City Council - workshop

Good afternoon. Today is June 23rd, 2026, and this is the City of Prescott City Council Study Session. Roll call, please.

Mayor Good?

Or, I'm sorry, Mayor Ruesing? You're never going to live that one, dear.

I know. It's tough when I'm running five different things over here to keep up, you know? You've got jet lag, too.

Mayor Good is excused, but Mayor Rusing is here.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Freeworth is joining us virtually, and I see her in here, but I don't see her on camera. Mayor Freeworth, can you confirm that you can hear us and are present? I am here and I can hear you. Thank you. Councilwoman Fredrickson? Here. Councilman Gamboge?

I am here.

Councilman Goering?

Here.

Councilman Grady?

Here.

And Councilman Ruby?

Here.

All are present. Our first item is presentation and discussion regarding the Rodeo Fairgrounds Master Plan Project Update.

Okay. Good afternoon. Madam Mayor and Council, on behalf of GH2 Architects, I just want to say thank you for having us here today and really a part of this project. It's meant a lot to our team. My name is Robert Watzak. I'm a principal architect with GH2 Architects in charge of our Arizona office.

Kayla Otte, principal with GH2 and our leader of our equine specialty practice.

So we really wanted to be here today to kind of give an overall presentation on really the process we've been through for the Rodeo Fairgrounds Master Plan. Hopefully the clicker will work for me. This actually looks like a TV remote. Is that the right thing?

So you might need to just give it a minute because we have a virtual participant. There might be a little bit of a delay, but if you just click it, it'll go.

Perfect. Okay. Well, first thing we want to really talk through is kind of the project schedule we've had and where we've been. I'll keep going. I'll just talk as these come up. We started this process with the city in October of last year. The final schedule goes through really September of this year. And what's not shown on this timeline is we've been meeting regularly with a steering committee that was preformed. It consists of stakeholders from the rodeo, from the neighbors, from the U of A extension office, from the fair, from the pres... farmers market and compost and from the auto club that occupy the site. We've met with them monthly since that time in October, but we've also gone through several different stakeholder engagement sessions and community meetings that are shown here. But that process really started with pre-design where we met with that steering committee to really establish the timeline and what this project needed to look like. We moved into a visioning and alignment timeline in November where we started to meet with stakeholders and get feedback on really what the purpose of this was for the stakeholders involved. In December, over the holidays, we really focused on site assessment, went through the site, toward the site, toward all the buildings to really get a better foothold on really what the expectation was. As we moved into the new year, we had our first community engagement meeting in February. before moving into really architectural visioning and master planning design development with the steering committee and with stakeholder groups. We just had our second community meeting at the end of May, along with some exhibition at the farmers market. I have to give a real lead.

With guidance from the steering committee and stakeholders, we initiated the master planning process through the community engagement by gathering feedback through an initial community meeting and also through visioning sessions. And in those sessions, we were able to establish what the primary themes should be for the master plan goals. There were eight of those visioning themes that were identified. They stemmed around infrastructure and facilities modernization, collaboration, coexistence and balanced use, environmental stewardship and aesthetics, site management, governance and leases, parking, circulation and access, preservation of historic and cultural identity, community access and shared public space, and event management and noise control.

I didn't think I was doing anything. That's better. Okay.

So this slide was just recapping those visioning sessions. We then moved into site assessments. In parallel, the design team completed an existing site assessment. This was a visual inventory to understand how existing facilities are utilized and improvements that would be desirable to consider as part of the master plan process.

One thing GH2 is really big on, really the kind of ethos, is stakeholder buy-in for these projects. So we were very excited when we got involved with this that stakeholder meetings were a part of this and community meetings. So I think one of the first things we did following our stakeholder engagement early in the process was to get a broader community involvement through an open house that we held at the center here. where we really presented to your community kind of what this process was going to look like, what shape it was going to take. In fact, the first master plan board we had there was the site with a big question mark on it. There was no predetermined notions from our team going into this. We needed to have that feedback. At that meeting, we went through a survey that was available there for write-in, and we got over 194 responses from those that were there, you know, stemming from where you are, who you are. There was a write-in portion of that. There was this question here just asking about the alignment with the visioning themes that we'd presented and come up with from those stakeholder groups. engagement meetings. And from the public feedback, we were able to create just this word cloud. And I think the biggest takeaway we had from this was it was, you know, the theme from everybody was this is community asset. This is the rodeo. It needs to all stay here and preserve what's here. Following those initial community meetings, we went through another round of stakeholder meetings where we really took the programming elements that we've heard and we're working with met with each stakeholder group to look at what the adjacencies for the site wants to look like, where those assets wanted to be, and really get, again, more and more of that buy-in from the stakeholder group at large at what we wanted to see out of this process and out of your master plan. This was really the beginning of our master planning process and design development. We had another meeting that was scheduled for community input in April, but because of feedback we got from this meeting, meeting with the steering committee, we knew that we had probably too many options to present at that meeting. We were able to narrow that down with the group before we moved into the second community meeting actually that we held in June. We were actually able to go out to the farmer's market, help promote that meeting, answer some questions informally there, but then present to the community again at community meeting number two really the process up to that point. We had the people from the steering committee, our members from the steering committee there stationed to help explain kind of the process and the individual parts of what that meeting looked like. We had over 174 responses, both virtually and handwritten this time. And I think the takeaway that we wanted to share and continue to share with you all is that really over 60% of the folks that were online viewing this and those meetings viewing this really felt strongly about the direction we were going with this master plan.

The current draft master plan outlines a framework to serve as a roadmap for renovations and expansion strategies on site. At the core of this is strengthening the rodeo's core operations. Traffic flow is also a key consideration to improve through strategically located removable barricades to control flow around the site, entry points to the site, and purpose-specific parking areas, in addition to having a shuttle drop-off integrated. This also integrates community, agricultural, and educational uses. The heart of the master plan is the existing rodeo arena and grandstand complex that will remain to pay homage to the ground's historic roots. While the historical grandstands are no longer fully intact, remnants remain of where they originally emerged from the hillside. This area will feature enhanced restrooms, with the current grandstands being in proximity for easy access and expansion. On the west side of the grandstands, the existing Mackin Building and restrooms will remain. Those house several offices and event spaces for the Prescott Frontier Days team. Several other rodeo functions will remain with renovations planned, including to the Justin Room that is a central medical lounge and first aid room for contestants, as well as the announcer's booth. The four existing buildings south of the grandstands will be preserved, including Doc Party, Pritchard, Danny Freeman, and the former extension office, which is proposed to be renovated into a storage building in a future phase of the master plan. New additions include an equipment barn and a covered facility to allow for portable arena installing to be set up to be able to support the rodeo and also to expand to serve as a host to livestock and horse show or other community events. The design introduces multiple entry points and circulation paths to the site to allow for spectators or public traffic to flow in and separate of that to have contestants and livestock. In addition, routes for staff and emergency access and shuttle drop-off zones have been identified. Rodeo contestants have designated gravel parking area for their trailers and several RV hookups. While the city is preparing to realign Rodeo Drive at Miller Valley Road, the contestants would be able to temporarily enter off Fair Street. Once that intersection becomes realigned, contestants will have their own private entrance off of Rodeo Drive to be able to separate these uses. This area has been designed for the contestants to have easy access to the livestock pens, covered arena, and RV hookups. Not only will this enhance safety for contestants, but also allows for livestock and equine unloading and loading to happen in a secure area. The southwest area of the site provides an area to serve other stakeholders and the community. These feature positioned as a community hub, not just an event venue. These are accessible from Gale Gardner Way and Shimmer Drive and include a proposed two-story University of Arizona cooperative extension and office building, demonstration gardens and hoop house for agricultural education, a public park space and landscaped areas, the farmer's market and vendor areas with dedicated paved vendor stalls, and the existing community compost area. And then lastly, at the southeast corner of the site, there are two large areas that are available for additional parking or storage. These have been designated as a gravel lot for parking and then opportunity for site storage where currently City IT resides. In addition, the master plan signals an intent to balance the built environment with environmental planning and open space. Environmental considerations are currently being discussed with the steering committee and in accordance with the City of Prescott staff. These may include additional bioswale barriers for stormwater management, floodplain considerations, and defined setbacks for new construction. Overall, the draft master plan positions the Prescott Rodeo Fairgrounds as a modernized, flexible venue capable of hosting major events while serving the community year-round and reinforcing the fairgrounds' role in education, local agriculture, and extension programming.

While we're still on this slide, I want to point out that this was the actual master plan that we presented at the June meeting. Following that June community meeting, we did have a stakeholder meeting where we heard from Public Works and Environmental on some of the things they would like to see implemented in this plan. We meet next month with traffic along with the steering committee. So this plan is very much still taking shape. These are still very broad strokes and broad ideas that are presented in this plan as you see it. It will continue to be massaged and adapted as we close out this project. In our next steps, we are going to talk about our budgeting and cost estimating for what has been proposed. We're going to look at possible phasing for the different elements on the site. It doesn't all have to happen at once. everything built at the same time. There's ways to phase it and the way we've set it up so that as funding becomes available from the different sources, that can be used to address those different items. We're going to refine our circulation. We obviously looked at major themes from the approach. We're going to talk about internal circulation and what that starts to look like, pedestrian circulation, and we're going to redefine some of the environmental considerations that are there. We also know that there is a very, very broad and active historical aspects to this site. So talking about how as this master plan is implemented, those archaeological aspects need to be taken into consideration. We have upcoming presentation at the World's Oldest Rodeo where we'll actually present the same presentation we had in June, similar to what we did in the farmer's market presentation we did have, just to, again, raise community awareness, get additional feedback at that time, get the input from the broader community. We have planned an August community meeting that may be in flux with some of the changes coming. due to the 60-day public comment period and planning a final council presentation in September. And with that, we open it to questions.

Madam Mayor, I have a question.

Yes, Ted.

There is a plethora of issues, but the three that I thought most important was traffic, parking, and sound. Do you have an idea what the traffic parking was and what it would be?

Yes. I'll go back to the plan so we can talk about that kind of in detail. We knew traffic and access to the site was an issue from the get-go. It was a large contingent of feedback we got during stakeholder meetings that traffic and arrival was an issue down Gale Garner from Bear Street. I think one of the moves we've talked about with this is the removable bollards. And that was probably the thing we had the most questions about at our first community meeting.

Would you say that again?

The removable bollards that we proposed at Fair Street. The idea that we're putting here is that there would be removable bollards installed in Fair Street, similar to what you have around the courthouse. These bollards would be brought up at a determined time before major rodeo events. The rodeo, obviously, in July being the major event that these would likely be up for. But they would come up at a certain time. So you'd still have access through Ferris Street up until that dedicated time. But as those bollards on Ferris Street come up, the idea is that all access to the site for spectators would actually come down Miller Drive to Ferris Street, eliminating the access, the major access from Gale Garner and allowing Gale Garner to stay an active thoroughfare for your community and neighbors that live in the area. those bollards come down after the rodeo possibly come up on Gale Garner to alleviate exiting but really just be up there temporarily so that you still have the flow around the site but the question was how many parking spaces are there now and how many parking spaces will there be

proposed new parking spaces, 1,059 in gravel for car parking, plus 208 spaces, and an additional 40 is 248 on paved surface for car parking. And then separate of that would be additional gravel parking area for approximately 120 trailers.

So my rough mass is about 1,400 spaces? Yes. How many are there now?

I know when we have those numbers and we can get those exact numbers after, but I think we're right around 1,000.

Oh, you'd increase it from 1,000 to 1,400?

And that's what we're currently showing. And I'll say that those are the numbers with the layout as it is now. As we start to work in some of the environmental and some of the pedestrian and access points, that number will likely reduce. That's the most we could fit on this site with what's shown right now.

Thank you.

I have a question about the bathrooms. It looks like the bathrooms are all going to be clustered in one building. Is that a good idea or would it have been better to maybe split them up and have them kind of located around on different sides of the grandstands?

um i'll just clarify that the the space that we show as the restroom building is just that would be dedicated for restrooms there would still be restrooms in most of the additional spaces like the multi-purpose pavilion what's there currently in the mackin building this is really just creating a new dedicated restroom building on the east end of the grandstands for access

Okay. And, of course, ADA access is very important throughout the property, so I hope that's been taken into consideration. I read about a pole barn. Is that the multipurpose building? And can you explain your vision of what the pole barn is going to look like?

It's really more of the covered arena. So really that covered arena is just replacing kind of that warm-up arena that currently sets west of the main rodeo arena. It's really intended just for stalling and for that small arena space. And so it's not, to our knowledge, not an occupied space. It's just for...

So that won't be turned into a multi-event space?

No, it's... The direction of the steering committee has been requesting to have a dirt floor in that to be ideal for the animals that would be occupying the space and to bring in a specialized dirt footing for the warmup activity to occur. So because of that, it wouldn't be a building that would have a concrete floor and able to adapt to be multi-use as an assembly occupancy. It would be limited to an agricultural use.

I'll add to that that as we go through the cost estimating phasing, we'll point out some of the highs and lows as we do those numbers. If, for instance, someone did say that they thought that there would be some kind of showing in that pole barn, if you had an event where you had animals and people, coming in to look at them, like for awards and things like that, that may trigger some occupancy changes that would then require certain upgrades to a building like that, like sprinklers and conditioned space. So that is something that gets vetted as we go through the process.

There are two, if I can clarify, Mayor. There are two different buildings that you might be thinking of here. One is the pole barn, which is on the right side there on the east side of the property um on the the left or the west side of the property there's also a multi-use pavilion and that could be more um event space in the sense of small you know weddings or dinners fundraisers those kinds of things could potentially be in that space

I was thinking of the FAA auction, which is a lot of fun, and it involves people at tables and then a little arena with the auctioneer. So where would that take place?

If you're going to have the seated tables for the dinner, the multi-use pavilion would be a location for that, but you would have to bring in the dirt footing for anywhere you're leading in the animals to it. Otherwise, the covered arena would be an ideal situation for where to have the livestock at.

Okay. Then let's see one more question is as you know, we have the allocation of the state 15.3 and we must be extremely Aware that that money can only be spent on the rodeo grounds for the benefit of the rodeo It can't be used for other general improvements, that the other entities will be responsible for their own improvements. So I just wanted to make that perfectly clear. Do we have any comments? Patrick.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor, and thank you for that presentation. I think we've come a long way from the earlier conversations at that initial town hall, and I generally really like what I see and the thought process that's gone into it. I'm glad you identified both the environmental and archaeological element to be something that needs further study. With respect to traffic, can you do that without doing a traffic study? Obviously, you've come up with some recommendations already, which look promising, but do we actually need a traffic study?

I would recommend a traffic study as this is adopted, just to better understand the changes that are happening in Prescott. As this will be implemented, it's still a few years down the road. You can adopt the master plan now, but the actual infrastructure improvements and changes to this site would warrant at that time. Okay.

Thank you. One gap that I thought I saw was I was anticipating some landscaping plan. Is that also a little premature?

Yes, I think in the next iteration when we have our next community meeting and probably the next time we would meet with council, we will have a more developed plan that will include more landscaping elements that will be more visible.

Okay, thanks. And my last questions revolve more around the new buildings. And so the multi-use pavilion has a wide range of activities and events. And I'm wondering how we can PROCEED FORWARD AS A CITY IN PROVING THAT WITHOUT A LITTLE BIT MORE UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT MIGHT BE IN THAT PARTICULAR FACILITY AND IF IT IS, IN FACT, A LARGER, I MEAN, I KNOW IT'S ONLY 7700 SQUARE FEET WHICH WAS A REDUCTION FROM AN EARLIER VERSION. Yeah, it seems like some kind of feasibility study and impact on parking and impact on traffic would be warranted with that specific site.

And with this, I would say that, and it's probably not even labeled here correctly, but that would likely be a two-story building with the footprint it is now. It would likely grow to accommodate what's been discussed in there. I'll tell you, some of the program elements that that would embrace is gifts and sales for the rodeo. The ticket boothing for actually access to the site would flow through that multipurpose building. There will be restrooms and infrastructure and offices in there as well, as well as the assembly space associated with that.

With your specialty in equine facilities, did you see some opportunities or will you be recommending some other opportunities for establishing a more active rodeo year-round? I know it's year-round, but expanding that particular equine-related use?

I think that with these facilities being added, it would offer that opportunity to be able to host additional events. And it may not be limited to just rodeo. We would envision having the 4-H shows here, additional livestock, youth events, agricultural events. So absolutely, that's been a common theme that we've heard from our stakeholders, is to be able to utilize existing facilities, but enhance them to further offer that revenue generating for agricultural events.

Okay. And my last question was related to the other new building for the cooperative extension. And yes, I think it may have been a doubling of their existing space. I don't know if someone is here from the extension office to speak to that, just to give us a little better understanding of what that consists of.

Sure.

Thank you.

Hi, Matt Halderson, director of Yavapai County Cooperative Extension. So this right now, as it stands at 11,000 square feet, we had gone up as high as 15,000 square feet. This would all have to do with how much funding we can procure, of course. But some of the highlights are additional meeting space, office space that hold our entire staff, which we cannot do right now, roofs that don't leak, and... Just kidding. And a teaching kitchen so that we could educate more thoroughly on food safety, culinary skills, things like that. You can also see we have a demonstration garden spotted there. That is a concept that I am taking directly from Pima County Cooperative Extension. It's a very successful program that they have there. I call it a demonstration garden and not a community garden because the way it would work is anybody who was an active volunteer with Yavapai County Cooperative Extension is more than willing or welcome to use those facilities, but we would manage it ourselves. So do you have any other questions about that? Yeah, thanks.

Jay? Yes, this is awesome to see develop. And I was at a meeting in December, and I think a lot of progress has been made. And this is a really important part of Prescott. These grounds have historical value. It's a place where people have always gathered and celebrated. And so to see a stakeholder process that includes many of the different people in the community, I think, ensures the long-term success of this vision. There are a couple of things when I look at this that raise my curiosity. One is the floodplain. I rarely see water travel in straight lines. And I'm wondering why the northern side of the parking area doesn't have the white lines for the floodplain on it.

So the floodplain defined here is really what we brought in from FEMA flood zone mapping. This is just an overlay based on that, and we could have used a solid hatch to really show that whole area. It's really just what has been developed by FEMA.

And with that, I'd be very curious about the steps towards environmental remediation. And if you're going to be working with people inside the city, I know a meeting is set up just because there is an effort going on in Prescott to make sure that our creeks are not bringing any type of nutrient-rich debris to our lakes. Can you say anything about that?

Yeah, we actually had a presentation given to us by the environmental group at the last during committee meeting directly after the last committee meeting where they expanded on kind of the landscape area, but the bioswale that we had shown in this current plan that strip there. What you'll see probably iterated in the next version of this is an expanded bioswale system to help protect the creek. We'll show a recommended composting for the waste, the manure on site on the next iteration as well to help alleviate some of the waste that's getting into the creek system.

I know that there is a part of the plan here is for the community compost, and you're talking about manure composting. Do those cross over or are they separate?

Just to clarify, it would be a separate contained manure management handling system, and it's not currently proposed for the waste or the animal waste to go into the community compost. That would be separate. This would be for handling animals. if they have a rodeo and they have stock and pens to clean those out or from the stalls to be able to go directly into that contained manure management system.

And is the historical buildup also being addressed?

As far as environmentally, yeah, I think that's, you'd have to probably talk to the environmental group on how the remediation on this site will approach that.

Sweet. I think this area in our town, especially the interface with Miller Valley, I see it's contingent upon the changing of the way that the rodeo drive comes into Miller Valley. And I know Tim Sherwood is working on this. This can really become a keystone of an economic development zone. And I think what is being planned here leans into that direction. I would like to see some more specifics around the kind of northern and western side of it. But all in all, this is Prescott's community grounds. This is where our community comes to gather. And I think the integration of different stakeholders into the process is really going to bring about a successful project. So I want to congratulate you on that. And I also know that the city manager did some work in helping to facilitate this process. So credit where credit is due.

Thank you, Jay. I would like to stress that stormwater runoff and capture is very important in this property. It's definitely been easily flooded. So I don't know if I recommend a passive system, an active system directing the water towards landscaping or a Swale bio rain garden or something to capture the water so that it doesn't just wash out everything usually Monsoon start during rodeo week. We usually get a couple of good downpours while we're there Mayor mayor person free worth does have her hand up. Okay Councilwoman Lois

Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Can you hear me? Fabulous. You do see me. Okay. I see nothing. I can see the room, but I didn't see a reflection of myself. So good to hear the technology is working. People, a lot of my questions are concerned. So the only... a few things I had was when I looked at community number two and the, do you support the master plan question? You know, 63% in total was between agree and strongly agree. And we're down to 37 percent, 20 percent neutral and 17 percent either disagree or strongly disagree. And, you know, I knew we had come along, but I was still kind of surprised to see 17 percent. So we did get earlier this afternoon a spreadsheet and and Just eyeballing it, there was two things that I think came through loud and clear in those that we're talking about, either disagreeing or strongly disagreeing. The first one is a real concern about sufficient contestant parking space. And then the second one was space sufficiency for the Yavapai County Fair. And so that would be what I would love for you all to consider more as you continue on your work in this space. So we can understand as we move contestant parking, I think the entrance is going to be great eventually. But as we move contestant parking from the west side to now the northeast side, I really want to understand, Ted asked the question earlier about patron parking, but I think I also want to understand about contestant parking. And then the second question was, again, with our fairgrounds for the entire county, I'd love to understand the total space they've had access to in the past and why some people feel very strongly that this is insufficient space for the fairground. So I'd love to better understand that as we move forward and see if we can find the right solution to move more people from the right side of your chart on page 20 towards neutral to the left side of the chart as you continue your work.

So, to your first question, our next iterations will start to look at more of that actual defined trailer size and parking and what that looks like on the site, along with the spectator parking. I'll point out that like the livestock pens, even all the buildings and the shapes on the site are still malleable we're still going to be moving things around to accommodate make sure we have the proper turning radiuses because right now everything's just kind of a blob on the on the on the page as you see it um so you will start start to see more of that definition um and thought put into exactly how many trailers will fit on site how that flows and what that that begins to look like um to your second question about the fair use um one of the things that we've we'll probably challenge them to do with this plan is start to add where they would foresee using some of, or having the fair functions lay out. It's very easy to lay out in the arena. That's a set piece that stays there in front of the grandstands. But we know that there are fair functions that come into play here. And we'll start to work with that team on how that fits into this master plan.

And I think that would be great because I do think the covered pole barn arena adds a whole nother level of great use compared to the old, what was that, barn B that I had to go to children's exhibits and I was afraid for all of our safety. So I do think if they could do some work and let's see what we can do to accommodate making this a great fair as well. Thank you.

Mary, you have any comments? Yes, thank you. I just wanted two clarifications, actually. You mentioned the removable bollards on Fair. Looking at this, though, it looks like there are also traffic, well, they're marked here as traffic barricades, but I'm assuming it's removable bollards. On Gale-Gardner also, on two sides of that intersection. So am I understanding that correctly? Because you mentioned bollards on fare, but it looks like there are also bollards on Gail Gardner. And that is for, to be set up for large events where we don't want traffic?

So I'll clarify that those, it's not our intent or wouldn't be the intent for those bollards, the ones on fare and the ones on Gail Gardner to be up at the same time. During arrival, you'll have the bollards up on fare so that all that traffic is coming from Miller into fair so you use basically uh fair street to stack whenever we're coming in there since it's mostly commercial use along fair and then towards the end of the actual rodeo night the the bollards go down at fair street and could come up at gail garner if we need to see it but actually probably for an event where you have everyone exiting at the same time during rodeo and some of those events people kind of come and go but whenever we do have an event where we have to like have a large amount of people exiting. We don't want to just force everyone back to Miller. The stacking would be immense. But if we can have the ability to go up Gail Garner with those, that's why those would be shut.

Thank you. And I guess the other clarification that I was looking for, when I was reviewing this schematic or the plan, the only new building I saw that was specifically indicated as being two-story was the extension. And I'm assuming that is... intended to be office space as opposed to performance space?

Correct, yeah. So it's mostly, to Matt's point, it's for extension support. We probably envision the second floor being mostly their office space where the first floor is some community space, classrooms, conference rooms, different uses. And there is that possibility of some overlap where you could have some people exhibiting there during certain times if that works with the extension. But really that's the intent and why we have that footprint

And I guess for the clarification, because I thought I heard you say that the multi-use pavilion, a new building, isn't marked on this plan as being two stories, but did I hear you say it's intended to be two stories? Yeah, sorry.

It could be, that's one of the items that's under development that at our July steering committee meeting, we plan to walk through a layout plan and gather feedback on that. And we'll be able to come back with an update on that final footprint and the strategy of ground floor versus any elements at second story.

Well, whether it turns out to be one or two stories, let's say it's one story. Is it envisioned as just an open space that could be configured for different events, depending on what the event is?

Yes. There's what we're calling in the program an assembly area that would be open for multi-use to be able to configure it either with tables if you're having, say, a trade show, or for a farmer's market, or to rent out for a party or a wedding. You could have round top tables and chairs. So designed with that nature in mind to be multi-use and flexible.

Thank you. And I'm sorry, extension, did you have something to add there?

Oh, just to clarify one point that the councilman asked us about the building earlier. And one point I want to clarify is I feel like we've heard loud and clear from people that this is important to the community overall. One of the concepts we had that I forgot to mention was a family resource center within that building as well. We have a lot of family resource centers, a few in Yavapai County, one through YRMC, I believe, one through PUSD, but there are limitations To the families. You have to be born at YRMC to use the one there. You have to be a student at PUSD. So this would be a family resource center for everyone in Yavapai County. And we wouldn't just do things like give out diapers and car seats. It would be a lot more about education for young families and things like that. Just to clarify.

Mr. Gehring.

Thank you, Mayor. So I agree with the other comments I've heard that we need a lot more detail on the multi-use pavilion facility. What it's going to be, how it's going to be used. Is it going to generate noise? Is it going to make traffic at the same time that we have some other event that's causing traffic? So that needs to be determined. The same questions... about the covered arena, pole barn, more detail. How many events are going to be there? Is that going to be simply integrated into the rodeo? Or what is the ultimate purpose and design for the use of that facility? I'm going to comment that, I'm going to ask actually now that I think of it, have we done a survey for cultural resources on this site?

As far as archeologically?

Yes.

No, there's nothing in the current master plan process that would include that. It's really something that would come out of next steps. As any of these buildings are planned or developed, it would be looking at the proximity of where they're planned to start looking at cultural resources.

You know, I'm going to strongly recommend that a survey be done ahead of time so that we find out what's there so we don't dig it water line trench to a burial ground for Native Americans. That can really complicate it and add expense to the project. The other thing I'm going to comment on is I've gotten quite a bit of comment from people in the surrounding neighborhoods. And I have to say that so far they're not on board for any expanded number of events or noise or frequency because they're badly affected already. So whatever new facilities are put on this site have to take that concern into account. I think we're going to have to show the surface water drainage treatment facility and the footprint and what it's composed of. I did get a guarantee from the public works director that that discharge is going to meet Arizona's surface water quality standards, and I'm going to be very interested to see that it does. I'm just going to mention again to strongly recommend that we don't want to be digging for new utilities out there until we know about the cultural resources. Thank you.

Good comments, especially about the survey, and that's a good comment about the traffic study. I think those are two items that we need to integrate into this plan. Any more comments from council before we go to the public? Mr. Gamboge?

No, I was just going to ask if we could go to the public. Can I jump in real quick, Mayor?

Yes.

Just as a reminder in terms of process, so this is a master plan. We're talking about concepts and ideas and looking at the property and how the property would lay out. There are other parts of the process here that we need to keep in mind. Two that I'll mention. One is before we're constructing any new buildings or any kind of significant construction project, there'll be more conversations, right? So we're going to need to have conversations about archaeological on the waterline as we do the waterline project. Or if we're going to build the equipment barn, then there'll be a conversation about, okay, do we need to do archaeological on the equipment barn? So some of that will happen project by project. And there'll be opportunities for other conversations too, right? What does the building look like? What's it going to be used for? The other part of it is the kind of the lease portion of it. You know, if you'll remember when we started this, we said we're going to do the master plan. Then we're going to look at the zoning. Then we're going to look at the lease. The lease is a place where we could look at uses and uses for the property overall. I don't know if we want to get into uses of specific buildings, but that's another part of the process that will contribute to the whole of what the property is. But it will come after the master plan's approved.

Mr. Gamboge.

As I've said many times before at council, I think the rodeo is the crown jewel of Prescott and gives us a great deal of pride. But for somehow or other, in the last couple of years, you say rodeo in this town and everybody goes Hatfields and McCoys. So I wanted to congratulate you. I think this, you know, it's a study session. It's an update. Not everything is buttoned up now, but it shows a tremendous amount of progress. And I want to thank you for that.

And I want to put to rest any rumor that we want to move the rodeo. Okay? We're not moving it. We're ready for some public comment now.

You've got it, Mayor. Our first card is from Carter Labarge.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, Council, at the recent open house, I had the opportunity to speak with Dallin Kimball and I asked if the written comments that were provided there were going to be copied and handed over to the Council for you to read and be prepared for this portion of our progress forward. I don't see them anywhere and I don't believe you've got them. Now I was categorically told yes by Dallin twice that the council would have all these comments so that you could review them and see what the taxpayers are actually thinking from that meeting. Considering that collecting and disseminating to this council the written feedback from the open house was the primary mission, someone missed a critical line item. That is a detail that is worth noting by this council. This meeting is to include the comments of the taxpayers on the specific issues that are planned for the rodeo grounds, and I don't think you have it. This meeting and the timeline for the execution needs that input, but you keep moving forward, moving forward. So I think you should pause until you've had the opportunity to read for yourselves the exact wishes and comments of the taxpayers of the city of Prescott. There is always a critical sense of urgency pushed to this council with the expectation of immediate acceptance, even when the plan presented is not complete, If the data presented to this council is incomplete, you need to stop the proceedings until you get what you need to make competent judgments on our path forward. We expect this council to demand excellence from our staff and not accept anything less, as that always comes at the expense of the taxpayer. What I see from out here in the taxpayer seats is that this council asks specific questions, great probing questions, sometimes directed to the lack of preparedness of the proposals being set forth in front of you. You identify the missing pieces, but then as a group, you move on and proceed, and you don't stop. So your sense of urgency to move forward without all the information is not required by us. We want you to take the time you need to get all the information you require, even if that pushes the timeline. I also hope that you require financial projections and the viability with income to the city on any new buildings included in this master plan, because that's critical. Otherwise, the taxpayers keep taking it on the other end. With all of the drama that's involved with this project, you say that we've got the Hatfields and McCoys, okay. The rodeo is critical to the city. It's critical to the community. But it's still unclear who's driving the master plan. Is it the community? Is it the council? The city staff? Or the rodeo? Let's clear this up. Thank you.

Thank you, Carter.

Oral decay.

Mayor and Council, I'm Earl Duque. I serve on the Rodeo Fairgrounds Master Plan Steering Committee, representing Gail Gardner and the surrounding neighborhoods. After several months of meeting, I believe we are making meaningful progress toward a master plan that could balance the needs of the rodeo, the county fair, neighborhood residents, community organizations, and the broader Prescott community. Several encouraging themes have emerged. First, there is a broad agreement that we can preserve and strengthen Prescott's historic rodeo while respecting the character of the surrounding historic neighborhoods. Second, environmental stewardship has become an integral part of the plan. City engineering and environmental staff presented important recommendations regarding stormwater management and protection of Miller Creek. I encourage the council to ensure these systems are clearly incorporated into the master plan. Third, this plant has the opportunity to create something uniquely Prescott through the University of Arizona Extension Office, its demonstration gardens, the weekly farmers market, and the neighborhood mini park. Together, these can showcase water-wise landscaping, rainwater harvesting, composting, and native plants use, educating both our residents and visitors on good water usage. As the plan moves forward, there are several areas which would benefit from additional clarity. The proposed multi-purpose pavilion that's been mentioned several times already remains one of the least defined elements. Its purpose, programming, size, and long-term management should be more clearly identified and documented. Likewise, previously discussed program elements such as the Buckle Club do not appear on the drawings. Written clarification would be helpful of where those program elements now lie. The site plan would also benefit from a stronger emphasis on the public realm. Future iterations should clearly illustrate pedestrian circulation throughout the property, connecting the different program elements and the adjacent trail system. These connections should be complemented by layered tree canopies, shade, seeding, and water-wise landscaping that create a welcoming community space. Finally, the proposed manure composting area should be properly engineered. clearly located, and thoughtfully integrated into the site. Done well, it can become an environmental asset rather than simply some operational necessity. I also encourage continued attention to project phasing, funding responsibilities, and protection of the site's historical, cultural, and archaeological resources. As already mentioned, providing that clarity now will strengthen public confidence and help avoid surprises later. In closing, I believe the subsequent iterations of this master plan should focus on refining, illustrating, and documenting how the buildings, landscapes, environmental systems, pedestrian connections, and the community spaces come together as one cohesive vision worthy of Prescott. Thank you.

Thanks, Earl.

Deb Thalassitis?

all the way down. Mayor, will you indulge a quick question first from the presentation? The question on parking, is the shuttle drop off still in play? That wasn't mentioned as part of the parking. Dallin, do you know?

Yeah.

Okay.

That's still the intention.

There is in the south, yeah, kind of southeast corner there's a whole dedicated space for shuttle drop off. I did get a chance to look at the comments because I asked to see them. So I thank staff for that. I took the comments from the first open house and ran them through some AI software because I know when I read them, I look for the things I want to see. And I wanted to see what was in there that I didn't want to see. And I was kind of shocked, but the common theme from the first open house was the need for community use and year-round public space, in addition to what is already going on there. The themes from the second open house, which I just got today, and that was 60 comments, the first open house was 153, showed that the master plan has gained a lot more acceptance. And there's still concern about items we've talked about, like traffic management, environmental protection, et cetera. So no surprises there. So I want to thank the council and staff, because I don't know if this community has ever gone through this intensive of a process on a piece of property. And we really do appreciate that you are letting us have input. But I think we need to do a few more things. And that brings me to my ask. I'm concerned that the council is being asked to approve buildings and spaces on a piece of paper without underlying policy direction. And I'll give you three examples of what I mean. Some of the new buildings support a wide range of major events. So is it your policy that the city is getting into the event business? What's the feasibility of this? Who's going to manage the events? What's going to go in that building? You've heard about that a lot today. I will tell you this is the first time I've heard that it's a two-story building or potentially a two-story building I should say. Who's going to manage common areas like parking? Will the city function like a commercial property developer where it builds and manages the common infrastructure? This hasn't been articulated as a policy, but it kind of looks like that might be happening. And then that raises the question of is there going to be a fee for parking and who's going to get the money? So to me, that's a policy discussion. That's not something the steering committee should be deciding. The last point I want to make ties in a little bit with what Councilman Ruby said. Do you consider the proposed expansion of the farmers market and the U of A extension or the 1.2 acre mini park to satisfy the community uses residents are asking for? And that was a flavor through both surveys. What you may not know is homes in the neighborhoods surrounding the fairgrounds, including mine, which is a couple miles away, they're being purchased by young people because those are affordable. The hospital is constructing workforce housing just down the street at the end of Gale Gardner. So are you from a policy? I've never heard a discussion about this property is in walkable proximity to these young families. Are you serving what is going to come there in the future? Because those are some of the most affordable housing left in the city. I know there's not sufficient time today to consider policy questions, but I think... You know, we all want to look and see how many stories are in the building and how many chairs are going to be in there and what event is going to be there. But I feel like there's a foundation missing that as a steering committee member, when we're talking about something, we need to be able to go back and say, oh, but the council said this is the framework that we need to be working within. So I just want to encourage you to take a look at that approach at some future meeting if you can't do it today. Thank you.

Thank you, Deb.

Truly Bracken.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, for hearing from me. I want to start off with a thank you to Alan, who I think has been instrumental in getting the environmental issues recognized and dealt with. And that's not a small ask. And it's a big step. It's also very helpful to hear that the environmental team is going to be involved on an ongoing basis. And I'm hearing that from GH2 as well. And that input is going to be critical. I want to highlight just one aspect where their input would be invaluable. A number of y'all were not on the council during the earlier rezoning application process, where comments were solicited from city staff, including stormwater comments. The manure composting operation is a very distinct operation, and the earth flow system is well respected, and I think there's agreement The rodeo was the entity that proposed it in that rezoning process. And the environmental team is on board with it. But what needs to happen is that it be properly located, that operational safeguards be put in place, that it be sized for the operation, and that the city's environmental staff has input into that. It's not shown on the drawings now, and I'm optimistic from what GH2 has been saying that it will be incorporated. The comments, the stormwater comments, when it was proposed were that it should not be up gradient of the biobasin because it will contain raw manure and then it will contain processed manure, and then it will contain curing manure. There are actually three bays that are typically required since you can't spread this stuff out on the ground. There'll be a feedstock bay, The composting unit itself and a curing bay, this takes some space. And I'll follow up by giving you all a link to the schematic, a sample schematic from the Earthflow site so that you can see what this involves. There's a roof over it. There's a ventilation system. This is not just one container in which you do the composting. So I think that citing it, and it sounds to me that GH2 is focused on that and including it in the plans, but it's going to need the environmental team's input. You have an excellent environmental team. They are the experts. I am not the expert. So their involvement is all that I think we're seeking here. We're very glad to see it. Thank you.

Thank you, Trulie. That was a very good description of the different styles of manure that we have.

Marty Siegel.

Okay.

Hi, I'm Marty Siegel. I'm a longtime resident of Prescott, and I live in the Gale Gardner neighborhood, very close proximity to the fairgrounds. At the Earth Day celebration that was recently held down on Cortez Street, the Gale Gardner Neighborhood Association hosted a kiosk booth to provide information to our community about the ongoing environmental challenges that are present at the Prescott Fairgrounds and Rodeo Grounds. and how these environmental challenges impact our waterways and eventually the lakes here in Prescott. We stress that there are viable ways to mitigate these long-standing environmental concerns. And needless to say, this will take cooperation, collaboration, space allocation, and of course finances. So while the Gale Gardner Neighborhood Association and the greater Prescottonian community enthusiastically supports our world's oldest rodeo and the Yavapai County Fair, we also strongly feel that our creeks and lakes must be protected from livestock effluent contamination as well as longstanding soil contamination at the fairgrounds rodeo grounds. the 287 signatures on the petitions that are going to be presented to you. ask that you, the City Council, direct that pollution mitigation measures be included in the Fairgrounds Rodeo Grounds Master Plan and that the mitigation procedures be expended from the $15.3 million state grant. These signatures that we collected down at Earth Day show considerable community interest, but require no further action by the Council. While granted there are many priorities in requisite for this huge proposal, we ask and are supported by the community signatures presented to you that you consider the overall impact positively that your direction in this matter will provide. And I thank you for your attention to this matter.

May I give these to you, Sarah, please?

Thank you, Marty.

Kathleen Yetman.

Good afternoon, Mayor and council members. I want to start by saying how much I appreciate this city recognizing the importance of agriculture in Yavapai County. This feels, this master planning process feels like an acknowledgement of that, which as the director of the Prescott Farmer's Market is obviously very meaningful. And also for investing in this process, I am a steering committee member and what I have done gleaned from this process is that all of the stakeholders have more in common than we have in different. And that's been really wonderful. I've really enjoyed the process. I also want to give a shout out to Scott Balk, who has done an amazing job of managing this project. That was no small feat. I also want to take the opportunity to thank you for your partnership in our community compost program. We are currently diverting 65 tons of local kitchen food scraps every year from the local landfill, and that's thanks to your partnership. This plan... gives us an opportunity to continue to do that in the future, which is really important, and also would provide a space that we've been needing for the farmers market, which I know many of you frequent, is such an important gathering place for our community on a weekly basis. And it fits in this plan. in a space that wouldn't be used by other people. So we're really great at being flexible. That's what we do. And just really looking forward to seeing this follow through. So thank you.

Thank you, Kathleen. Matthew Holdstorn.

Close. Alderson.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. I appreciate the time to speak with you today. I just wanted to tell you all a little bit about cooperative extension and a little more detail on our ask in this master plan. I also wanted to thank you for allowing me to be on this steering committee and represent Yavapai County Cooperative Extension. extension. I know I don't have too much time here, so I'm not going to tell you, give you the whole half an hour spiel about cooperative extension. But I did bring by our 2025 annual report, which talks about everything we did in 2025. So if I can approach the dais and pass this out. Yeah, absolutely. We create these every year. Thanks so much. So whether you are or are not familiar with Cooperative Extension, it is a nationwide service that we have provided to the state of Arizona, and in Prescott in particular, since 1919. So we've been doing this a very, very long time. If you're not familiar, that's okay. Don't feel bad. I was not familiar until about 12, 15 years ago when I started working in agriculture. In fact, I used to live in the Gale Gardner neighborhood at one point in time on Parr and Gale Gardner there. And as a young man, I would walk down by the rodeo grounds and I would see that big block A up on the fence there. And I said, whoa. The U of A is teaching algebra and English in Prescott, Arizona. That is great because we need more of that. But what I came to find as I became a farmer myself up in Washington state when I left Prescott is that is not the kind of education that cooperative extension provides. I love algebra and English, but. That's not what we do. We have three primary program areas, and those are in agriculture and natural resources. And we do that all the way from the consumer level. So that might be teaching a young person how to raise their first calf or teaching someone how to garden. And we go all the way up to working with the Avapai County cattle growers in the Arizona Farm Bureau, where we're working with big ranchers and farmers here in Yavapai County. We also deal with family consumer and health sciences, might have been called HUMEC in the past. And those programs revolve around food safety and healthy living and childcare health consultations and diabetes prevention, a myriad of different topics that change all the time. We worked with the health department with the SNAP education grant, which has since sunsetted. And then our third program is 4-H Youth Development. which I am very proud to say since 2022, we have quadrupled membership in Yavapai County. We now have over 400 members that participate. Someone mentioned value of a new building. What kind of value is that bringing? Well, I can say the reason we are called Cooperative Extension is because we are cooperatively funded by the federal government, the state government, and the county government. And we bring in about $1.4 million from the state and federal government every year. We also organize over 200 volunteers that bring $700,000 worth of value to the county as well through Master Gardeners and 4-H. So we feel like we bring value. That's not even counting our contribution from Yavapai County as well. We've been at the rodeo grounds for over 20 years now, so we are not new to the rodeo grounds. And I love being at the rodeo grounds because someone asked me, as we were thinking about building a new building, where would we go? And I said, where else would we want to be besides the rodeo grounds where we have the opportunity to collaborate with so many like minds, as Kathleen just mentioned, between the Prescott Farmers Market and the rodeo and the county fair, who we already collaborate strongly with for obvious reason, talking about 4-H and horticulture and floriculture and all those things. So to me, the Rodeo Grounds is an obvious fit for us. When we started this project, my vision for this project, and it's sort of enlarging on what we already do. Excuse me, Matt.

I think your time is up.

Oh, my gosh. My time is up.

We'll take a rain check.

Absolutely. So in closing, I'll just say that I believe that we support the rural and community values that have made Prescott what it is today. And I look forward to future collaboration with the city and all of the residents there at the fairgrounds. Thank you.

I cannot read the handwriting on this one. I believe the first name is Levi, but I'm not sure on the last name. So if you could just state your full name, that would be great.

Thank you. Levi Darby, chairman of the Yavapai County Fair. I see you guys are all worried about a lot of things. One thing that really irritates me is the lease of it. People are wanting to know who's going to manage this rodeo grounds. Well, if the rodeo has the lease, why ain't they managing it? They have the lease, right? So they should be the one to manage everything. We're all sitting here, but Jim hasn't spoke yet, and I'd more than gladly give me my time for him to speak, but that's up to him. Jim, do you want to speak on this? I didn't think so. He's nicer than me, so I'll go ahead and speak. There's a lot of things that you see in this master plan that is working and not working. One thing the city needs to realize is that it is the county fairgrounds and it is the rodeo grounds. This week is the rodeo coming up and it's gonna be a major problem. We have GH2 that is not gonna study the fair in September, which is bigger than the rodeo. The rodeo, everybody shows up at five o'clock and leaves at nine o'clock. At the fair, everybody shows up at 9 o'clock and keeps coming and going all day long. So the traffic problem, yes, is a problem. Rearranging the roads, the bollards, that kind of stuff is going to help, but yes, it needs to be studied more. The parking of the trailers coming in off Miller Drive on a rodeo drive, that is a problem. That's going to have to be a realignment. You're worried about parking. You need to. The rodeo is getting bigger. The fair is getting bigger. 15 years ago when I took over the fair, we had 4,000 people in four days. We're at 51,000 people in four days. The rodeo is at 35,000 people in eight days. It's only getting bigger. The community is never gonna stop complaining. They're gonna complain no matter what. For the next 20 years, they're still gonna complain. Are we ever gonna make them happy? No. Are we gonna make the public happy? No. Is there a way to work together? Maybe. But will we make everybody happy? No. I agree with Matt and I disagree with Matt strongly over a lot of things. Will we agree? No. Does Jim agree with everything I agree with, with the way he does things at the rodeo grounds? No. But he's in charge of the rodeo grounds, not me. He does it to the best of his knowledge. I set up county fair to the best of my knowledge. People that are worried about what's going to be in the building and what's going on in the building, it's truly none of your business because it's programming. When we have an event, that's what's in that building. We don't need to answer to the community of, we're having a wedding and the bathroom's going to be on this side. If the building gets put up, the bathroom will be in there. How many Porter Johns do you use? I use 60 Porter Johns. My bill is $30,000 in four days. because I'm a bad person and I target the ladies. If the ladies will use my Porter Johns with lights and they are clean, they stay, they spend money. If they're dirty, they go home. My Porter Johns have lights in them and they're cleaned twice a day. So yeah, you're going to say you're going to build bathrooms. Great. It'll help on some events. You can't build enough bathrooms for a county fair at all. Is it going to work for the rodeo? Yes, it will. Because the rodeo shows up at a certain time, watches the event and leaves. You got to realize other events are not scheduled events. They're all day long. The money that is going to be here, the $15 million, 90% of that money is going to be electrical, water, and sewage. So some of the buildings that we want aren't going to get built because we don't have enough funding. And yes, that is going to be to the taxpayers. the money is going to be used for infrastructure rebuild. And if you don't think I'm joking, come to an event where you have raw sewage popping out of the ground and running across the parking lot and I'm out there with a shovel and rake cleaning it, calling Greg Mandarelli on the phone and chewing him up down the other side while this city waste is showing up to help me clean it. It's happened many times in the 15 years. So, yes, there is a lot of improvements that need to happen at the rodeo grounds. I know I'm not the political person and the nice person. Mayor said last time and Mayor Pro Team Miss Lois always says it's memorable when I speak. I speak what I truth. If you don't like it, I don't care because I try to tell you the truth. Thank you, Levi.

Thank you, Levi. It's always entertaining.

I believe it's Rosalie Darby, but I'm not sure. Also can't read the writing.

Rosalie Darby, general manager of the Yavapai County Fair.

So the Yavapai County is the Yavapai County Fair for the entire county. I want to answer a few of the questions, which is we provide programming for all youth and all people in the county, not just the 4-H, the FFA. The 4-H make up about 20% of our youth that exhibit in the fair. The FFA make up about 10%, which leaves 70% of the youth that live in this county. We had a $505,000 youth livestock auction in this town last year. We provide programming support for those youth year-round in both still exhibits as well as livestock exhibits year-round. Yowabai County is your third largest county in the state of Arizona. So is there enough space for the county fair? No. Does this master plan provide enough space? No. Sorry, that's the dead answer. Will I make it work? I'm creative and I'm gonna do my best. But here's the problem, everything south has been landlocked if all of that goes through and that will create a huge problem because right now in 2024, we used every ounce of space for the county fair. 100%, and all those green spots are now being used for something else. So as the fair continues to grow in your third largest county in this state, will there be enough space? My answer's gonna be no. Currently, right now, my personal 10 acres is where everything is stored. I won't sugarcoat it, so I'm gonna be honest. That's the answer. Will I make it work? I'm creative, so yes, I will. The steering committee has been productive and we've done our best and we've worked really hard with the rodeo to make everything north of Rodeo Drive be very successful. The pole barn will replace some of the tents that we set up, which take hours upon hours with a lot of effort to create the livestock area. That is where the livestock auction will have to be held The architects did not properly understand, I think, what happens there. No, the auction cannot happen in the multi-use pavilion because you cannot bring a cow inside a multi-use pavilion where you would hold a wedding. That would have to be done in the pole barn with the tables as an auction. And that's where that would have to be held. And that's the envision of that pole barn, is to host the livestock shows and that livestock auction. It's not a sit-down fundraiser dinner with a black tie. If you've attended, you know what you're attending. You come in your boots and your jeans, and you pick up a barbecue dinner in a to-go tray, and it tastes good. Better than the black tie tanner, by the way. A little history. These scrowns was donated in 1913 to the Yavapai County Fair for the purpose of the Yavapai County Fair and the use of the rodeo. This land was donated there before any family lived around there, and all of those homes were purchased after that. This community has came after the fact. All of the functions have happened afterwards. We're spending a lot of time over-analyzing, over-surveying, over-giving an analysis, and over-getting one more survey and one more little analysis of everything until you're going to over-survey and over-analyze the culture and the true meaning of what the town of Prescott and what the true meaning of this event means. And I challenge you guys as a council, every last one of you councilmen and the mayor and your mayor pro tem, don't let it get that far. Because you can get yourself so far undersurveyed and oversurveyed and overanalyzed till you lose the culture of what this is really about. Because that's what it's about and that's where it started at. We still have space. Let me answer the question of somebody that brought up the thing of our manure. Let me answer the question to you. By the way, we haul our manure off. So your question is the Yavapai County Fair spends thousands of dollars and we haul all the manure off from the livestock event. So it is not impacted. It's put in a roll-off and it's hauled away from the facility so that it doesn't impact there. And I wanted to clarify that because we spent thousands of dollars in that effort to keep that impact. And we spent a lot of time to show the impact of there. We work hard to keep the culture and the environmental impact with that. I'm sorry, Rosalie, your time is way up. I understand that. Thank you. Thank you very much, Pro Tem and Mayor. That's all, Mayor.

Madam Mayor, I have a question.

Yes, Ted.

And after the session, maybe someone can come up and explain this to me. A frame of reference. When I was a little kid and an older boy at Incarnation Church in South Jersey, every spring, Father Costello would go to dairy farmer Danny Stecker and get a truckload of manure to fertilize the grass. And I've been composting for decades. We have that composting facility at the fairgrounds. I didn't ask you to go like this. I asked you to explain it to me. Why can't you mix manure with the composting? That's my question. I'll take the answer after the session.

Okay, it looks like we're finished. What is our next step? When is our next open house? Oh, I'm sorry, Jay.

Yeah, since it came up, I just wanted to, this is a question probably for the city attorney. in terms of, because I've heard different stories. I've heard that these grounds have been given in perpetuity to the fair and the rodeo. But I believe it's also city property. Can we get a clarification on the actual legal standing?

It's city property. I don't know what happened in 1913 or 1930. And quite frankly, I'd be interested to get those documents. But in terms of when the city acquired the property, it acquired it subject to a rodeo lease, but not with any sort of deed restrictions where it has to be done for a certain use. We do have a lease. The lease is what dictates sort of what has to be done with the property or lease with the Prescott Frontier Days, not any sort of deed restriction that would last in perpetuity. Does that make sense?

and in the proclamation i'm going to read at the voting session it says on june 19th 2007 2007 the prescott city council and yavapai county board of supervisors unanimously transferred ownership from the county to the city which guaranteed the rodeo and its historic public use would remain on the site permanently i just want to add

These are, as I said earlier, this is a really critical spot in Prescott. People gather here. It is a community grounds. And what we've seen in this process is lots of different people from the community coming in and sharing their value, whether it's the ag center, the farmer's market, the compost. I think this is a great thing. We are a lot of different entities in this community, and the Prescott Community Grounds should continue to operate in that spirit. I also think that we need to recognize the historical aspect of this area 200 years ago, 500 years ago, not just in terms of the artifacts, but in terms of, as I've understood it from Manuel Lucero at the Museum of Indigenous People, this was a ceremonial ground. This was a place of trade. in some ways a sacred aspect to it in terms of how people worked with each other and i think that's a very important thing to keep into consideration as we go forward both with the lease and with all of the different tenants of the property okay thank you mary any last thoughts no we're good okay patrick

No, thank you.

Okay. I would just like to thank everybody for the efforts that were made to bring us here today. I feel we're making wonderful progress, and I can't wait to see some more progress on this draft of this master plan. I think it's going to... The rodeo fairgrounds is going to turn out, like Jay said, to be a wonderful community asset to be enjoyed by all. Thank you. This meeting is adjourned.