District 1 Supervisor Patrice Horstman Newsletter for July 2021

District 1 Residents,

I am honored to serve as your District 1 Coconino County Supervisor. Summer started with a return to the opening of our businesses and visits with family members. It also brought the return of wildfire season to Northern Arizona.

Our community is reopening, and our summer events such as the Flagstaff Community market, Viola Awards, and other summer activities are a testament to the importance and success of the COVID-19 vaccinations. To date, Coconino County has administered approximately 140,000 vaccines and continues to host multiple mobile clinics every week across the County to encourage everyone in our community to become vaccinated.

This month also brought wildfire season into close view with the Slate, Backbone, and Rafael Fires. These fires burned across our beautiful pine and juniper forests and threatened our communities in Northern Arizona. Some of our neighbors in Coconino County even dealt with evacuation orders while the rest remained at ready or set status. Thankfully, these fires are now close to containment and those evacuated have been allowed to return to their homes. In Coconino County, no structures or homes were lost. The continuing drought here in the Southwest will mean that wildfires will continue to be a part of our life and emphasize the importance of ensuring that we maintain a defensible fire space around our homes and practice good fire prevention. As the monsoon season approaches, we also must remain vigilant of post-wildfire flooding in the Museum Fire Flood Area behind the Cedar Safeway and into the Sunnyside neighborhood. For those residents in these neighborhoods, the best mitigation to limit flooding is to maintain and refresh those sandbags.

A special thank you to all of the hotshots and fire crews that courageously battled the Slate, Backbone, and Rafael Fires. You are truly heroes to our community. Coconino County has moved into Stage 3 fire restrictions which prohibit open fires, including campfires and cigarettes and our national forests have been closed. Forest closures mean that the public may not enter any national forest land.

As displayed in past years and during the COVID crisis, our community offered resources and assistance to those impacted during the recent fires. Likewise, Congressman Tom O’Halleran, Senator Mark Kelly, and Senator Kyrsten Sinema advocated for us on the federal level for more fire suppression equipment, including air support and type 1 incident management teams. Thank you to all. Together we build the community where we want to live and where we want to raise our families.

I hope this newsletter finds you and your family healthy and looking forward to spending a fun-filled July 4th. Please feel free to reach out to my office. We are here to help. Enjoy your summer.

Be Well,

Patrice

June for the Board of Supervisors is an important month as the Board adopts the following year’s fiscal budget. Last year, amid the uncertainties of a worldwide pandemic, the Board of Supervisors passed an extremely lean budget that concentrated on providing our residents essential services. With the return of a more normal economy and expanded revenues, the Board was able to consider a 3% raise for county employees and maintain its fiscally responsible approach. The Board was also able to consider and budget for the expected dollars to local governments through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and other grant revenues. For the County to spend these expected additional revenues from the ARP and other grants, the County passed a budget in the amount of approximately $276 million. The budget passed contains no fluff in County expenditures but does allow for the increased spending capacity expected due to these federal dollars.