do get a portion of that through uh state shared TPT. Uh our rough math back of the napkin is about 115 million total which we sort of estimate to be 38 million a year overall cities. So not the biggest impact we've seen. Um there are measures again looking to eliminate or mostly eliminate food tax. I won't dwell on that because I don't believe any of the Tri Cities uh um tax food for home consumption there. But there are measures out there again. And then there's another measure, House Bill 2290 dealing with the sourcing of um online purchases. And I do want to highlight this one um because it doesn't affect the state. Right? So, this bill is dealing with when someone makes a purchase from a online retailer that has a distribution center or a warehouse in Arizona and it's dealing with where the order is received, right? And so, the problem with this bill, I'm going to use me. I live in Goodyear. Goodyear has an Amazon fulfillment center, right? Right now, uh, if you order from Amazon, it is the delivery location. So, if you make an order in Kingman, you are going to be charged Kingman sales tax and Kingman gets the revenue, right? And what this bill would say, if you order from anyone out of state, that's still the case. You go to a business in Kingman, you pay Kingman sales tax. But if you order from Amazon and it turns out that that that pack of I don't know Dove soap that you ordered off of Amazon is being fulfilled through the warehouse in Goodyear. Oh well guess what? Since they happen to be physically in Arizona, we're going to charge you Goodyear sales tax and

Goodyear's going to get the revenue. So, I bring that up because one, no city is asking for this, but two, I think you can see the problem here, right? All these transactions are still charged state tax, so the state's not hurt. But if you don't have any of these fulfillment centers in your city, you're no longer going to see any of this revenue, right? So, that's the problem, right? It's a redistribution of the TPT revenue. This is not what we talked about when it came to Wayfair and about being bringing sort of tax equity with the brickandmortar stores in your cities that are creating jobs in your cities trying to level that playing field. This sort of throws that out. This is bad for really not just rural Arizona, any city or town or county that doesn't have these warehouses. So, we can't put a dollar amount on it, but it's not good.

[laughter] So, uh, hate to end on on, uh, on doom and gloom, but, uh, that is, uh, those are items I wanted to bring to your attention, and I know, uh, you know, Kevin, for example, will hit on the transportation side and and and the prospects there. And so, with that, I'm uh, happy to answer any questions. Thank you uh, for the update. Are there any questions for Renee from the mayors? No. Does anyone else have any questions for the league? uh food trucks. Renee, do you have an update on the food truck bill?

Um the only update is so far is that it I believe it was held in committee and so uh you know any delay is a good thing. And so um we were actually talking internally our understanding is that this bill was run specifically for a constituent. So, we're trying to figure out if we can figure out what that constituent specific issue is and is there a non-legislative way to address it and then make the bill go away, right? Because, you know, if the issue is, I guess, systemic of a larger problem, great. But if this is just a one-off, we shouldn't be legislating to the exception. We should be legislating to the rule. Uh so uh so uh we're optimistic but at least you know for this week we we live to fight another day and it also gives us more time to um fine-tune our talking points and to um you know work on legislators.

Yeah. Thank you. And then on 2290 the the sourcing of online purchases on that particular bill is it already signed to committee?

Uh I believe it is. I don't believe it's gone to committee, but I do believe it is signed, you know, and I I should just note for I don't know the massochist in me, uh we are looking at the potential for a record number of bills and we might actually have a a historic moment because we already have 912 bills introduced in the House and we still have until February 11th for lawmak representatives introduce bills and they each have a seven bill limit which means 420 bills which means when it rolls over right when you get to House Bill 2999 the next bill becomes House Bill uh 4000 or 401

and so we've never had that little fun fact uh but uh mayor to answer your question it has been assigned to Ways and Means but is not currently on an agenda. Okay. and any um [clears throat] backstory of what what it's trying to achieve or are you just not aware of of what the what's driving it?

Um it's a long backstory. It kind of goes back to some instances before the US Supreme Court decision on Wayfair. And I would argue I would argue there's some antiquated thinking on tax policy based off of the way um transactions were handled prior to that Supreme Court decision, right? when you had to have physical nexus, but now that the Supreme Court has said you can have economic nexus to to us that really renders that moot and you have some thinker some thinking out there that says this that just disagrees with that.

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, Vice Mayor sponsoring that bill. Yeah, Representative Olsen is sponsoring that bill. All right. Are there any other questions? All right. Thank you, Renee. We appreciate you joining us today. Yeah. Thank you. Sorry I couldn't be here in person. Hopefully for the next one. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for the work you're doing on behalf of cities and towns. All right. Item seven is the Arizona Department of Transportation update. Uh Mr. Brozich,

Mayor Shehy. Yes. Really quick, while he's getting set up, just a reminder um that we do have to use a mic. So Susan up here has one. If you have a question, if you'll just pop your hand up, she'll come to you with the mic. That way on Zoom and also our live stream and our recording can catch those questions.

Good morning, council. Pleasure to be here as always. Start with our project presentation. So the West King, if you haven't seen it out there, it is well underway. Um I believe we're just over halfway and uh moving along nicely. I think it's next year it's supposed to be done. Uh SR95 South Palivvery to Price Road the center raise median. Uh last time I was at this council we had a lot of questions about that median. Uh just wanted to update everybody that we are looking at modifications uh some contract and pricing or funding to work through on that but I'm hoping to have some modifications available here next month or two and then follow up later with some additional but using the same contract is a little tricky. So we have some restrictions there. U I40 Franches Fe that is moving along nicely as well. We've been working with Kingman uh to get some modifications done on their needs as it ties into their road to the airport and others, but no issues on that one that I've heard recently. The California border it project is still moving forward. If you haven't seen it traveling across I40, there's a lot of conduit on the side of the road that they're installing. The last part I saw was by Sliggman. Uh but it's getting close to completion. On US 93 Tony Avenue, we had some modifications to the median crossings for the gas stations and the trucks there. Uh some striping and increased turn lanes. US 93 Sanctuary Road is a pave pres coming south through town. There have been a lot of complaints about the condition of that road. that will go through the West Kingman TI

project and should start once weather gets a little nicer to get that milling and filling done. I40 Holy Moses wash to rattlesnake wash is ongoing. A little slow over the winter here with the temperatures needed for the pavement, but we do have some deck rehab that was done at Rattlesnake and some additional paving on the west side of that project by Holy Moses. If you haven't noticed, US93 Cane Springs is a four-lane divided highway section that is moving nicely. The bridge over Cane Springs was replaced with two new ones. So, that'll connect to existing 4in sections in 93 Oldie up hillside pavement present. Another section that was well overdue. Um, couple pictures for you. These are the bridges on I40. On the right, left picture, right side is the flyover ramp as it's tying back into the eastbound I40 direction. So that should make that interchange non-existent for people who want to pass through. The picture on the left is the earthwork for those flyover ramps to connect 40. So you're actually north of I40 looking south there. Here's looking back north at that same cut. and the built building of the flyover ramp and the rebar being placed on the left side is 93 on the far I'm sorry on the right side is 93 on the far right side you can see that the new alignment is coming over those tunnels that you see one is a tunnel for Fort Beal and another one is for drainage another picture of the flyover from underneath and those tunnels as well if you don't know what those white rectangular objects are in that wash. Those are called energy dissipators to help slow the water down so minimizes erosion.

Some more I think interesting pictures if you lay cranes in construction. Um but the formwork on the pier cap and then the pier cap on the far right side. Additional bridges Rancho Santa Fe being built. Those are the I40 bridges where traffic is already on the ramps. I'm going to stay away from more technical stuff for the time being. Um, Cane Springs as well. A lot of land being cleared for those new lanes down there, but that should certainly be helpful. And the deck pores, all the rebar, I know you guys don't get to see that too much. Holy Moses wash. Uh, we had some deck rehab. I had mentioned earlier, this is just some pictures. Technically, just skimming off the top and putting a new coat back over top. For upcoming projects, Lake Aisu TI bridge that is a widening of that bridge to allow for the truck traffic. It is not an extra lane, but it is going to make that more navigable um in that for that area. the lake UTI to the wash payment press. Again, it should be one of the last sections of I40 east west of Kingman that we're doing. The rest of it should be done US 93 on I40 to Silver Springs. Just again another pavement pres coming down the pipeline and that's essentially starts at 93 and heads east. Uh US93 I from I40 to Blake Ranch another pavement pres. So, we have a lot of work in the area now, but we still have a good bit more coming. City of Cayman has various safety improvements that are advertised coming down the pipeline. Mojave County has some as well,

even with the highway safety improvement rail. That is the bridge being relocated, I believe, out there off of Krookton. passing lanes down south on 93 in the fourth quarter to get extended to help out down there. But starting on the bottom right, we also have um the gap A and Vist Royale widening the four lanes which will connect essentially the four lanes at Wikcinberg Ranch up to the existing four lanes, I guess, north of the train tracks by about 10 miles, eight miles. Cayman crossing traffic interchange. I hear that's still being negotiated and talked about. We haven't taken it off our books yet. Uh sooner it gets here the better. If it goes too long, the plans and everything need to be updated just to make sure, but I know Kingman's working towards that diligently. Um US93 Big Jim Wash is another four-lane divided highway section. Essentially, as you're coming out of San Maria, uh where the fourlane currently drops to two lanes, that'll carry down to the big gym wash. I think it's about 10 miles stretch. So, slowly but surely, we're looking to get that all four lanes. I will have a few more things to mention, but I wanted to take any questions on the presentation.

There are questions for Anthony. A follow up to our uh conversation last Tri City Council meeting. Yes. I believe supervisor Belly was mentioning I40. Um they like scraped it from like the Havasu interchange to California border and it was something that the contractor did something wrong and they were going to come back and fix that. Is that still So we had a new asphalt product we were using called stone matrix asphalt. That section of I40 did not turn out as well as we had hoped as far as smoothness goes. Mhm.

So, we brought in a um grinding machine, which we do in other locations. It's not abnormal. U it does not leave a perfectly smooth running surface, but it is a textured surface that um does smooth the road out. It just has small grooves in it that make a little more noise, but perfectly fine to drive on. So, that's done. Yes. Okay. I I didn't understand that last time, so thank you for that clarification. And then the median and like have au you said in the next two months or so. [clears throat] I am working through some stuff. My hope is to have somebody out there to modify some of the bullnosses when we are ready to actually say we can have the funding and the means the contracting means set.

Um we will certainly be putting out public notification before we get to that point so everybody understands what's going to happen and the impact of it. Yeah. Thank you. Yep. And is that Vice Mayor uh Sam? Yes. Yes. Um, thank you very much. Thank you for um um embellishing our curbs in Lake Havasu uh with the yellow. It's very helpful, especially at night for us older folks that can't re uh drive very well. But I really wanted to thank you for the embellishments on the construction with Route 66 all over the posts. It's lovely. So, thank you very much. That looks beautiful.

You're welcome. Um, [clears throat] with us today we also have Mike from ADOT that is up here doing the ADOT listening tour. So I am going to ask him to come up and speak to you guys about that. Okay. But one last thing I wanted to share with everybody is I have given my notice to the state. My last day with them will be February 6th and I wanted to say I enjoyed working with everybody up here. Can I ask Mike? And most of you out there. Yeah. [laughter] So thank you for that and you will be missed. Yeah. And then vice I like the oper I like the operative word most.

Right. Most um Anthony thank you for the presentation. Can you clarify a little more clearly like the four $4,916,000 you had tagged for the some improvements to the medians. What's what's almost $5 million? What are you going to do for $5 million? Are you referring to the medium in Havisu, right? Yes. Yes. Right there. So, that was the original contract price. That's the original contract price. That is the original contract price. Okay. Thanks for clearing that up. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you. And then before Anthony, before you leave, um yeah, we have a presentation uh for you. Um it is uh in recognition of distinguished service uh for the work that you've done up here. We appreciate it with sincere appreciation for your dedicated service, leadership, and collaborative partnerships in advancing transportation infrastructure across Mojave County. Your stewardship has resulted in transformative projects and safety improvements that have strengthened mobility, enhanced roadway standards, and improve quality of life for the residents of Lake Habasu City, the city of Bullhead City, and the city of Kingman, and presented to you uh today on behalf of the Tri City Council. So, uh we'll come around and we'll we'll take a photo. Um [applause] we yeah we uh thank you for your work. We wish you uh the best in your future. Uh thank you for being so focused on Mojave County and the needs that we have up here which are many as you know. Um and you handled it with grace and you were able to do some really large scale projects uh that were really meaningful for all of our communities. So thank you so much.

Thank you. Um all I can say is that's really cool. Yeah. Um I appreciate everybody. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. And uh thank you Bullet City for arranging it. But we'll come around. We'll take a a photo.

Yep. Right here is good.

Okay. Yeah. I'm just not doing it in front of this because the tables are so close. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right next to me. Cozy. All right, everybody look at me first and then I'll move so Michelle can get one. [snorts] You [applause]

[snorts]

All right. Good morning. Welcome.

Thank you, chairman and members of the board. It's hard to uh follow that presentation, but uh my name is Michael Keys. I'm the um strategic adviser to the director's office, and director Toth has asked a few of us at ADOT to facil f facilitate a listening tour. And why are we doing a listening tour? Because we believe that ADAT need the state of Arizona needs a new vision for transportation. We've called that we've nicknamed the listening tour what next move Arizona because we're trying to figure out what our next move is. For the last 30 years, we've been saying our transportation needs are this big, our revenue is this big. We have this big gap and that hasn't really that message hasn't really worked. So we're trying to figure out what our vision for the state is. And the reason I'm here today is we've we were in Lake Havsu City yesterday. We had a great session. I see some people in the audience, some familiar faces. We're here today in Kingman from 1 to 3 in this room having a listening session to listen to the issues here in the Kingman area. We're at Bullhead City tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. I believe at the city hall. No,

get the M office. Okay. I'm glad that somebody has my my back. Yes. You'll be at the MO office in Bullhead City. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. And um just just want to give a kudos to everybody who's been a part of listening toward this. This is going to be our today's going to be our 19th event and tomorrow is going to be our 20th event. We're trying to go around the entire state to get everybody's input. So that's I'm just promoting the the sessions today and tomorrow here in Kingman and Bullet City. So thank you. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Uh we will now move on to item eight, which is our rule transportation update. Mr. Adam. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh warning, uh all Tri City folks, uh as as Renee indicated, uh it's been a a very busy start to the session this year. I'll focus on transportation. Um, I think it's going to be very uh problematic and challenging as far as any permanent increase to the to the revenue streams that feed into HERF and and pay for transportation. Um, I do think where we might see some activity is with uh alternative uh fuel vehicles. Uh uh Representative Copper has introduced House Bill 2012 uh which would establish an alt fuel registration fee. So uh typical vehicle pays $8 a year at the time of your registration renewal. And this legislation uh would establish an $85 fee uh to go from $8 to 85. um if you have an alternative fuel vehicle and then a $40 fee if it's a hybrid. Uh a fiscal analysis has already been conducted on the bill. It's estimated

that it would generate about 18.5 million in uh in additional HERF revenue uh the first year. So, you know, we're we're talking about underinvesting in billions and so it's a it's a very minimal amount. And then uh Representative Basuchi who chairs the the House Transportation Committee um last year uh he started to look at charging stations and he wanted to make sure that any sales tax revenue uh related to the charging of vehicles uh that that sales tax uh was dedicated to HERF rather than going into the state general fund. and he has introduced House Bill 2259 this year uh which would in fact make that occur. So just a uh just an assurance that the revenue generated at the charging stations uh is dedicated to HERF. Uh and that would probably have even less of a fiscal impact than Representative Copper's bill. I I do think that it's important that uh as alt fuel vehicles and hybrids as they continue to uh uh be used more and more and they become a greater part of the uh or percentage of the fleet that's out on the roads that we we have a structure in place for them to to pay for their fair share of the upkeep of the infrastructure. So, I I I do think it's important legislation uh to have enacted, but at the same time, I I put the caution out there that we're talking about very relatively limited amounts of revenue that would actually be generated.

So with our TAC uh because of that we still see that the best potential to increase revenues is to pursue uh any potential one-time revenues that might be available uh come budget time. And to simplify it, this is essentially uh revenue uh that's already been generated that came in revenue collections that came in above what the state had forecasted and um exceed the level needed to cover ongoing expenditures. And when there is a a balance like that available, the legislature has options as far as its use. it could uh increase um spending, new spending um but also provides capacity for new tax cuts. And so what we have successfully done for about the last five six years is to make the case to prioritize the use of that funding for transportation projects across the state. And we will once again do that this year. Uh, Representative Basuchi has introduced House Bill 2304, uh, which is the, um, ARC priority project legislation, which includes priorities as vetted and selected by all of the uh, regional planning organizations across greater Arizona. So that includes uh, WHOG as well as the Lake Havsu and Bullhead City MPOS. And then uh the other priority for one-time funding is we are seeking an additional appropriation for the Arizona Smart Fund. And this was the program that was created about four years ago

that provides uh greater Arizona communities with the ability to receive state funding uh to help them pursue and then use competitive federal transportation grants. And to date, there's been 52.5 million in state awards. and those projects that received the state funding uh have been able to bring back 174 million in federal competitive grants. This is funding that in all likelihood would not have been coming to Arizona. So, this is new and on top of the uh of the revenue that we uh already receive. In addition, many of those projects that receive state awards haven't moved all the way through the federal application process. And if they were all successful, uh they have the potential to bring in an additional 290 million. This is on top of the 174 million that's already been uh successfully received. So, the situation that we find ourselves in right now is that we're pretty close to exhausting the remaining balance for the smart fund. Uh, there's about a 15.5 million balance remaining, but there's about 7.5 million in projects or applications that are currently pending uh with ADOT. And if those were all awarded, uh, we would be down to about 7.5 million left. And for the first couple of years of the program, uh, ADOT's been awarding at a clip of about 33 million a year. And so, uh, we could

exhaust that balance very, very quickly. So, Representative Wen uh from Prescuit has introduced House Bill 2760, which would appropriate an additional 15 million uh for the smart fund. And then on Friday in the governor's um budget proposal, um she has proposed that 10 million be appropriated. So, uh good to see that we have bipartisan uh support for the smart fund. uh the return on investment has been uh tremendous and so it's just going to come down to uh whether or not there are available one-time revenues this year. Uh collections have have been really solid. We we got the uh December numbers in uh yesterday and uh we're talking about state fiscal year here. the uh the year to date we've seen 3.5% growth over last year and more importantly we're about 240 million above what was forecasted for the year. So we're now about we're now halfway through the state fiscal year and we're 240 million above what was anticipated. Um, however, um, I think one of the big challenges, and Renee talked about this earlier, is, uh, the potential impacts from the federal budget and other federal actions with HR1. We've already got the the federal income tax cuts and uh, we are now uh, contemplating uh, conformity at the state level. And uh if we were to fully conform with those federal adjustments, uh the estimated impact in year 1 would

be 440 million. So that could essentially uh balance out or or totally exhaust uh that uh that that balance that's being generated from from all the the collections above forecast. Uh, as Renee indicated, that the governor vetoed the 100% conformity bill that that crossed her desk. Um, however, she has indicated that she is supportive of some of the cuts. And so, it's anticipated that uh there that will cause um uh an additional stress on the state budget. Um but also as as I think everybody is well aware uh several months ago, we had a government shutdown at the federal level and a continuing resolution was eventually passed to get us out of that shutdown. Uh but it didn't it didn't pass a budget for the remainder of the federal fiscal year which runs through the end of September. It basically got us to the end of January, which we are only about a week away from that. At this point, um, we are not anticipating another shutdown and I know that Coral and and Penny are on the line, so they may have some further insights, but what from from what I'm hearing, um, it sounds like uh, Congress is uh, well on their way of being able to uh, pass the appropriations bills by the by next week's deadline and have a budget in place for the remainder of the year. And I think that will be real telling for us um at the state level in that there's a lot of uh potential cuts to social programs uh that uh if at least we know what those cuts are, we'll know how the state

legislature reacts to them. You know, many of these programs um also involve state funding and are administered at the state level. So, if there are federal cuts, federal adjustments to that funding, uh the state will need to decide whether or not to sort of pass through and and eliminate or or cut back um on uh services based on the uh the new federal levels. Um or they could opt to um utilize more state funding to make up for some of those federal cuts. And of course, if that happens, that's also going to place stresses on the state budget and the potential for there to be revenue available to do things like fund infrastructure projects and the smart funds. So, not quite sure how lawmakers are going to react to that, but if in fact we do have a uh a federal budget enacted uh next week that will provide uh a lot of the information that uh that state legisl the state legislature needs uh for determining or or or passing a budget this year. So, I I think those are the uh the main points uh for for transportation for this state legislative session. If anybody has any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Adam. We appreciate the presentation. Are there any questions or comments? Yeah, Council Member Campbell. Good morning, director. I have a question in regards to the license uh tax increase, which would be for the um electric vehicles and the hybrid. I'm curious, is that going to go into the VT? Are they going, you mentioned it's going directly into the HERF funding. Can you explain that a little more?

It would go directly into uh HERF, the highway user revenue fund uh which is directed at uh or dedicated to transportation with uh roughly half of it going to ADOT and the state highway system and the other half going to uh local governments for their local road networks. Thank you. Thank you. Any additional questions? All right. Thank you for joining us, Mr. Adam. We appreciate the work you're doing. Oh, you're very welcome. All right. We'll move on to item nine, which is our mayor's updates. But before I do that, I may yield a little bit of time to council member Moses, who has an announcement that he would like to share with the Tri City Council.

Yeah. Thank you, Mayor Shehy. Um, I thank you for the time. I want to talk to you guys a little bit about something I'm deeply passionate about. Uh that's civic engagement in leadership development. Um two years ago I was honored to be invited to the Flynn Brown Fellowship. It's a fellowship through the Flynn Foundation. Um and they are talking um it basically the the Flynn Brown Fellowship brings leaders from all over the state. Um together we we uh we get together we we dive deep on the issues. We we speak to I think during my session we spoke to every single cabinet leader and uh in fact I think we were joking at the end of session we talked to everybody but the state mine inspector and on the last day she had the state mine inspector show up just to have lunch with us and and discuss some things. So um the the wealth of knowledge that you you gain from it uh is is tremendous and wonderful but I would say it's really the uh the connections you make through this fellowship. Um, I know there's a there's a fellow fellow online when Dr. Coral Evans. Um, but uh you you you you go through an experience uh through the Flynn Brown Fellowship that uh that really impacts you uh as an individual and uh kind of creates a a a commonality amongst other leaders around the state. It's something I t I I really really endorse and I uh I was asked because they're doing a listening uh kind of anformational session in Lake Havasu to also bring it to our other sister cities in in Bullhead and Kingman. And so, um, I'd like to I'll pass along the information to you outside of this meeting, but, uh, but if you can share it with your your fellow council members, your your leaders within your community, I I wholeheartedly uh express my my um that that everyone uh is should go through this. It's it's an amazing experience. Um, so uh it is coming up on

February 11th, 2026. It'll be at 900 a.m. in Lake Havsu at the Nomadic Co-workspace. That is 2119 McCullik Boulevard North. If you're interested in attending, I uh encourage you to to go to a civicle.org. That's a Zci.org. Um and uh yeah, we're we're honored to have them as part come to Mojave County. This is the first time they've done this. Um I'll tell you that Mojave County is is under represented and uh and we'd like to have more of us fellows in here in Mojave County. So, thank you for the time, mayors, and have a great day.

Yeah. Thank you, Council Member Moses. All right. Uh coming to the mayor updates. Mayor Head, do you want to start with Bullhead City?

Sure. Thank you. So, oh, okay. A button. Yeah. Excellent. Um, number of turn lanes that we are putting in there in Bullhead City. Some have been completed. We were fortunate to open one yesterday or earlier this week. And the big one for those of you that have traveled through Bullhead City, it's in front of our Safeway Plaza. That's kind of a mess through there with a big drainage ditch and access up over a a rise in the roadway. So, we're really looking forward to that one, which should start sometime in the next two months. Our uh spring will be full of uh sports tourism type things there in Bullhead City. Down in our parks, we'll have soccer, football, basketball, baseball, uh softball, all of the sports tourism you can imagine almost every weekend in Bullhead. come down and join us if you want to see some great uh some great teams playing uh along with each other. Our new animal control shelter is substantially complete and should be opened within the next month or so. It's uh in the old newspaper building and a lot of space for our uh animal shelter and for our animal care officers. Bullhead City did acquire the Chapperel Golf Course in the last couple of months and we are currently operating it with its small restaurant. Hear a lot from the community that we uh that we really have improved the grass there, those kind of things. So, I think that's really something that's been uh been great for our community. Uh we have been watching what's going on with the Bureau of Reclamation, especially with our river levels. Uh where I live near

the river, you can literally walk across it. So, a lot going on. And we know that the main purpose of that water is is irrigation and taking care of that kind of stuff in the south uh in the south of Arizona and California. But we've had a lot of dry days. It's funny, my mother-in-law just sent me a photograph out of the blue. There's actually water in the river today, so please look at it when you guys go home or go through there. Um, and last but not least, yes, there's going to be an olive garden. Thank you. [laughter] Thank you, Mayor Head. Mayor Watkins.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, actually, since Mayor Head started off with left turn lanes, we'll do the same. Um actually and only I mention it because Walpai Mountain Road of course is one is the way main way to get up to the county park up on Walpai Mountains. So a lot of people do use it from all over the county and uh we actually have put in some left turn lanes because of development that's going on up there and of course it should make that road a little bit safer. The lines can be a little bit confusing right now. We're actually finishing up that project and putting more line engine stripe and sealing that roadway. So it'll be um anyway it just adds more safety to that road climbing wall mountain road to the mountains. Um also of course our interchanges that have been ongoing. Anthony mentioned what's going on with the the West BLTI and of course our Flying Fortress. Flying Fortress should be done by about August. And of course, as a city, we're working into the tie-ins that tie into that. And so, it'll be a great addition to our city and give us more access for people traveling from those neighborhoods to get downtown to get around the city. Um, our land release is on track. Now, many of you have know that we are we have an amazing industrial park and we have more land that is already in our name, but we have to pursue the FAA to get the land release from it to be able to use it. And so, we've been working on a 700 plus acre project um over the last number of years. And that land release for those 700 plus acres should happen sometime here in the spring, next couple months. So, we're excited about that. Um, Kingman Crossing interchange, Anthony mentioned also, we're we've hit a reset portion of that and we're working on a track to revive that interchange. Uh, working with the hospital and surrounding area right there, the surrounding land owners. Um, our fire stations have gone under remodeling

process and we're almost done with that and so freshen up. They look great. And of course, we're thankful to our our firefighters and and what they've been able to go through as we've done those remodels. They've been patient with us, but we appreciate all they do for us. And then, of course, we have large utility projects going underway uh up to the north part of town, the Grace Neil Parkway, Grace Neil Sewer Line addition, and Santa Rosa transmission line too improvements. So, just a lot of different projects going around and of course we appreciate our citizens, all of us, our patience with that construction. Of course, we want people to be safe, too. That's it, mayor. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, mayor. And then a update from Lake Havasu City. Uh we are entering our winter event season. So, this weekend we'll have the balloon festival actually on this morning on our drive up. There were several balloons in the air. So, come on down and experience Lake Havsu over the next uh several days and experience the balloon festival. The weather is looking good. Um, on that front, we also have Winter Blast. That'll be over President's Day weekend. That is the annual fireworks uh display uh weekend. We'd love to have you come take a look and enjoy that as well. A couple of zoning changes that we've had in Lake Havsu City. Last uh week, the city council considered a zoning request for a very large area of state trust land that was the former golf course on the island. It's about 90 acres. Uh it uh did pass, but it's uh three different zoning designations with a resort hotel, uh public boat launch facility, uh shoreline access area, um housing, and then commercial development. Uh this will be done just a little bit different than most developments have been done in Lake Havsu. Um over the generations, Lake Havsu built one home, one business at a time. And this will come in and actually uh build uh this entire neighborhood uh as planned or uh community area um as planned sort of at once in um connection with the second bridge that will open around the same time that the development will be completed. So uh that's an exciting project out on the island. Uh we also have uh in the coming weeks a ribbon cutting for the Kaiwa Ponds area which is a large area on Highway 95 adjacent to the Hobby Lobby Center. Uh it's been vacant for many years. It was a city-owned parcels for many years. Uh we sold it to the Anderson uh family and it'll be the Anderson Powersports uh facility where they'll sell everything Powersports, so uh water equipment, off-road equipment, and then also have maintenance facilities there as well. So, we're excited to get that project uh moving. We have our annual planning session tomorrow. So, our council will

get together with our city team and start developing our strategic plan as we're going into the budget cycle uh for this coming year. So, that'll be all day tomorrow. Uh Lake Cavsu City is also hosting a lunch and learn with how to do business with the city. Uh we want to engage more with our local contractors and local businesses uh across the region on how they can do business with us and what uh we can do to make it easier for them to do that. Uh so we are hosting one of those. Uh we also have our third citizen survey is out on the street right now. So we have reached out to uh citizens uh to let us know how we're doing. This is our third one so we can benchmark against uh prior data and then also benchmark against other communities across the nation that ask similar questions. Uh there is unique questions specific to Lake Havasu City and we'll be able to use that and help guide us as we go into the future as well. And uh that concludes my update for Lake Havsu City. Uh we do have for those of you attending uh in person, we do have lunch here, so please stay and have lunch. I would like to thank Annie, the city of Kingman for hosting us. Uh the clerks for making sure that uh we are all here doing what we're supposed to be doing. And to uh my colleagues in our sister cities, all great works happening in Mojave County. Um thank you for all engaging and we look forward to having some fellowship at lunch. Those attending virtually, thank you for joining us and hopefully we'll see you in person next time. Uh we are adjourned. Thank you.