Safford to put out qualification requests for police station
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The city of Safford is embarking on a road the council approved in 2007 concerning the construction of a new police station.
After Safford Mayor Ron Green read a statement Monday concerning allegations lodged against him regarding the Safford Commerce Park, he suggested the council begin the Request for Qualifications route.
“I don’t have a problem with going back to square one and restart the process like I’ve outlined,” he told the council. The process was that the city put out an RFQ, hire a company to lead the city through the process, which would include a study of the best location for a police station, a study of the city’s needs and public input.
Councilor Ed Ragland said the council had already voted to do that in 2007.
The proposed round-about that could be built on Highway 70 south of the project was also discussed by the council and City Attorney Johnny Guthrie.
After Councilor Danny Smith told the council that the commerce park would probably be built with or without any tenant agreements from the city, Councilor Richard Ortega said the decision for the roundabout would not be made by Safford but by ADOT. “Ten(th Avenue) — now that will be our decision. . . but the turnabout is ADOT’s,” Ortega said.
Green said the round-about was not the Arizona Department of Transport-ation’s idea. “The round-about process was not ADOT’s idea,” Green said. “The roundabout was designed and developed to accommodate the Exeter Development. Without the development, there’s no reason for the round-about.”
Ortega said, “Again, that points to ADOT. . . a developer can put a development wherever they want. Then it’s up to ADOT to address the traffic problem, and that’s what they’re doing.”
Guthrie said round-abouts were the way of the future whether anyone liked it or not.
“I’ve worked with ADOT on several projects. Usually in cities like this, when you have any type of development — whether you have a police department or a pig farm. . . ADOT is going to put in a round-about,” Guthrie said.
He said ADOT generally looks at building two or three in succession so travelers get used to driving through them.
“Roundabouts, I do know, cut death accidents almost to zero and injury accidents by 70-75 percent,” he said.
In other matters, the council:
• Accepted Vice Mayor J.T. Cotter’s resignation from the council and discussed how to go about filling his seat for his unexpired term.
City Clerk Georgia Luster said the city would advertise for two weeks in the Courier. The candidates would be required to fill out candidacy paperwork and present financial statements.
Guthrie encouraged the council to conduct the interviews in front of the public.
• Approved an intergovernmental agreement with Graham County to conduct the city’s elections March 11 and May 20.
• Voted to pay into the pensions of three former elected officials who were not included when the city of Safford joined the Elected Officials Retirement Plan. The total bill for the city is about $14,000.
• Approved a salary equivalency of $3,000 per month per firefighter for the purposes of calculating workmen’s compensation.
• Voted to allow a variance for proposed townhouses on the corner of Eighth Avenue and 10th Street to be built three stories but not to exceed 30 feet in height. The stipulation on the proposal was that a fire suppression sprinkler system and water line to support it also be installed.
