January 8, 2025
A public hearing with the Arizona Department of Water Quality (ADEQ), at 2:30pm on January 10 was announced. The purpose of the meeting is for the ADEQ to hear citizen concerns about local water issues.
Under New Business, Robin Florez was appointed to the Library Advisory Board. A second appointment was that of Judge Miguel Lopez as Judge Pro Tem for the Town.
The Town’s operating expenses, equipment condition and repair issues have led to Town proposals to raise sewer and water rates. These proposed rate increases will be the subject of a public hearing on March 12 at 6pm in the Council Chambers. At the end of the hearing and discussion, there will be a Mayor and Council vote on the proposed rate changes.
Tabled for a future agenda was the review of the Town Manager’s evaluation for the prior year. Based on the discussion, the Town council will determine the Manager’s continued salary and benefit package.
New Santa Cruz County District 3 Supervisor John Fanning was welcomed, as was new Library Director Shawnie Kennedy.
January 22, 2025
During Call to the Public, Ralph Schmidt spoke in favor of Town Manager Ron Robinson’s work for the town (Agenda Item 8), and against designating Town buildings as dog-free zones (Agenda 10). Regarding the latter, Schmidt said “it’s part of Patagonia’s uniqueness” that dogs go everywhere with people.
As a summary of 2024, Town Manager Robinson gave a list of the Town’s actions in the past 12 months. Major ones were: 19 resolutions, six ordinances, two land transfers, and the largest Town budget ever at over $6 million, with about two-thirds funded by grants. 2024 also saw major reservoir and water system work, a Colonias grant for improvements to Rothrock Alley and the growth of the Town’s financial reserves from about $750,000 to $1 million.
Mayor Andy Wood reported that she and Manager Robinson had attended the public ribbon-cutting ceremony with Valley Telecom at the Town’s Central Park on January 21. The ceremony marked the start of line construction to connect new residential customers to the company’s fiber-optic line for internet service. The current phase will place conduits in streets and alleys of the town, and hookups from those lines to individual homes and businesses will begin this June. After the ceremony, the company held a sign-up event at Cady Hall, and will be adding customers over the spring.
Under New Business, an update from Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) was given by Carolyn Shafer. PARA is appealing the AZ Dept of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)’s Surface Water Permit to South32, and has a pending court decision on its appeal of ADEQ’s aquifer protection permit. PARA has filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service for insufficient “cumulative impact” analysis of Barksdale’s exploratory drilling in the Sunnyside Project, and, together with the Center for Biological Diversity, PARA is suing the Federal Environmental Protection Agency over the State’s issuance of an Air Quality Permit for mine operations. Shafer said that the new Federal administration’s intended unraveling of environmental regulations could change the game locally.
New business continued with a proposal to designate all Town buildings as No-dog Zones. The Town Code lets the Council make this designation and provides wording for allowing only service dogs in such buildings. Councilor Finch noted that various agencies define “service dog” differently, so that would need some clarifying. Mayor Wood urged a “no” vote on the basis that a blanket decision for all Town-owned buildings took away decision-making from the various departments and groups operating the buildings. Her view prevailed in the vote, and the measure was rejected.
The last item of New Business was to approve the writing of a new job description for part-time Code and Parking enforcement.
The Council and Mayor then went into executive session to finalize the review of the Town Manager’s Evaluation for the prior year. Based on the discussion, the Town council will determine the Manager’s continued salary and benefit package.