Community Update with Prescott Mayor Cathey Rusing | March 9th

Hello Prescott and welcome to this week's Community Update.

Today we are featuring Pioneer Park.

A lot of people don't know about all the different amenities that are offered out here.

So moving on, we've got a few community events on March 11th.

The Prescott Public Library will host stories in the stars of free mobile planetarium.

Presented by Henry Riddle, Aeronautical University.

And it runs from 2 to 8 p.m. and you need to register.

So if you want to explore the night sky, visit PrescottLibrary.info

and click on the calendar and events tab.

And also the Prescott Public Library is hosting open house forums.

There is a question as to whether we need second library or a library annex.

We need all the growth that we've been experiencing.

Maybe something in the northern part of the city, or it is like an annex.

So they're doing a series of events of reaching out to the public to get some input

as to what the public thinks would be best for another library annex.

And also, this is very important.

On March 12th, the library will offer CPR and the ADP

that's automated external defibrillator training from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

and the class is open to all participants, participants aged 12 and over.

And pre-registration is required.

So these are important life-stating skills that everyone in the community should know about.

And for more information, you can contact the Prescott Fire Department at 928-777-1700.

And also, if you want to learn more about law enforcement,

the Prescott Police Department citizens police academy begins March 24th.

Classes will be held in Tuesday evenings from 5.30 to 8 p.m.

Space is limited and participants.

This is important.

Us complete a background check.

So be sure to apply soon if you're interested.

So you can contact the Crime Prevention Unit at 928-777-1900 extension 5611

or you can visit PPDCA at the Prescott Police Department website.

And also, this is also important.

It's our annual hazmat hazardous materials clean up.

If you've got old paint, oils,

turpentine, paint strippers, if you've got old sheds,

everything under your kitchen sink looks like a toxic waste dump.

Maybe it's time to get rid of it.

We don't want you pouring it out on the ground, pouring it in the trash,

or flushing it down the toilet.

So they will pick up at your curbside.

You have to have it labeled, boxed up,

and it's for residential trash customers.

You can pre-register and just call the number on your screen

or just go to that website and they will come and pick up all your materials.

So let's get those basements and sheds cleaned out

and get rid of all those toxic materials the proper way.

Okay, we have a council meeting coming up Tuesday, March 10th,

and here's some of our agenda highlights.

Starting with at 1 o'clock, we'll have a study session

and we'll get a presentation and have a discussion on the City of Preskets,

transfer station master plan.

And that'll help guide us for a long-term planning for our waste

and recycling programs.

And then also at the 3 o'clock voting meeting,

we'll consider the city's workforce housing strategy

and implementation plan.

And we'll also be talking about amending our land development code

and the downtown business parking code

to require hotels and apartments to have onsite parking

for overnight parking.

As you know, that's been an issue lately with the new whiskey row hotel

going in on whiskey row that they will not have any onsite parking.

So this closes hopefully a loophole

so that any future hotels on in the whiskey row area,

not just on whiskey row, but in the downtown business area,

they will be required to furnish their own onsite parking

if they're going to have overnight gas.

And then we'll also be talking about some charter amendments.

If you look at our charter, there's a section in there that still talks

about the justice of the peace.

The justice of the peace is an elected position now.

It has nothing to do with the city.

We have a city court judge now.

So that terminology needs to be cleaned up.

And also, I think you'll remember last summer in the August primary.

We had an election and no city council members were elected.

So that was pretty frustrating for everybody.

Only the mayoral position was decided on.

And so everyone had to continue campaigning for months and months.

It became very expensive.

There was voter fatigue.

And we didn't have an election.

You know, November, the general election.

And nobody knew who our city council members were going to be until two weeks

before they were being sworn in.

So we've got some charter amendments that we're going to present.

And get on the ballot for the November ballot in time for next year's election.

So hopefully we can get the language cleaned up, maybe comply with the state statutes.

So that when we have an election, we'll actually get people elected.

This is very important.

The city of Prescott owns all the street lights.

And if you look at your water bill, you charged every month, 75 cents for a street light maintenance fee.

Well, that money is going to be going to replacing the street light heads,

the old sodium mercury, phosphorus heads with brand new LED lights.

It's going to be up and down on our main arterials.

This will save us a lot of energy.

And it will definitely help light our streets better.

And it will save us a lot of energy and also save taxpayer dollars.

So that sounds like that'll be a wonderful thing.

And also I'd like to welcome the Yarnell police.

Excuse me, the Yarnell Fire Department to our Prescott Regional Communication Center.

So thank you for joining in with us.

Okay, now moving on, we're going to be featuring our Recreation Director,

Christy Diaz Trehan.

And here she is.

Okay, Christy.

Let's see, I have a few questions for you.

What is the master plan?

And why is it important to parks and rec?

And to our community.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

So hi, I'm Christy Diaz Trehan, your Parks and Recreation Director.

And we are excited to launch a master plan update.

Basically a master plan is a long-term roadmap to plan out future parks and recreation,

amenities, facilities, programs.

It will be community driven.

We are kicking it off this month in March with a mail-in statistically valid survey.

So if you're one of those lucky ones to get a survey in the mail,

please fill it out.

That would be very important to the process.

And then starting in April, we're going to hit the ground running

with community engagement meetings, focus groups,

and we will be at several events that you can stop by.

Say hi, let us know what we're doing and what you would like to see

for the future of parks and recreation.

And we also have a dedicated website.

So you can go to that website today and fill out information.

You can take the survey online.

We have this interactive map where you can go in and site select an area to say,

hey, I want to pick a ball court here or a trailhead would be great there.

So that type of engagement is wonderful.

And there's also a prompting question that says,

I wish Prescott had blank that way,

I will be able to do blank.

And so we want to hear from you.

Okay, that sounds wonderful.

So you already mentioned the website and that will be on our screen there.

And then tell me about this new community event.

It sounds like it's just in time for Easter egg,

silent, egg venture.

We are clever.

Yes, so one of our initiatives is to focus on community based events.

And so this is an event that we want Prescott residents to come and enjoy.

It'll be right here at Pioneer Park on Saturday, April 4th,

from 9 to noon.

It will include a pancake breakfast,

of course some Easter egg hunts,

games and a visit from the Easter bunny.

Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun.

It will. We're excited.

So what's going on out at going on out at Willow Lake Park?

There's been a lot of activities out there.

There has. And actually if you have a dog and visited the dog park,

you know that it was a little bit sad.

We had to shut that park down to do some wonderful improvements.

But it is now open.

Has wonderful new turf out there for the pets and a lot of improvements to the other amenities.

So in the summer, the sprinkler system will work.

And so you'll have that misting on you as well as the dogs will have sort of a doggy splash pad, if you will.

The diamond field out there is completely laser level.

We've installed new irrigation system.

We're in the process of putting in a scoreboard.

So our little league teams and any other teams that want to come out and play.

We're going to have virtually brand new field for our users.

And then coming end of April 1st of May, we're removing the old playground structure.

And there's going to be a brand new playground structure with some fun climbing features.

So a lot of fun activity happening out at that park.

Okay.

Can you remember that several years ago, the city,

Prescott Valley in the county joined together and we received a $3.5 billion state appropriation to create the Glassford Dell's regional park.

And now it's very exciting because we have another phase that's going to be added.

We hope it's going to be on the south west kind of the Prescott side that we look at is kind of behind.

Yavapai Hills, it's going to be another couple of sections that we're going to apply for a permit for a lease.

So we're very excited about completing the phase two of that.

So what else is being done out there at our new regional park?

Yeah, that's great, great news, Mayor, that we're able to apply for that special land use permit that will extend the recreation opportunity.

We are partnering with Prescott Valley to develop a system wide network of trails.

Our beloved over the hill gang is out there working hard to build a quarter mile at a time.

We have a couple miles already constructed.

Initial access will be off of the p vine and future we're looking at having a dedicated trailhead.

But again, that's why it's important that you contribute to that master plan.

Excellent, that's good to hear.

And then do you have any final parting words before we're done?

Of course, I would like for you to participate in the master plan and the website need to set our open houses and community events.

But first to know, save the date.

July 4th, we will be hosting the 4th of July event right here at Pioneer Park.

That would be great.

Yeah, wonderful.

So it will be out there.

At Watson.

At Watson.

No, we're moving it back to Pioneer.

So for many of you Prescottoneans, it will be a flashback and we'll have great firework program and more to come on that.

That's who we came across.

It's the hardworking city of Prescott, landscape and maintenance crew.

What's your name?

My name is Jay.

Jay?

I'm John.

John's the boss.

My name is Morrie.

Morrie.

I'm Ruben.

And Ruben.

What a great looking crew.

Tell us what you're going to be doing today here.

Of receding and sanding.

It's what we're into right now, which is trying to get it up to being as green as possible.

Well, this is the time to do it kind of a spring cleaning touch up after the winter.

Yep, that's what we're doing.

Well, that's great.

You know when our first tournament is going to be.

Probably going to be pretty soon.

We got soccer.

We got baseball.

We got softball.

That all kinds of good things going on here.

So anyway, well, I'll let you guys get back to work.

Okay.

And thank you for all you do to keep our parks safe and clean.

Yep.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.