MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HEARING AND MEETING  OF THE

SHERIFF’S POSSE COMMUNITY ROAD IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE DISTRICT

On July 22, 2015  6:00 P.M.

Prescott Public Library, Elsea Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., Prescott, AZ 86303

 

(Agenda #1)  The meeting was called to order at 6:00 P.M.  Noel Gormay, Joe Veranth, and Mike O’Connor attended, along with two community members.

 

(Agenda #2) Noel’s motion to accept the June 17 minutes passed unanimously.

 

(Agenda #3) Noel yielded the floor to Bert King for a presentation on RIMD issues.  Key points were that the RIMD structure is too big for a community our size.  The RIMD legislation exists simply to allow the County to get free roads.  The RIMD forces roads such as Bentley be public, hence out of Bert’s control but still his responsibility.  The steering committee that championed the RIMD has all moved away leading to the conclusion that they sponsored it just to get more money for their houses.  Our liability is substantial since any two members of the Board have the ability to spend unlimited District money on anything.  The board could pay itself up to $75 per meeting for up to 4 meetings per month resulting in a $10,800/year burden.

 

Bert felt we currently have a “good” Board, but there’s no guarantee that this wouldn’t change in the future.  The Board simply has too much power.  If an individual is harmed by the RIMD their only recourse is to the Board — useless if the Board is the problem.  Future members could choose to solve any perceived problem by adding excessive infrastructure.

 

Regarding solutions, Bert observed that several titles of the Arizona Statutes have been repealed, suggesting that we look at repealing the enabling legislation or dissolving the RIMD. He then turned the floor back to the Board for discussion.

 

Joe and Noel agreed that the RIMD structure suffered from many of the issues that Bert  identified.  Joe stated that Bert had overstated several of the problems, particularly with the unchecked powers of the Board.  Noel observed that these problems, though partially valid, were significantly offset by the value of the present statutes in ensuring that the District get paid for it’s road work.  Joe pointed out that though changes could be beneficial, we need to be careful about what we dissolve for fear of breaking what works, expressing concern about threats to the District existence before the loan is paid off in five years.  Bert said that a group had brought specific issues that needed fixing to Andy Tobin and received a promise to draft some changes.  Noel and Joe both agreed that something like that could be done again, but Joe felt that any proposed changes should be limited to Title 48, Chapter 6, Article 7 since that would affect only us and no other special districts, thereby minimizing controversy.  Mike requested that Bert prepare a detailed markup of his proposed changes and present them to the Board for consideration at the next meeting.

 

(Agenda #4)  Joe summarized his investigation of the cost of speed limit signs by reporting a $177 quote for two signs, poles, and hardware, and a $49 quote for just two signs, so our cost could be just around $50 if we did it ourselves.  (Don’t forget to call Blue Stake).

 

(Agenda #5) Proposals for future meetings was a walk-around to review maintenance.

 

(Agenda #6) Future meeting dates were left to Noel.

 

(Agenda #7) Call to the public was not answered.

 

(Agenda #8) The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 P.M.