Mayor and Council - Special Meeting

I'd like to call the special meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Roll call, please. Mayor Jose Grihalva here. Mayor Protemper Ray Shelton, present. Council member Jose Montto, here. Council member Gustavo Guraso. Council member Maria Dilman here. Council member Rich Costa, present. City Attorney Dennis Vitz Gibbiven present. City Treasurer Alejandro Martinez here.

Thank you. And Mrs. Okiko is excused. Item three, persons wishing to address the council in writing or verbally on any item not on the agenda. Do we have it? Ethan Gomez.

Good afternoon. Thank you for letting me speak. Um, Kathleen Gomez, 2350 East 12th Street, Douglas, Arizona. Um, I came in support of Ida Pedrago getting to be appointed for Ward One. I've seen her at every city council meeting over the past gosh, I don't know, probably forever. So, she's very involved. She knows the issues. She talks to everyone, whether they're Republican, Democrat, independent, purple, pink, or whatever. Um, I feel that she really represents the community really well and she knows the issues and she's involved and she's out there and she's speaking to everyone which is really key element when you're looking for a council member. So, I came to just speak in support of Ida Pedrago getting to be a nominated for council woman for Ward One. Thank you.

That was item four, but I'll let it slide. Um, which is good because she only she would have gotten only three minutes on that. If she if I would have let her she would have talked the whole time. Um, Miss Diana Lamar and you can have three and four. So, you'll be called up twice, but go ahead for three. Hello. Good evening, uh, mayor and council members. Uh my name is Diana Lamar, 1303F Avenue in Douglas. And I just wanted to do a followup on a meeting that uh I spoke at about two months ago regarding surveillance and flu cameras and hoping that the community can learn uh what you've learned or if it is going to become an item on the agenda to vote on. So I just wanted to do a followup and also to let you know that uh raise which is rural Arizona engagement I always forget the last um we've been Douglas Indivisible has been working collaboratively with that organization and they did a wonderful diaper drive for Douglas specifically in Sierra Vista uh I think it was a week ago. So, I've collected all the diapers that would fit in my vehicle and will be giving them away to community members that need them. Uh, but I also wanted to uh hopefully continue a diaper drive here um for our community and we will be giving them out either um at Douglas days or this Friday.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um to follow up on the uh cameras, uh yeah, we were it'll be a a future item on the contract for that. Um item number four, discussion with possible decision on ward one seat vacancy. Miss Andrade.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Pursuant to city charter article 2 section 13B, in case of a vacancy for whatever reason in the council, the remaining members, including the mayor, shall by a majority vote, select a qualified person for the ward in which the vacancy occurs. The vacancy in the council should be filled within 31 days, but not less than 15 days from the date of the vacancy. The appointed councilman council person shall serve until the next general election or until his successor shall be called. Former council member Melissa Rodriguez resigned on March 26, 2026. My office initiated the process of issuing a public notice to seek qualified candidates to fill the vacancy. The notice was also shared on social media channels and published in the Herald Review on April 1st, 2026. Letters of interest were collected in my office resulting in the in the receipt of two submissions. Mayor and council have scheduled this uh special meeting to conduct interviews for the two candidates. Article 2, section 13C of the city charter also states that if the vacated council seat has in excess of two years remaining in the term, the appointed council members shall serve the until the remainder of the term or until the next election. After the election, the elected council member will serve the remainder of the term created by the daily scene. Um, in this case, Mr. Mr. Mayor and members of the council, because the primary election is scheduled for July 21st of this year, the appointment for tonight, if council decide to appoint a council person, uh the person will continue for the remainder of the term due that the um the timeline to submit nomination

petitions um so the person will continue the train and I can entertain any questions. they may have.

Okay, thank you. So, item 4A, council member interviews uh for W one. Um and with this item, so we have two applicants. Uh we will do this the same way we did um for W three. Uh just because we don't want generalized questions, you know, we want to pick their brain with their expertise. Oh, well, we have um I let I'm I'm going to leave this up to council. We have two um uh speaker request forms for uh item four. Do you all want to do them after the interviews or before the interviews?

Uh let's do them before. They say do we know what they want to say. Okay. Miss Diana Lamar.

Hello. It's me again. Um, I I didn't know that there was more than one candidate this evening, so nothing personal, sir. I'm sure you'd be great. Um but I I did want to speak on behalf of um Miss Prago um and to put my um support behind her fully. I think she's likely got the best attendance policy here. And I've known uh Ida for many years now. um when I was working with the IDA um we really got to know each other then and uh that relationship has continued. I feel like I know her much better than I did uh four years ago and I know that she's passionate and works hard and asks questions and wants to understand issues. So I just wanted to say that I fully support her. Thank you.

Thank you. Miss Lana Diffy,

mayor of Council, good evening. Lana Diffy, 1511 12th Street, Douglas, Arizona. Uh, I'm here to expound on Ida Pedro as well. I've worked with her in a number of different projects. Um, she's detail oriented. She does her research. She asks great questions. I think we really have an opportunity to get some um really get some work done and and help you guys out. Thank you very much. Thank you. So, uh item 4 a uh council member interviews for ward one. So, we'll go in order and how they were received and the first one was Mrs. Pedreo like to go up tell us about yourself. You're used to interviews, right? I do this

and you're used to up there too. So,

have at it. Um, my name is Idan Pedigo. I live at 1815 East Fifth Street and I believe live there now for about 50 years. It's a lot. Um, I can share a little bit about myself which I did in the letter, but I've been very involved in the community. I always have, whether it's been as a Girl Scout leader, softball, base softball, and helping with um baseball for the boys too. I was a teacher, school counselor and have always participated in many many many activities throughout the the city, not just the city, but community activities. Currently, I I am on the IDA. I'm also on the board for the Southeast Arizona Federal Credit Union. Um, I come to the meetings. I'm involved, as you know. I started a petition for the streetscape because I honestly believe that I want to see Douglas prosper and um I want to be able to provide the community the and the communication that I believe that we need with the constituents. And the reason that I'm running today is because as you know I have spoken with all of you several times and many of you only a couple but for those of you who have been here a while know I support getting out there talking to the community and getting involved. And as a teacher I taught my students these things that you don't just say what you want to do because actions speak louder than words. And previously I was going to do a recall but when that didn't follow through and then I had to think to myself and I do I talked to myself I said Ida are you going to do actions or is it just words and I decided do you do the

actions? So, I would like to see Douglas prosper and as I put in my letter, yes, I would be representing Ward One or Ward One and Ward One would be very important to me, but I also believe in supporting the whole community of Douglas and that is what I've done. Whether it was when they were discussing about covering the swimming pool with sand and I was opposed to that and got community involvement. I'm the one that started the involvement when they thought about selling the airport if you remember and we got a lot of community members that said no. So I'm active in the community and I plan to continue.

Thank you. Is there any questions for me? Yeah. Can we do the Mr. Andress to do his introduction and then we'll start question. Okay, that's fine. It's up. So, so we'll have Mr. Anders do the introduction uh and then and then we'll do the questions. Hi, I'm Bruce Andre. I live at 827 East 4th Street in Douglas. I vote for her.

Uh this is my second rodeo. The last time we had a vacancy, I also was an applicant. Um, but in all seriousness, one of the things that uh I didn't consider when applying for this was the election schedule and I had no plans on being an energetic politician. And so, one of the things I want you to consider is I am not prepared to run for office and I think she would be much better overall. Um, but if you look around, my first thing I did when I got to town is Neon Sam and I redid the neon sign on the Grand Theater. Then I drew up new designs for redoing the Jones building with the new Stuckco. Still got her off there. And then pretty much everything you see around here that's new I built balconies operos building Nelson's glass. So I worked all those years with uh Archer Ly passed away and uh one of the other reasons I also applied is I'm now fully retired as of last July. Yes. But still, in all seriousness, I really think you ought to consider Ida because I think she's going to be in a position to do a good job on the board on the council, also to really be active in the community and down in Ward One. So, that's my pitch.

Well, good thing Mr. Montana, you have um So, after that, are you all comfortable? Would you like to ask the questions? Because we just had one of the applicants say more or less pick the other one. So, as as long as Mr. Andress is it is uh willing to answer questions or he just wants to answer. Oh, after her after her after. Okay. We'll start we'll we'll go in in

Okay, then I'll I'll I'll start. So, the city of Douglas has several major projects in the works. The golf course improvements, airport sales, development, ports of entry, downtown streetscape. Uh, please tell us your thoughts on these projects. Okay. And and if you support them or not.

Okay. No, the streetscape I totally support. Not necessarily the way it was designed, but we know we support the streetscape. the development of the golf course. Well, I've heard and I know what they're doing and um I support that, Mr. Montano. Let me tell you why, too. Because it does bring um tourists, business to Douglas, and anything that brings business to Douglas, that brings our uh our taxes up, I support. I'm not a golfer, so you're not going to see me out there other than for hamburgers. But do I support it? Yes, because it's brings good revenue to the community and it, as you stated at the last meeting, it's going to bring other schools and not just schools, but other golfers to come and stay here in Douglas. So, yes, the port of entry, I've been I've been involved. I go to the meetings because I've been on on the IDA now for a little over five years, I believe. But um whether it's the commercial or the new port of entry, I'm I support these things because I I believe that this is looking forward to the growth of Douglas. And again, that's all I want. In fact, my whole spiel is I want to live long enough to see Douglas prosper. The most important thing I want to do, Mr. Monteno, is I am tired of standing here and giving comments about Douglas is low social economic. I want to raise the bar, but I can't do it alone. I need all of us, the city, and all the constituents so that we can raise that bar. Raise the bar and not say we're low social economic and you said development. Well, we need jobs. I am truly working so that we can bring good paying jobs to the community because that's what we need. Yes, we can look from the

outside, but now we need to also work from the inside. What can we do in the inside of our community? I hope I answered your answer. Um, yeah, I think you you the only thing you didn't um address address was the airport sale development.

Okay. The airport, I don't know if you know because you weren't on the board, but originally they wanted to sell the airport and not just the land around it. The airport I thought was an icon to our community even though it may not be considered but it it's it's in our history books as it's the first international airport. Millia Nhard was here. Um the women flyers were here. There's a lot of history. I was against the sale and back then again I don't if they sell the land around it which the city already has. I was just not interested in selling the airport. And during that process, I want you to know that I communicated with a young man who was local, born, graduated here, not born, but graduated from Douglas. And he worked with the city proono. Proono to help us get the what was the word the nippas.

Nipius. So we could get the nippas. And he said that he struggled a little bit with city about that because he wanted to do it one way. and he's a retired attorney general from El Paso and his dad used to run the uh Coochis County Hospital, but I communicated with him and he worked proono with the city to save the airport. So, yes, that's another one. Oh, yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That sounded like a presidential speech instead of award one. What's that? Um, what are your top three priorities for W one in the next 12 to 18 months?

Okay. I think one of the things that we need is to clean up the area, the roads. And as you already know, it's all throughout the whole community, the streets, the roads, the roads, the streets. And um cleaning up a lot of the areas. There's a lot of areas that uh have been abandoned and not taken care of. And then to be honest with you, Mr. My hope is to be able to walk part of the ward, not all of it, but as much as I can, and ask the constituents what they want because one of the problems that I have had at my shop, they come to me and say, "Nobody's ever asked. Nobody's ever asked." So I, as I said, actions more than words. I plan on going and asking, "What is it that they want?" Thank you. Uh since the airport is within your within ward one uh what are your plans on supporting the airport? As I said before, I I support the airport. The airport itself, we they just refurbished the landing and uh my hope is that we can continue to maintain it so that uh airplanes continue to come in and I believe that we need to have a better means of documenting how many airplanes come in, how much gas is used, and the building of the um what do you call those where you put the airplanes?

Hangers. The hangers. Thank you. Thank you. That's Yes. And I've been on that, too. So, thank Okay. Um, we have an excellent staff here. What is your opinion on the overall staffing of our city?

Mr. Shelton, that's going to be a little question that sometimes is a little hard for me because I like to be very honest. I've I work with a lot of the staff here and I appreciate what they do, but sometimes I feel we're not going that extra mile that we need. I also feel that sometimes, Mr. Shelton, we put people in positions and they're not qualified. And these people try to tell people who are qualified how to run their their business. So, you ask me and I'm I'm I'm very sincere. I speak up as you already know me. I speak up and I see that happening not in all as not in all aspects because in s some I think that they're wow they're awesome employees but there's a few times that we people are hired given the title and not necessarily have the resources to fulfill their job requirements.

Okay, thank you. That was my only question. Thanks, sir. Mrs. Dilman, uh, with Douglas being a small community where everybody knows everyone, how would you handle a decision that is necessary but unpopular?

Mrs. Dillman, I've always I've worked in many, many, many facets. I've never been part of the crowd. And the reason is because sometimes you do have to make decisions that don't necessarily go with the flow. And I've always believed that you need to stand in in something. And um if it's a hard decision, I do it. I mean, you know, but I also know that if I make a mistake, which can happen and has happened, I know how to say I'm sorry and take responsibility for what I do.

Thank you. But I've been able to throughout my career because I, as I said, I've worked in many different facets and I've had many hard decisions to make. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Costa. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Miss Pedro start. Okay. I know that you want the downtown streetscape to succeed. Yes, sir.

What exactly is it that you want from Streetscape and why? What I'd like to see the streetscape is I want the community this G Avenue beautified, but I do not see the need of widening the sidewalks and narrowing our streets. And that's not just my opinion, Mr. Aosta. It's, you know, I only turned in like 302, but there was many people after they saw that kept going to the store and signing the petition. I don't want to see the widening. I would like to see some more beautifying of the buildings that do exist and expecting the people that own buildings to fix them because G Avenue is is one is the main drag. G and 10th are the main drags of our community. Have been for years since I was a little girl. Douglas is not going to be the Douglas that it was when I grew up. But do I believe that it can be beautified? Yes. Do I want to maintain the historical value of our community? Yes. So, I want to make it beautiful. I want trees, planters, the LED lights, things that we spoke about, but the bumpouts, some of the bumpouts I think are unnecessary money that is being spent that could be used more effectively and something else. So, that's the most important things of the streetscape. Fixing the street, those sidewalks. I don't know if you are aware of how many people have fallen fallen and reported to the city because of the way the sidewalks are made and even the the ends of the streets because the paving doesn't go all the way to the street when they paved. So, there's a lot of little things that can be fixed and would beautify our community. We need trees out there, Mr. Aquosta. Trees

um that were taken out and why? because they died. And why did they die, sir? Because they were never maintained. And that's the other thing. When the city does something, they have to maintain it. You know, like the rose bushes that were out here, they were taken out, redone. We need to maintain. We put something in, we put our money, our hard work into it, then let's maintain it to keep it beautiful. Douglas is a beautiful community. I talk to a lot of tourists, not just one or two. I'm open and they're walking and a lot of them come from the Gatsson Hotel and they they tell me they come every year. They spend two or three weeks here because they love Douglas. They love the feeling of Douglas because the people are so friendly. I want to keep that and make it better. Thank you.

Okay, one other question real quick. Mhm. Uh there was just an article on um somewhere that was posted and shared to us by the mayor in reference to our hotel. It's kind of booked all the way to October by Marines, I believe. That's what I heard, sir. But I I don't to be a fact.

And I know we've been pushing as a as a council to get another hotel here. How would you go about it? I truly believe, you know, I've had family functions, family functions. I'm not a very large family and they have no rooms. They stay in Bisby or go to Awabeta because everything is booked. Do I support a new hotel? Yes. Do we need one? Yes. right now. I was told and I don't know it for a fact, but the Gadston, somebody had already rented the Gatson and they were called and told that they couldn't use it because it had been booked, but they had already booked it, but because of the Marines that came in. So, what I'm saying is yes, do we need one? Yes. How would I support it? Well, the best thing is we need to sell Douglas, sir. We need to go out, sell Douglas. so that people want to come. We need to go out actively. And I'm going to tell you, uh, Mr. Costa, I don't believe in calling calling to ask you, are you interested in coming? I believe we need to go. I believe in face tof face contact. I believe that's how we sell. As a very young girl, I sold tamales on the street. I've been a salesperson since I can remember. No, that's a fact. I sold Girl Scout cookies. Avon, you don't even know about Hollywood. Another makeup, but I've been selling all my life. I believe that's what we need to do to get people here. We need to go communicate with them, tell them about our community, how we feel about our community, how we love our community. And then the one thing, and I'm I give credit to Mr. uh Rihala, we don't just sell Douglas because we're not Douglas, we're Douglas Awaprieta. We're one community. I grew up never really

thinking that Douglas and Ato were two and I don't even have family in aa but why because I would go there all the time to buy food, bread, cheese, tortillas, the plaza. So it was was one and I still think that if we focus if we focus on selling our community as one, we're going to get a lot more. And then I'm going to tell you something else. I don't know if you know how many of our citizens live in Awabeta communicate every commute I'm sorry commute every day from Awapa to Douglas. Do you know why they live in Awabeta? Cuz I asked they can't afford the rents here. They work. They get minimum paying jobs. That's why I'm telling you I don't want to say we're low. I want to go we've moved the bar. something. Thank you.

Thank you. Those were easy questions. You ready for the hard ones? Yes, sir. You've always She was my third grade teacher, so I'm going to hold her to the same standard you held me. You've come to the meetings and you've said, "Council needs to get more involved with the community. Council needs to have town halls. Council needs to be around the community, make time." You have your own business and you're open pretty late. There's times where you haven't came to meetings because closed down late. Are you willing to make that sacrifice to hold yourself to your own standard that you've held counsel to?

Yes, sir. In fact, before I made the decision, I spoke with my family. There was one that was against it out of five, my son. But the for the rest, they said, "No, I need to put because I believe in actions speak louder than words." So, yes, sir. I have employees that um I will plan around as long as I know plenty of time someone to cover my I'm currently on the IDA and I do that I don't miss meetings so I believe I can meet the standards may

and one more uh so we've had council members bring up the streetscape I'm sure you know you're only going to be one vote out of seven so we know you've been passionate about what how you they've asked you how you wanted the streetscape, but there's times where we come up here and we don't get what we want because a majority of council votes otherwise. Are you comfortable in accepting that if you don't get your own way? It's it's it's a it's your one out of seven votes. Are you okay with that,

Mary? I have a family Well, we we we're a family of seven originally. obviously as girl but we've always had to make decisions and no I don't always get my way now am I happy not necessarily but do I accept it yes sir I do and working and I'm on the credit union I bring up ideas they're not always accepted and do I go with the flow yes if I believe the flow is right if not I will continue to say how I feel because that's part of who I am. I stand up for what I believe in. Mr. Leather,

any other questions before we call? Mr. Thank you.

Sir, I I'll ask you the same question. Um, the city of Douglas has several major projects in the works. the golf golf course improvements, the airport, the air land around the airport. I'll be more specific now. Land of the around the airport sale and development, the ports of entry and the downtown streetscape. Please tell us your thought on these uh on these projects. Well, in order, my first experience was the golf course was watching watching them jackhammer holes in the bottom of the swimming pool and fill it in with dirt. At that point, I said, "City of Douglas is not serious about the golf course." So, are you serious about the golf course is my question. I remember Yogi trying to get the food going there and just couldn't get it going. And so, the second nine is closed. Only the first nine is open, I believe. And a golf course is not something that makes money, I don't think. I don't even think those golf courses in Scotland really make money. There must be something else about it. But I'd have to personally support the golf course and I support it being a city golf course even though when I first got here it was it was privately owned and came back to the city. And so really my only thing I can say about it is those who play golf tell me it's an enjoyable recreational golf course. The facility is kind of boring. So it's not something that's that's going to be a crowd drawer for events and things like that. It's kind of a squat little building with a low ceiling. But I would personally be supportive of the golf course developing it and financing it. What was the second one?

There was uh the golf course the the airport uh sale development. So there's land around the the airport. Um if we build more wall, we can set up a wall fabrication area. They think they were used in it for a while, weren't they? Of that 40 acre plot. But I see that uh that land that goes south of the airport and then along the border that's for sale. It's been for sale for some time. It's vacant. And uh is that even there's a section of land there that's not in the city. Is that more over toward the uh the graveyard? There's a big chunk of land that's actually not in the city limits, but I think

Yeah, that's closer to the That's like around Coochi, San Antonio, Dallas area. Yes. So the airport's a resource. It's uh as far as landing airplanes, I'm Air Force. Far as landing airplanes, it's just fine for landing airplanes. And the air shows were great. U we're a we're a city that has a lot more infrastructure from the past than we can really grab onto. We got two airports, I think. Isn't is the Bisby Douglas airport up in the city limits, too? It's not a city. Okay. I was just trying to figure out, you know, why the city is going up there.

Why was the city? Okay. Oh, I see. Um, but anyway, there's a lot of infrastructure that we have that's not used as, you know, schools that have been closed because the population has changed. Even though kind of the gross number rounded off of 15,000 give or take is kind of the same. It's a different population. And uh so with the airport, I guess you'd have to have some kind of um in are you thinking industrial base or light industry or service industry?

The the plan for the the developer that is uh planning on on purchasing the thing is to develop hanger homes. Oh, okay. Okay. So, it's a resident. That's very very fascinating and that works all over the place. And so that's the that I could not argue against. The third thing third thing was the the ports of entry. Okay. The port of entry now it's going to be what direction is east west that way.

That way I was was it out there? It's it's going to have to be there because of the you know property prices in Agra Pria have forced it over there. It's the way it's going to be. probably gonna somebody's gonna build a flying jay or something out there. Maybe uh city considering annexing out that way. We're we're on the process of doing that.

In the process of doing that, it's going to be a positive thing for the city. It's not going to be a a a bucket of gold because I also have a commercial truck truck driver's license and I come through there, I'm going to keep on going. I'm gonna stop at the Flying J and fill up. And so it's not something that's going to build restaurants and things like that in town. So the economic impact is not going to be huge in terms of local businesses and streetscape is the last one. All right.

I saw some a quick look at some of the drawings. They very similar to the other two or three that I've seen over the last 20 years. And what I haven't been had any discussions with anybody. they have business language or anything like that. So, I don't know really other than is it another University of Arizona study or is this one that you contracted out to somebody? It's contracted out. Okay. Um I'm a firm believer in making things look cool and having roads be smooth and having sidewalks where you don't trip and fall. Does anybody know why the center of G Avenue is higher than the side train?

Correct. There's the trolley tracks. Trolley tracks had to be high enough for the for the um water runoff to go underneath in the culvers. So that crown is up high and then you have the curbs that are this high. And I didn't fall off one, but I ran into one with the rocker panel of my car and I was not happy about that. But uh cosmetic work is I think Wonderful. It's expensive. Um I I don't agree with Ida about the pushouts. To me, as a driver, it allows you to pull off farther and see around that angle parking so you don't get hit by somebody. I mean, just even on Fourth Street coming across there's now past the big pickup trucks just to see if somebody's coming down the road is a challenge. Um, so personally I support downtown redevelopment. I don't have any specific points with regard to design at hand, but it's going to take people in business having businesses and property owners participating and I don't see either of that happening so far.

Yes. Um, same question. Uh, what are the top three priorities for W one? Uh, what are your top three priorities for W one in the next 12 to 18 months?

Well, start with paving the north south streets. Uh, when we did the east west streets, much nicer. That's why sidewalk repair. I I tripped and fell in front of my neighbor and everybody came rushing out to pick me up and they helped me up. Uh there's a lot of work that needs to be done just with basic infrastructure. The street lights are lit. It's not that bad, but there's some repairs that need to be done. And I would say that infrastructure priorities are most important. And perhaps even in some areas, you know, getting those crosswalks marked a little better long A or long F. That's an example. Um otherwise, the the parks are taken care of. It's great having the swimming pool there. Um, you know, my house has the little the it's a preschool. There's a early education school right nearby and then down over toward O'Reilly's there's a little park there. They're very nice. So, I think basically it's just a beautiful area. We just need to fix it up with real infrastructure repairs.

Mr. Shelton. Okay. Well, once again, you know, I think we have an exceptional staff here. I don't know if you've had u any um encounters with them or any talks or whatever. And then how would um if you did get it, how would you treat the staff after you came in? That's sort of the

Yeah, it's true. In the last eight years since I've been traveling for work for I haven't really gotten to known f know folks but back when we were doing a lot of construction you know I was really involved a lot with staff and even met some every now and then. Yeah.

Um, but, uh, from what I understand, this is a city manager/c city council government and that as a somebody that's on the city council, I got no business being involved in employee matters. Um, it's just the way it is. I I talk to them socially, but not about their work. And I believe that's true. That's my answer. And I the other part of the answer is I actually because I've been so so busy and not involved really. I don't know anybody other than my neighbor works for maintenance department. So Okay. Thank you.

Mrs. Dman,

how would you plan to stay connected with residents and ensure that their voices were heard? Well, I was going to teach me Spanish for one thing. I did think about that. I said, I'm going to have calling cards make up. I'm because I'm retired. I'm going to walk the streets and stop at everybody's house and just give them a card. Um, and then bring Idol along so that she can translate. Uh, I think that the being there personally and walking around and getting to know people is what it's going to take. I there got to be I'm not really aware of like a lot of social activities that take place in Ward One. I just really am not aware of things like that. And so you pro I'm going to have to go out just go knock on doors and talk to people.

Thank you Mr. Costa. Yes. Okay. Um the question I had for you actually was answered already but we'll stay to the same subject as far as streetscape is concerned. Um, how will you ensure long overdue streetscape of Douglas gets actually started and completed on time? Repeat that please. How what would you do to ensure that our streetscape downtown gets completed and on time?

Yeah, this downtown. I was already 80 10th Street all the way to the airport. Yeah. Um, that is a tough question because you've been through it twice before with designs and it never goes anywhere in the past. Uh, first question I'm going to ask I the first question I would ask is who owns these buildings and do they care? because improvements going to go on their taxes. Just like when the sidewalk gets replaced in front of my house, I get assessed for that. That's the first. And the second question I would ask because I don't have the answer is how are you going to get people to have businesses downtown that are as attractive and appealing as Ida's store where she has the lights on at night and it glows. How are you going to get people downtown stores? As soon as you answer those questions, then you really get a better idea about what to do. One of the things I mentioned to people over and over in the past is, have you ever gone to Santa Barbara, California, and seen what they did with Highway 101? and they took all the parking off, but the city all had the same kind of uh parallel alleys like we do here between G and H and F and G. Well, the city of Santa Barbara bought up a whole bunch of that property all the way along their main street to build multi-level parking, worked with the building owners and and business owners to have front door access on the main street and front door access from the parking in back that

looked just as nice as the front door access on the street. And the street was open to vehicular traffic, but the only vehicles that could stop were buses and taxi cabs and Uber and uh so parking and rebuilding those buildings so that they're functional. Matter of fact, Santa Barbara has an entire shopping mall that you don't even know is there because they did a uh streetscaping where they kept all the old buildings for us to everything down to built a new mall behind it. And from the far side it looks like a mall and from the street side you go to the same stores it looks like downtown like when you used to have a Woolworths or Mayberries. So, how would you get it going? How are you going to get people to support it? My experience in this town is people don't It's not that people don't care because they actually do care. They're just not engaged. They're not participating. That's the question that's got to be answered. and what I do not have the answer for.

Okay. Uh obviously we don't have the same tax revenue as Santa Barbara, but how would you bring in that tax revenue to the city of Douglas? What would you do as a councilman? Well, there was the infrastructure bill, but I'm not sure if we can get to that money anymore. Um, it would take federal and state grants and loans. Hey, thank you. Any other mayor? Sorry.

One more. One more. Um, you did bring up an interesting point. I remember when I first came in um my first term, they the there was a a city employee who told me that wards one and w six are not only uh low income compared to the rest, but they're mostly Spanish speakers. So, how will you get through that that language barrier when Mrs. Pedro isn't there to translate for you? I'd get Carlos have Carlos fell as come over from ground. I I have to have somebody go with me. But I I tried learning French. I tried learning Russian. I tried learning Spanish. None of it worked. Okay.

And um my last question is how involved are you right now with the community? You said that you you're recently retired, but before that, you know, any projects, any you go any events or what's your involvement?

Well, let's see. It have to be past tense because I've t been on vacation for eight years. Well, let's see. We we reformed the chamber of commerce. Kathy, you weren't on the board, but you participated. We had Gus Montano, Ray from Wells Fargo, Vicky Merritt, Bob Fernandez, Carlos Valenuela. We reincorporated and started the restarted the Chamber of Commerce. That's the one thing I participated in um up until about 2012. We we did our best with the Grand Theater and uh that I participated in uh been up on the roof of the Gasin Hotel repairing the Neon. That's not really the same, is it? Uh and then uh rebuilt those buildings across the street. Thank you.

Mostly just working. Thank you. Any other questions? No. Good. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Um item B, council member appointment for ward one. I will take Mr. Bruce's suggestion and I'll make the motion to appoint Mr. Sida Pedro go for ward one. Do I have a second? Second. I think I heard you. Do I give it to you? That's why you you knocked on the um motion uh motion by the mayor, second by Mr. Montano. Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Council member Montano, yes. Council member Duraso, yes. Council member Shelton, yes. Council member Dilman, yes. Council member Aosta,

yes. Mr. Mayor, yes. Congratulation. Motion passes. And I'd like to thank the the two candidates because I think we have more of a crowd for this than we do have for a regular meeting. So we we should we should have interviews every every meeting. Item C, possible oath of office for the new council member. Um we have a judge. Yes. Yes, sir.

Hiding in the back. All the troublemakers hide in the back. Do the up here. that I like to United States United States and the Constitution and State of Arizona against all for a domestic or defense and that I will faithfully act and I'm faithfully hands of the office of according to the best

Mrs. Mrs. Pedro, Mr. Pedro, if you can take a seat and say a few comments. Item D, pos so you can see how it looks like when we talk to people down here instead of talking up just up here. Comments for your constituents. No, I just want to say thank you very much and thank you for your support and now I have to live up to what I said. So, thank you very much. And Mr. Andress or Andress, I appreciate your comments and let me know. I would really appreciate it if you would work with me because you had some awesome ideas. So, I thank you and I'll be speaking to you.

Thank you. Okay. Item five, uh, adjournment. I'm going to put her on the spot. Mrs. Pedro, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Yes. I motion to adjurnn. Do I have a second? Second. Motion by Mrs. Pedrick, second by Mr. Montano. All in favor say I. I. Any nays? The eyes have it. We adjourn at 6:23 p.m. Have a good evening, Doug. Hi. Good evening. Congratulations.