The Camp Verde Town Council approved funding to help bring broadband internet to the Verde Valley, approved a lease making Verde Lakes Ponds a public park and discussed staff salaries at its June 2 meeting.
‘One Gigabyte per Second for All’
A presentation was brought forth by Executive Director of the Verde Valley Regional Economic Organization Mary Chicoine and Camp Verde’s Economic Development Director Steve Ayers sharing VVREO’s strategic plan for providing broadband internet to the region with a mission of providing “one gigabyte per second for all.”
The council initially approved a letter of support for an Economic Development Administration grant application on Jan. 20, 2021. The grant application is now ready for submission, which requires grant partners, including the Town of Camp Verde, to match a total of $95,000.
VVREO asked the council to approve a commitment to match funds for its portion, amounting to no more than $25,000, which the council unanimously approved.
Once the project is fully funded, VVREO will build a core network that will then connect from Interstate 17 to the Verde Valley communities. When they’re finished, they will have fiber optics in each of the municipalities that a provider can come in and lease to provide service to the area.
“We are already talking with providers that are willing to come in and invest millions here to do the last mile network,” Chicoine said.
Chicoine said they’ve been working on a solution to the region’s internet shortcomings, which were made all the more evident during the pandemic, for about a year now.
“With COVID, what we found is that the problems that we have in the Verde Valley, which we knew existed, were magnified,” she said. “The fun part now is that people are actually giving money so that we can actually do something about the problem …. It’s going to change our lives.”
While VVREO is still in the first of five phases of the project, which is the research and funding stage, the organization believes it will be ready to break ground on the project in as little as six months if the funding lines up.
“This is a step to get us there,” Ayers said. “This is the pre-engineering portion of it …. Then we can go right into the engineering phase of it and then you have a shovel-ready job.”
While VVREO doesn’t know exactly when the majority of the funding will come through, Chicoine said it is currently pursuing a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which recently allotted $288 million in funding across the U.S. for projects such as these.
“We are the top project in the state right now,” she said. “Things are moving very quickly. Funding is coming very quickly.”
Leasing Verde Lakes Park
The council approved the leasing of about 6.8 acres of the portion of the Verde Lakes Recreational Corporation property known as Verde Lakes Ponds in order to change it from operating as a privately-owned area to a publicly-owned and maintained park for the community as a whole to use.
The Verde Lakes Recreational Corporation will remain the owner of the land while the Town of Camp Verde will act as the “tenant,” sharing the two parks which are comprised of two ponds, a picnic area, walking areas, fishing and bird-watching sites.
The city will now be responsible for helping to maintain the park and will assume responsibilities such as pruning, mowing, disposing of trash and maintaining playground equipment.
Councilwoman Jackie Baker cast the lone vote against the lease, citing concerns about insurance, liability and maintenance while the town already has a number of large projects to work on.
“I think no matter what we do we are taking on another maintenance, a liability exposure … when we already have our plate so full regarding money, maintenance, etc.,” she said.
Town Manager Russ Martin said both the town and Verde Lakes will be responsible for providing insurance and assuming liability, though the town will likely be the one to pay more in the event of a lawsuit as they have the “deeper pockets” between the two.
Councilwoman Cris McPhail has been involved with the park for some time now and said that while Verde Lakes is lacking in resources, it does work hard to keep the area maintained.
“They get out there with their weed eaters and mowers, and I would anticipate that that would continue to go on,” she said. “The problem was that they don’t have trailers or the ability to take out larger trees, which needs to be done for safety.”
The other issue the council is hoping to resolve with this agreement is managing the illegal activities that often take place in the area. As it stands, police are not able to patrol the park since it is private property. Now that the land will be considered public, officers will be able to patrol the park and hopefully reduce the unlawful behaviors taking place.
Donna Moody, the daughter of Elmer Moody, who established the park in the 1970s, said this agreement will mean a lot to the neighborhood and is excited for what the future holds for the area.
“This guardianship is going to be an enormous help, not just for a place to play, but for a place to be safer at night,” she said. “We have tried very hard to maintain this park, and it’s been a challenge. We just don’t have the resources to do it on our own …. I think it’s a great opportunity at this point to move forward to look for some fresh ideas.”
Budget Talks
The council heard a presentation from the Arizona Conference Police and Sheriffs asking for an increase in staff salaries for law enforcement employees.
Deputies Jeff Bowers and Oscar Berrelez presented a suggested payscale for eight different positions within the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office, which they say start $1 to $3 per hour less than in most neighboring communities. This, combined with other local municipalities offering more competitive benefits, has led to the department losing a significant number of employees to neighboring towns.
The council took this information into consideration during its discussion of the next agenda item, in which Martin and Human Resources Director Brandy Cabrera recommended the town increase the staff salary budget by $400,000.
The council plans to discuss both budgetary issues more in depth during a work session June 9 at 5:30 p.m. in preparation to approve the preliminary budget.
