News
City manager: Issues must be dealt with
Thelma Grimes/San Pedro Valley News-Sun
Besides taking responsibility himself, City Manager Glenn Nichols said recent mistakes by the city are also due to city staff members wearing too many hats, especially in public works and planning and zoning departments.
In a span of a couple of weeks, the city found that they paved the wrong street in the major project taking place in north Benson, a property the city was looking to purchase is infested with asbestos and the birding trail that has been under construction since at least 2007 is no longer city-owned because the land was mistakenly given to Tom Hartley, the owner of the San Pedro Golf Course.
As the problems are adding up, Nichols said there is no doubt the issues must be dealt with, and city staff is going to have to start doing a better job for the citizens.
City taxpayers will foot a $23,000 bill for a mistake made in north Benson, when city crews accidentally paved a privately-owned street.
Public Works Director Brad Hamilton said the few hundred feet of street is on one map as a city street, but a closer look shows it is not city-owned and the paving work cannot be funded through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
Nichols said the oversight could be due to a personnel shortage. Many of the duties for the public works, building and planning and zoning departments are being managed by Hamilton.
"The problem here is that some of our employees are handling more jobs than may be in their scope of expertise," Nichols said. "If we had caught it and told the paving company, they wouldn't have paved it. But, no one caught it."
The city has yet to replace resigned inspector Jeff Smith, building official Mike Lockett and the planning and zoning director position has been vacant for several years.
Nichols said they are advertising for a planning and zoning director and inspector right now, and with those positions filled, Hamilton's work load will be reduced, and hopefully mistakes such as these will be kept at a minimum.
Taxpayers will also be footing the bill for an asbestos study on the house located on the corner of 5th and Patagonia streets.
In early October, the City Council gave Nichols permission to move forward with spending about $80,000 on the property where the house is located and on the nearby vacant land, both located next to City Hall.
However, during the Oct. 26 meeting, the council tabled the purchase after learning the house may be full of asbestos. Nichols took responsibility for the mistake, stating he should have done a better job getting all the information to the council.
"It was just a mistake, and I was not on top of it as well as I should have been," Nichols said. "It was an oversight on my part."
The problem with the purchase is the house, and the fact that a report showing it had asbestos was not disclosed during the Oct. 11 meeting. Public records show the seller knew about the problem as early as Oct. 5.
However, Nichols said the issues were not disclosed by Realtor David DiPeso, who is representing the seller and the city. Nichols said DiPeso came to the city about buying the property, and they didn't see a need to get a separate Realtor to represent the city's interests.
Nichols stressed that the city was not planning to pay DiPeso a fee; only the seller would.
After getting direction from the council last week, Nichols said they had hired a firm out of Tucson to take some samples.
"They took 10 or 12 samples and will move forward from there," Nichols said. "We know the shingles have asbestos, but there is a possibility they could remain as long as they are undisturbed. We are still worried about the dust and health issues if there is a lot of asbestos throughout the building. We can't make any decisions until a report comes back from a certified lab."
From those samples, the city will be given an estimate on how much it will cost to remove the asbestos, or what can be done if the city proceeds with purchasing the house, which was going to become the recreation department office.
From a legal stance, City Attorney Michael Massee said if the estimates on asbestos removal are too high, the city could withdraw from the deal completely.
The issue surrounding the birding trail is a little more complicated and harder to explain, Nichols said.
The only thing for certain is the city had to return more than $12,000 in grant funding that went toward creating the trail in north Benson near the wastewater treatment facility.
Not only did the city not follow grant specifications required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, but they also have said the more than 50-acre parcel was accidentally turned over to golf course owner Hartley in a legal settlement.
Ted Amox was hired in 2005 and again in 2008 to survey the land in question, and according to city records, the birding trail was listed under golf course land, instead of city-owned.
Not wanting to place blame, when pushed for an answer, Nichols said it appears that the grant specifications were mismanaged and the former city attorney missed the fact that the birding trail was listed under golf course land.
From the start of the grant, approved in 2007, to the signing of the $4 million golf course lawsuit settlement, Martin Roush was city manager. Thomas Benavidez was city attorney when the city settled a lawsuit with Hartley.
Now, Nichols and Massee said Hartley's lawyers won't just turn the property back over to the city in the interest of public service, and if the city gets the property back, they will likely have to negotiate with the developer, who wants to build condominiums.
Hartley already has benefitted from city mistakes in the past. When the golf course was first being constructed, city officials promised a certain amount of effluent to water the course each year as part of the 99-year lease agreement.
However, the amount of effluent produced fell well short of the goal, and through a lawsuit filed by Hartley, the city signed over the entire property to him.
Nichols said in the settlement, the former city attorney "should have done a better job communicating with staff before moving forward with anything."
Nichols said he is confident that had there been more communication, members of the building and public works departments would have caught the error in which the birding trail property was ceded.
Besides losing the land, city officials have also found that the grant specifications were not met. The grant required the city to use mulch along the trail, but the more expensive rock was used for decoration. A parking lot wasn't even part of the grant, but one was paved at city cost.
All the improvements benefitted Hartley's property value.
Nichols agreed that the city's hands are tied in the issue, and he is worried about future grant applications and how the entire situation will affect the city's reputation.
Nichols said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency has told them to continue to apply for grants, but whether or not the city will get awarded federal and state funds for various projects remains to be seen.
Besides taking responsibility himself, City Manager Glenn Nichols said recent mistakes by the city are also due to city staff members wearing too many hats, especially in public works and planning and zoning departments.
In a span of a couple of weeks, the city found that they paved the wrong street in the major project taking place in north Benson, a property the city was looking to purchase is infested with asbestos and the birding trail that has been under construction since at least 2007 is no longer city-owned because the land was mistakenly given to Tom Hartley, the owner of the San Pedro Golf Course.
As the problems are adding up, Nichols said there is no doubt the issues must be dealt with, and city staff is going to have to start doing a better job for the citizens.
City taxpayers will foot a $23,000 bill for a mistake made in north Benson, when city crews accidentally paved a privately-owned street.
Public Works Director Brad Hamilton said the few hundred feet of street is on one map as a city street, but a closer look shows it is not city-owned and the paving work cannot be funded through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
Nichols said the oversight could be due to a personnel shortage. Many of the duties for the public works, building and planning and zoning departments are being managed by Hamilton.
"The problem here is that some of our employees are handling more jobs than may be in their scope of expertise," Nichols said. "If we had caught it and told the paving company, they wouldn't have paved it. But, no one caught it."
The city has yet to replace resigned inspector Jeff Smith, building official Mike Lockett and the planning and zoning director position has been vacant for several years.
Nichols said they are advertising for a planning and zoning director and inspector right now, and with those positions filled, Hamilton's work load will be reduced, and hopefully mistakes such as these will be kept at a minimum.
Taxpayers will also be footing the bill for an asbestos study on the house located on the corner of 5th and Patagonia streets.
In early October, the City Council gave Nichols permission to move forward with spending about $80,000 on the property where the house is located and on the nearby vacant land, both located next to City Hall.
However, during the Oct. 26 meeting, the council tabled the purchase after learning the house may be full of asbestos. Nichols took responsibility for the mistake, stating he should have done a better job getting all the information to the council.
"It was just a mistake, and I was not on top of it as well as I should have been," Nichols said. "It was an oversight on my part."
The problem with the purchase is the house, and the fact that a report showing it had asbestos was not disclosed during the Oct. 11 meeting. Public records show the seller knew about the problem as early as Oct. 5.
However, Nichols said the issues were not disclosed by Realtor David DiPeso, who is representing the seller and the city. Nichols said DiPeso came to the city about buying the property, and they didn't see a need to get a separate Realtor to represent the city's interests.
Nichols stressed that the city was not planning to pay DiPeso a fee; only the seller would.
After getting direction from the council last week, Nichols said they had hired a firm out of Tucson to take some samples.
"They took 10 or 12 samples and will move forward from there," Nichols said. "We know the shingles have asbestos, but there is a possibility they could remain as long as they are undisturbed. We are still worried about the dust and health issues if there is a lot of asbestos throughout the building. We can't make any decisions until a report comes back from a certified lab."
From those samples, the city will be given an estimate on how much it will cost to remove the asbestos, or what can be done if the city proceeds with purchasing the house, which was going to become the recreation department office.
From a legal stance, City Attorney Michael Massee said if the estimates on asbestos removal are too high, the city could withdraw from the deal completely.
The issue surrounding the birding trail is a little more complicated and harder to explain, Nichols said.
The only thing for certain is the city had to return more than $12,000 in grant funding that went toward creating the trail in north Benson near the wastewater treatment facility.
Not only did the city not follow grant specifications required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, but they also have said the more than 50-acre parcel was accidentally turned over to golf course owner Hartley in a legal settlement.
Ted Amox was hired in 2005 and again in 2008 to survey the land in question, and according to city records, the birding trail was listed under golf course land, instead of city-owned.
Not wanting to place blame, when pushed for an answer, Nichols said it appears that the grant specifications were mismanaged and the former city attorney missed the fact that the birding trail was listed under golf course land.
From the start of the grant, approved in 2007, to the signing of the $4 million golf course lawsuit settlement, Martin Roush was city manager. Thomas Benavidez was city attorney when the city settled a lawsuit with Hartley.
Now, Nichols and Massee said Hartley's lawyers won't just turn the property back over to the city in the interest of public service, and if the city gets the property back, they will likely have to negotiate with the developer, who wants to build condominiums.
Hartley already has benefitted from city mistakes in the past. When the golf course was first being constructed, city officials promised a certain amount of effluent to water the course each year as part of the 99-year lease agreement.
However, the amount of effluent produced fell well short of the goal, and through a lawsuit filed by Hartley, the city signed over the entire property to him.
Nichols said in the settlement, the former city attorney "should have done a better job communicating with staff before moving forward with anything."
Nichols said he is confident that had there been more communication, members of the building and public works departments would have caught the error in which the birding trail property was ceded.
Besides losing the land, city officials have also found that the grant specifications were not met. The grant required the city to use mulch along the trail, but the more expensive rock was used for decoration. A parking lot wasn't even part of the grant, but one was paved at city cost.
All the improvements benefitted Hartley's property value.
Nichols agreed that the city's hands are tied in the issue, and he is worried about future grant applications and how the entire situation will affect the city's reputation.
Nichols said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency has told them to continue to apply for grants, but whether or not the city will get awarded federal and state funds for various projects remains to be seen.
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