April 9, 2025
In Call to Public, Ralph Schmitt had questions about the permit for an event in November called the Overland Outpost. After he signed up to speak, Ron Robinson had shared with him that the group had presented a written proposal which had been respectful and thorough about their presence in town, and Schmitt said that satisfied his concerns.
A second speaker was Denise Bowden, for Patagonia Volunteer Fire and Rescue, who spoke about the Town’s current request for proposal (RFP) for fire and emergency services, saying she favored a meeting where people could just talk without the formality of previously having signed up for Call to Public.
A Study Session was planned to review the RFP which the Town has sent out to local fire departments. It will be on Wednesday April 30, at 5 pm. Mayor Wood stressed that as a Study Session, the Town seeks “reasonable, proactive ideas” and she “doesn’t want the gathering to be a shooting match.”
In new business, Town Resolution 2025-04 was adopted, approving the tentative budget for the Fiscal Year 2025-2026. There will be a public hearing before the final adoption of that budget.
Mayor Wood and Manager Robinson were authorized to contract for financial services with the VRA Group (Ruben Villa), to help the Town deal with the audit process by training Town staff in this aspect of money management.
A special event liquor license is sought by Community Homes of Patagonia (CHOP) for their annual Cinco de Mayo fundraising event from 5.30-8pm on Friday May 2 at the Town park gazebo. The town will recommend granting that license to the AZ Department of Liquor Licenses and Control.
For the same fundraiser, the Mayor and Council approved CHOP’s use of the Town Park, waiving the $225 use fee while asking that CHOP pays the standard $100 deposit.
At close of the meeting, future Agenda items included T-mobile’s plan for a communication tower in town, previously rejected for the high school’s ball fields, and the burnback wildfire prevention work previously presented in March.
April 23, 2025
There were no responses to Call to Public.
Under Mayor, Council and Committee Reports, Councilor Stabile mentioned that a property at 120 Lenon Way was in violation of the number of trailers on a single lot, and has significant fire hazards onsite. The consensus was “we should look into it.”
The first new business item was to approve Micaela De la Ossa’s ongoing services agreement for cleaning all Town Buildings.
Next, Resolution 2025-04 was approved, authorizing transfer of FY2024 Community Block Grant funds to Santa Cruz County. This transfer was needed because the Town’s income distribution did not meet the granting agency’s cutoff for eligibility by 0.1%, and no way to redo the residents’ survey to change that was envisioned.
The funds were originally designated for rehab work on existing Town structures, but the condition of the transfer will include the stipulation that the County use the funds for the benefit of the town. It’s believed that this will allow the County to put the funds toward road improvement projects.
Future agenda items now include a hearing for a revised T-Mobile communication tower proposal, and for a public session, with Mayor Wood moderating, on the Sonoita-Elgin and Patagonia fire departments’ proposals for fire and emergency service contracts to the Town.