The Camp Verde Town Council will decide which proposed plans from the League of Arizona Cities and Towns it wants Mayor Bob Burnside to support at its Wednesday, July 20, meeting.
The league is a group that represents the interests of the state’s municipalities on a state level. There are currently 22 resolutions on the table for consideration at the league’s Thursday, Sept. 1, meeting.
The resolutions cover may topics, including a proposal to attempt to prohibit the state Legislature from changing the formula it uses to determine how much revenue is shared with cities and towns, and a proposal to keep the Legislature from raiding highway funding municipalities depend on for road work and other projects.
Many of the proposals are aimed at protecting local finances in a time when the state is facing a long string of budget problems.
One resolution would allow Arizona State Parks to keep its revenue to be put back into the operation of parks. Many towns, including Camp Verde, have been forced to share the cost of operating local parks to keep them open.
Another proposal would seek legislation more strictly regulating tattoo parlors in Arizona, including regulation by the Arizona Department of Health Services. One more resolution seeks to institute stricter criminal penalties for graffiti.
Public records are also on the agenda. Yuma, Apache Junction, Bullhead City, Queen Creek and Kingman are pushing for new rules that would allow towns and cities to restrict access to public records in cases where a municipality feels the state’s public records laws are being abused by single individuals making huge numbers of requests.
Some towns in the state are also pushing to have the law amended that requires towns to publish several types of public notices in a newspaper, instead allowing cities and towns to publish information on an official website.
Other resolutions deal with making solar power more accessible to residents and the creation of an energy-financing district authority that would ostensibly make it easier for residents to fund clean energy projects.
The health of state residents is also a consideration in a resolution that seeks to have the state enact measures to train and retain more doctors in Arizona, a state where the number of doctors per capita falls well below the national average.
Scottsdale, Payson and Paradise Valley are teaming together to promote a resolution to urge the president and Congress to enact large-scale forest restoration efforts and to work to reduce the impact from “catastrophic wildfires.”
The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 20, at Town Hall, 473 S. Main St., Room 106.
