Town Council Notes: June-July

June 10, 2026 — Regular Meeting

• The meeting began with a short public hearing at which Town Manager Ron Robinson presented the 2027 Fiscal Year budget. Robinson began with a reminder that he’d previously shown several spreadsheets in a more detailed public presentation, so the review was more general. He spoke of the budget shortfall and explained how the differences between expense and income are adjusted from year to year. Legal requirements were met by the posting of the budget ahead of its approval and by ensuring that the Town’s utility expenditures for water, sewage and garbage did not run in the red.

Other actions and programs listed by Robinson included management of the Enterprise Fund in support of businesses, tree maintenance, repair of the town’s senior apartments, overall town cleanup effort (well received), successful operation of the recycling program now in its third year, Deputy Manager Carmen Fuentes helping with the office work environment, the success of the new Library Director, a 5 percent increase in library usage and a couple of expense reductions for the coming Fiscal Year. Councilor Steve Finch reinforced the view that the community was proud of its library.  

• Upon completion of the public hearing, the council convened into regular session and unanimously approved adoption of the town’s 2027 budget. 
• The council accepted Rodrigo Sierra-Corona’s resignation from the Flood and Flow Commission with appreciation for his service and approved the appointment of Chuck Klingenstein as his replacement.
• The council approved an agreement for Fire Protection and Emergency Services between the Town of Patagonia and the Patagonia Volunteer Fire and Rescue Inc.
• The council approved an updated Intergovernmental Agreement for building plan review and inspection services to be provided by the Santa Cruz County Building Department. 

June 10, 2026 — Regular Meeting

• There were no speakers for the call to the public.
• Mayor Andy Wood mentioned the upcoming July 4 dedication of the Blue Star Memorial at the ramadas at the south end of the Town Park. 
• The council approved signing the new Funding Agreement with the Friends of the Library for $25,000, 23 reformatted administrative forms, and Mayor Wood’s Proclamation that August would be “Child Support Awareness Month.” 

July 8, 2026 — Regular Meeting

• Fire Chief Zay Hartigan reported that the fireworks postponed from July 4 might be used on New Years Eve, an idea still under discussion. 
• Councilor Steve Finch mentioned the success of the July 4 park dedication event of the Blue Star memorial, at which Rep. Adelita Grijalva added some brief remarks. 
• Resolution 2026-09 was approved, designating Chief Fiscal Officer Robinson to submit the Fiscal Year 2027 Expenditure Limitation to the Arizona Auditor General, as legally required.
• In response to a request by Library Director Linda Shore, the council approved that Robinson submit a South32 Smart Grant Application for $13,078 for purchase of six Dell Computers and a Panasonic video camera with accompanying tripod for library usage. 
• The council approved the extension of Planning and Development Committee Chair Laurie Monti’s term by one year, to provide continuity and recruitment time for her replacement on the Committee. 
• The council approved the appointment of Patagonia resident Brad Boschetto to the Planning and Development Committee. He brings a background in the management of environmental projects.
• Future agenda items to be considered included a PVFR-guided firebreak program for the town, and a Memorandum of Understanding with the Friends of the Library.  

July 22, 2026 — Regular Meeting

• Three members of the public spoke in advance of the quarterly update from South32 President Pat Risner.
• John Nordstrom, a resident near Mowry, disputed Risner’s claim before the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors that South 32’s well data had been published. He then discussed alternative options and considerations for the redistribution of the mine’s water discharges. One was for discharges to continue into Harshaw Creek and for South32 to provide the town with  a new water treatment plant for its current wells.  A second option considered the use of Goldbaum Canyon as another discharge point, and the third option was for all discharges to go to a point in the Mowry area that would put them flowing toward San Rafael Valley instead of Patagonia. Nordstrom closed with a suggestion that the town drill a new well as a backup source should their present wells become too contaminated, raising the question of who should pay for it.
• Hydrogeologist Chris Gardner prefaced his remarks with the view that the community input survey for the ongoing Community Protections and Benefits Agreement (CPBA) being worked on by Patagonia, Nogales, Santa Cruz County and South32 was unnecessarily complex in requiring all issues to be broken down to have technical action responses one by one.

From spatial and temporal analysis of data Gardner has gathered since large-scale mine discharge of water began, he said that “mobilization” of sediments from the water’s flow in existing stream beds is a real phenomenon, and as an overall pattern, he’s seen significant rises in contaminants such as arsenic and antimony. He said this pattern applied to samples from the streambeds themselves, from wells both private and otherwise, and from measurements in town.

Gardner concluded that the Forest Service has ignored the large body of “Organizational Comments” presented among the citizen inputs and that South32 has used the Forest Service’s approval of the Final Environmental Impact Statement to similarly ignore the Town’s concerns. He asked South32 to provide the actual water analysis data for all wells it has sampled as a means for transparency and proving the citizens’ concerns are being heard.

• Ernie Edwards of Lake Patagonia area raised a question about the current powerline construction by Unisource for mine use. He asked if Unisource was being paid by South32 or ratepayer dollars.  He expressed hesitation about accepting mine company claims and suggested the Town ask Hermosa Project for the whole of water and well data it has collected or generated.
• New Business primarily consisted of Risner’s quarterly update on his company’s local activities. Construction workforce was currently 900, he said, with 300 at work at a given time. He explained that the modular construction method – fabrication of some components offsite – had reduced site traffic substantially, and that they were now focusing on zinc and lead production. Because of the large “silo building” now under construction on the south portion of the site, Risner stated there would be no open stockpiles of rock to be processed. For further road traffic reduction, he added that completion of the new powerline would eliminate the VoltaGrid natural gas generators that currently put 51 trucks per day on local roads.

The Centro remote operation facility under construction in Nogales is expected to employ 200 workers, Risner said, and is expected to be finished in July of 2027. As for the large scale of financing the Hermosa Project overall, Risner said the increase in capitalization from $2.1 to $3.5 Billion would have “no impact on the viability of the project.” First production from the zinc-lead-silver deposit is now anticipated in March of 2028, but progress toward magnesium production is on hold because of major new production of it in Japan and Korea, and because of global changes in technologies and amounts of battery storage of electricity. If magnesium mining is not pursued, it would mean a 45% decrease in activity, Risner said.

Councilor Stabile asked about traffic from the proposed new access road into Nogales, and Risner pivoted to his company’s commitment to not use Highway 83 for major ore shipments, but rather stay on 82 east to 90 for land transport. Risner said that if the next 18 months see completion of a major zinc smelter in Tennessee, ore would go to the Port of Tucson. There is also a possibility of routing it to smelters in Guaymas, Mexico, or Vancouver, British Columbia. Stabile’s question about what would happen if mine traffic went through the city of Nogales was not directly addressed. 

In response to a question from Councilor Retherford, Risner replied that the possibility of mining copper was undecided, and thus far the known copper deposit appeared to be small.

Risner returned to the Final Environmental Impact Statement in clarifying that South32’s has 15 years worth of wildlife data and 10 years of water data. He said that the 2019 tribal engagement work by the company involved 12 tribes, and that the FEIS has added 135 mitigation measures that would be done. With regard to light pollution, Risner said the company works with Whipple Observatory on control of light emissions, and he added that the new mine tailings had been “redesigned.”

He said the next step with the Forest Service is a September “Notice to Proceed,” at which time the detailed design of the Access Road would proceed. 

Risner also addressed the topics of workforce training and conservation efforts, including the in-town Pollinator and Restoration garden project being done with the Tucson Bird Alliance, using water catchment and some pumping from the company’s well on Harshaw Road. The goal, he stated, was “no net loss of biodiversity.”  

• New Business went on to approve renewal of the Management Agreement for the Senior Citizens/Community Center from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. 
• Approval was given for a Special Event Liquor License for the Patagonia Community Garden’s annual Pie Auction and Fundraiser on Saturday, October 17 at the Garden.