Prescott Mayor Phil Goode’s Weekly Update

Photo: Prescott’s new City Manager, Katie Gregory

The Yavapai County Sheriff‘s Office is warning the public of a fraudulent website masquerading as the Prescott Frontier Days, and others, selling rodeo tickets for the upcoming “World’s Oldest Rodeo” season. The Prescott Frontier Days website worldsoldestrodeo.com is the only authorized site to purchase rodeo tickets for the World’s Oldest Rodeo. All attempts to purchase tickets elsewhere could result in fraudulent activity or schemes.
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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes was in Prescott last Thursday for a listening session regarding the proposed merger between the Kroger and Albertsons grocery store chain.

As your mayor, I know there’s a lot of interest in this potential merger. What frequently happens when companies merge, is that the quality of the products and the cost of products usually don’t improve.

It really is of concern when we have such a reliance on these two competing chains in our community. Should they merge, a fair question is what impact will that have on our ability to have competition, lower costs, more choices. These are all the things that we hope to have with competition, and all the things we lose if we don’t have competition, which I brought up to Attorney General Mayes a couple of weeks ago and again last week.

So, I’m pleased that Attorney General Mayes decided to come up here and talk about this and be able to hear the public’s input on our concerns.

In her introductory remarks, Attorney General Mayes explained the Attorney General’s office provides legal advice to the state’s agencies, enforces consumer protection, civil rights laws, and criminal violations.

Attorney General Mayes stated, “[We] also enforce the state’s anti-trust laws. We are here today because last October, Kroger, – known more commonly as Fry’s or Smith’s – and Albertsons, known as Safeway, announced their intention to merge. Here in Prescott, we have both Safeway and Fry’s…”

Mayes pointed out, “Interestingly, and I think, importantly, these companies are two of the largest grocery store chains in the country, and they are two of the top six employers in the state of Arizona. Combined, they employ over 35,000 Arizonans, and… own 250 stores in Arizona.”

“As the Attorney General, I have the power to act on this issue, by enforcing our anti-trust laws. Our office is currently conducting an anti-trust investigation into the proposed merger and that’s why we’re here to hear from you.”

As part of her investigation, Attorney General Mayes is conducting listening sessions across the state.

About 40 people were in attendance at Thursday’s listening session in Prescott, and she took many questions during the time that she was here.

Attorney General Mayes has promised to keep the public updated throughout the investigation, stating they will publicize the decision when it is made. She committed to do anything she can to protect Arizonans, not only in this process but in anything going forward.
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During our Council Study Session last Tuesday, we heard from the ad hoc Mayor’s Charter Review Commission, regarding proposed amendments for the 2023 General Election ballot.

The Commission Chair, Charlie Arnold, spoke for most of the presentation. He explained that the City of Prescott is one of just 19 chartered cities in Arizona. You may be interested in knowing that the initial charter was approved by the voters in 1958, and has been amended 15 times since then by the voters.

It has been over 14 years since the last Charter updates were voted upon.

Commission Chair Arnold noted that the 12 recommendations were presented for the Council to consider and ultimately decide whether or not any of them should be taken to the public in November.

The video is can be seen HERE.
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During our Voting Meeting, Council voted to approve the contract with Katie Gregory to be our new City Manager.

Katie spoke briefly about serving the residents in the Prescott community. “[Our family is] excited to be part of the City of Prescott, and it’s my honor to be able to work with this Council and this staff and this Community in furthering the interests of this Council and this community as their City Manager. So, I’m very thrilled to be doing that, I’m excited to get started… I’m always open and interested in chatting about anything that’s going on. Very glad to be here, thank you very much.”

Speaking on my own behalf, I am very excited to have Katie as our new City Manager. We are really looking forward to having her get started.

Katie’s broad experience of working in municipal government, her leadership and experience in budgeting, working with developers, and contract negotiations, all those things are going to be very applicable and so valuable to our city as we continue to deal with a lot of challenges in those areas.

Welcome aboard, Katie!
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The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s (ADEQ), Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund (WQARF) Registry has listed the area around Miller Valley Road and Hillside Avenue as an area of concern, due to chlorinated solvents initially detected in the area in 2002.

Since that time, a Preliminary Investigation and Remedial Investigation have been completed, as has a Feasibility Study.

Currently, ADEQ is conducting pilot testing for remedy evaluation. If you would like to see the reports, documents and public notices associated with this project, please click HERE.