Council - Regular Meeting

I don't blame you. I would like the for sure. No, Okay, I will call to order this. Yeah,

she did it. I will call to order this special city council meeting. It is February 25th, 2026. The time is 502. And Madame Clerk, will you please do roll call? Mayor Kidman, here. Vice Mayor Pharaoh here. Councelor Hedinger here. Councelor Preller here. Councelor Roundtree here. Councelor Hammond here. Okay. The only item number three for going into executive session 31 is for appointment to fill vacant city council position. I'll ask for a motion to go into executive session.

Councelor Hedinger. Mayor, I move to go into executive session for item 3.1 in the conference room. Second. I have a motion from councelor Hettinger and a second from councelor Pller. All in favor say I. I. I. We will go to we will go into an executive session and return when we are done.

Is it recording?

Oops. Let me make sure I got my right paper. Okay, I will reopen the public portion of this special city council meeting. The time is 5:23. Um, [clears throat] having just been in executive session for appointment to fill vacant city council position. Do I have councelor Pharaoh? I'd like to make a motion that we have John Kojan as the step-in counselor and we base this based that he on his last election was one of the closest people to the elected people and he has experience and we appreciate that and so Mr. Mayor I I select we select John Gojan.

Councelor Hammond, do you have a hand up? Uh, yes, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to make an alternate motion to suggest that we select Cody Woods as our interim counselor. Um, while I appreciate John Cojan's experience, Cody Woods also has a lot of experience serving on our boards. Um, and I believe [clears throat] that during executive session, we all agreed that he had the stronger application package. I'm looking for a a second for the first motion. Do I have a second? Second the first motion. We have a motion from councelor Pharaoh and a second from councelor Roundtree. Now, can we make comments? Yes.

And I would like to encourage the other applicants because we had some really strong applicants um to apply to some of our board positions that are opening. A couple of them will would have some really strong strengths that could greatly benefit the city of Paige. So, um, we would like to encourage you to, um, choose to do that. Okay. We have a motion on the floor and a second. Uh, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Nay.

Five and one. You don't you don't need to do an individual, do you, on that? Okay. So with that passing of that motion, the second motion is will be void. Um so with that, we will turn the time over to the city clerk. Since John Cojan is here, she she can administer the oath of office so that we can make him work. Do we get a wrestle for his seat? Which seat he takes? [laughter]

That's your old seat. You want it back? John sold me swear I will support the Constitution of the United States of the Constitution and the laws of the state of Arizona and I will bear truth faith and allegiance do the same and defend all them against all enemies foreign domestic and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the o city council. according to the best of my ability. So help me God.

I can just have this sign here. And we'll have a second. Okay. [applause] It will be a short sorry

it will it will be a short term that needs to be voted on in the next election. So I think it's what eight months. So okay well with that that is the only item of business. I will close this special city council meeting. The time is 5:27 and we will start our regular meeting shortly.

Okay, I will call to order this city council regular meeting, February 25, 2026. The time is 5:37. Madame Clerk, I mean 5:31. Madam clerk, will you please do a roll call? Mayor Kidman here. Vice Mayor Pharaoh here. Councelor Hedinger here. Councelor Pller here. Councelor Roundtree here. Councelor Hammond here. Councelor Cojan here.

I forgot to start with a moment of silence and have you join with me in the pledge of allegiance. So let's do that at this time. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indisable with liberty and justice. for all. With liberty and justice for all.

Reminder to all council members to put on their microphones. Item three, [sighs] consent agenda. Four items on the consent agenda. I'm looking for a motion. Councelor Hettinger. Mayor, I move to approve the consent agenda. I'll second. We have a motion from councelor Hedinger and a second from councelor Pller. All in favor say I. I.

I. Any opposed? Thank you. Um item number four, public hearing 4.1. This is a public hearing for liquor license for Hyatt Place. Um, I open the hearing if there's any members of the public that would like to address the council about this liquor license. Seeing that there is no public input on this, I will close the public hearing for the liquor license for Hyatt Place. Item number 42, a public hearing for expenditure limitation um permanent base adjustment. Is there any comments or I open I open it to the public for any any public input to address the council? Seeing that there is none, I will go ahead and close the public hearing. This is the first of two public hearings. So in the Yes. Sure. Go. You need to come to the podium and state your name and city of residents and it's about the the expenditure limitation item.

No.

Oh, okay. We're we haven't got to the hear from the citizens yet. Okay. Seeing that there is no public u comments about the public hearing, um I will close that. And for the public to know, this is one of two public hearings. There will be another one on that item at our next council meeting if you would like to address us at that point. Item number five here from the citizens. I do have four blue cards. We'll start with um Gayla Priest. Um please go to the podium, state your full name and city of residence and you'll have three minutes. My name is Gayla Priest and I'm a page resident. Um I came two weeks ago to the city council um to discuss the restroom issues at the community center. And so I'm here today to say thank you to council members Mike Farrell and city manager Frank Marberry for your help in this matter. It is uh activity going on at the uh community center and they are getting those problems resolved. Uh I would also like to recognize the staff at the community center, Becky the manager, Nora executive cook, Amanda the assistant cook, Jr. transportation aid, Winona transportation and community aid, Madison program coordinator, and NLSA community aid center and fitness coordination. I think I can speak for all of the people who use the center every day and for those who receive meals on wheels, how much we appreciate these people's efforts.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, let's go to Michelle Zia.

Hello again neighbors. My name is Michelle Zia and I live in Paige. As a citizen posing legitimate questions about water and I'm sorry, I'm speaking on the data center. As a citizen posing legitimate questions about water and electric resources for the data center, you Debbie asked me online why I am wasting my time questioning what we've been told by council. I find it insulting. My time spent learning, discussing, and asking questions about unknown data center outcomes is my way of being a good citizen. And I never got the answers. By the way, it is reasonable to seek information when our government has been secretly planning for months without input from residents. Caving to secrecy and pressure to move forward. A rush to sign the contract likely to avoid community opposition and bully tactics are ethically questionable for city officials. Debbie, in our online communications, you've stated you're still not sure about the data center yourself. If so, why did you vote yes? Why not require more information before you decide? Why say yes and then ask for clarification? All of you, you've given no real answers to concerns because you don't have any. How is it possible to say yes to this at extremely high risk to residents you knew would oppose it? We are reasonable. believe the majority of citizens oppose and think this should be put to a citizen vote.

Debbie, you should understand this better than anyone. You've been in these shoes wishing the citizens had a say so on something so impactful. We are not the enemy. We are apparently the real t caretakers of page. We are the ones who can step back and see clearly and hear clearly why this is not for page. If the data center is built against the desire of majority of residents and we endure six to eight years or more of construction and traffic before it's even built, then endure the impacts. I want you to imagine a future with community complaints that never go away. Perhaps familiar to those who've been around for a while, Paige government has a colorful history of bad decision-making. Past leaders are ridiculed to this day for extremely poor judgment, for going against citizens and hurting Paige. We're a small town and everyone knows everything. In our outreach, we're already hearing the upset toward many of you because of your yes votes. Very few citizens are showing support in online discussions. It's mostly a vehement outcry of what are they thinking. This is not Paige. Thank you.

Um Mr. Mayor, no. with if there's a personal attack by name then the counselor does have an option to respond. Is that true? At the end of the call the public so everybody goes and then then you can speak but not until the end. Okay. Let's go next to Christian Morelis.

Morelis. Hello. My name is Christian Morales. Uh thank you for everybody for being here. Um, I'm speaking on the data center and I'm a resident of Paige, Arizona. Um, there are a few reasons why I don't think the data center should be built. Uh, first is the proximity to residents. It's actually really close to the ranchettes. Everybody in the ranchettes will be able to hear the data center 24 hours a day and the rest of the town will likely be able to hear it when they step outside into their backyard or anywhere around Paige. The second is the electric. uh everybody's electric bills will be going up. The demand for electricity will skyrocket because the demand the data center will use all the electricity. So everybody who lives in Paige will have to pay more in electric bills. Any positives from this deal are speculative. The only guaranteed money that the city is getting is from the land sale. Everything else is is like an idea that the corporation that is selling this data center uh is telling us that we're going to get the land sale in my opinion is even under sold. Page land in my opinion is very valuable and to sell it for $7 million is not enough. Even the jobs drop dramatically after the construction is built. Most of the jobs are all construction. Once the data center is built, the jobs for most other data centers drop into the dozens. And our town is a tourist is a touristy town. And I don't see any benefits from the data center that help that industry and any long-term benefits besides the initial land sale. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's go next to Derek Culver. Howdy y'all. My name is Derek Culver. I've only been a Paige resident for about three years, but I first came to Paige about 12 years ago. I was depressed and not really having a good time in life and I came out here seeking nature and I found it. Paige, Escalante, Glen Canyon, Canyon Lands, Arches. It changed my life for the better. And now I'm a tour guide, a photographer. Um, I've worked in real estate development for quite a few years. My family was in it and I've been a tour guide. I've worked in the tourism industry for over a decade. I work with state tourism boards. I work with towns. Work with international ones. And we, you know, I I was going to come up here and uh read Genesis 2:15. I don't know if y'all are believers, but I am. And in Genesis 2:15, it says, "The Lord God took Maine and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it." And in work, it talks about making good trades, being fruitful, um helping one another. And when he says keep it, actually the Greek word is protect. It means to be a good steward. It means to cherish it, to protect it, and to watch over it. And you guys have a really hard decision coming up because you know I'd love to talk about the economic developments and what that means with the data center any sort of industrial capacity is Paige has a history of industrial capacity. Um, and I hear mostly just these economic arguments. You know, besides all the spiritual and emotional benefits of having this massive resource of public land next to us, but from my studies and from what I've seen in the tourism industry, we're already sitting on a gold mine of tourism and it's a renewable gold mine. And I would really, really caution you guys against a data center. I've had the honor of hosting two journalists out

here who specialize in small towns. um whether they're fighting back against data centers or they already have data centers. And with my [snorts] experience in real estate, I I would just really really caution you guys to slow down. I think you know kind of the way there's maybe a lot of misinformation going around about the jobs, the economic development, how much pollution it'll get. And a lot of citizens are very very concerned and rightfully so. And I think you know the American way is talking about it and putting it out in the open. And I don't know a lot of you guys. I've heard your name Debbie. I've heard your name Steve. um mostly good things. I'd like to get to know you. Um, I've only ever heard kind of these from the data center and kind of secretive and you're not being very open about it and it it you know I'd like to know you guys in a good light and discuss and talk about it because I think that's that's the American way and I think the people of Paga and I've only been here three years but I think generally the American way is to discuss these things out in the open and if the data center really really is that good for the town I you know personally for me if I had all these knowledge you know we've called us unreasonable or we don't really know or we need to be classified. If I knew all these great secrets about the data center, it it would really pain me to keep them inside and not be able to share it with your fellow townsmen. So, I just really highly encourage you guys to open dialogue with us. Thank you.

Thank you.

Um councelor Roundtree a brief. So, I hope that you guys understand that um it is against Arizona law and open meeting law violation for us to answer your questions when you come up to that podium. Um but when you directly direct something to a specific council member, we're allowed to respond to it. I can't respond to everything you said because that's not on the agenda. But the things that you directed directly at me, I can respond only to those things. So, first of all, um, Miss Zia and the others, I would like you to understand that more than anyone in this entire community, I have a perspective and understand where you're at than anybody else. And so, when you direct those comments to me, you have to understand that I have a better understanding that than anyone. First of all, I'm sorry that the lack of communication in town leaves you at the point with so much misinformation. And so my comment to you online, you did take just one little piece of it, but the information is that they are not going to get water. So if you're worried that this data center is going to be using water for cooling, then it's not going to be built. So you guys can go on and do other things because it's just not going to. So my comment is that when you make some of the comments you're making, it is coming from misinformation. And then when you directed the fact that me of anyone, you could go to other councils within the state of Arizona and you could convince them to allow a binary up or down vote on this issue. But I more than anyone along with the mayor understand that that's not legal in the state of Arizona. Why do you think I ended up in the Supreme Court? The city could not allow a binary up or down vote. If we were to allow it, we would be held by the state of Arizona extremely accountable because we already know we tried to fight that fight and it wasn't possible. The past council could

not do that. So when you make those accusations that I'm not letting you vote, that's not true. The state of Arizona's statutes do not allow an up and down vote was allowed when you elected the members who are sitting on this council. And then lastly,

council round tree wrap it make make it quick. The last thing is that you're directing that we're doing something in secretive. We're not. Even um the gentleman who asked for the freedom of information stated in the paper and has stated to me personally in a conversation, he found that this board and this city government did nothing wrong. We did not we followed all of the letter of the law. Everything followed correctly. And I do understand because of our lack of uh healthy media and and communication options in town, you guys don't get that information and we don't get that opportunity up here to explain that to you. So when you excuse accuse me of doing something that's wrong, you don't have a right to do that because I have not. We have done nothing secretive. I cannot allow the things that you're asking of me and the accusations you're making of me are misunderstood. My numbers online. You could have met with me. You could have called me. You could have talked with me. And I'm more than willing to explain that. Many other citizens have come and have talked with me about both sides of this issue. And I have explained that to them.

Okay. And if you will me to point of order. Point of order. So thank we have to have a point of order, please. So we can't have a discussion back and forth. I only can defend myself. So thank you.

Please. Okay. Item number 61, mayor's reports, announcements. I do not need to do an update on the vacant city council position. We have made that appointment. There's nothing more there. So, I will move on to item 62, city manager's current event summary. Our city manager is joining us online, Frank Marbar. Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, members of council. Uh, can you hear me? Okay. Yes.

Okay, perfect. Just want to give a a little bit of a detailed update on the on the bathrooms that were mentioned earlier. Um, I've been meeting with with staff. Uh, we never stopped working on those bathrooms, just to be clear. We had to order some new fixtures and we were waiting on those. So that may have been why it appeared that there was not work going on. But but we've investigated diligently and all the work that was done, it's per been per plan and per building code. It's just not working. It's one of those things that doesn't seem to be working right. So we are going to go back in. We're tearing out an abundance of concrete and redoing some of the the piping um to try and and make it work. um and separate the two bathrooms are coming together at the same spot. So, we're going to separate that out and it's it's taken a little time, but we hope to have it uh accomplished soon. Um the contractors working with us uh and and we're that work is ongoing now. We're also trying to work on the uh some of the smell complaints. Uh some of the history I've gotten those smell complaints go back decades. So, uh, we're also working with public utilities on that to see if there's something in the in the street or in the mainline. Um, the more you talk to some of the older residents or longer tenur residents that have lived here that you you learn more and more about it. So, we'll we'll keep fighting that fight as well. But, I wanted council to know we'll we'll keep at it until we can get it going. Um, we found nothing quote wrong at this point. It's just we're going to keep trying to improve it above and beyond the the code to where the citizens can have a bathrooms that they

can expect to work when they need them to work. So, thank you. Anything else? Okay. Yeah. Well, u city manager, you are dealing with a building that goes way back to the original city pool. Right. Those of us here that can remember the original city pool, that is that is an old building. Okay. Um we'll move on to item number seven, boards and commissions. I'll take any comments from counselors who attended a board meeting this since our last council meeting. Mr. Mayor of the Youth Advisory Commission met [clears throat]

uh February 17th and uh they were properly trained by by u our assistant city clerk and our our our city attorney and understand the rules of the road and and after the training they had a discussion about uh planning something for the par club after it has its grand opening and they're bouncing the idea of a movie tonight the first as their first event to invite other people into the uh into uh something that they host. So some discussion still going on with our rec department. Thank you.

Thank you. Any others from this direction? I did attend the library board meeting in U. Councelor Roundree was not able to attend. She asked me to go in her place and as we've heard from her on previous months, the library has a lot going on. And I did not realize that they don't just have one calendar that they have all their events on. They have a calendar for children, a calendar for youth, and a calendar for adults. So, if you're ever interested in anything going on, they have and all three of those calendars are full. It amazes me what they have going on at the at the library. and it's it's just it's just a great entity. So, I enjoyed I enjoyed listening to them. So, check it check them out. And then I also attended the uh monthly water water infrastructure um board. I want to call it a group. um the entities that are helping us to secure all the funding for the second intake for the intake structure and for the upgrades to our water treatment plants is progressing when you're dealing with so many federal agencies, but they're talking about RFPs in the next couple of weeks, RFQS for the environmental and design services for the intake structure. It's all moving along even though there's a lot of acronyms and a lot of a lot of agencies being contacted but there is progress being made on that water intake structure. So, anything else from any other council members? Okay, we will move on to item number number 81 of un unfinished business direction on airport expansion contract amendment. We will throw this over to the city manager. Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, members of council. I apologize for this coming up rather

quickly, but what we've got going is um as you all well know, the the bids for the essential air service are are coming due soon. And uh just a a brief maybe suggestion that it if this goes to discussion that we don't mention any names of potential biders or airlines or anything like that. Um as the bids aren't in and we don't know who's bidding. That's through the I think the FAA or the DOT is handling those bids. But what we've learned is there's some interest in maybe u bringing in some airlines that might exceed the 30 passenger capacity that we have now. And where that comes in is the current project for the airport expansion would expand the current seating capacity from 25 to approximately 30 to 37 passengers. Um, and this has been designed. We're actually looking at going to construction in a week or two. But what I wanted to bring to council is is with this new information, did council want to consider should we maybe put a pause to the construction and have our consultants do a quick study of what it would take to expand that seating area to maybe accommodate up to 60 passengers. The caveats with that is this project is funded mainly by an FAA grant. Going up to the extra seating capacity could be deemed speculative by the FAA. Um so that money might be borne by the city rather than the FAA. Um, we couldn't guarantee right now the FAA would help fund it further expansion, but I say

that knowing the bids are coming in very soon. So, um, it might cost us a little bit with the contractors we have to put them on hold if they've already got, you know, schedules for crews coming up and things, but it, my opinion, it might be better to to spend a little money that like that now and and make sure we we look at all our options before we get in the middle of construction and need to put a portable building out there or something like that to handle the extra passengers. And also, if the bids come in to where we do need extra passengers during construction, that is an option that is fully doable to bring in a portable building there. It's basically just a mobile home or a what you call a job trailer and it would meet all the security requirements. Other airports throughout the country have done that. So, we've got some ways to work around it, but I guess my ask to council is with the alternatives in the staff report, do they want me to proceed with the plans and estimates and maybe look at accommodating larger aircraft and let potential biders know that or do we want to inform the biders that there's no plans to uh enlarge the seating area of the uh terminal? And I guess lastly, if we took in the larger planes, it would handle the more passengers. There's also um seat uh security that we'd have to look at some of those measures. Um runway improvements both structurally and dimensionally with the larger wingspans. And then we'd really have to to look hard at our parking too. If we've got more passengers coming in there, we would need to look hard at maybe looking at parking as well. And we're all prepared to do that. Um

we just I I just think when they started designing the terminal several years ago, they didn't expect the interest that that we're seeing now. So with that, maybe answer any questions or I I have a quick question before I turn it over to council members. So without naming any names of of possible uh biders, do we know that there is truly interest in an increased plane size or is this or is that um speculative on our part? Uh you want me to handle that?

Josh, can you help me with that? Um I I think the safe thing to say is that yes, there is interest. Um and there's real interest. Uh we don't know how much or how many. Um but there could potentially be more than one. Um I believe carrier that has reached out and asked about the possibility of providing you know a jet with more than 60 seats. Okay. Councelor Roundtree.

Um I don't completely understand. If you could clarify this for me, Frank, why would that be speculative if we increase the se seating? Because I fly from the airport, not a lot, but often throughout the year, and there's always a seating problem right now because of, you know, the one plane coming in and one plane coming out. So, those who are sitting waiting to fly out and their family members aren't leaving the airport until they leave. And then all those waiting for somebody to arrive. Um, I I think it's obvious that we need more seating whether or not we bring in a larger craft or not. And the parking is definitely I I mean it's a reflection, I guess, on how many people have left their cars there and flying somewhere around the world because the parking lot is always full. I'm open for discussion as a council member on the length of the runway or the other changes that have to be made for larger aircrafts to come in. And I do know that we have had um in the past presentations about bringing larger planes in. So I'm probably even leaning towards that. But I don't understand the seating thing why they would question that because we need more seating with or without bringing in larger planes with more um passengers.

So Frank, was it was it that they may find it speculative or how was it that you worded that? Right. I I said may because we haven't had those discussions yet. And I'm talking about seating within the secure area. Okay. So, it's once they get through the security check. Um, as far as, you know, general lobby areas, that's would be more up to the city. But the FAA is, you know, they concerned with the passengers. And I think the current EAS contract um is limited to the size plane that flies in there right now. Okay.

Yeah, that that that seating would definitely be more comfortable if there was more seats inside of that area that you're talking about because right now you're right next to individuals and it's very cramped.

Right. Councelor Hinger and then councelor Pller. Um, I I want to recognize that a lot of work has already been done by staff and so I appreciate that effort and I hope that this doesn't feel like we're not grateful for the work that has been done. I'm excited to see the expansions to the airport. However, I was surprised um when we did the department head presentations to learn that we were making these expansions to the airport and it was only going to be seating for 30. Um, I would hate for us to do all of the work to get 30 seats and find ourselves in this exact same place in a year where we don't have the capacity we need. So, I would be open if the rest of council is to pausing knowing that that might there might be some additional fees incurred. I think it's worth it to pause now and

and do it right and do it right once instead of doing it the way we decided we were going to do it a lot of times in a row and always be making changes at the airport. Um but but again I I want to recognize the work that staff has done. I'm not not grateful for it. Um but we just have had some interest come in in the last year and I I would want to do it right the first time. Councelor Peller. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I mean, if the difference is just like 30 seats, we've got about 30 seats here in the back of the council chambers. We could just move those over, right? Um, space.

So, I'm I'm hesitant on the solution of uh uh plopping down a trailer somewhere. Um, there's some confusion wisdom about the longevity of a temporary fix. Um, and it it just never looks 100%. Um, I think what it would come down to is kind of the uh time and cost delta um between Sorry, I'm not saying delta is a hint. That's not a hint for any airline. Just throwing that out there. We're not getting quantas flying into page either. Um, so um, do we know roughly a ballpark figure of what we're talking here? Is it, you know, 10,000? Is it 10 million? um and how much that would delay any EAS uh bid awards by.

Do we know any of that? Would that be some question for you, Josh?

Yeah, I think probably better for Frank, but we don't know. I mean, that's the thing is we just we have no idea at the what it would cost. Um really the urgency of this is we need to let the airlines know whether they can bid for the service. these larger carriers. Um, and so the the the goal would be to as quickly as possible if council says, "Yeah, we're open to the idea of expanding our expansion project." Um, obviously depending on cost and whatever else, um, we would work as quickly as we can to get some of those numbers and that may factor into the communities. Um even if we tell the the carriers that yeah, we're open to the idea of having larger aircraft in here, um there will be an evaluation time period and hopefully we can get uh costs back on that and if the council decided we can't afford to expand. Um we can make a different recommendation to DOT as far as the award goes. Um but we don't want to waste people's time if if there's no chance at that. Um, so that that's kind of the idea, but we don't we don't really have any idea at all what it would cost to to to make it work at this point.

Um, let me let me get the city manager and then over to uh councelor Oh, I'm not used to your name now. Councelor Cojan. Frank, go ahead. Oh, one quick question, Frank. On on the on the trailer situation that you were mentioning, did you mention that that would just be during a construction phase? So it was clear that it was not a going to be a a temporary that becomes permanent fix.

Right. Thank you, mayor. Uh as far as let me address the cost and then I'll address the trailer. So the the cost Yeah. What what I'm basically asking for is do we want to take the time to to calculate those costs and figure out the cost and schedule for that? it when you're thinking of the scope of work. Um, as far as expanding the the secure area itself, as far as building construction goes, that cost would be minimal because it's basically making a garage a bigger garage, for lack of a better term. So the the finished improvements uh that that usually are the expensive part of building construction wouldn't really need to be any different than we have now. Even the number of bathrooms technically wouldn't change per the occupancy loading uh according to building codes. So it would just be increasing the square footage of the floor space and adding more seats um as far as that goes. Now there, if you do get the bids, we need to take into account the security and other measures that would go along with that. Um, and as far as the the trailer goes, that again, that could be even temporary if right now we're looking at um being able to accommodate the passengers. We have a plan for that even during construction. But if the bids come in, they may be bringing in the larger planes even before construction is finished. That's where I was talking about bringing in a basically if you lived in my world in the 80s, we had a bunch of portable classrooms where where I was. Um, so it would be something like that that could be done and I would I would highly recommend that that not be set up permanently

because I agree with councelor Pller. Sometimes there's nothing more permanent than a temporary solution. So, um, but that would just be to be able to accommodate if if one of these larger carriers bids on the bids that are I think they're coming in next month, Josh, is that correct? So yeah, relatively soon. Anyway, councelor Cojan.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, after looking at the plans, I agree with Frank that to add a few seats to the seating area that's in the thousands of dollars, but the extending the runaways, that's in the tens of millions of dollars because if you driving out there is no land there. Millions of yards of material would have to be brought in to extend that runway before those larger planes could even land. And to be clear, the we have not represented to any of these carriers that we would be extending the runway. The length of the runway is my understanding. That's not they're they're willing to fly as the runway exists now. The length of the runway because of the new planes, right? FAA is not going to allow that.

They part 32 and a part 21. Well, that's for them to if they bid. They they have to know the requirements. And we have not told them that we would extend the the runway. Okay. As a condition of them,

right? And I I'll just echo what what Josh said. As far as the airlines go, it would be up to them to to limit the weights and and bring in the performance type of aircraft that need to accommodate the length of the runway. The runway changes. I was mainly talking about would be to that you will have increased maintenance on the pavement with the heavier airplanes over time and also with the taxi ways and some of the maneuvering areas with the longer wings spans we would need to eventually accommodate that. Um and you can you can look at recouping those costs. We don't have landing fees or anything like that. That's maybe some of the fees we could look at in the future along with parking study and it maybe any future fees, but I don't necessarily want to go into that right now. That would be something in the future. But, uh, as Josh said, we wouldn't represent the runway currently changing in any way. they would have to be able to accommodate the runway as it as it lays right now um with whatever aircraft they bring in on their further bid.

Okay. Councelor Ferrell and then councelor Prowler. So the the question at hand is the direct the staff needs direction on amending the airport expansion project for additional passengers. And I agree with councelor Hedinger. It seems to me that we should have the larger uh capacity. So, it I I would recommend that we have staff come back with the how much it's going to cost with the time and let's look at um adding up to 60 having the ability to seat people comfortably. Councelor Peller.

Yeah, I'm going to echo the same thing. Um, I mean, we're we're here discussing this because Paige's aviation sector has been growing for a while. Um, I don't think we're plateaued. I don't think we're due to plateau for, you know, at least the next cycle. Um, and worst case scenario, we overbuild the waiting room and, you know, we'll we'll grow into it. Um, so I think it's at least worth exploring what the dollar amount we're talking about is here. Um, I think we should move forward like that. Sounds like we're coming to an understanding. So, I'm I'm looking for a motion. Councelor Hittinger.

Mayor, I move to direct staff to proceed with amending the airport expan expansion project and inform um and make any necessary information available to biders. Is that adequate? Second. Have a motion from councelor Hettinger, a second from councelor Pharaoh. All in favor say I. I. I. I. Okay. Thank you. Unanimous. We will move on to item number 91. Back to the liquor license for the Hyatt Place. I open up for a motion on this liquor license. Councelor Pller. Mr. Mayor. I move to approve the liquor license for the Hyatt Place.

Second. I have a motion from councelor Pller and a second from councelor Hettinger. All in favor say I. I I Any opposed? Didn't hear it. Thank you. Item number 92, resolution 1339-26, honoring the life, service, and legacy of councelor David Auggie. I would like to make a motion to accept resolution 1339-26, honoring the life, service, and legacy of councelor David Auggie. Point of order. I think the clerk needs to introduce it first. We'll have the clerk introduce the resolution and then I'm going to go ahead and read it to the public and

Okay. Oh, sorry. You need this copy. Oh, no. Is that what you need? Yes. Okay. A resolution of the mayor and city council of the city of Paige, Arizona, honoring the life, service, and legacy of councelor David Auggie.

So, we'll just hold on getting a second for that that motion. We'll see if I can get through this. Whereas the city of Paige mourns the passing of councelor David Auggie who returned to eternal rest on January 10, 2026 following a courageous battle with cancer. Councelor Auggie was a cornerstone of the Paige community since 1976, dedicating five decades of his life to the betterment of the city and the safety of its residents. His commitment to public safety was exemplified through his years of selfless service as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician, literally saving lives, and protecting the community he loved. David Auggie extended his leadership beyond the council chambers through his involvement with the John Wesley Pal Museum board, his membership in the Canyon Club, and his tireless advocacy for local veterans and community causes. Since beginning his service on the Page City Council in 2020, he served with unparalleled integrity, offering a steady and thoughtful perspective that prioritizes the quality of life for all citizens. Beyond his civic duties, David was a familiar and friendly face around Paige, particularly on the greens, often found enjoying his great love for the game of golf at the Lake Pal National Golf Course. He was widely respected by his colleagues and constituents as a collaborator who sought common ground and remained a constant engaged presence in his community. Now therefore, be it resolved by the mayor and city council of the city of Paige, Arizona, as follows. That the mayor and city council hereby express their most profound grief and extend their deepest condolences to the family of councelor David Auggie. that the city of Paige formally recognizes and honors

David Auggie for his decades of distinguished public service and his enduring impact on the character and safety of the city. That this revol resolution be permanently recorded in the official minutes of the city council as a tribute to his memory and that a copy be presented to the Auggie family as a token of the city's immense gratitude. We have read that. Do I need to make the motion again? I make a motion that we accept resolution 1339-26 honoring the life, service, and legacy of councelor David Augi. Second. Have a motion from councelor Roundtree and a second from councelor Cojan. All in favor say I. I.

I. Thank you. Um, yes. City manager, you have an item about this. Yes, mayor. I just want to say that if I'm not sure if Melissa's still in the audience or or was able to make it, but um just we can present this at the um celebration of life that's going to be at noon at Gone West on Friday. So, and then you'll have something to present to the family at that point. Yes. Thank you.

Can I thank staff for doing that and preparing that? Appreciate it. Item number 93, proposed changes to the consolidation fee schedule, consolidated feeds fee schedule. Mr. Mayor, I move to approve uh item 93, the proposed changes to the consolidated fee schedule. I'm going to Well, go ahead. I want to I want to back up just a moment on that. I wanted to make a comment. I I would like to suggest because this is still a work in progress. Correct. It's not not completed. It has public correct

public comment period and so forth. I would like to take a step back and ask that [clears throat] PUE be included in this document as far as and I needed to ask you that would would they be like some any fees from them or are they such a separate entity that they cannot their utility fees are exempt? they have their own statutory process that they have to follow to adopt and in our code. These are fees that by state law we have to publish for 60 days um before the council can consider changing them. The the utility fees are different. They have a different process um

for like their the the prices for their trucks and so forth when they have to go do unrepaired damages caused by citizens. That's out of their normal scope of work. Oh, well now those fees would be different. I thought you were talking about the utility rates like what we pay for water and talking about the same type of items that that are in this consolidated fee schedule for the police department, the ambulance and so forth.

Um with with some events that have happened recently here in the city. I think that having I know that they have a list with foreman or or worker and so forth when they have to do unscheduled repairs due to due to negligence. I think it would be good to have that on this consolidated fee schedule that people can see and that pee can update with us the same way that these other departments are.

Yeah, I apologize. Those those could be added um either to our fee schedule or they could do the same process to do their own adopted. It would have to come to the council for theirs for adoption as well, but it could [clears throat] either be lumped in with this or a separate one, however council wanted to do that.

I I did, just for council to know, I did call and talk to Brian Hill at PUE about that and asked him what he thought and he he thought it would be good to have those items on the city's consolidated schedule and that they would just update them with them whenever this is updated. So that I that's why I I I wanted to throw that in there before we jump to accept this as it is. Councelor Roundtree

and so then the process is that this will go review for the citizens and I hope the citizens will review this because there was a couple I even had concern and I want to do more research on if we can change those and if the board changes it then does it have another 30 or 60 days for review?

No. Um so yes no This is not a required step. Um the the idea of bringing this to council before staff publishes it is to get council feedback so that we don't publish something and then have you guys be like wow we are never going to pass that and then you got the people you know maybe some people riled up about it. So the idea is to give you a quick look but but yes so what would happen next is once the council says go ahead and move forward we publish for 60 days um this on the website and other places and then we have to have a hearing um before it's adopted. So um and then we have to give 15 days notice or whatever the number is before we have that meeting and adopt them via resolution. So we publish it for 60 days. During that 60-day period, we'll do another notice that says, "Yay, verily, the council is going to consider adopting these fees officially." When we get to that meeting, 75 days down the road or 60 days down the road, at that point, the council can still amend the fees based upon the public feedback, based upon council's, you know, review of the fees. You can change them and we don't have to republish. You can adopt them that evening modified as modified by the council. And so is there a time period that the state requires that this is done by?

No, we we we do this we the goal is to do it annually, but it ends up happening every probably two to three years just because it's such a process to try to get everybody on the same page. Um but uh th this is whenever we want to do it. Councelor Hinger and then councelor Pller. Um, I have a couple of things that I'd like to see in there, but first my question I'm I'm great with including pee in here as well, if that makes sense. Uh, my question would be, does the pee board typically weigh in on those, and are we going to find ourselves in a place where we're slightly off?

I I asked that of Brian. Any of their fee schedule ends up getting approved by us. it might get recommended to us by their board, but we're that the city council is the one that approves theirs as well. Right. And that makes sense. I just wonder if it's nice to have it separate so that we don't have one brought before us and then pee wants to make changes to their small section of it or if we feel like the city and pee can work together well and just update them at the same time every year. I'm great with that. I just don't want to amend it twice. That that is what that is what Brian said that oh if the city's going to do it every year or so then we can just make sure that we're included in that.

Cool. Um the two things that I would be interested in discussing more if the rest of the council is intrigued is um I noticed with the paracub we have all of the individual rooms and I wonder if it's worthwhile to have a rent out the whole parub like indoor and outdoor or if you just if you rent all of the rooms and add up all of those numbers then you'd basically have the whole facility. Um and then the other thing would be on our horseshoe bend fees. I'd love to see an annual resident fee in there. We've got the type of vehicles, but if we could add in a an annual resident, I'd love to see that. Council Per.

Uh, yes. Second to the um local resident Horseshoe Ben discount. Um, on the um Oh, boy. Um, on the the consolidated fee schedule, you're saying that a lot of these don't get updated uh until every several years. Um, is there a way we can think about picking certain ones of these the especially the ones that are like tied to like labor hours and just annually, you know, as as inflation as colas happen, just bump those and dump it on a consent agenda. Um, it wouldn't be on a consent agenda, but what you would do is you would actually, and there are a couple, I believe, cemetery rates that are adjusted by CPI every year. So, it's just in the fee schedule that the the fee that you adopt is $35

annually adjusted by the CPI and then forever it just automatically staff will automatically update it every year by the C for with the CPI. Okay, cool. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? If not, I'll look for some direction to the or a motion to give direction. Do we need a motion? Um, yeah, that'd be good. I mean, if you if you want us to hold off or what kind of what you want us to do and do you need go ahead consensus on some of their suggestions? I actually I think what it what it will be is sending them to go work on it more and bring it back to us. Is that correct? Whatever motion, if that's the motion you make, if that's the motion that passes, then yes, that's

because I would like to echo their thing on the residence rate for an annual pass that you could buy to go to Horseshoe Bend if you're a resident or Yeah. Council Per, point of order though, before we got into discussing this, I totally just dived on and said, you know, move to approve this. Um, I'll happily let that motion die. I just want to make sure that we do the procedural, right? Second, so I think it dies. Okay. Without a second. Okay. So, what is the motion that we have on the floor exactly? There was no second. So, there it's no second. No second. We we will say no. So, I'll I'm looking for a new motion.

Who would like to tackle that? Councelor Roundtree. I'll make a motion that we send it back to staff and letting them know how appreciative we are of the work that they've done, but to take into consideration the PEU, the residents um and um the par club specifically um and bring it back to us with a few tweaks. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion from councelor Roundry and a second from councelor Hettinger. All in favor say I. I. I. I. I.

Thank you. Okay, next item number 101, potential future agenda items. Before we do this, reminder to all council members, this is not a discussion item. So, we will have I'm going to have councelor Hettinger read the paragraph for the request of this item on the agenda and then I will ask for a raise of hands.

Perfect. So during the department presentations, it was mentioned that the previous council stated they wanted to limit selling merchandise at Horseshoe Bend. I'd like to bring to a potential future agenda item discussing um if council would like to bring this up again, especially as phase three and future expansions at Horseshoe Bend are considered to decide um sorry if we want to revisit this. Items to discuss would be if this is something council would want to consider and if so should outside vendors be allowed or should it be limited to the city of Paige to have more control over what is sold. I second it.

Show of hands. We have a majority, definite majority of wanting to bring this back to as an agenda item for staff to proceed preparing something for that. Item number 11, executive session, request to amend existing purchase agreement with Tribal Hospitality portion of partial 8022005A south of 98. I'm looking for a motion to go into executive session. Sure. I'll motion to go into executive session for item are we on 111. 111. Second.

I have a motion by councelor Pller and a second from councelor Hinger. All in favor say I. I. I. We will go into executive session and return as soon as we are done.