City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. Today is September 8th, 2026, and this is the City of Prescott voting meeting. Before we get started, I'd like to recognize a few dignitaries. We have Lucy Mason here. She was our Arizona State Representative for eight years, I believe. and also to help Councilmember Jay Ruby celebrate his birthday. I won't tell you what year it is. His parents have traveled all the way from Pennsylvania to be here. I see him back there, hi. Hope you enjoy your visit and keep an eye on Mr. Ruby. He does tend to be quite the rabble rouser and troublemaker up here. So thank you very much. Roll ca

Thank you, Mary. Next, we will have a moment of silence to honor the memory of the almost 3,000 people who lost their lives on 9-11. And this, unbelievably, is already the 25th anniversary of that tragic day. We will never forget and we will hold them in our hearts forever. So please stand if you're able and remain standing for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Thank you.

Is anyone here representing Constitution Week? Please come up to the stand. You can get a little closer here.

Thank you. Whereas the Constitution of the United States of America, the guardian of our liberties, embodies the principles of limited government in a republic dedicated to rule by law. Whereas September 17th, 2026 marks the 239th anniversary of the framing of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention. whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary, and to the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate it. Whereas Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each ye

This past Sunday, I participated in a tribute to peacemakers and peace builders at my faith community. The Peace Pilgrim was one of those legendary but real activists who devoted her life to peace by walking literally thousands of miles across our country, relaying her message of peace along the way. She said over 50 years ago, Peace is an idea whose time has come. People need to be moved from apathy, start thinking, and actively work for peace. Begin to seek the real source of peace within and use the way of peace with others. These inspiring actions and words still resonate today. So I'm hon

Thank you, Lucy. Good to see you. Thank you.

Thank you. I'd like to direct city staff to have Public Works contact Mr. Marchand, maybe answer a few of his questions. Thank you. That's all, Mayor.

I move that we approve items A, B, D, E, F, G. Second. Please vote.

I move that we approve item eight C. Second. Please vote.

Thank you, I appreciate the input. And before you go, Tim, could you please tell the public why we have to do this work?

Yeah, this is damage as a result of a high-speed fatal accident, pretty substantial. Yes.

Okay. Thank you for that, Tim. All righty. Thank you.

Thank you. I just wanted to comment. I think the public has noticed we've had a lot of agenda items concerning property acquisition for the airport. And I just would like to say this is one of the top 20 busiest airports in the nation. And it had, last year, had about 390,000 operations. And it is a very critical element for public safety for northern Arizona with this fire center. And we're also doing a lot of footwork and preparation for... runway extension and shift, which will also increase public safety. So I just wanted to let the public know that we're doing a lot of the airport things.

Any other comments from anybody? Do I hear a motion?

Mayor I move approval of item 9A on the regular agenda resolution number 2026-2005.

Thank you. Thank you for all your expertise and hard work in bringing these deals to fruition and avoiding any lengthy lawsuits.

And also, Rick, I believe part of this property that we're acquiring is going to be a future location of our air traffic control tower?

Well, it looks like everything's coming together. Any comments from the city council? Mayor? Yes.

Any public comment? Any other comments? Carter LaBarge. Okay. Okay.

That's all, Mayor. Thank you, Carter. Does city staff wish to respond to that?

Thank you for your remarks, that really clears up a lot of questions that people might have had because tying up a property in court can go on for years and in this case time is of the essence if we want to move forward with our airport plans, thank you. Do I hear a motion?

Mayor, first let me ask Sarah, can this be done in one motion?

And before Mr. Goering makes his motion, I would just like to comment that we should include that city staff clarifies exactly the acreage involved and make sure everything is on the same page, no questions.

All right, Mayor, I could make a motion. I move approval of regular agenda item B, including adoption of ordinance number 2026-1960, resolution 2026-2006, and resolution 2026-2007. Second. Please vote.

Thank you, Tim. That cleared up a lot of things. We continued this item because there were a few things we wanted to see added to the contract and it looks like those items have been taken care of. I have a question. We've already got pipes in there in the road and in order to decrease road closures, are we going to be digging up those old pipes and using the same trench And also my other question is, is there a way we can design this so that the two pipes are like on one side of the road so we don't have to close the whole road? We can just close half the road if that's safely possible?

Okay, because I think that we need to consider trying to safely keep at least one lane open for traffic, maybe with pilot cars or something so that people can access the local areas in there. And also, you know, it can still be used as a... is a thoroughfare. My other question is if these are plastic pipes and if there is, you know, in the future a break, will there be, will we be able, is there a metal stripe or anything in there so that it'd be easy to locate the plastic pipe?

And these pipes, are they all gravity or are they gonna be under pressure?

Okay, all right, thank you. Are there any other comments, Patrick?

Yes, I was one of those that was concerned with where we were and what the definition of 2C was and is, and so thank you for that additional explanation and also the paper that you provided that compared one of the citizens' concerns and what the city's comments were about those various items, I think, that just gave us a more comfortable level on this critically important project.

Thank you, Jason. Yeah. Okay, let's see. We have Jim Gehring next.

Oh, thank you, Mayor. This is for Tim. I have a lot of experience with HTPE and I'm confident in what it'll do for us, but I don't have any experience with Hobass pipe. I'm curious about the city's experience with it.

All right, thank you. And by the way, I'm glad to hear we're giving more consideration to a trenchless solution to the effluent main.

And then last but not least, there was some confusion on the part of the public and myself, actually, about the division of duties between the CMAR contract and Kenley Horn. But that's been straightened out by Public Works, I believe. And, Gwen, I don't know if that's been sent to the public or they have available that to them. And that would be the answers to, I think, Michael's questions.

If there's no reason not to, I think it could be helpful for public relations.

These are all questions. This is information for the public. These are all questions that could have been asked and should have been asked last week and answered. What we're seeing here is grandstanding. Could we get to the motion?

I'm sorry for grandstanding, as you say, but you have to remember that no elected officials were included in the preliminary talks, so we have a lot of questions, and now is the time to do it. In fact, I was just going to ask a question about... No, I beg to differ.

You had the pre-read material last week, just like I did, and I asked all the questions last week, and I got answers to my questions. I don't know why you wait till Tuesday and postpone, delay these meetings to ask questions that could have been asked last week.

Well, thank you for your input, Mayor. I have a question that's been on my mind and that's about shading. We have had numerous pipe breaks throughout the community due to improper shading. As you know, our soils are subject to expansion and contraction. They dry out. They get wet, they expand, they contract, and then we have micro tremors from small earthquakes, and we have a lot of granite. And in the past, there wasn't very much care taken with the shading, and I was going to ask Jason what kind of bed is going to be, because you have to be meticulous, I was going to ask what kind of bed you

Is it a pea gravel, uh, sand or is it a screened fill that you reuse?

Thank you, Sarah. I'll talk to you after the meeting, Jason, and get my question answered. Okay, thanks. Anyone has any comments? Mr. Grady, do you have anything more? Okay, any... We do have some public comment. Yeah, any public comment? Thank you. Carter LaBarge?

That's all Mayor. Okay, do we have any more comments from council? Okay. Mr. Goering has one more question.

I just have one for Tim. If there are disagreements with the initial designs prepared by Kimley Horn, the time to discuss those is when we get to review them, is that right? That is correct. All right, thank you. Mm-hmm.

Okay, barring any more further discussion, do I hear a motion?

I can, Mayor. I move approval of city contract number 2027-044. Second. Please vote.

I'm curious as to whether there were any discussions about rainwater harvesting with the applicant.

This is problematic for me. because we need to have a rainwater harvesting policy for all of these big developments going on in North Prescott. There's Embry-Riddle, there's the place just southeast of here that'll be where the big box stores are. And I know that we had the discussion about creating a policy, but every time a new building comes in without that policy in place, we miss an opportunity to have a better attempt to do rainwater harvesting. Was there any discussion around the differentiation between rooftop water and surface water?

Okay. In our conversation, which was with me and a few people from city staff, that was a strong consideration because the quality of rooftop water is different, whereas water that hits the top of a parking lot carries toxins with it. So I just get concerned here that we're These water service applications in the north are not taking into consideration something that's very important for the future of Prescott, which is getting our rainwater into a place where it can help to recharge the aquifer. So hearing that those conversations haven't taken place makes it harder for me to wanna support th

I agree with Councilman Ruby. That is something that we do need to do is have put in our water policy a rainwater harvesting policy. I think that's a very good idea. In the meantime, it can be totally voluntary, and I'm sure that the hospital and their designers and their architects will probably look into rainwater harvesting. I know they did mention directing the stormwater into retention, detention basins, which kind of turn into rain gardens and using it to water the landscape. Dignity Health is known for their healing environment. And this medical campus looks like it is going to be a reg

Thank you, Mayor. First for Brian, at our last water issue subcommittee meeting, you presented our status on the remaining water budget for this cycle. And as I recall, we have almost 23 acre feet of water left for non-residential uses. And reading the table in the first three months of that period, non-residential uses have only consumed about two acre feet. So we have quite a bit of water left, if I recall. Yeah, your numbers sound accurate to what I remember from that meeting. Okay, thank you. And then the other thing is, if I understood your presentation correctly, they are practicing or v

I also remember, and since we have the applicant here, he could clarify this, but I also remember that the applicant thought he could reduce the actual irrigation water on site to less than three acre feet instead of the 7.2 that the city calculated.

Stephen's becoming the water expert now, landscaping, xeriscape expert.

All right. I think for me in the long run, the best project includes a commitment to rainwater harvesting that differentiates between rooftop water and surface water in the parking lot. Because the rooftop water you can get deeper into the ground so it percolates into the aquifer. And that is not super cost intensive. So I feel like there's a lack of awareness and a lack of commitment to this. And so when I hear best project, I'm thinking about Prescott 50 to 100 to 150 years from now. And I actually, I want to hear a commitment. And so it scares me a little bit to not hear the commitment.

I also would like to add that the legislature passed a bill that was effective January 1st of this year, House Bill 2447, where unfortunately plans, preliminary plans and plats are no longer applicable. have hearings in planning and zoning, water issues, even council. There's no transparency, public input. So unfortunately our hands are tied if we want to get second and third looks at this. It was all in the spirit of, I guess, fast tracking projects. Thank you, Mr. Gearing. I mean, I'm sorry, Patrick.

Thank you. So I concur with, and this is not grandstanding, I concur with the Mayor and with Jim and with Jay that rainwater harvesting is something we have to get working on now. However, I don't think we can make it a condition upon this approval. I'm assuming, and maybe Chelsea can, I'd say more and expand on this, but it's not a part of our land development code. And until it is, I don't think we want to negatively impact this huge economic engine. And it addresses such issues. critical medical needs for our citizenry. So it's kind of, for me, it's a balance and I think we need to put more

Thanks Mr. Gearing do you have a comment?

No mayor, but if we don't have any public comment I can make a motion I

TODAY. I WOULD LIKE TO SAY I THINK I WOULD LIKE TO SAY I THINK THE PROJECT IS GREAT AND I THINK THE PROJECT IS GREAT AND I THINK IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE VERY IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE VERY MUCH NEED. MUCH NEED. I SEE IT, THIS IS A SECOND I SEE IT, THIS IS A SECOND BY-PRODUCT ISSUE BUT I WOULD BY-PRODUCT ISSUE BUT I WOULD LIKE TO USE THIS AS AN LIKE TO USE THIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DIRECT CITY OPPORTUNITY TO DIRECT CITY STAFF TO REALLY MOVE FORWARD AT STAFF TO REALLY MOVE FORWARD AT DEVELOPING A RAINWATER DEVELOPING A RAINWATER HARVESTING POLICY SO WHEN HARVESTING POLICY SO WHEN PEOPLE LIKE YOURSEL

NOW YOU KNOW WHY THEY BRING THEIR LAWYER TO THESE THINGS.

OKAY. DO I HEAR A MOTION? WE HAVE PUBLIC COMMENT. WE DO. I'M SORRY. I FORGOT.

Thank you, Ken. That's all, Mayor. Okay, any more discussion? Do I hear a motion?

I just want to entertain with the the amount of the acre feet requested and we're hearing the possibility of just doing it in part what are are there complications with that and i'm going to direct it to the city attorney there's complications in that in fact the the project is the project you have before you there's not really a way to reduce portions of it um and i don't believe

Meaning it's better to look at this as a whole and approve it or not approve it.

Prior to a motion being made, can I ask for clarification on what the conditions are that are contained in the current motion in front of us?

But did the committee have two conditions that they added? What does that mean with conditions from water issues subcommittee?

I move to approve with conditions from Water Issues Subcommittee WSA 26-031.

Okay, thank you. This meeting is adjourned.