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City News Briefs
Friday, October 23, 2009
City of Prescott news briefs are written by designees from various departments in an effort to keep the mayor and council, all city employees, and local citizens apprised of positive municipal activity.
News Briefs are posted twice monthly.
Police Department
The Prescott Police Department Crime Prevention Unit will soon be launching a new Community Crime Watch program. This program will provide information to utility companies, delivery drivers, postal workers, city workers and anyone else that is out in our community daily on how to look for suspicious activity and how to report it to the Police Department. This program will take advantage of the hundreds of people driving through our community everyday that may notice something suspicious in an alley or papers piled up in front of a residence.
Public Library
Ask a Librarian - The first week of every month, the PPL reference librarians record track visits and calls to the Ask a Librarian Desk. During the first week of October, these numbers were up 100 contacts per day over recent months. On average, a record 241 people per day are now contacting the Ask a Librarian Desk for assistance.
Super Volunteers - The library's 120+ volunteers perform a wide variety of tasks over an equally wide range of hours. They get together for the annual volunteer luncheon and the occasional workshop for specific group of volunteers, like Books on Wheels or computer mentors. Thanks to a new quarterly volunteer newsletter, they will stay informed throughout the year. The inaugural issue includes a few helpful reminders, information about new volunteer jobs, bit of library and volunteer news, and profiles of a couple of unusual volunteers- Lesley Schuler who designs slides for the library plasma screens and Susan King who schedules and manages the library exhibit case. All this in just two pages!
Parks & Recreation
Adult Athletes in Action - The City of Prescott Adult Basketball program is revving up its engines to start registration in November! The Winter season begins January 4, 2010 with the anticipation of the 50 teams who participated in last winter�s season. Leagues will be played at the Grace Sparkes Activity Center, YMCA, Yavapai College and Mile High Middle School, Monday through Thursday evenings.
Volleyball Anyone? - The City of Prescott's Adult Volleyball program began Monday, September 21. We have 44 teams registered to compete Monday through Thursday evenings at various gyms in Men's, Women's and Coed-Recreational Divisions. We will be playing games at the Grace Sparkes Activity Center, YMCA and Yavapai College throughout the season.
Public Works
Lowe's Update - Several activities continue on the Lowe's project site. Approximately, 35-percent of the existing MSE walls and associated backfill material have been removed/excavated to include the installation of a PVC under drain pipe and the excavation of the keyway for the soil buttress. The structural installation of wing-walls on the existing box culvert is complete.
The sub-grade and aggregate base coarse for the River Trail Roadway section realignment have been installed; a temporary ¾-inch minus structural cap was placed over the roadway section to protect it from vehicular traffic loads and erosion and sediment control until the contractor can place asphaltic concrete over the roadway section. The new 8-inch water line and the new 12-sewer line have been installed and have been passed the applicable biological and mechanical tests.
Zone 39 Phase I - Water main installation for the 12-inch main on White Spar Road, the 16-inch main on S. Hassayampa and the 20-inch main on Aubrey Street are 96% complete. The contractor continues service tie-ins on White Spar Road and Aubrey Street.
The pump station manifold is installed and the floor is poured. The contractor continues work on construction of the pump station building.
The contractor is currently on schedule and on budget.
Zone 39 Phase II - Utility installations along Country Club Drive from Park Avenue to Vista Drive, and then from Vista to west of Shalimar Drive will continue in coming weeks.
Gas Main relocation work on Country Club Drive is completed. The contractor is currently on schedule and on budget.
Airport
New Airport Beacon Operational — Construction of the new Airport Beacon is nearing its final stages. Construction began on October 5 for the installation of the new airport beacon down at the Bottleneck Hangars and has been proceeding rapidly. Within a week and a half the new beacon was operational and in use at the Airport. The emergency generator was also installed during this timeframe and became operational on October 21st. The old beacon was removed on October 14th and will be loaned to Legend Aviation for display at their facility on Clubhouse Drive.
Airport Staff receives $3,500 in scholarships — Two Airport staff members have been awarded scholarships by the Arizona Airports Association (AzAA) to continue their professional development.
Mary Catherine Tennant, Management Analyst, has received the 2009 AzAA Conference Scholarship in the amount of $1500 to reimburse the costs of attending the Airport Management Short Course hosted by the Southwest Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives Airport. This year's Airport Management Short Course will focus on cost saving and budgetary issues and solutions for Airports.
Ben Vardiman, Airport Manager, has received the 2009 AzAA Professional Accreditation Scholarship in the amount of $2,000 to reimburse the costs of attending the Loretta Scott Accreditation/Certification Academy hosted by the American Association of Airport Executives Airport (AAAE).
Ben will be participating in the Certified Member Program portion of the Academy which provides a comprehensive study of factors and issues related to Airport Management, Operations, and Maintenance. Some of the topics studied at the Academy include Environmental Regulations; Airport Noise and Land Use Compatibility; Financial Management and Accounting; Capital Development and Funding for Airports; Airport System Planning and Airport Master Planning; and Terminal Planning, Design and Operation just to name a few.