Verde River

Cottonwood council supports AZ League Resolution to reinstate Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund

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[Source: Jon Hutchinson, Verde Independent] – Five members of the Cottonwood City Council are attending the annual conference of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns this week. The annual meeting is in OroValley at the Hilton El Conquistador Golf and Tennis Resort. The gathering brings together most of Arizona‘s 80-plus cities and towns.

Cottonwood City Manager Doug Bartosh said meetings such as this allow council members to see and learn what other municipalities are doing and to share what Cottonwood is doing, especially when faced with similar issues. They network, return energized, and bring back ideas for Cottonwood, said Bartosh.

The expenses cost the city just over $4,500 for the five council members including food, lodging and the $290 registration fee per person. Ruben Jauregui and Vice Mayor Karen Pfeifer did not attend. Mayor Joens and Jesse Dowling drove city cars. Others were compensated for driving their personal vehicles. There was no car-pooling.

Mayor Diane Joens left early for the conference since she is a member of the Legislative Resolutions Sub-Committee that met early Tuesday afternoon.

Cottonwood Economic Development Coordinator Casey Rooney was scheduled to make a presentation at the conference.

Among the many issues facing conferees are presentations on the Affordable Health Care Act, Wildfire Management, Bridging the Digital Disconnect, Civil Discourse and Conflict Resolution, Destination Marketing and Branding among many others issues.

Resolutions supported by Cottonwood and the Verde Valley

• Ensure the viability of Arizona State Parks and restore the Arizona State Park Heritage Fund, including to allow municipalities to enter into long-term leases of State Parks.

• Allow the final list in a procurement process until a contract for construction is entered into.

Sedona is sponsoring legislations to:

• Restrict trucks in urban areas to the two right-most lanes

• Legislation to restore the Highway User Revenue Fund distribution to cities and towns and to prevent any future sweeps of HURF funds.

 

Finding common bonds: Camp Verde Town Council to look at shared issues

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[Source: Camp Verde Bugle] – At its meeting Wednesday night, the Camp Verde Town Council has a short agenda, with the biggest chunk taken up by proposed resolutions coming before the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. Like other municipalities, CampVerde is being asked which resolutions it is supporting.

The Town of Camp Verde is already a co-sponsor on a couple of the resolutions going before the LACT. Of these, the major advocacy is for legislation “to ensure the viability of Arizona State Parks, including but not limited to allowing municipalities to enter into long-term leases of state parks and the restoration of the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund.

Yuma and Sedona are sponsors of the resolution, with CampVerde, Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Jerome, Flagstaff, Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Somerton, OroValley and Sierra Vista as co-sponsors.

Mayor Charlie German has also suggested that CampVerde join up with Cottonwood and Clarkdale in sponsoring an application to display the art exhibit “A River Runs Thru Us” at the State Capitol in January. That item is also on Wednesday’s agenda.

The exhibit is the product of a Verde Valley Land Preservation outreach effort that sent scores of artists down the Verde River in CampVerde. Their resulting works are now in a mobile exhibit that will be at the MANHEIM GALLERY in Cottonwood until Aug. 25 and then comes to the White Hills Gallery in CampVerde.

VVLP Community Outreach Director Steve Estes said the exhibit was looking for a quality venue in Phoenix when they saw that the ArizonaExecutiveTowers had an opening that month. A municipal sponsorship is a boost to an application.

“I think it would be a wonderful display of regional support for the Verde River if all three communities along the river co-sponsored this exhibit,” Clarkdale Mayor Doug Von Gausig wrote to German and Cottonwood Mayor Diane Joens.

 

Heritage Grant Awarded to the Town of Clarkdale

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[Source: Verde Independent] – The Town of Clarkdale has received a Heritage Grant from the Arizona Game and Fish Department in the amount of $40,500 to develop accessible facilities on the Arizona State Parks property south of the intersection of Sycamore Canyon and Tuzigoot Roads. Improvements include a modified access road, two ADA parking spaces, and an approximately 400-foot wheelchair accessible trail to a viewing platform adjacent to the Verde River.

As part of the Town’s Sustainable Clarkdale Initiative, this access for all members of the public will be developed using best practices in green development. The Town and Arizona State Parks are working in partnership to develop this site based on an intergovernmental agreement recently executed by both parties. The first phase of the project, development of improvement plans and construction estimates, has been awarded to Shephard Wesnitzer, Inc. of Sedona, Arizona with the planning scheduled to be completed by June 2013.

The funds from the Heritage Grant will provide improved public access to the Verde River, especially safe access for people with disabilities. This is the first phase of the Verde River @ Clarkdale project, whose mission is to provide enhanced community access to a healthy, flowing Verde River.

Clarkdale to look at ways to pay for development

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[Source: Philip Wright, Verde Independent] –The Clarkdale Town Council will hold a work session Tuesday night on possible ways to fund new development without creating a financial burden on current citizens. The work session will be on the agenda of the June 12 regular meeting, which begins at 6 p.m.

New state legislation reduced the town’s ability to collect impact fees. Consequently, Town Manager Gayle Mabery suspended the collection of all development impact fees effective Jan. 1. Town staff has been looking into ways to cover costs of new development. One idea being considered is the use of a capacity fee for water and wastewater, which allows a customer to buy into the system. A staff report to the council states that the town attorney believes the collection of water and wastewater capacity fees would be in compliance with state law.

The council also will approve in the consent agenda an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona State Parks Board. To move ahead with the Arizona Fish and Game Heritage Fund Grant public access project, which will provide handicapped access to the Verde River, the town must have site control of the three parcels owned by the Parks Board and known as the Tuzigoot River Access Point.

Another consent agenda item will approve the town becoming an inaugural member of the Healthy Headwaters Alliance, organized by Carpe Diem West. The alliance works to educate stakeholders and decision makers about the critical need to protect and restore the watersheds that provide water security and ecologically vibrant landscapes for communities across the West. A staff report states that the alliance does not lobby, but only educates, promotes and informs. There is no cost to the town for joining the alliance. Tax-deductible contributions are used to fund the alliance.