It was the Gila County Industrial Development Authority’s (IDA) first formal report to the Gila County Board of Supervisors in around two years, said IDA Board President James “Mac” Feezor, and there was quite a bit to announce. The IDA’s presentation kicked off an Aug. 29 Board of Supervisors work session that included discussions of fire/flood mitigation efforts and a proposal to remove dilapidated vehicles from Forest Service land in northern Gila County.

Feezor reported that the IDA had several new board members – replacing members lost to retirement, death and dismissal – and has contracted with a new executive director, Lexie Nosie. IDA board member Cliff Potts said the position had been vacant for about a year and a half. Feezor said the “new” board first met in December 2022 and has held five meetings since. He reported that the IDA was currently digitizing records.

Potts said their funding comes from bonds – “We have the ability to issue single-family and multi-family housing bonds” – and they would like to work with the County.

“There’s a lot of things maybe the county can help IDA with,” said Supervisor Tim Humphrey, adding he would like to “get everybody on the same page. I feel the last year or so the gears haven’t been working together.”

Gila County Emergency Manager Carl Melford was up next, with a presentation on fire/flood mitigation measures funded through Arizona House Bill 2001 – a measure that provided $100 million toward that end. The presentation noted that $13.3 million has been approved so far, with $4.3 million going toward private property mitigation and $4 million toward public works projects.

“The House money bridged the gap for us,” Melford said. He added that the county’s emergency notification system, ReadyGila, reached 45,000 users.

Two residents affected by the 2021 Telegraph Fire and post-fire floods, Carol Ptak and Jane Hale, added their accounts to the presentation.

“If not for funding from the county, we wouldn’t be here,” said Ptak, who runs the Gryphon Ranch in El Capitan with her husband Jim. The ranch was extensively damaged in the floods; 22 floods have hit El Capitan since the fire, she said, carrying away the Gryphon’s infrastructure.

“The county helped get our wash where it needed to be,” Ptak said, adding that more funding was needed for permanent fixes.

Hale recounted how Melford had personally pledged to help after her own property was struck by the fire and floods.

Cole LaBonte, of the Gila County Sheriff’s Office, briefed the board on a proposed partnership between the Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Forest Service and Gila County Public Works to remove dilapidated travel trailers and recreational vehicles, often used for criminal activity such as drug use. In the proposed collaboration, the Forest Service and GCSO would both contribute to the removal cost. LaBonte said this would not target homeless people or camps not involved in crime.

“COVID created a bad situation for lots of folks who now live on the (Tonto National) Forest; this is not geared toward them,” he said.

The proposed process would start by identifying vehicles for removal; if criminal activity is detected, a search warrant would be obtained and served, at which point any arrests would be made. The vehicle would then be towed to a landfill.

“We’ll probably get a few done this calendar year,” LaBonte said. “We need to make sure it’s safe for the landfill to take these vehicles.”

The Sheriff’s Office is requesting financial aid with landfill disposal costs. LaBonte said they are looking at $6,000 to $8,000 for the first year.

“I don’t see it as being super costly,” said Supervisor Steve Christensen. “We have to start somewhere, and this is a good start, I think,” Cline said.

Since this was a work session, no action was taken on the proposal; it will appear on the agenda at a future board meeting.