The Camp Verde Council has two new faces as Bill LeBeau and Joe Butner won town government seats in the 2018 elections. The new council members first started sitting up on the dais back in November, but with the new year starting, the council held a retreat on Thursday, Jan. 3, setting up plans for the coming year.
The day-long retreat included extensive tours of city departments and buildings, visiting with the Human Resources, Community Development, Information Technology, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Finance, streets, Maintenance and Economic Development offices, along with stops at the visitor center, court, gym, library, wastewater division and Camp Verde Marshal’s Office.
It also came with a brief council meeting that, although involved no official business voting, set up some potential plans for the council in the coming year.
Town Manager Russ Martin brought up the idea of a potential ballot referendum this year, pending a possible franchise agreement with the Camp Verde Water extra cost.
“If there’s something there that you want some feedback on, then while we’re in the ballot box, what do you want to add?” Martin said.
The council discussed the possibility of holding a non-binding vote on the proposal for a public arena
put forward by the Camp Verde Arena Association, which the council has already put some preliminary funding toward to gauge possibilities and costs with early planning.
In previous discussions of the arena, the council had expressed hesitation to move forward too aggressively without assurance of sufficient public support, especially knowing that much of the funding for the project will have to come from donations.
But the council was also hesitant to put too many potential questions up for public vote, seeing themselves as capable of making most decisions for the town.
“That’s why we got elected. We had the election,” Councilwoman Robin Whatley said.
The council also discussed the possibility of adding citizen boards alongside the council itself to handle certain aspects of government. Martin brought up the example of Sedona, which has had a Citizen Engagement Program since 2013, providing limited-scope, temporary boards for many issues.
In its current iteration, the Camp Verde Town Council is abetted only by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Martin brought up ideas for potential committees or commissions, such as bringing back a Parks and Recreation commission, or adding a citizens feedback, economic development, infrastructure, taxes or budget commission. He also suggested the potential of a temporary arena commission.
Though the council did not make any definitive decisions, the council expressed some interest in the idea.
“If we don’t do it at all I wouldn’t be surprised,” Martin said. “It’s an attempt by me as a manager to refresh things and bring topics that they may not understand or may not want.”
In addition to considering potential ballot referenda or changes to the government’s structure, the council also discussed some upcoming issues involving land — like a parcel off of Cliffs Parkway that the town owns but does not know what to do with — or the possibility of purchasing some land by Howards Road from the U.S. Forest Service, which could be helpful in dealing with drainage issues that have been brought up by residents in the wake of flooding problems this past summer.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
