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Council mulls over city's top position
Thelma Grimes/San Pedro Valley News-Sun
With regard to Interim City Manager Glenn Nichols, the Benson City Council took a page from a member of the public who said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
All seven City Council members said they were pleased with Nichols' work over the last six months. Nichols replaced Martin Roush, who was terminated by the council in July.
During the call to the public, area resident John Whiteside said Nichols has done a good job, and told the council, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
"For the first time in more than five years, the City of Benson is running smoothly," he said. "The atmosphere of fear and intimidation is gone. Staff is getting help when they need it without accompanying abuse. Each person is appreciated and allowed and encouraged to do one's own job. Thankfully, this includes department heads. All this improvement has been swiftly accomplished under the auspices of Glenn Nichols as interim city manager."
The council agreed with Whiteside in a nearly 20-minute discussion, with several saying they were ready to offer Nichols the position full time.
Councilman David Lambert said he has talked with city staff and citizens and is getting a positive message about Nichols' work to date.
"The city is run in a more harmonious state without conflict, without problems," he said. "Glenn has done an excellent job. He has a few shortcomings, but that's to be expected. We are never going to get somebody perfect in a government position."
Councilman John Lod-zinski said he does have some concerns with some things being neglected over the last six months, but said he has been pleased with Nichols to date.
When asked about the statement after the meeting, Lodzinski said he'd like to see more attention paid to development issues such as water studies and impact fees.
Councilman Al Sacco was so pleased with Nichols that he made a motion to hire him as the full-time city manager immediately.
Sacco said, "Glenn has been the interim city manager for six months and he's done an excellent job, in my opinion. Employees are happy with him and the administration is running smoothly. Don't see why we need to advertise for a new city manager when we have a good product now."
The motion died for a lack of a second, and at the advice of City Attorney Thomas Benavidez, the council agreed to discuss and likely vote on the issue in April.
Another issue that has to be discussed if the council moves forward with making Nichols the full-time city manager is the police chief position. Nichols was hired as the police chief in 2000, and has held both positions since July.
To save money, Nichols said he could still handle both duties and just give Lt. Paul Moncada at the police department more responsibility.
In other business, the City Council unanimously approved a canvass of the votes to make the recent election results official.
In the official results, Mayor Mark Fenn was elected to a second term with 523 votes, while opponents Kathy Suagee finished with 151 and Frank Hough Jr. had 79. There was one write-in vote for mayor.
In the City Council races, Vice Mayor Toney King received 558 votes, while incumbent council members David Lambert received 545 and Lori McGoffin received 489. The incumbents defeated Clifford Deane who finished with 344 and Dianne Tipton with 141 votes. There were five write-in votes.
The incumbents were elected in a small voter turnout. Of the more than 2,400 registered voters, only 27 percent cast a ballot on March 10.
Council mulls over city's top position
Thelma Grimes/San Pedro Valley News-Sun
Finance Director Jim Cox continues to keep the council up to date on the city's finances. Cox is giving at least one presentation a month, with Monday's information coming from
February figures, which he explained are really the results of spending from December.
Cox said Benson continues to do better than most cities in the current recession, noting that a major reason is the city's three biggest retailers continue to do well. Cox said those retailers numbers continue to increase, and their sales make up about 50 percent of the city's sales tax revenues.
Cox said while the city's revenues year-to-date are up by $141,000, it is really a false positive. Those figures reflect the city's grant funding and expenditures. Without grant money, the city's revenues for the year are down $269,000.
Overall expenditures for the year are also misleading being up by $618,000. Take away grant money; Cox said, and spending is actually down by $106,000.
Cox was especially pleased with general fund figures for February being up $20,000. He called the numbers a "shining star" in the report.
"We have five consecutive months of decreases, but February had an increase," Cox said. "I will call it an anomaly until we see three months of similar collections in a row."
Cox said the enterprise funds, which include water, waste water and natural gas, are performing well considering the state of the economy.
Interim City Manager Glenn Nichols sought council direction on the old City Hall building on the corner of 5th and Huachuca streets. Nichols explained that the city is not interested in selling the property, but is ready to get rid of the building, which is currently being used as storage.
The problem with the building is asbestos, and any buyer would have to deal with that. Mayor Fenn and Public Works Director Brad Hamilton said they have been approached by people wanting to buy the building for the metal, but the problem is they have to go through the asbestos to get the metal.
Council decided to take little direction right now, but post ads on the internet and outside the building to try to sell it.
The council also discussed the possibility of a retreat so the current seven members can get more acquainted and discuss issues facing the city. Mayor Fenn proposed hosting a day-long session at the Cochise College Benson Center at some time.
After some discussion, the tentative date was set for Thursday, April 23, as long as the college facilities are available.
"I don't see this as a wish list meeting," Fenn said. "It's to look at what we already have, and what we can improve on. Doesn't have to be a big production; we can hold another meeting if we need to."
In other business, the council also approved a bingo license for the Cochise Terrace RV Resort.
With regard to Interim City Manager Glenn Nichols, the Benson City Council took a page from a member of the public who said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
All seven City Council members said they were pleased with Nichols' work over the last six months. Nichols replaced Martin Roush, who was terminated by the council in July.
During the call to the public, area resident John Whiteside said Nichols has done a good job, and told the council, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
"For the first time in more than five years, the City of Benson is running smoothly," he said. "The atmosphere of fear and intimidation is gone. Staff is getting help when they need it without accompanying abuse. Each person is appreciated and allowed and encouraged to do one's own job. Thankfully, this includes department heads. All this improvement has been swiftly accomplished under the auspices of Glenn Nichols as interim city manager."
The council agreed with Whiteside in a nearly 20-minute discussion, with several saying they were ready to offer Nichols the position full time.
Councilman David Lambert said he has talked with city staff and citizens and is getting a positive message about Nichols' work to date.
"The city is run in a more harmonious state without conflict, without problems," he said. "Glenn has done an excellent job. He has a few shortcomings, but that's to be expected. We are never going to get somebody perfect in a government position."
Councilman John Lod-zinski said he does have some concerns with some things being neglected over the last six months, but said he has been pleased with Nichols to date.
When asked about the statement after the meeting, Lodzinski said he'd like to see more attention paid to development issues such as water studies and impact fees.
Councilman Al Sacco was so pleased with Nichols that he made a motion to hire him as the full-time city manager immediately.
Sacco said, "Glenn has been the interim city manager for six months and he's done an excellent job, in my opinion. Employees are happy with him and the administration is running smoothly. Don't see why we need to advertise for a new city manager when we have a good product now."
The motion died for a lack of a second, and at the advice of City Attorney Thomas Benavidez, the council agreed to discuss and likely vote on the issue in April.
Another issue that has to be discussed if the council moves forward with making Nichols the full-time city manager is the police chief position. Nichols was hired as the police chief in 2000, and has held both positions since July.
To save money, Nichols said he could still handle both duties and just give Lt. Paul Moncada at the police department more responsibility.
In other business, the City Council unanimously approved a canvass of the votes to make the recent election results official.
In the official results, Mayor Mark Fenn was elected to a second term with 523 votes, while opponents Kathy Suagee finished with 151 and Frank Hough Jr. had 79. There was one write-in vote for mayor.
In the City Council races, Vice Mayor Toney King received 558 votes, while incumbent council members David Lambert received 545 and Lori McGoffin received 489. The incumbents defeated Clifford Deane who finished with 344 and Dianne Tipton with 141 votes. There were five write-in votes.
The incumbents were elected in a small voter turnout. Of the more than 2,400 registered voters, only 27 percent cast a ballot on March 10.
Council mulls over city's top position
Thelma Grimes/San Pedro Valley News-Sun
Finance Director Jim Cox continues to keep the council up to date on the city's finances. Cox is giving at least one presentation a month, with Monday's information coming from
February figures, which he explained are really the results of spending from December.
Cox said Benson continues to do better than most cities in the current recession, noting that a major reason is the city's three biggest retailers continue to do well. Cox said those retailers numbers continue to increase, and their sales make up about 50 percent of the city's sales tax revenues.
Cox said while the city's revenues year-to-date are up by $141,000, it is really a false positive. Those figures reflect the city's grant funding and expenditures. Without grant money, the city's revenues for the year are down $269,000.
Overall expenditures for the year are also misleading being up by $618,000. Take away grant money; Cox said, and spending is actually down by $106,000.
Cox was especially pleased with general fund figures for February being up $20,000. He called the numbers a "shining star" in the report.
"We have five consecutive months of decreases, but February had an increase," Cox said. "I will call it an anomaly until we see three months of similar collections in a row."
Cox said the enterprise funds, which include water, waste water and natural gas, are performing well considering the state of the economy.
Interim City Manager Glenn Nichols sought council direction on the old City Hall building on the corner of 5th and Huachuca streets. Nichols explained that the city is not interested in selling the property, but is ready to get rid of the building, which is currently being used as storage.
The problem with the building is asbestos, and any buyer would have to deal with that. Mayor Fenn and Public Works Director Brad Hamilton said they have been approached by people wanting to buy the building for the metal, but the problem is they have to go through the asbestos to get the metal.
Council decided to take little direction right now, but post ads on the internet and outside the building to try to sell it.
The council also discussed the possibility of a retreat so the current seven members can get more acquainted and discuss issues facing the city. Mayor Fenn proposed hosting a day-long session at the Cochise College Benson Center at some time.
After some discussion, the tentative date was set for Thursday, April 23, as long as the college facilities are available.
"I don't see this as a wish list meeting," Fenn said. "It's to look at what we already have, and what we can improve on. Doesn't have to be a big production; we can hold another meeting if we need to."
In other business, the council also approved a bingo license for the Cochise Terrace RV Resort.
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