In the course of an extended special meeting last week, the Gila County Board of Supervisors voted to accept a pair of grant awards for the Pleasant Valley Veterans Retreat in Young.

The board approved grant applications county staff had submitted to Resolution Copper and Arizona Public Service Corporate Giving on behalf of Pleasant Valley Veterans Retreat Inc., accepted the awarded grants for $2,000 (from Resolution) and $4,500 (from APS), and approved economic development agreements in those amounts with the retreat. Neither grant requires a match from Gila County.

County staff had submitted the grant applications to Resolution and APS on Sept. 13 and Oct. 11, 2023, and presented them for board approval during the supervisors’ Oct. 24 meeting. According to staff, the APS application was not presented prior to this because the application deadline was approaching when staff learned of the opportunity.

The grant funds will be used to assist with a Nov. 4, 2023, fundraiser for the Pleasant Valley Veterans Retreat. The purpose of this event, named “Hope on the Horizon,” is to design and equip a game room in the retreat’s main building.

Later in the meeting, County Facilities and Land Management Department Director Joseph Dickison gave a presentation on the department’s capital projects and their funding, which included the veterans’ retreat. In the first phase of this project, the main goal is to modernize infrastructure through improvements to the retreat’s wastewater, electrical, mechanical and communications systems. Dickison told the board that the cost to date was $2.3 million, with $2.25 million funded by the American Rescue Plan Act. Phase two of the project will include a multi-purpose facility, ADA-compliant home/cabin and large indoor venue.