Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

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Okay. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors calls this meeting to order on September 16th, 2026 at 930 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors Meeting Room 120, located at 2150 North Congress Drive, Nogales, Arizona, 85621. Councilwoman Baralla, would you lead us in the pledge, please? Thank you, madam, and welcome. At this time, we'll move to item B, adoption of agenda. Mr. Manager.

Mr. Chair, members of the board, there is no changes to the agenda.

Thank you, sir. With that, I'll entertain a motion to accept the agenda as presented, giving the chair the ability to deviate where necessary.

I move. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Item C, call to the public. And when you come up for a call to the public, please remember you have three minutes, and please state your name and your address so that it's on record. Thank you so much. Chris Workoven. Thank you, Madam.

Good morning, Supervisors and everyone here. My name is Chris Werkhofen. I used to live in Znojta, but moved to Marana 7905 North Coltrane Lane. Truck traffic escalations speak for themselves. The law requires the best available data to calculate emissions for an air permit. None of the ADAQ-approved calculations have used on-site data, even though an adequate margin of safety is required. This inconsistency should attract the attention of the CPBA, but it appears an independent Citizen Science Council is needed to obtain best available protection. I will give three examples. The Calabasas AirSmart system already today showed a PM2.5 background concentration much higher than used by ADEQ. The total PM2.5 concentration now is expected to be above today's safe limit. South 32, number two, did not use its own on-site number for road silt, but picked a much lower ADAQ recommended number. With roads as the dominant air pollution source, Hermosa's total particle and lead emissions can become readily non-compliant. Number three, South 32 did not use known lead fractions of mine rock to calculate lead emission rates from underground haul roads. When it finally did, the resulting 2x increase of lead emissions miraculously remained compliant. Unfortunately, only in the final EIS CNF stated that unspecified other factors may have changed. CNF simply avoided pre-deadline questions on how its sensitivity analysis is supposed to work. Right now, South32, ADEQ, and CNF try to talk around issues like this, but eventually they will emerge in petitions as well-documented misrepresentations, failures to disclose material facts, or simply fraud. Permits are to protect public health, not the bottom line of a foreign company. I hope elected officials and others will be on the right side of history when this moment arrives.

I'll go by Colbert today, because then I can claim a relationship as a relative to Stephen Colbert, who won all those Emmys the other night. So I'll claim that, okay? Hi, my name is Cynthia Colbert. I live on Luna Court in Rio Rico. And I'm here today to talk about, well, two things. The first one is real quick. Several months ago there was something brought up in here that the U of A along with Rio Rico High School had a grant or something to plant all kinds of trees along the frontage road, the west frontage road. In my brain it says up to 100 trees. Okay, that was several months ago and I've heard nothing and seen nothing. I thought maybe they'd do it during the summer. That makes sense, but nothing has happened so far, so if you can check into that, that would be wonderful. Okay, the second thing I'm here to talk about is a wonderful, oh, good morning Supervisors Board and people in the public. I didn't want to exclude anybody, even though my last name is Colbert. I'm here to talk about a wonderful program called Confirm OK. I was first made aware of this program from Ann Peska, who reached out to find out about the program. I live in Santa Cruz County and recently learned about Confirm OK. So far they're using it in Cochise County, and I'm interested in the program for our county. As to my knowledge, there's nothing like that here. As you know, people who live alone with no family or neighbors checking in on them need help. A friendly call is wonderful, but it's so hard to find volunteers, so automation is the next best thing. The Cochise County Sheriff's Office Information Technology Department acts as the administrator for the program there and ensures access and functionality for the safety of the people. The program includes a daily automated call from the system that requires a number prompt from the answerer to ensure it's a live person and not an answering machine. Once they acknowledge it has been completed, the call will disconnect. If no acknowledgement is received, the call will attempt to reconnect within 15 minutes. After three attempts, an error log is generated that will prompt the communication center to send an officer or deputy to check on the person's safety and health. If someone is going out like grocery shopping or a doctor's appointment, it's better that they wait until after their designated call time or modify the time to better suit their needs. Please look into this program. Since we live in a rural county, this sounds just about perfect for us. Once again, the website address is confirmok.com or you can contact, oh, all these notes. uh... carol campus the cochees county sheriff's office support service supervisor and public information officer to find out more about the program and i think it's really important since we live in a rural area and there is no charge for the people who are taking advantage of the service there is a charge to the county but cochees has fifty people enrolled so far and it's about three hundred dollars So I think that's very usable and will save us a lot of time as far as sending out sheriff's deputies and people to do wellness checks if it's not needed with this program. So please consider it. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Christine Nelson.

Good morning, Board of Supervisors and audience.

Good morning.

My name is Christine Nelson. I work for PEP in Tucson, but we are statewide. The program that I work for is the National Farmworker Jobs Program. You'll see a flyer like this in your packets. I have more if you guys need some of these. So what we do with the National Farmworker Jobs Program is is a program that helps agricultural workers obtain training to upgrade their skills or to upgrade their employment status here in the Nogales area. I'm sorry, I'm kind of nervous. I cover multiple counties. I cover Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise, Graham, and Greenland counties. I go across these counties and promote this program in addition to the other 14 counties that we cover, the other employees cover. But I do want to promote this program here in the Nogales area. It will be on November 10th at the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas Building, address 590 East Frontage Road here in Nogales. What it is, is an opportunity for people who work in agriculture, primarily we're targeting the people that work in the produce houses, to have access to health and resources that they might not be able to get to on their regular work day. So we want to make it available for them, which is right on the side of the road, if you know where the building is. They can go there before they go to their jobs. And we want to make that available. It is also available for anybody else that wants to stop. It's not only for agricultural workers, but we're targeting the agricultural audience, primarily also for enrollment into our program. That is the key here is to enroll people into our program so they can upgrade their skills so they and their families can become more self-sufficient. Our program also is directed for the agricultural workers' dependents. So if the agricultural worker does not want to move ahead into any other trainings, their dependents can qualify for our program. So hopefully at a future date, I'll be able to present a longer presentation, well, five minutes longer presentation of our program. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam. Thank you.

Any other audience members would like to come up to the podium for a call to the public? Please. No worries.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. I'm here again on behalf of children in Northeast Rio Rico. I see that a community development block grant is being granted to Nogales. And again, I'm asking for consideration for Northeast Rio Rico. There are a number of children up in the Josefina area that don't have a park. The nearest park is probably close to 10 miles away. It would be really beneficial to the kids and to the parents, if a park could be considered in that area. I'm sure that they qualify economically. They have, you know, Rio Rico, we got a high-end house right next door to a little tiny Chicano's por la casa house. It's a mixed group, so we don't have just an area of low income, but there is a lot of low income interspersed, and I think it would be appropriate for the Community Development Block Grant to be considered for that area. Thank you.

Wonderful. Before you leave, can you please state your name for the record and your address?

Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay. Kathy Campana, Rio Rico.

Thank you, madam.

Thank you, Kathy.

Anyone else? Okay, seeing no one, then we will move to item D, current events.

Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning, sir. I have two items to report, actually three. One, I had the honor and privilege of attending Mr. Cesar Parral's funeral services. Cesar was an amazing leader for this community. He's a veteran councilman, former county supervisor, and an amazing family man. I had the privilege of having him and Mr. Dan Doyle coach me, I believe it was in Babe Ruth baseball. And so I have nothing but great memories of Mr. Parrala, always cool, always calm, and an incredible person. He will sorely be missed. We will miss your dad. And actually, your dad and, it's both your dads, right? Or your grandpa? Your grandpa, I'm sorry. I apologize. Secondly, I had the honor and privilege, and I want to thank Mr. Mauricio Chavez for his presentations. He's been doing the... 417 expenditure limit presentations. I attended several of those and I wanna thank you for really putting in some miles. I know you've been all over the county and thank you. It's a critical proposition that our county needs and I appreciate you going out there. And lastly, the chairman and myself will be attending our County Supervisors Association board meeting tomorrow. And that's all I have to report, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, sir. Vice Chair.

Good morning, everyone. It's nice to see a lot of department heads in this meeting. So these two weeks have been very busy. I have, for the first time, I had like more than 20 updates, so I try to reduce it to 16. Someone put on the three minute. No, and I'm gonna try to be very short, but. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, no, I know it's like, it's a lot, so maybe I'll read some, skip some, but for some reason, I've been very busy these two last weeks, so first of all, too, I wanna thank Mr. County Management, Mauricio Chavez, for all the expenditure limit presentations they have been doing we went to the fresh produce association some presentations to the public for community at the community members employees everybody so if anybody would like to get more information on this proposition what 142 that would be on the ballot please reach out to county county management or us so we make sure that you have access to that information and you can make a informed decision um some what's that oh sorry i had 142 i confused that with another proposition hey hey So my bad. What was it again?

417.

Okay, 417. That's good that I have you guys here, so you can correct me when I'm wrong. Also, it's good to have Syeda, Mary, everybody from Arizona at Work. We've been promoting this job fair. Syeda, everybody at Arizona at Work have been working really hard. We've been to OV 99.1. That's correct, right? I didn't say the wrong number. So to promote the job fair and I think I'm just going to leave it here. I know they're working really hard. I'm going to take advantage that Cyd is here so she can provide an update and inform the public. But it's been really nice to go to the radio station and I get to interview them and that was the format and it worked out so I interviewed them. Also, we kept having these binational meetings with Nogales Sonora. Colin has been part of it, Mr. Young has been part of it. We've been working with, when it comes to the Oso Wash, the Nogales Wash, and we also included the city of Nogales, so we could all be on the same page and just have better communication. And Mr. Young can explain, elaborate a little bit longer. I don't know if you wanna do it now or later, but okay, go ahead.

Just real quick, I just mentioned, so we do monthly meetings, and we've had two in Nogales, Sonora. For October, we're actually going to have the meeting on this side, and we're going to plan it on the same day as we have a board meeting so they can also attend. And obviously, the city of Nogales is part of this, and so hopefully they'll be here also so they can attend the board meeting and then the meeting that we have with Nogales, Sonora afterwards. Mm-hmm.

also calling myself attended that we need those u.s southern arizona affordability forum up in tucson and part of the of the forum was regina romero the mayor of tucson also representative grijalva and they just talked about affordability And one of the things they, I mean, I think we all feel it, right? Before, like a few years back, like a family would have one challenge, like somebody got laid off, right? But nowadays, families are dealing with four or five challenges at the same time. And I think it's something that we all feel and we know it's taking place. Saying that I think one of the, and I agree with some of the key items that were mentioned in this forum was that more than ever we have to work close together, help each other because the resources are limited so we have to like just collaborate everybody as much as we can.

Let me go back to the other page. Oh yeah.

Yeah, I was able to attend to, I'm gonna go to number seven. I'm gonna skip five and six of my updates. So I was able to go to this. The father honor the police officers, law enforcement, first responders. And it was a beautiful mess. And at the end of the mess, the officers got blessed and their vehicles as well, you know. And they, I mean, they remind us how important that job is. Like sometimes you leave home and you don't know if you're going to come back. So I want to thank all law enforcement and police officers, Border Patrol, Customs, because at the end of the day, they're the ones that keep us safe, right? So thanks for everything they do for us. The county manager and I attended the memorial ceremony in Rio Rico, the 9-11. Would you want to elaborate more so I can, so my updates are less?

No, it was a nice event. It was a really nice event. You know, the theme is never forget. So there was participant from DEMA was there. He was the keynote speaker. So it was a really nice event.

Number 10. So today we have an event because Santa Cruz County became less than a year apart of this film community ready to try to promote films to come to the area. Like we were able to help the Coyote film even though they shot one day in Santa Cruz County we were able to help. How they were shooting that telenovela in two back and a lot of it was shot there from televisa in univision the midland music video so the idea is to keep promoting more uh films you know it's this is the the place of amazing places that's that's that's the our tagline and i agree with it and we already did in in this effort we brought a producer to come and do a tour of the jail So like a possible location. Tomorrow we have another tour of the courts, the jail, the new jail, the old jail. And there's going to be a presentation later today from Ramsey. I'll let Shannon explain a little bit more. I don't know if you want to do it now or your updates, but I'll keep moving and then you can. uh... we also attended uh... santa cruz county provisional college work that their board meeting and he was on uh... jt did a presentation and i'm gonna get this one correct this proposition for twenty seven it was an interesting meeting I don't know that we're recording the meeting. I don't know if it's available, but if it is, I would encourage everybody just to see it. It's something that's going to be in the ballot in November. I'm staying neutral, but I think if you get a chance to see it, because it's going to have an impact in Santa Cruz County. Yesterday, we attended the second government report of Mayor Juan Francisco Jim in Nogales, Sonora. It was a place well attended. One of the things that was interesting was that a lot of his focus is on water. It's if I don't if I'm correct, like 90% right of these efforts, they're working in water because that's something it's and it's also something that is really important for us for Santa Cruz County. During the meeting, he acknowledged working with Santa Cruz County, which is really good. Would you want to mention something else, Mr. Young? well attended and everything?

It was very well attended, nice ceremony. I recognized everybody in attendance. And what you mentioned about water, that is the main theme of our meetings that we have monthly is the water issues we have at the border.

Also, I attended the last City Hall meeting. Joaquin Ruiz from ADQ gave a presentation. We've been working with him as well. Chris has been working with him. Everybody has been working with him. And one of the heirs that we're working is the Oso Wash. And so it was a good presentation. I think they provide a lot of information. I also got to attend the EMT cohort at the provisional college. So they had a group of students starting this program. I think it's going to last 14 weeks. It was nice to see former students of mine like moving to this stage in life. So it also like I think it was like eight students. Every time that I'm very supportive with when it comes to people have the opportunity to study, right? I remember when I went to college, I went to Tucson. It was hard. I had to come back for two years, then left for 26 years. I got a PhD. I don't know how I did it, to be honest. But I mean, so I'm very supportive when people can do those things. And if they can have an opportunity here in Santa Cruz County, because some families don't have the resources. So like I said, I recovered two years and I had a lot of people help me. So now we're here to try to help this new generation. Also, I went to see, just going to go to 16, a movie night. So September Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. So Circles of Peace, Mariposa Clinic had been promoting all this, different nonprofits. So they had a movie night, Spider-Man, shown at the Oasis. So I got to see a little bit of that movie. This morning there was a walk, it started from City Hall. I went for a little bit. It started at 8 a.m. I couldn't join them because I had to be in this meeting. They made fun of me, but I just couldn't skip the meeting. But it's nice that people are getting the word out.

So those are my updates.

You are a busy young man.

Yes.

I'm gonna send it back to Supervisor Maleta.

Just one item I forgot to mention is I want to wish our neighboring country happy Independence Day today, September 16th.

Thank you, sir. I was able to attend the Rio Rico High School, Nogales, the NHS National Honor Society induction. Congratulations to the folks who were inducted. That was a wonderful and short ceremony. I was in attendance for three quarters at the Rio Rico High School versus Nogales football game. And I think I owe both of these guys a lunch because I lost.

Ribeye.

Ribeye. We can go after the meeting, John. Yeah, okay. I took part in the NACO Rural Action Caucus meeting last week. Also, the Santa Cruz County Local Coalition to End Homelessness. We kind of split. I was there to begin with, and then when I jumped off, Vice Chair Davis attended. Attended a meeting with the two back chamber and lastly was yesterday or Monday. We were part of the Citizens Council meeting in two back. At and I want to reiterate what my colleagues have said about Mauricio and the expenditure limit increase. Did a wonderful job, not only there but countless other places and there will be one in Rio Rico. The 23rd I believe. and that is 530. It'll start. So if we can get the word out, Ms. Campana, if you'll let your significant other know that we'll be there and please try to get as many people as you can. And that will do it with my report. With that, Mr. Manager.

Mr. Chair, a couple of items for clarification. We did have an opportunity to present to our employees during lunchtime. It was an opportunity for them to come in and listen to the presentation and the proposition. It was a voluntary basis. It was not a requirement. Second, after the meeting with the City of Nogales where Joaquin Marufo presented from ADEQ, some of the members of the audience pulled us aside after the presentation and one of the requests was to put graduated marks on the spillway itself so they could tell how much flow is coming around. So that's an option. The other option is maybe to get a flow meter so that we could document how much flow on a daily basis is coming. And then that led to discussions on monitoring the actual groundwater. One of our consultants is aware of the city of Nogales has a well already, a production well. We could piggyback on that and start monitoring that. Those are the two items that came from the meeting that I think myself and Public Works and Community Development are going to try to see if we could get more information.

Thank you. Wonderful. one last thing that I'd like to add is if there are any community groups out there that would like a presentation regarding the expenditure limit increase if you know of any groups that would be interested please please reach out to any one of us and we'll set it up even if there's two or three four people that kind of spreads out to the rest of the community so I wanted to make sure that invitation was was out there for folks WITH THAT, WE'LL GO AHEAD AND MOVE TO ITEM E, DEPARTMENT REPORTS AND ACTIVITIES. FINANCE, CASH, AND INVESTMENTS, EXPENDITURE, AND REVENUE REPORTS, SIR.

GOOD MORNING, MR. CHAIRMAN, MEMBERS OF THE BOARD, MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC. THE CASH AND INVESTMENT REPORT, THE GENERAL FUND HAS AN OVERALL BALANCE OF $19,232,885 WITH AN INVESTMENT AMOUNT OF $17,023,235. The road fund has an overall balance of $5,084,441 with an investment amount of $5,266,519. The flood control district has an overall balance of $2,333,132 with an investment amount of $317,408. And then our jail district fund has an overall balance of $5,339,880 with an investment amount of $4,523,744. Total for all funds, overall balance is $53,472,154 with an investment amount of $29,312,114. And we have an estimated end of the month balance of $5,668,013. I do want to note that all these balances are reflective. The expenses are actual, but they don't include revenues due to the transition of the treasure system that we're transitioning from the old system to the new system. So once that finishes and concludes, we'll have the revenues reflecting as well.

Thank you, sir. Any questions? No, sir. No. Thank you, sir. Are there any other departments who would like to present?

Good morning, Chairman Fanning, supervisors, county management, community members. My name is Saida Bustamante, and I am with Arizona at Work. And I just want to say something super quick about PEP. They are one of our required partners at the Arizona at Work Center. They are a great program, great partners. And I don't know if anyone is familiar with Machado's Barbershop. Alejandro Machal is actually a product of PEP. So great success but I just want to highlight Mr. Machal for his success with PEP. Also I do want to give a quick update about the job fair. We have 47 employers and organizations who are registered. Again, we're very thankful to the City of Nogales who provided a space for us to have our job fair there. We're shooting for about 70 employers since it's a smaller location. Cut off time to register is September 30th. Supervisor Molera, I know you mentioned in the last meeting that you know a lot of people in produce. We are gonna be sending you the registration link. so that you can help us distribute that invitation, if you may. Thank you. Also, I do have two success stories, all right? And last meeting, we did, and Luis, if you may, we introduced Luis Gagiola. He's a product of Arizona at Work, and he's gonna give you guys good news today.

Hi, good morning. My name is Luis Gargiola. I just wanted to say that thank you for Arizona Workforce. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be having a job. Now I work for Santa Cruz County. I am a landfill operator, and I just want to give you guys the thanks for the opportunity to be part of the team. Awesome. Congratulations.

Congrats.

Thank you so much.

Thank you to Luis Gagiola. He was an excellent participant along with Tanya, your career advisor. You guys both did a great job and we thank you and we continue to follow up with him. Thank you to the Human Resources Department as well that they were very helpful with him. And second, we have Miss Mary Castillo. She's going to give another success story of one of her participants.

Pursuant to talk.

Hi, good morning. Chairman Fanning, supervisors, county management, and community. My name is Mary Castillo from Arizona at Work. I'm a workforce development specialist. I've been working with the county for 18 years. And I would like to present Ezequiel Moreno, his mother Vanessa Moreno. It has been a great pleasure being his career advisor, and it's great being part of his journey. He has been an amazing participant. I helped him with his eligibility process, testing, and assisted him in getting into Pima Medical Institute for medical assistant program. He has been a very respectful, responsible, and dedicated. I want to congratulate him for being such an amazing young man and his accomplishment at Pima Medical Institute. I also want to congratulate his mother Señora Moreno, le quiero felicitar por su excelente desempeño como madre por la educación y sus valores que inculcó a su hijo por ser tan responsable, dedicado y tan respetuoso. Felicidades a los dos. So now Ezequiel is going to talk about his experience with the Arizona Network and his accomplishments.

Hi my name is Ezekiel. I came to AZ at work because I needed help like getting what my accomplishments were and Mary helped me through everything with funding and looking like for a right school for me even though I was kind of already like knew what school I was she gave me like a ton of options different prices and stuff like that which helped me a lot decide where I wanted to go and Sorry I'm nervous. I didn't talk. Oh and I did start working on July. So I did graduate PMI with I think top 10 percent of my class. So that was pretty cool. Right now I work at urgent care. I'm more of a floater. I work at different locations but right now my main locations at the U of A. So I work. with a lot of college people, and that's pretty much it.

Congratulations.

My name is Vanessa. I'm Ezekiel's mom. Well, I just want to thank Mary and the staff from Arizona Workforce because if it wasn't for them, my son wouldn't accomplish his goals. It's one of his goals right now. He accomplished. He has more to go. Mary's going to be part of his journey. And I'm really thankful for Mary because she's She has been a really big help and inspiring for my son to be where he's at right now. So I want to thank Arizona Workforce. If it wasn't for them, the community, I don't know. They're a really big help for all the kids that want a brighter future. So thank you so much.

Zaira, so for those two successful stories, we have two challenge coins, so if you

Great success stories. Keep it upside.

Bring more stories.

Yes. Any other departments? Come on up, Sir.

Good morning, Mr. Good morning, Sir. Board members, management, community, Ms. Pablo Ramos, County Assessor, and I'm here to present a flag to Marcia Moreno. You can please come in, Marcia. Marcia's been working for us for about 10 years now, and she's gonna be greatly missed. She's gonna be retiring at the end of September. We're gonna have some big shoes to fill in our clerical department. You're gonna be greatly missed, but you've been a great asset to our office, and we're gonna miss you a lot. So Marcia Moreno, appraiser assistant, Santa Cruz County Assessor's Office, in recognition of your 10 years of dedicated service to our community, with sincere appreciation for your commitment and valued contributions to Santa Cruz County. Congratulations on your retirement. Thank you.

Thank you. Members of the board, public, I don't know what to say. I'm very grateful to be here, and with all due respect, I worked for the best office in the county.

She's in the middle.

BO PRESCOTT.

MR. CHAIR, AND I DO AGREE WITH MARCIA. THE OFFICE OF THE ASSESSOR IS A GREAT OFFICE, AND THEY DO A GREAT JOB. I CONCUR.

THEY'RE ALMOST THE BEST OFFICE.

ANY OTHER DEPARTMENTS? SHANNON, PLEASE.

Good morning, good morning community supervisors. Just to talk a little bit about what Supervisor Davis was talking about, we have an event this afternoon from four to five. It's here at the county complex, it's upstairs. And this is a film ready community event. So if you're interested in listing your property as something that if a film production was to come down here and they want to use your property, you can find out more about how to list your property, how businesses can get involved, but also how individuals can get involved. If you're, I don't know all the lingo yet for all the film jobs, but if you're part of the crew or part of the production, this would be an opportunity to learn more. I also wanted to mention, it's on our website. It's up there on the screen now, but it's on our website, on our social media, so if you want to register, you can do that. That's today at four. Tuesday, we have the I-19 frontage road open house meeting at the Gabalondo building in Rio Rico. That's the building next to the library. That's going to be open from 5 to 7 to the public to learn more about the expansion of the frontage roads in Rio Rico. So that's Tuesday. And then Wednesday, as Supervisor Fanning mentioned, we have the expenditure limit meeting at the Gabalondo building, same building next to the library, from 5.30 to 6.30. And an update, I wanted to give a brief update on the trees. So we are working with the University of Arizona. It's their grant and they are working through the bid process. So we hope to see trees be planted the next month or two. Yeah. So that's my update.

Thank you.

Thank you, Shannon.

Thank you. Thank you, Shannon.

Ms. Maya.

Good morning Chairman Fanning Supervisor Davis Supervisor Muleta County management members of the community. Just a quick update from the superintendent's office. This week is county fair week and so we are getting the student art exhibits set up today and tomorrow all of the schools that are participating are bringing all of their artwork over to the Gardner Hall. and our office is setting that all up. Tomorrow's judging day. We did invite all of the department heads, elected officials and school district personnel. So thank you if you're able to help us judge tomorrow, it's really a fun event. And then Friday is kids day. So our office has provided a bus for every elementary school and every middle school to be able to attend Kids Day and they get in free to enjoy all the festivities. And then for the rest of the weekend, our office will cover the Gardner Hall so that it's open for people to come through. We are gonna be keeping a lot of the student artwork from the fair this year for a student art exhibit during Arts Month that's coming up in October that we'll have in our building. So thank you for your help there. Let's see, I just wanted to give a quick update about our grant programs that are often running for the school year. We have our CREST, that is our National Endowment of the Arts grant where we have three revolving art, I'm sorry, four revolving artists in residence in our building. We've already gone through Neftes, who did a poetry and rap residency. Right now, we're with Joe Wright, who's doing storytelling. We're going to move on to sculpture in November with Esteban Michel. And then we also have Armando Moreno, who's there Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays with the free art classes in the 1904 Historic Courthouse from 2 to 5 for people of all ages. He's a wonderful teacher. So that is happening, and CREST will be involved during Arts Month. We'll be having a Celebrating the Young Artist event in our building. More details to come about that. The robotics clubs and the Tecnolochicas after-school clubs are underway. As a matter of fact, a lot of the new sponsors are being trained today in our building by Zigma Consulting, so that's exciting. SHIELD IS ALREADY UNDERWAY. TODAY WAS THE FIRST DAY OF 7th GRADE CLASSES. THAT'S OUR DRUG AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION PROGRAM THAT'S HAPPENING ACROSS THE COUNTY. OUR LOS PADRES HOME VISITATION PROGRAM IS SERVING 50 FAMILIES, CONTINUES TO SERVE AND PROVIDE HOME VISITS AND PARENT CONNECTIONS THERE. AND THEN OUR PROJECT FELT, THAT'S OUR GRANT THROUGH ADE THAT IS PROVIDING FUNDING FOR OUR SANTA CRUZER MOBILE LIBRARY. We're partners with the public libraries and with the family resource centers, and we're happy to be able to present. We were invited to the NASLI conference, which is happening in Scottsdale on October 7th. That's the National Association of State Leaders in Early Education, and they asked us to present breakout sessions for the programming that we're providing through this grant. Hopefully that's good news and a renewal for us come the new year. Thank you if you've participated in the Pasa y Libro challenge. We have our library full of books. People have really caught on to that challenge and donating books to the Santa Cruiser, and those books get given away at all of the career fairs and every event that the bus goes to. So thank you if you've participated in that. Any questions? Thank you.

It just won't be able to attend the judging tomorrow.

Okay.

But I will send someone to judge for me. Thank you.

Thank you for letting me know.

I was part of Technolochicas when it first started as a principal, and it's an incredible program. Is there a culminating activity? There is.

In the spring, we kind of leave the decision up to the sponsors whether they want to have a conference or a field trip. In the last two years, they've chosen the field trip. They've gone to the Kitt Peak Observatory, and last year they went to the Arizona Science Center. This year, they've chosen the conference, so we're starting to work on building a panel of... of women in STEM and local women that have gone off and built their careers in STEM that can come and provide mentoring and workshops for our young ladies. There's actually young men too. There's been a revolt where there's as well.

Are there any competitions?

Robotics has competitions. Robotics has the showdown for TecnoloChicas, not really, but we do try to provide them with enough or as many hands-on experiences as we can, yeah.

Keep up the great work.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Maya. Any other departments? Okay, we'll go to number three, awards recognition and accomplishments. Supervisor Mileta.

Mr. Chair, it's an honor and privilege to recognize always a former student. I had two stints in coaching tennis at Nogales High School, one in the late 80s, and then later on in 2017, 05, 205, 206. I don't know why I was asked to go back and coach. And I always had the honor and privilege of having amazing tennis players and amazing leaders. And this gentleman was one of them. We didn't hit it off at first. I have a funny story. We were going somewhere, and kids were piling in the van, and someone beat him to shotgun, and he started yelling, falling apart, saying, I called shotgun last year. And I looked at him and I said, Manny, get in the back seat. So he met Mr. Molera. Amazing guy. Great leader. He was a student body president, I believe. He was a student body president at the University of Arizona, I believe, as well. And is doing great things with our kids. I'll let you talk about your program, Manny, please. Wonderful individual and a good tennis player, too, by the way.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman, supervisors, county management, and members of the public. I'm hopefully not as good a tennis player now, but hopefully getting back into it little by little. And back then, I thought calling shotgun once was you inherited that right for the rest of the year. But I learned and was humbled very quickly that that wasn't the case. I'm very excited and honored to be here. And I really do believe that I've stood on the shoulders of many people here, including Bugs. Sorry, Supervisor Molera, of course, if I have it. Maya as well, since leaving and graduating from the University of, leaving Nogales High School, leaving Nogales and going into the University of Arizona, I enlisted and joined the US Navy in a cryptologic technician capacity and then, which means cyber security essentially. And that is really what began my awareness of careers in technology and cybersecurity and always kept telling myself I wish I would have learned about these careers sooner. And Supervisor Davis, as you mentioned, education is a big aspect of how we can contribute and share what we've learned to members of the families and of the community. And that's exactly what we need to be doing around digital skills and digital literacy technology, cyber security, how to protect ourselves online. And that is what we aim to do through the nonprofit AZ Cyber Initiative. It starts with introducing but also inspiring youth to consider these careers that require these technical but yet professional skills. Even though we're in the midst of technology, professional skills are just as important, the critical thinking, the problem solving, working in teams, that I think that is the foundation that I really believe has started in Nogales, from Nogales High School. And I'm extremely proud and honored to be here today and to continue to pass it on to other students and individuals that we've served over the years. and had great partners along the way. Maya believed in us the first year ever, first cohort. It was virtual. It was in 2021, right after COVID. So everything was still virtual. And when we presented the idea of something completely different and something completely innovative, but yet very important for the community, she accepted. And we've come back every year since then. And we've had students from Santa Cruz County, from Santa Cruz Valley, really start to be on a pathway into these careers. I've gone to Pima Community College, University of Arizona. Some of those students are now working with employers or interning. And this is just the start. So we're very excited. happy to always contribute and bring this back to members from the county and from Nogales. So thank you for everything. And to Bucks for always throwing the hypothetical chancla at me and always being a good mentor since day one. I appreciate it.

And I have a certificate for you. This certificate reads as follows. Certificate of recognition presented to Manuel Felix for founding the AZ Cyber Initiative 501c3 nonprofit in Nogales in 2020, his dedication to Santa Cruz County youth and his leadership in creating pathways to cybersecurity education, careers, and opportunities. Thank you, Manuel. It's signed by all three of us. Thank you. And I'm pretty sure there's more to come with Manny. I ran into him at a Senator Kelly event the other day, and that's how we connected again. And I'm pretty sure there's more good things to come. Thank you, Manny.

Keep up the great work. Okay. At this time, we'll move to item F, action items. Number one, discussion possible action to approve proclamation in honor and remembrance of Cesar N. Parada Sr., former county supervisor, District 2. Vice Chair?

Would the reader move?

Go ahead and read.

So on behalf of the board, county management, county leadership, it's an honor for me to read the proclamation in honor and remembrance of former county supervisor Cesar N. Parada Sr. whereas cesar and parada senior former member of santa cruz county board of supervisors passed away on september 1st 2026 leaving behind a legacy of public service and dedication to the people of santa cruz county and whereas pursuing of ars 11-211 and 11-251 Members of the Board of Supervisors are entrusted with representing districts and serving their communities and carrying the legislative authority and responsibility of county government. And whereas a service as a county supervisor is a position of great public trust, calling upon those who serve to dedicate their time, leadership, and judgment to the betterment of their community. And whereas Cesar N. Parada Sr. honorably served the people of Santa Cruz County as a member of the Board of Supervisors from 1981, through 1988, fulfilling the duties of public office and contributing to the history of governance of the county. And whereas his commitment to public service and his years of dedication to Santa Cruz County remain a meaningful and enduring part of our county history, And whereas beyond his role as supervisor, Cesar N. Parada Sr. was a longtime community leader in Nogales, widely respected for his civic involvement, decades of engagement in local affairs, and his positive influence on residents and local organizations. And whereas, with the passing of Cesar N. Parada Sr., the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors pauses to honor his life, remember his service, recognize the honorable legacy he leaves as a former member of the Board, and extend its deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolence to his family, friends, former colleagues, and loved ones. And now, therefore, best be proclaimed, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors hereby honor and remember Cesar N. Parada Sr. for his dedication service to the people of Santa Cruz County from 1981 through 1988 as county supervisor of district number two. but it further proclaimed that this year a public service shall remain part of the history and legacy of Santa Cruz County, and the Board of Supervisors invite all present to join in a moment of silence in honor and remembrance. Can we please stand up?

At this time, I'll ask everyone to stand for a moment of silence. Thank you. Would the family like to come to the podium and say a few words? The floor is yours, if so.

Hello. Good morning, everyone. I just want to say thank you and appreciation for acknowledging my grandfather. He was somebody that I admire and continue to admire and to aspire to be close to what he has done to serve our community. Thank you very much. On behalf of my family we appreciate all the acknowledgment and honoring of my grandfather. So thank you.

Mr. R. Thanks for coming.

Thank you. We'll move to number two, discussion possible action to approve professional service agreement number KR-2026-0082 with constructing circles of peace for pretrial assessments and supervision services for justice of the peace and superior court from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. Move to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Number three, discussion possible action to approve grant agreement number 3-04-0024-029-2026 with the US Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration for the apron expansion design project at the Nogales International Airport in the amount of 136,000 990 and to authorize Mary doll to sign the acceptance and all related documents Do I have a motion move to approve second? It's been moved and seconded any further discussion Yeah, I would like to mr.

Chair. I I'm happy that Mary is here with us, Chris, and I do wanna thank them for working on this project really hard. That's my district, so I'm really happy that we were able to collaborate with NUSD to do this park possible. That park, it's, no? What, what?

Next one.

Okay.

But thank you, Mary, though. We appreciate you improving the airport. The airport's in your district. Yeah. Okay. Do you want to say a word or two, Mary? No, no. We'll wait until that item. All right. Do you want to say anything about the apron? No, it's pretty standard, and our contribution is about $3,600, so it's good. Thank you. Number three. Yeah, yeah.

Thank you. We'll move forward with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Number four, discussion possible action to award and approve contract with Arizona Recreation Design Incorporated for the Community Development Block Grant number 116-26, Pearson Field Playground Project according to bid number B-04-26-C077. in the amount of 235,000. Do I have a motion?

I move.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Discussion?

Well, I was going to say something, but I already said it, so. No, no, no. I want to, like, thank Mary for this project and the other one, because she's been working really hard. And I'm getting old, man. I got to. So. It's the glasses. Yeah. Keep them on. No, no. And they're going to see some pictures. I don't know if you want to add anything, Mary, to this project. But when I see people at Pearson, I see people that come from all over the county and work there. I think it's going to help some people, like when they play soccer, and alleviate some of that pressure. And people can be playing at this park. So I'm very excited. I'm very supportive. And thanks for everything.

Yeah. Emmanuel, you want to go through the, yeah. So this is what the playground is going to look like. Can you scroll through, Emmanuel? There we go. It's going to be right next to the Pearson High School building, between the Pearson High School building and the old 1915 old high school building downtown. And as Supervisor Davis mentioned, it's going to be a great asset for parents and grandparents babysitters or whatever who come to walk the path to have a place for kids to play. We're excited about it. Probably see this happening by the end of the year under construction. It'll go quickly once the playground is manufactured. And so it's exciting. It's good and very much a value for our money. 100% covered by the CDBG grant.

Is it a water park?

It is not a water park. Water is precious and dear, and so we're not going to be...

Thank you so much for all of your hard work.

If you have any questions, you can see that they're going to play off of the Pearson mascot, which is a wolf. It's going to be very colorful, and there's another image of the actual logo of the wolf.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, supervisor, vice chair, supervisor Davis, you can elaborate a little bit on your efforts that you met with Nogales Unified School District and you collaborated with them. so the public can understand you know what what it took for for for you with the coordination that it took and and you know the uh the working together of of the county and and the school district okay that's a so i'm on the right item now so no it's so my district is overlaps within the city of new galas

So doing projects you gotta always think outside the box is a little bit more challenging in district two and three are more mostly County so the in order to do this park and make it possible I remember when I heard about this possibility I try to like like push it in and I talked to I still remember proposing the idea to Mr. Young and And it was a little bit challenging, but I mean, you keep proving, pushing and stuff. But I think it's really good because this shows what I mentioned earlier, that during these times we have to collaborate and be creative, join forces. So the reason that we're able to do, that I'm able, as a supervisor for District 1, able to do this project in New Galveston is because NUSD agreed to, to have this park at Pearson. Once we do it, they're going to take over it with the condition that it's going to be open to the public. And that's what we want. So I mean, it took a lot of conversations, convincing county management. Everything looks very civil here, but behind closed doors, we talk, and I know I could be a pain. But I also wanna thank county management for supporting this project, for tolerating me, because I know I could be, asking and asking and asking but i mean i hope that pearson park this playground represents the future that we can join forces with nusd with the city of new york with everybody to start collaborating working together and make things happen for the community and i want to like thank i think also the board and county management county leadership for for everything and i and this is going to be the start as a supervisor for district one to see more projects in that area thank you wonderful congrats to vice chair davis county management and all those that were responsible for making this park come to fruition and thanks nusd for collaborating for us in this occasion

Indeed. With that, we'll move forward with the vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Congrats to all concerned. At this time, we'll move to item G, consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Move.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. We'll move to item H, adjournment. Do I have a motion to adjourn?

I move to adjourn. I'm sorry, second.

Second. It's been moved and seconded.