Board OKs agreement on road construction

BISBEE — Tombstone Unified School District will pay $173,894 to the county for road preparation work needed to construct acceleration and turn lanes on Highway 80 as required by Arizona Department of Transportation.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved an intergovernmental agreement with TUSD to improve the intersection of the state highway and Yellowjacket Way that leads back to the high school.

Patricia Morris writes in documentation that the district is requesting the county do the earth work in preparation for paving that will be done by a contractor hired by TUSD.

“It is a fairly major project and will require our staff work almost every weekend this winter in order to get this done,” she stated in the report.

An intergovernmental agreement between the county health department and the state for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program also was approved for the next year. Now in its second year in the county, the program funds education that covers topics such as sound decision-making, sexually-transmitted diseases, abstinence and safe-sex practices. The program is taught in the juvenile detention system and in Douglas High School.

As Vaira Harik, director of the County Health Department, notes in her documentation, “This program is important as Arizona has the fourth-highest rate of teen pregnancy in the country.”

State funding for the program this year has been reduced to $10,200. The county’s portion will be $3,468.

Two small water companies near Douglas will get assistance from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority through the county.

A grant of $25,000 was obtained from the organization so the companies could bring their systems up to Arizona Department of Environmental Quality standards. ADEQ staff recommended Arizona Friends Water Co. and College Peak Water Inc. ask the county for help in applying for the grant, since a profit-making company cannot apply for funds, said the grant’s administrator Patty Lewis.

A grant award of $18,750 was approved for the projects, Lewis added. The county must make an in-kind contribution of $6,250 to handle the grant’s administration, she added.

The supervisors also approved a cooperative grant agreement with the two water companies, which will define the responsibilities of each entity involved in the project.

An approved work session requested by County Administrator Mike Ortega will take the supervisors on a tour of the Southern Arizona Medical Center near Douglas. The facility, which may be in financial trouble, provides medical services for Douglas residents and rural residents.

In other business, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday:

• Accepted the bids on 26 land parcels near Sunsites. The county still has 46 parcels that are being offered in over-the-counter bids.

• Tabled a vote on a resolution that officially forms the Mescal/J6 Fire District until the Jan. 13 meeting.

• Appointed Lois Bowdoin to the Pollution Control Corporation of Cochise County for a six-year term.

• Approved a funding agreement entered into by the judicial branch in the amount of $249,503.

• Extended a contract with Stantec Consulting for Bisbee-Douglas International and Cochise County airports projects.

• Approved an amendment to a contract between the county and Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System to provide detention inmate patient care.

• Declared a 1.3-mile portion of Gleeson Road from Tombstone city limits as a county highway for road repair purposes.