the state of arizona arizona state parks board transcript … · 2016. 12. 1. · transcript of...

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Miller Certified Reporting, LLC

THE STATE OF ARIZONA

ARIZONA STATE PARKS BOARD

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO RECORDED PUBLIC MEETING

Phoenix, Arizona

February 20, 2013 10:00 a.m.


PO Box 513 Litchfield Park, Arizona 85340

(P)623-975-7472 (F)623-975-7462

Transcribed by: Dawn Archambo C.E.R.T. 00231


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A PUBLIC MEETING, BEFORE THE ARIZONA STATE PARKS BOARD,

convened on February 20, 2013, at the State Parks offices

located at 1300 West Washington Street, Phoenix, Arizona.

APPEARANCES: Mr. Bryan Martyn, Director Mr. Walter Armer, Jr., Board Member Ms. Kay Daggett, Board Member Mr. Kent Ennis, Deputy Director Mr. Alan Everett, Board Member Mr. Larry Landry, Board Member Mr. Jay Ream, Deputy Director Mr. Bill Scalzo, Board Member Mr. Kelly Stetson, Board Administrator Ms. Tracey Westerhausen, Board Member OTHERS PRESENT: Ms. Barbara Barnes, Arizona Heritage Alliance Mr. R.J. Cardin, Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Ms. Joy Hernbrode, Assistant Attorney General Mr. Paul Katz, Assistant Attorney General

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MR. CHAIRMAN: I believe we have a quorum. I’d 1

like to call the meeting to order. First off, I think we 2

need to have one of our soon-to-be ex-Board members lead 3

us, first of all, in the pledge, if you would, please, 4

young lady. 5

(Pledge of Allegiance from members) 6

MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Kelly, would you 7

like to read the roll call since I omitted that as the 8

first item? 9

MR. STETSON: Mr. Landry? Ms. Westerhausen? 10

MR. STETSON: Ms. Daggett? 11

MS. DAGGETT: Here. 12

MR. STETSON: Mr. Everett? 13

MR. EVERETT: Here. 14

MR. STETSON: Mr. Scalzo? 15

MR. SCALZO: Here. 16

MR. STETSON: Mr. Armer? 17

MR. ARMER: Here. 18

MR. STESTON: And Ms. Hickman? It appears Ms. 19

Hickman and Mr. Landry are absent today. 20

MR. CHAIRMAN: But we do have a quorum. Okay. 21

At this time, starting on my left with Bill, we’ll 22

introduce ourselves. 23


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MR. SCALZO: I’m Bill Scalzo, I represent the 1

Parks and Recreation profession who live in Maricopa 2

County and sometimes up in Navajo. 3

MR. EVERETT: And I’m Alan Everett. I’m from 4

Yavapai County and member at large. 5

MR. ARMER: I’m Wally Armer from Vail, Arizona, 6

where I think it may be snowing today as well as the 7

other Vail, hopefully, and I’m a livestock 8

representative. 9

MS. DAGGETT: I’m Kay Daggett. I live in 10

Cochise County, working for the City of Sierra Vista but 11

live in Benson, and I’m the Tourism Representative for 12

the State Parks. 13

MS. WESTERHAUSEN: Good morning. My name is 14

Tracey Westerhausen. I’m an at large member for the 15

(indiscernible). 16

MR. REAM: Good morning, I’m Jay Ream, Deputy 17

Director for the Parks Division, Arizona State Parks. 18

MR. MARTYN: Bryan Martyn, Director of State 19

Parks. 20

MR. ENNIS: Kent Ennis, Deputy Director. 21

MS. HERNBRODE: Joy Hernbrode, Attorney 22

General’s office. 23

MR. KATZ: Paul Katz, Attorney General’s office 24

filling in today for Laurie Hachtel. 25


5

MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. First of all, I would –- 1

oh, Kelly, missed you over there. 2

MR. STETSON: Kelly Stetson, Board 3

Administrator, State Parks. 4

MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. 5

FEMALE SPEAKER: Do you want Bill to read the 6

Mission Statement? 7

MR. SCALZO: Yes, I will. 8

MR. CHAIRMAN: Before we go to the Mission 9

Statement, I would also like to recognize Mr. R.J. 10

Cardin, who is here today joining us. I’m glad you could 11

get it R.J. Thank you. 12

MR. CARDIN: Thank you very much. 13

MR. CHAIRMAN: With any luck at all, or not 14

with any luck, depending on how you look at it, you may 15

be up here next month. 16

MR. CARDIN: Looking forward to it. 17

MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. Thank you. And you are 18

with Maricopa County now? 19

MR. CARDIN: Maricopa County Parks and 20

Recreation. 21

MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay. Thank you for coming 22

today. At this point, since -– to keep precedence, I 23

think maybe Bill should read the Board Statement. 24


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MR. SCALZO: All right. As Board Members, we 1

are gathered today to be the stewards and voice of 2

Arizona State Parks and its Mission Statement to manage 3

and conserve Arizona’s natural, cultural, recreation 4

resources, for the benefit of the people, both in our 5

parks and through our partners. 6

MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, sir. At this time, I 7

would entertain the motion for the election of a Chair 8

and Vice Chair. 9

BOARD MEMBER: I would make such a motion. I 10

move that Wally Armer remain our Chair, and that Alan be 11

our Vice Chair. 12

BOARD MEMBER: Second. 13

MR. CHAIRMAN: Do we need some serious 14

discussion on this? (Laughter) Another close election 15

of Arizona State Parks. Well, if there is no further 16

discussion, all in favor indicate by saying aye. 17

(Chorus of “ayes.”) 18

MR. CHAIRMAN: Opposed? I abstain for the 19

record. 20

MR. EVERETT: I will, too. 21

MS. HERNBRODE: They can abstain because 22

they’re not abstaining for a conflict of interest reason, 23

so you do continue to have a quorum, so you’re okay. The 24

major of the Board has voted. 25


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MR. CHAIRMAN: I knew there was some reason we 1

had you here, Laurie -– or, I mean, Joy. 2

MR. EVERETT: I abstained only because I didn’t 3

like the nominee for Vice Chair (laughter). 4

MR. CHAIRMAN: At this time we have the call to 5

the public, and so far I only have one, and I would like 6

to ask Barbara Barnes from the Arizona Heritage Alliance 7

if you would step up, please. Good to have you here. 8

Thank you for joining us. 9

MS. BARNES: I was going to say good afternoon, 10

but by jingle we’ve made it through the morning. I’m 11

impressed. Thank you. I’m Barbara Barnes from the 12

Arizona Heritage Alliance. I appreciate your hearing 13

from me. 14

We had a meeting yesterday of our Heritage 15

Alliance and your Executive Director spoke and did a very 16

nice job. We were all very impressed. We complimented 17

him and he answered our questions, some of our questions. 18

We’ll always have more, of course. 19

We are very determined to continue to promote 20

House Bill 2594, which is the restoration of State Park 21

Heritage Fund, and it got unanimous 8/0 approval in the 22

Energy Environment and Natural Resources Committee this 23

week, on Monday. 24


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And so now of course, it goes up to Attorney 1

Cavanaugh (phonetic), and whether -– we’re just asking 2

him to hear it. And we are going to call, all of us, 3

quite determined that we get this word out, because it’s 4

important for (indiscernible) to continue to hammer away 5

at this issue we feel. 6

So if it doesn’t pass this time, that’s being 7

pessimistic but probably reality, that we continue to 8

call him and continue to make sure that the public knows 9

how unfair this was that we were taken away from the 10

Heritage money. Awful it’s happened to us 11

And anyway, we’re very keen on getting that out 12

and we’re hoping and encouraging everyone to call, at 13

least call this week and ask him to please hear this 14

Bill, 2594. 15

And of course, we’re all just delighted that 16

R.J. Cardin who is from our group, is appointed to the 17

State Parks Board, so that’s a terrific accomplishment we 18

think to have his voice. Thank you so much. 19

MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Barbara. And I must 20

say, I unfortunately share you skepticism about getting 21

very far this year. But I agree with you. It’s important 22

to keep it in front of him anyhow. 23

MS. BARNES: Absolutely. 24

MR. CHAIRMAN: Keep hammering away at it. 25


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MS. BARNES: Keep hammering away. 1

MR. CHAIRMAN: If there’s no other call to the 2

public at this time, I would call on the Director for a 3

summary of the current events. 4

MR. MARTYN: Mr. Chairman and distinguished 5

Board Members, wish you well this morning. I apologize 6

for the scheduling conflict that came about. We will see 7

that never happens again and we are working with our 8

attorneys to come up with a policy that will accommodate 9

the posting of our meeting a little more efficiently. 10

Some of the current events since we met last in 11

early December, First Day Hikes were a big success. 49 12

states throughout America participated in this. We had 13

13 different hikes in Arizona State Parks. I personally 14

went out to the one in the upper right corner, Lost 15

Dutchman. Great, great event. Great event and the fact 16

that we participated speaks well to the system, and right 17

now the Chairman of the State Park Director, she was very 18

happy with our participation. So it was prominent on our 19

website and this is a good tradition to continue with. 20

And there were members of the Parks Foundation that were 21

there as well. So met all kinds of good people, talked 22

to some good people. 23

The boat launch out at Alamo, the water is way, 24

way down. It’s actually come up a couple of feet over 25


10

the last couple of weeks. But the launch there is 1

complete. That was a good project, kind of ahead of 2

schedule, ahead of budget on that through ADOT. We’re 3

really happy about that. 4

Heads up on Alamo, they’re trying to determine 5

whether or not they’re going to drain it. So that will 6

-– that determination will be later this summer, early 7

fall, they’ll make their determination. And, you know, 8

when you look at this a couple of ways, I think if they 9

do drain it, we’re going to do basically an all out blitz 10

on the OHV aspect of Alamo, and we’ll get people out 11

there. Hey, come drive around, obviously, not in the 12

lakebed, but come out here and use our campsites and we 13

have some facilities. And if we can establish an OHV 14

presence up there when the water does come back if they 15

do drain it, maybe we’ll get the benefit of both 16

audiences in the future. 17

MR. CHAIRMAN: Other than decreased runoff, 18

what’s there? Or, is that the motivating factor? 19

MR. MARTYN: Mr. Ream? 20

MR. REAM: Mr. Chairman, Members of the Park 21

Board, the Corp of Engineers does this periodically. 22

They drain the lake to a certain level. They can’t really 23

drain it all. There will be some sort of pond left 24

there. To do maintenance on the dam. They have to get 25


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in and redo the gates and check the tunnels that the 1

water flows through and do more tests on the dam. So 2

there’s quite a few things that they accomplish, and then 3

they don’t have to do it again for 10, 15 years, I don’t 4

know what’s the number of times they have to do it. 5

MR. CHAIRMAN: Now we’re facing the same 6

situation at Patagonia potentially. 7

MR. REAM: Patagonia is different, we own that 8

dam. 9

MR. CHAIRMAN: Yeah, but we’ve got a problem 10

that we may have to lower the level to work on –- 11

MR. REAM: No, it doesn’t appear we’ll have to 12

lower the level. They’re going to use divers. 13

MR. CHAIRMAN: Oh, okay. All right. Okay, 14

good. 15

MR. MARTYN: Mr. Chairman, Board Members, this 16

last weekend we had Fort Verde Days. We had almost -– we 17

raised almost $4,600 which was great. (Indiscernible) 18

and about 40 kids out there. This is a good event. We 19

continue to demonstrate to the Town of Camp Verde that 20

we’re committed to this park. We’ve planted some trees 21

and we’ll talk a little bit about that. There’s some 22

good things that are happening out there. We’re still a 23

little understaffed in my opinion. But we’re doing what 24

we can and we’re making an impact on the city, continue 25


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to negotiate with the City Manager out there. Jay has 1

his hands full with that guy, but we’re working through 2

it. Good things continue to happen at these parks. 3

These small outliers that generally make a ton of money. 4

The fact that we do spend our time out there is good, 5

demonstrating our commitment to rural Arizona. 6

Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. This drawing 7

-– this picture -– this is kind of a poster child for 8

where State Parks are going right now. We’re taking a 9

product that we have, a good product, and we’re investing 10

time, money and manpower in the park to bring it up and 11

generate as much revenue as we can, remaining cognizant 12

of the resource itself. Our number one mission is to 13

protect the resource, and number two is to get people out 14

to it. We don’t ever do number two at the expense of 15

number one. 16

So to orient you, this is the lodge over here, 17

and over here is the bridge. This is from the top of the 18

hill. If you ever get a chance to take that hike, I 19

recommend it. It’s a good hike. It’s better if you have 20

18-year-olds with you to carry you up if you need. I 21

took a couple of –- it’s a great view from up there. I 22

couldn’t believe it. When I took the pictures, through 23

the camera lens, I can see the whole park from up here. 24


13

A couple of things happening out at Tonto. You 1

know the lodge continues to move forward. We had a 2

little bit of a setback. We were talking about opening 3

it definitely this summer for corporate and reunions. 4

Digging into the electrical side of it, it’s just -– it’s 5

too old and we’re going to go -– we’re going to have to 6

really invest time and money to get the electric safe so 7

we can have people out there. 8

We’re also -– if we’re going to do that, we’re 9

going to -– we have to do some plumbing issues that we’re 10

going to take care of. If we’re going to go, we’re going 11

to do it all right. We’re not going to break it up in 12

phases now. I don’t know exactly how long it’s going to 13

take, but I can’t commit to this summer. 14

One of the good things about this, if we do the 15

electrical right and get it all -– and the plumbing, get 16

it all inside the building, we can actually extend the 17

season to year round? 18

We have some road issues that we’ll have to 19

accommodate. So that’s a good thing. But we’re going to 20

do it right. So that’s where we’re at with the lodge. 21

We’re looking at the lawn next to the lodge 22

where we eat and BBQ. We’re going to landscape that. 23

We’ve got a landscape architect, who happens to be our 24

OHV guy, Jeff Prince. We’re looking at that, trying to 25


14

improve -– you know it’s the kind of hill there, if it’s 1

dark out you’re going to fall down, and pretty ladies in 2

white dresses and tall shoes have a hard time on that 3

kind of terrain as well. And we’re expanding operations 4

to, of course, include weddings. So we’re looking at that 5

piece there. 6

The park, you know I talk about trees, there’s 7

things you buy and things you do; these are things you 8

do. Because trees are a relatively small cost for what 9

they bring. We’ve already planted. These little green 10

circles represent trees. There are different colored 11

trees. The leaves, oaks and a number of other types of 12

trees, that’s a color that we look for in the fall that’s 13

not common in this area. We’re trying to get people back 14

to the Park multiple times a year. Give them a reason to 15

go. 16

These trees, all the way here to about here, 17

and these and these, have already been planted. You see 18

we have plants and more. These trees here in the middle, 19

these are Aspens. We have a couple of Aspens on that 20

corner right there, and there’s another couple right 21

there. We’re going to put Aspens all the way down that 22

median there. Again, another set of colors. Actually, a 23

different time of year. Another reason to come down and 24

get some pictures, the Aspens. 25


15

And then finally, we have these trees along 1

here, on the road that you come in. We took a soil 2

sample out there to make sure we had the best tree. 3

We’re going to get some fruit trees down there, and we’re 4

looking at everything from cherry to apricot to peach, 5

whatever is appropriate. We want to make sure that we 6

get trees that will grow well and have a lifecycle that 7

we can live with. 8

You want to try to get at least a 20-year tree 9

out there so we’re not doing this all the time. But the 10

fruit aspect, I originally was leaning away from fruit 11

because flowers blow away, fruit generally doesn’t blow 12

away when it falls down. But in talking to the Rangers 13

out there, they’re like oh, no, no, fruit is good; it 14

will all get eaten. So we get a little more wildlife 15

interaction with our customers. 16

So if you look at the way it’s laid out now, we 17

have -– we have three separate times of year where you’ll 18

want to -– you have the potential to come down to the 19

park. You come back three different times. One might be 20

for the fall colors at this time when the leaves are all 21

changing colors, another time when the Aspens are doing 22

their bit, and then a third time when the fruit trees, 23

when they’re flowering or even when there’s fruit in the 24


16

tree and then you’ll come back and pick the fruit. So 1

getting people out there to the park. 2

There’s an addition of a parking lot over here. 3

We’re looking to figure out where we can park. Discount 4

parking over here is more for support of the lodge when 5

we get people in it. We’ve got that piece there. 6

And then finally we’re exploring the option of 7

cabin sites down in the valley there. This is an ADOT 8

project that we had money on already and we moved some 9

money to continue with it. We’re exploring putting these 10

lodges down here, what kind of cabins they are. I’m 11

leaning towards self-contained, meaning the toilet is 12

inside the bathroom, facilities are inside. There are a 13

number of logistical issues to deal with relative to the 14

septic system that’s over here, the leach field, and 15

moving the materials around, the lift stations 16

problematic in some cases. But we’re exploring all our 17

options relative to that. And this gray line represents 18

a road. 19

Pretty neat experience theoretically when you 20

look at it, heading down in there where the Park Manager 21

is, of course they live over here and we would eventually 22

get a host possibly to live over here to manage the lodge 23

and to help with any problems down here. Because once 24


17

you’re down there, you know, there’s no cell phone 1

coverage, it’s you and God and the lodge and the bridge. 2

We’re working through the issues. We’ll 3

probably close off the gate at night. We’ll have to talk 4

to the lawyers and the insurance people on that. 5

This right here, this is leaning forward, this 6

is leaning way forward. And we’ve got to figure out what 7

makes the most sense for the resource and also improves 8

the economic drivers within the community. 9

This is where we’re going and Tonto is moving 10

forward and staff is doing a great job working hard, 11

planting trees. The kitchen has been gutted and redone. 12

We’re working at putting all our new appliances in there. 13

Some new beds coming in. We’ve got some new furniture 14

going up top. It’s coming. This is a treasure and 15

you’ll all spend time there in the near and long term. 16

MR. CHAIRMAN: Get those fruit trees producing, 17

that could be a real addition and a come along for towns 18

people to come out and have a farmer’s market and pick 19

some fruit for a small fee. 20

MR. MARTYN: And the fruit trees go a long way 21

with the volunteers and the historic aspect of the park. 22

You know, I ran across a little pushback sometimes from 23

our historic volunteers out there when I talk about 24

opening up the lodge, and I understand their trepidation. 25


18

But the fruit trees are historic down there. Fruit 1

trees, they’ve been down thee for 100 years. So now 2

we’re just going to put some back. In fact we still have 3

some fruit trees on the park that have been there for a 4

long, long time. So we’re working towards that. 5

A big event we had this month, end of January, 6

was the annual awards. I’d like to thank the Chairman 7

for making the time to come out. It makes a big 8

difference to our employees to see leadership at all 9

levels at these events. I want to thank Monica for 10

making this event happen. I was walking down the halls 11

upstairs in December and saw on the plaques up there that 12

the award had stopped in 2008. We had not given out 13

awards since 2008. I said we need to change this and I 14

went to Monica and I said “Monica, come up with an awards 15

ceremony, program, the whole thing and I want it to 16

happen in January.” She came back a couple of days 17

later, she said, “I don’t think we can make this happen 18

in January. We have to review the packets and stuff.” 19

“Monica, make this happen in January.” So January 29, we 20

had the ceremony. 21

So this is good. This demonstrates again our 22

commitment to our employees that have been through some 23

of the worst, the most challenging times in the history 24


19

of State Parks, and they have a good attitude. I’m proud 1

to be a part of it. 2

MR. CHAIRMAN: I’ll tell you what was 3

particularly impressive also, was there were a lot of 4

folks there from different State Parks where somebody was 5

receiving an award. They weren’t, but they came to 6

support their fellow employees. So I thought that was 7

very well received. It was a good crowd there. 8

Sometimes? Occasionally? Annual? Now, is it 9

going to be a true annual? 10

MR. MARTYN: Amen. Amen. A couple of things 11

coming up. I’ll be out at Tubac on the 24th for the Board 12

Members that want to show up to that. I’ll be out there 13

at that. There is no –- I don’t have a role at all in 14

the ceremony, just going out to support. You know, our 15

volunteers make that Park happen. We’ve recently 16

renegotiated with the County on that. Shaw is still 17

running the park out there for us. Good things happening 18

there. They received an award, that Journalism Award. 19

When will that get awarded? 20

FEMALE SPEAKER: March 23. 21

MR. MARYTN: March, National Award, and you’ll 22

be aware of that. And then of course Civil War 23

reenactment out at Picacho Peak. That is 16th, 17th, so 24

just a few weeks out. Picacho should be beautiful with 25


20

this rain. It’s already green for those that haven’t 1

driven by recently. It’s going to be nice. I will be 2

out there on the 17th personally. And of course park 3

staff, you’ll find members from all parks will be out 4

there helping to volunteer. So you’re all invited to 5

come out and just walk around. We don’t expect you to 6

dress up in Period except for the Colonel, to dress up in 7

Period costume. 8

I have to kudos to the Union Specific 9

Foundation. It’s $10,000, right? $10,000 given to make 10

this happen. So again, our friends, they step it up, 11

making great things happen. And we get great press from 12

this as well. So we’ve got a great event, a great park. 13

And again, the park is looking great right now. In fact, 14

I was out there this last weekend and it’s looking good. 15

We’re doing well. 16

MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes? 17

MR. EVERETT: Do you have any concerns with the 18

Union Specific Proposal for their –- 19

MR. MARTYN: That would be a discussion for 20

another day all together, Mr. Everett. I’m happy to talk 21

about some of the concerns that Arizona State Parks has 22

as an Agency and staff. We could talk about that. There 23

are some issues that we need to discuss, and if Vanessa 24

were in the room, I’m sure she’d have some issues to 25


21

discuss as well. But I’m happy to talk to you 1

(indiscernible), that’s all right. 2

MR. EVERETT: Yes. I think that project is 3

probably quite a ways down the road, because the State 4

hasn’t even gotten to the point where they know what 5

they’re going to ask for yet. And I have heard that they 6

may actually be reconsidering in looking at New Mexico as 7

an alternate site. But I don’t know if that’s –- 8

MR. MARTYN: These are all rumors that are out 9

and about and they have been for a number of years. 10

Nobody can speak with any clarity to any one of them that 11

I’ve heard and I’ve heard from all sides of this issues, 12

as a former County Supervisor. 13

MR. EVERETT: It would be good to have a 14

briefing on that, though, sometime before too much 15

longer. 16

MR. MARTYN: I’m happy to -– I’m happy to bring 17

it forward and get the players in the room to let you 18

know where it’s at, since it will have a significant 19

impact on our facility. 20

Legislative update. Been earning my money 21

lately, hanging out over at the legislature working with 22

our friends. A couple of Bills that are out there, the 23

Continuation Bill, was approved, was forwarded by the 24

National Resources. It’s great to be surrounded by 25


22

friends. National Resources is chaired by Frank Pratt, 1

Representative Pratt. Frank and I have known each other 2

for a number of years. So it’s always good to walk in 3

there with friends. T.J. Shope (phonetic) sits on there, 4

he’s another Pinal County guy. Of course our number one 5

representative in support of our Agency, Karen Fann sits 6

on that as well. 7

So we walk in and we’re among friends. We were 8

continued for -– recommendation for continuation for 10 9

years, with a review at four. It’s not a full audit. It’s 10

just a review to present to the Committee at four years. 11

So that still has to move its way up the chain. It’s 12

attached to a Transportation Bill, but we’re good there. 13

State Lake Improvement Fund 2172 deals with a 14

recompilation of SLIF. It’s an administrative function 15

which represents about two million dollars a year in 16

benefit to Arizona State Parks. A big deal. Instead of 17

doing it every few years, take a 20-year average and then 18

we move forward. The only downside, the only kind of 19

hiccup to it is the –- historically, we pay for that 20

evaluation, a $200,000 evaluation. That would shift over 21

to Game and Fish. Mr. Voyles has not approached me 22

directly, but their staff has made it known that they 23

might have a little heartburn with that. They’re not 24

going to oppose the Bill, but they have some heartburn 25


23

with that. I would, personally, I would make -– I would 1

sit down with Larry Voyles and say, I’d eat the 200,000, 2

I’ll pay for it, since we’ve already paid for it. I’d 3

recommend that we just –- 4

MR. CHAIRMAN: Remind them they’ve still got 5

Heritage Fund money. 6

MR. MARTYN: I’m happy to do that. But 7

(indiscernible), I would rather, you know, we know that 8

carried out there since we already paid for it and take a 9

net gain of 1.8 million than not have any opposition as 10

we move forward. But I’m not saying we’re going to get 11

any opposition. This is good. This is good, and it looks 12

like it’s going to get through. We haven’t seen any 13

opposition at the Legislature. 14

Big, big Bill right here. 2621, found out 15

about it last year. Had no input from the Legislature 16

asking the stakeholder. There’s been some learning 17

curves on this at the Legislature side of this Bill. 18

This Bill would seek to add -– the way it’s written, it’s 19

going to add a box on your registration registering your 20

vehicles, that would allow you to opt in or opt out, it 21

doesn’t define, either one. And you would pay a fee, 22

whatever fee would be determined by the State Parks Board 23

and you would in turn get a decal for your car or license 24


24

plate that would allow you to have an annual pass to 1

State Parks. 2

When we saw this there was a lot of talk, like 3

mostly looking around the room? Did you know about this? 4

And of course nobody knew, including the Foundation, 5

which of course is our number one advocate. Nobody knew 6

anything. Freshman Democrat out of Yuma, (indiscernible) 7

good guy, doing great things, Ag and Water, he got 8

everybody in Ag and Water. So Russ Jones, a 9

reintroduction of Russ Jones Bill, got everybody on Ag 10

and Water except for the chair to sign on for it. So 11

great Democrat, Republican support, great thing. 12

Everybody is trying to help out State Parks. 13

We got with them and told them great Bill, 14

great intention, but giving away the store could hurt us. 15

The annual pass doesn’t work. That’s not the promotional 16

item that works for us. So we -– they adopted an 17

Amendment which basically laid out that we would 18

determine what that promotional gift would be. 19

So we’re going to determine the price of what 20

you donate and we will determine the gift that you get 21

for that. And we have to match it to see what’s 22

appropriate, whether it’s, you know, six-day-use passes 23

or one-day-use pass, and then we have to figure out to as 24

we run through it, how do you administer that. We’d 25


25

rather not do the -– mail somebody a coupon. You know, 1

Internet-based, let them print it. So there are a lot of 2

things to deal with. 3

The way it’s set up is the money would end up 4

going through ADOT and the original Bill had 75 percent 5

coming to us and 25 percent going to ADOT for 6

administration. The Amendment moved that to 85 percent 7

to us and 15 percent to ADOT. ADOT has not approached us 8

on this Bill at all at this point. 9

So there’s 3 ½ million vehicles that are a 10

potential donate tours to this, about 3 ½ million. This 11

could go a long way to bridge our gap, a six million 12

dollar upside down that we use SLIF and OHV, and it could 13

go a long way to start chewing away at that $200,000,000 14

capital backlog. 15

So made it through Committee, flying colors 16

again. Ag and Water, we have a lot of friends on Ag and 17

Water as well. So very positive. State Parks Foundation 18

well in front of us, helping us out, beating the streets. 19

As an Agency we have a neutral position. As the 20

Director, I have a neutral position as the Agency, that’s 21

up to you. But the Governor has made it clear -– she 22

hasn’t taken a position on this, that way I’m tied to the 23

neutral position even though I did speak in favor of the 24


26

Amendment that went forward. And that was my 1

(indiscernible) from the Governor’s office. 2

So any questions about any of those Bills? 3

With that, I will turn this over. Did you want to do 4

this, Mr. Ream or Mr. Ennis? 5

MR. REAM: No, that’s me. 6

MR. MARTYN: All right, Mr. Ream, you’ve got 7

it. 8

MR. REAM: Good morning, Mr. Chairman, 9

Members, and we can discuss this if we’d like to. So I’d 10

like to take you through our State Parks Operation’s 11

update and it’s kind of a milestone we’re at today. It’s 12

been three years since this Board opted to close 15 parks 13

and it was our partners and communities who stepped 14

forward, provided funding and partnerships, volunteers, 15

bake sales, motorcycle rides, anything to make money to 16

keep these parks open. 17

I think this is a good time and a good 18

milestone. Many of our agreements that we did three 19

years ago on January 15, 2010, are expiring in March of 20

this year. And some of them are continuing, some of them 21

we are letting expire. We have some wins, we still have 22

some problems out there that we’re going to continue to 23

move forward with our partnerships and I’d just like to 24


27

go through those with you real quick and you can see 1

where we are today three years later. 2

Okay. These are the parks that are now open 3

without financial partnerships. There are four new ones 4

on there since January 15, 2010. Alamo Lake had a 5

$30,000 budget offset by the folks in Wickenburg and the 6

Friends of Alamo Lake. It now is operating with less 7

employees but operating at an even margin. There’s no, 8

there’s no loss there in its operation. 9

Buckskin, Catalina, Cattail, were all parks 10

that are doing well. Dead Horse Ranch is -– was always 11

doing well. Fool Hollow Lake Recreation Area continued 12

to be popular. Kartchner is our most profitable park in 13

the system. Lake Havasu, not far behind that, as is 14

Slide Rock not far behind that. 15

Lost Dutchman through some development that 16

we’ve done there, electrification of campgrounds, 17

additional campsites and restroom shower buildings, some 18

fees, is now a park that operates at a positive margin. 19

Not a huge positive margin, but it does operate in a 20

positive margin. And that’s been kind of our goal for 21

parks and without financial partnerships. 22

Now our Friends group, the Friends of Lost 23

Dutchman State Park and the Arizona State Park 24

Foundation, provide instead of cash to operate the park, 25


28

they’re providing things like Ramadas and tables and golf 1

carts and things that help the park move forward, and we 2

are again just continuing to have success at Lost 3

Dutchman State Park under our new operation. 4

Patagonia Lake State Park was close to a 5

negative margin, but since 2010, we have electrified all 6

the campsites there. This extends our season. We have a 7

much larger winter season. This is really our first big 8

winter season under electrification and we’re seeing a 9

whole new kind of customer there. We’re getting snowbird 10

customers there. People are coming out. So we’re very 11

excited about the future of Patagonia Lake State Park. 12

And if can continue to do well at Patagonia Lake, we can 13

start looking at getting our Sonoita Creek Natural Area 14

more open to the public, because this is the kind of 15

group -- not our summer crowd -- that likes to swim in 16

the lake and camp out. They don’t care much for the 17

Sonoita Creek, but this winter crowd, they like the bird 18

hikes, they like the bird tours and the walking and 19

hiking that Sonoita Creek offers. So we’re very happy 20

that Patagonia is doing so well. 21

Picacho Peak is another one of those parks that 22

use to be a partnership park. The City of Eloy provided 23

$20,000 to keep that open back in 2010. Since then we’ve 24

reduced our staffing there by one FTE and we also close 25


29

it in the summer. This is a park that we had open all 1

summer, very few people went there and those that did go 2

there we ended up rescuing. It is hot there in the 3

summer and there is no reason to go up to the top of that 4

peak in the middle of the summer. 5

So we have closed that in the summer. We use to 6

staff there. Instead of hiring seasonals they go to 7

Patagonia and work there during their busy summer. Some 8

of them go to Lyman Lake and work there during that busy 9

summer, and many of them do training to get their annual 10

leave during those closures. Now we do leave a Ranger 11

there all summer because you can have a sign that says 12

closed, but you need a Ranger there to enforce that 13

closed sign. 14

So there is somebody always at Picacho Peak and 15

there will always be people who will sneak in either the 16

backside or the front side. We have somebody there to 17

tell them that we’re closed. 18

Slide Rock State Park continues to be 19

unbelievably popular in the State of Arizona. It is –- 20

it’s about as much fun as you can have in really cold 21

water there at Slide Rock. But this is a popular park. 22

We actually charge $20 a vehicle during the summer season 23

and we fill the park and turn it over a couple of times 24

during the day. We have noticed that people who pay $20 25


30

stay a little longer than people who pay $10. So that is 1

one downside. We don’t turn it over as much, but it 2

continues to be a very popular park and has the second 3

highest positive margin of all of the parks on that list. 4

I will tell you, all of it is from April through August. 5

250,000 visitors and almost all of them come in four 6

months. So it is quite the spectacle to see on a summer 7

day. 8

So those are our parks that continue to be open 9

without financial partnerships with the help of our 10

Friends groups. 11

MR. CHAIRMAN: And Tonto is now self-sustaining 12

also. 13

MR. REAM: Tonto is now self-sustaining, mostly 14

because we reduce the operations during the winter to 15

five days a week and we were able to reduce one staff 16

member and use seasonal to fill out the staff in the 17

summer. That’s when we’re the busiest. We use to offer 18

four full-time FTE because of the seven day a week and 19

now we can operate with three full-time FTE. 20

The additional changes that we’re going to do 21

at the lodge, this is a whole new customer and that’s 22

kind of how we look at our development, not making things 23

nice for that old customer, although we try to do that, 24

we’re trying to look for new customers when we do this. 25


31

When we electrify a campground, we bring a new type of 1

customer in there, one with a big RV and needs to plug it 2

in. That’s a new customer for us and not the boondocker 3

or the tenter. So we’re looking at new customers when we 4

do these developments. 5

These are our parks that are operated through 6

our partnerships. These are parks that have Arizona 7

State Park staff manning them, but we have some sort of 8

partnership with the community organization. I’ll 9

quickly go through those. 10

Fort Verde, our partner there continues to the 11

Town of Camp Verde. We have started at $105,000 a year 12

was our first agreement with the Town of Camp Verde. 13

We’ve done that for three years. It’s gone down as we’ve 14

reduced our operating costs and they have provided 15

funding and staffing for operating the park. We also 16

went to a five day a week from a seven day a week, and 17

that is a year round five day a week. 18

Our current agreement that is pending right now 19

signature, is for five years with five year’s option to 20

continue. This is a new, longer agreement and we only 21

have an offset of $30,000 a year. Our changes in 22

operations and the way we’re doing it and the commitment 23

from the Town of Camp Verde, has reduced our expenses to 24

a $30,000 delta, and they’re going to be providing 25


32

$30,000, plus they’re going to be doing some of our 1

operations. This is pending before the City Council 2

right now, and I am very optimistic that the Council will 3

approve that, considering we’ve dropped $75,000 off of 4

that partnership. It’s a good partnership and frankly, 5

we have been able because of that partnership and keeping 6

that park open, we have spent almost a million dollars 7

over the last three years at Fort Verde using the last of 8

the Heritage Funds and some other funds that have become 9

available, to fix up the old buildings, to replace the 10

roofs, to plant trees. The Director has as part of his 11

tree-planting program, to make the place a little bit 12

better. And we have some more ideas ongoing through our 13

partnership. That wouldn’t have happened had the park 14

been closed. Those monies would have been diverted 15

somewhere else. So this is -– they’ve really done a 16

great job in helping us keep that open and getting us 17

through those hard times. 18

Homolovi State Park, originally our agreement 19

with the Hopi Tribe was for $175,000 a year. For two 20

years they committed $175,000 each year. We have reduced 21

our staffing there, we’ve reduced our operating costs, we 22

have -– the Hopi Tribe has committed to providing 23

staffing during special events down there. This year’s 24

partnership will be for $50,000. $125,000 difference. 25


33

Because of the savings we’ve made over the last couple of 1

years, the staffing changes we’ve made and the fact that 2

even if we were closed, we would have to keep a Ranger 3

there and we would have to continue to pay our State and 4

land leases. These are commitments that we cannot give 5

up. 6

So we have taken those out of the operating 7

matrix with the Hopi and moved them back into Arizona 8

State Parks. We have the funding to fund that employee 9

now and to pay those land leases, and so all we’re 10

working with the Hopi now on the operating deficit. 11

We’re very optimistic that the Hopi Tribal Council will 12

take action and sign that new agreement for another year. 13

If we can with them, we might even be able to reduce that 14

down. They’re looking for new land down there and this 15

great deal of a park is owned by the Arizona State Lake 16

Trust. 17

So how that works out in the long run, it won’t 18

happen in our lifetime probably because they think in 19

terms of 100 years and we think in terms of a couple of 20

years, and they have interest in protecting that place 21

forever and not just this one- or two-year partnership 22

down the road that we have. 23

So again, we’re optimistic that the Hopi will 24

pass that and we will have another partner for next year. 25


34

Jerome, we’re good at Jerome through August, so 1

I’m not worried about Jerome yet. We’ll worry 2

about that one in August. I’ve got plenty others to do. 3

Lyman Lake, we’re going to continue our 4

partnership with Apache County there. They have 5

expressed interest at the end of our agreement last year 6

to continue that. They provided $20,000 to open it for 7

the season. We did a couple of experiments there and 8

we’re going to continue those. Last year we opened in 9

mid-June. This year we’re talking about opening for day 10

use in May. There’s still some good days in May. 11

Fisherman can come out, again, much like Homolovi, we 12

keep a Ranger there full-time. That Ranger can collect 13

day-use fees. We won’t open the camping until Memorial 14

Day weekend. Then we’ll be open for camping all the way 15

through Labor Day weekend and into the hunting season, 16

end of October, when we’ll close again the camping part 17

and leave the day-use open like we did last year. 18

So really the park is only closed to the public 19

a few months a year, but I don’t know if you’ve been to 20

St. John’s from December, January, February and March, 21

but it’s too cold to fish and it’s too cold to camp. So 22

we’re not losing a lot of business there. These seasonal 23

operations are making it possible for us to provide the 24

park to the visiting public, keep it accessible to the 25


35

visiting public, and yet we can afford to continue to 1

operate it. 2

So we’re encouraged by that partnership up 3

there and this experimentation we’re doing. 4

BOARD MEMBER: Anything new with the Pot Ash 5

Mine? 6

MR. REAM: Not really that I know of over 7

there. I know both -– there’s two big Pot Ash Mine 8

companies working in that area. One is closer to 9

Homolovi and working with the Hopi Tribe and then this 10

Pot Ash Mine is working Apache County. 11

I have not heard anything new, but I expect 12

them to be a cash partner this summer in the operation of 13

the park. They are very interested in having that park 14

open, as are the prisons there. They have a couple of 15

prisons there and the energy companies, the electric 16

companies, they have people there. They want to have 17

diversions for them, camping opportunities, fishing 18

opportunities and places for them to go and recreate. 19

So they have been cash partners through Apache 20

County for us for these last three years. 21

MR. MARTYN: Mr. Ream, Mr. Chairman, David 22

Salisbury is working for the Pot Ash guys trying to raise 23

money. David Salisbury sits, he’s former Resolution 24


36

Copper President, now he sits on our BTA Board 1

(indiscernible). 2

So we do have a relationship with at least one 3

of the products companies that’s up there. So it’s very 4

beneficial. 5

MR. REAM: Okay. I can get through these last 6

couple pretty quick. Oracle State Park it closed 7

November 24, but it reopened in February for school 8

groups and weekends only. We’re trying to reopen 9

Saturday and Sunday on the weekends right now and still a 10

little cold there and probably very cold there today. 11

But we expect to have some more visitation there. 12

We are no longer taking cash from the Friends 13

of Oracle State Park, but they are providing the 14

volunteers that allow the school groups to go through. 15

They’re doing all the tours and we’re allowing for -– and 16

they’re staffing the parking, cleaning the park on the 17

days that we’re open to the public. 18

Without those volunteers we couldn’t do it. We 19

were able to do this by increasing the staff by one at 20

Catalina State Park. Catalina State Park is one of those 21

parks that operates a very high operating margin during 22

the spring and fall. We devote one of their full-time 23

staff members to Oracle and we substitute that with 24

seasonal. 25


37

So we have a full-time State Park Ranger there 1

when we’re opened to the public for the six months that 2

we’re open there, and the rest of the time that person is 3

over at Catalina State Park. 4

So in a certain way instead of having the 5

Friends of Oracle State Park subsidize this park and its 6

operations, the Catalina State Park is subsidizing this 7

operation. We got the idea -– “bundling,” I think was 8

what Senator Melvin called it. So we’re bundling the two 9

parks and keeping it open. 10

MR. MARTYN: And Mr. Chairman, you do know we 11

have a Ranger who lives on Oracle. Jennifer lives behind 12

the park. There’s always a green suit on the park. 13

MR. REAM: Oh, yeah, there’s always a Ranger on 14

the park and we have a (indiscernible) volunteer, a host 15

couple. 16

MR. CHAIRMAN: And what was the award she won? 17

FEMALE SPEAKING: What did Jennifer win? I 18

forget, sir. 19

MR. CHAIRMAN: Oh, well. 20

MR. REAM: I think one of the awards, an 21

excellence type of things. 22

FEMALE SPEAKING: They all do such good jobs. 23

MR. REAM: Red Rock State Park on June 20, our 24

agreement with Yavapai County will expire. We have not –25


38

- we don’t feel we’re going to need that particular 1

agreement anymore, but we will continue working through 2

the benefactors of Red Rock State Park, who will provide 3

cash and operating volunteers for the park. 4

So this is a partnership that will continue. 5

We have really decreased our margin there by increasing 6

the fees that we charge of people going in, marketing, 7

and keeping our gift store revenues, which was part of 8

last year’s legislation. I forget what the Bill number 9

was. I want to say 2162, where we were allowed to take 10

the State Park’s revenue fund. Gift shop was always 11

pealed off into a thing called OPS. So it didn’t matter 12

how many t-shirts and walking sticks you sold, to help 13

the operation of the park. And yet, we were devoting 14

staff to that work. 15

Well now, that goes into the State Parks, we 16

call it SPRF, State Parks Revenue Fund, and we can use 17

that money for operations, as well as operating the gift 18

shop. So this gives them a little bit extra and Red Rock 19

is really almost a break even park right now, and we are 20

open seven days a week. 21

We continue with the benefactors though. They 22

provide a full-time Ranger -– or, not a full-time Ranger, 23

a seasonal Ranger for the school season to coordinate all 24

the education programs. They’re very concerned that we 25


39

don’t drop the education programs, and so they fund a 1

Ranger to just to educational programs for us. 2

Roper Lake State Park, we will continue our 3

agreement with Graham County there. Also, the Town of 4

Safford and the Town of Taylor -– not Taylor, Thatcher, 5

all provide some sort of help for the operation of that 6

park, whether it’s for repairing our fleet, whether it’s 7

training for our law enforcement officers, whether it’s 8

DOC crews to come in there and do maintenance, or heavy 9

equipment to remove cattails or do fixes on the park. 10

They have been very great partners and helped out a great 11

deal to us in keeping that park open, typically on the 12

maintenance side, leaving our -– we reduce our Ranger 13

staff there and that is how that park has covered that 14

loss of that Ranger is through these partnerships with 15

the town. 16

MR. ARMER: Here awhile back there was some 17

real concern by some of them over there about the 18

cattails. Has that been resolved, or is that still an 19

ongoing issue? 20

MR. REAM: Mr. Armer, Members of the Board, the 21

cattails at Roper Lake are an ongoing problem. We are 22

researching a floating vessel that will remove cattails, 23

and if we can purchase that, we can use that out on the 24

lagoons at Dead Horse, we can use it at Roper Lake. 25


40

These are lakes that we own. Some of them come in –- or 1

even dig them out from the roots and pull them out. But 2

this is a problem. Unless you own a boat, you’re fishing 3

from the shore. And if you have to cast over cattails, 4

you’re going to use a lure. So we need to clear out the 5

cattails and give the fisherman a chance to fish from the 6

shore, or sell them all boats. We have a choice. 7

But I always thought it was funny to see a 8

fisherman from the shore. You try to cast out as far as 9

you can on a lake, and if you’re in a boat, you cast to 10

shore. 11

BOARD MEMBER: I don’t understand. 12

MR. REAM: Somewhere in between I suppose 13

that’s where the fish are. 14

These are our parks that are operated with no 15

Arizona State Park staff. Boyce Thompson Aboretum, our 16

partnership with the University of Arizona and the Boyce 17

Thompson Arboretum Foundation, created by Colonel Boyce 18

Thompson. There are no State Park staff there. We do 19

provide some operating dollars and we have provided 20

funding for a new parking lot and parking area there 21

through our agreement with the Arizona Department of 22

Transportation, and we also own 30 acres of land on the 23

superior side of the park that was called Picket Post 24


41

House. This is a property that we purchased just before 1

the great recession in about 2007. 2

So we do have some expenses that we incur 3

there, but for the most part the visitors are hosted by 4

Arboretum staff and U of A funds those. 5

MR. CHAIRMAN: What goes on at Picket Post? 6

MR. REAM: Right now we are working on the 7

electric there. So it doesn’t burn down. But they use 8

the Picket Post for special events. 9


MR. REAM: We have not master planned how the 11

Picket Post will come out. This is part of something -– 12

it didn’t seem a priority these last three years. Just 13

keeping it from crumbling -– most of our historic 14

buildings, just keeping them from crumbling was our main 15

goal. 16

MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes? 17

BOARD MEMBER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Jay, 18

what are Picket Post and Rocking River? Are they State 19

Parks, are they typically assets that we own, ‘cause they 20

don’t show up on the Park’s inventory? 21

MR. REAM: Okay. Picket Post is part of the 22

Boyce Thompson Arboretum. 23

BOARD MEMBER: Okay. 24


42

MR. REAM: And so yes, it is a State Park. 1

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, and the Picket Post 2

is just one piece of that. Rocking River Ranch, was 3

purchased with Natural Area’s money, but it is part of 4

the larger Verde River Greenway. So we -– I would say 5

that –- if I were to call Rocking River, it would be 6

Rocking River/Verde River Greenway. It’s just a subset of 7

the Verde River Greenway. 8

If we decide to develop Rocking River, we might 9

give it a full State Park designation at some point. 10

MR. MARTYN: Mr. Chairman? 11

MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes. 12

MR. MARTYN: I don’t mean to interrupt. Sorry, 13

Mr. Ream. BTA, great park, I need your help. BTA SP 14

State Park. Don’t hear the word State Park. They know 15

it. I’ve mentioned it to them, now I’m pulling out the 16

guns. When I see in the paper all these great State 17

Parks out there listed as flowers, it was a great Sunday 18

paper, Boyce Thompson got the lead, which is great. Lost 19

Dutchman, Picacho, all these things, they’re listed as 20

State Parks, BTA, the word “State” and “Park,” not listed 21

in the entire article. I need help. I’ll leave it at 22

that. 23

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 24


43

MR. REAM: Okay. McFarland State Historic 1

Park, this is the park that the Parks Board closes the 2

first thing. This closes well before January 15, 2010. 3

It’s the very first State Park to close. We have an 4

agreement with the Town of Florence to operate this park. 5

They have been operating it through their Main Street 6

program and now they’ll be operating it through their 7

Historical Society. 8

So we are going to see more museum exhibits 9

than the Main Street program had there, more artifacts, a 10

little bit more talked about -– Ernest McFarland himself, 11

because that’s where they’re going to do their 12

interpretation of Ernest McFarland, the kind -– the 13

favorite son of the Town of Florence. 14

So they are -– we’re excited about this change. 15

That should happen somewhere around the end of March. 16

We’ll see a little transition from Main Street to the 17

Historical Society. The town is brokering that. We 18

really are -– our agreement is only with the Town of 19

Florence. 20

Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, that’s 21

being operated by the Arizona Historical Society. Our 22

agreement with them ends here in June. We’re working 23

with them now on extending that agreement. They’re doing 24

a great job. They are supported very strongly by a group 25


44

called the Riordan Action Network, a couple of people, 1

many of them relatives of the Riordan clan, who raise 2

money to offset the operating deficit there. They raise 3

money to hire employees. Those employees are not State 4

Park employees. Those employees are Arizona Historical 5

Society employees, very much like our seasonal Ranger. 6

The rest of the tours are all lead by 7

volunteers, the Riordan Action Network. 8

BOARD MEMBER: Mr. Chairman? 9

MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes, sir. 10

BOARD MEMBER: There was also an article about 11

Riordan in the paper not long ago, and I don’t remember 12

seeing much mentioned about State Parks in that either. 13

So we might want to add that to our list of concerns. 14

MR. REAM: Noted. Well, if it’s not a State 15

Park, it goes back to the Riordan family. So it has to 16

stay a State Park. 17

Bird Cross Conservation area, R.J. runs that 18

for Arizona State Parks. We are in a three-way 19

partnership with the Maricopa County and the -– are they 20

-- the Town of Cave Creek purchased that park 15 years 21

ago, 16 years ago about. It’s a beautiful place and a 22

great place to go see wildflowers even though they didn’t 23

put that in the paper. 24


45

Tombstone State Historic Park. I’ve had 1

correspondence with the mayor. They want to continue. 2

They had a three-year agreement and a three-year option 3

to renew and they are going to exercise that option. We 4

have delivered the extension paperwork to the Town of 5

Tombstone and waiting for them to respond. 6

Okay. So that gets us to Tubac. We are going 7

to continue our agreement with the County, Santa Cruz 8

County at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park. However, 9

the sub-agreement with the Tubac Historical Society will 10

change to a new group that is being sponsored by the 11

Arizona State Parks Foundation. We’re really not going 12

to see much change. 13

In any case, this group is forming. We won’t 14

see any difference because the person who is currently 15

the Director of the park, Shaw Kinsley, will be heading 16

up this new group. So there’s not going to be really any 17

change as far as the park operation goes. We have a 18

great relationship with Shaw. Shaw worked very closely 19

with our Park’s employees. We do things for him and he 20

keeps the park open. That’s the nature of our 21

partnership. 22

And so we’re hoping to continue that. But the 23

Tubac Historical Society is stepping out and going back 24


46

to what they do and turning this over to this new group 1

to operate the park. 2

MR. MARTYN: And Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the 3

State Parks, I’d like to thank you for your help 4

negotiating that, taking your own time to go sit down and 5

talk those people off the ledge. 6

MR. CHAIRMAN: Hold their hand. 7

MR. MARTYN: Whatever it takes. But thank you. 8

MR. REAM: Finally, the last two parts. The 9

Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park and the 10

Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, are being 11

operated by the City of Yuma through the National 12

Heritage area, which is Yuma Quartermaster Heritage area, 13

which is a private foundation supported by tax dollars 14

from the City of Yuma for an area between -– really 15

between Yuma Quartermaster Depot and the Yuma Territorial 16

Prison. 17

This area between, they call “The crossing.” 18

They have built a hotel, they have built a conference 19

center there, they talk about you know, getting across 20

the Colorado was a big deal when Colorado was a lot 21

bigger, and this was a key point in history, and that’s 22

why this is the Natural Heritage Area. 23

They’ve been on a three-year contract for each 24

park that they were offset. We closed the Quartermaster 25


47

Depot first, actually in ’08 or ’09, I believe, fiscal 1

year ‘9, we closed the Quartermaster Depot, and we ran 2

that on a three-year agreement. On January 15 of ’10, we 3

closed the prison and they ran that on agreement. Now 4

we’re going to try to put the two agreements together 5

under one agreement for an extended period of time. The 6

City desires this because they like to put some capital 7

money into the parks there, but they don’t want to do so 8

on a three-year agreement. Combining them make sense. 9

It’s the same group running them both. 10

So this is something -- we’re going to sign the 11

agreement for the extended two years. Sometime this 12

fall, we’ll create a new agreement for a longer term. 13

We’ll extinguish the two existing agreements and go with 14

one agreement for a longer term. This will allow them to 15

do some development work that they’ve been desirous of 16

doing. 17

The Director and I spent some time down there 18

and I don’t know that any other community is doing as 19

much as Yuma is to beautify their big asset, which is the 20

Colorado River and the riverfront down there, than any 21

other community in Arizona. They have really put their 22

money where their mouth is on beautification down there. 23

What they’ve done, 300,000 trees they planted, and I 24


48

think we saw 100,000 of them on the hike we took. There 1

was still twice as much to hike. 2

MR. CHAIRMAN: Question. Regarding the prison, 3

anything new on the railroad and their proposal? You 4

know there was some concern at one time. 5

MR. REAM: Mr. Chairman, similar to -– this all 6

has to -– even with Picacho Peak, it’s the double 7

tracking of the Union Pacific Railroad between the Port 8

of Los Angeles and El Paso, Texas, and it’s this double 9

tracking that has a couple of choke points. And the one 10

big choke point is to the Tribal Lands of the Quenchan 11

Indians and they’re right next to the Yuma Territorial 12

Prison. 13

Our land agreement and our Deed shows that they 14

have a 150 foot easement right through the middle of the 15

prison and our museum, for expanding the Union Pacific 16

Railroad. This is problematic for us as you might see. 17

Also, double tracking is problematic for us. We’re 18

already losing chunks of these old adobe structures and 19

Quartermaster Depot just because of the single track that 20

is there now. The trains rumbling through at speed. 21

But the choke point still is the Colorado River 22

as it always has been. There’s a number of bridges at 23

that site. The current Union Pacific is a single lane. 24


49

They can’t close that and put a new -– and then put a new 1

one in because it would stop traffic all the way around. 2

So they’re looking for new ways of crossing. 3

They had one area picked, but it went right through the 4

Yuma Crossing’s brand-new park or the City’s brand-new 5

park down there. But it also went through ceremonial 6

lands held by the Quenchan Indians. 7

So these are Union Pacific’s troubles and 8

hopefully, we’re the beneficiaries of the resolution and 9

not the solution to their problem by coming right through 10

the museum. So we’re hoping that things will work out 11

well. No one wants to see the museum taken down. No one 12

wants to see the Quechan Indians ceremonial grounds hurt 13

or the City Park. So they’re going to have to come up 14

with some other resolution for double tracking through 15

that area. 16

MR. CHAIRMAN: So nothing current? 17

MR. REAM: Nothing current. 18


MR. REAM: Except for our partnership with 20

them. And they opened up a pie shop in the Yuma 21

Quartermaster Depot in order to push people through. 22

They have pie every day from 11:00 to 2:00. It is good 23

pie. 24


50

MR. MARTYN: And the volunteers dress up -– the 1

volunteer group takes care of it. They dress up in period 2

costumes. They dress up in Period costume and all these 3

Marine wives are in there and it’s just a great 4

experience, and of course, Jay Ream, the pie guy, we were 5

there for two days and we had -– we were there twice. 6

BOARD MEMBER: I was there about three weeks 7

ago, but I was later than the pie. I got there at 3:00, 8

I guess. The jogging and biking trail, is that part of 9

that Heritage area they’re building? 10

MR. REAM: Yes. 11

BOARD MEMBER: They really are doing a nice 12

job. 13

MR. CHAIRMAN: They’ve done a nice job. 14

MR. REAM: And you know the nice thing about 15

that, many of those -– that park had Heritage Fund Grants 16

provided by this Parks Board. The park right next to the 17

bridge where the restrooms are, it’s a State Lake 18

Improvement Fund Grant provided by this Parks Board. The 19

work down at the wetlands also State Lake Improvement 20

Fund, LRSP and Land Water Conservation Fund Grants, all 21

provided by this Parks Board, they really leveraged this 22

Parks Board and the monies that we use to give out to 23

develop this area. 24


51

BOARD MEMBER: I was at Lake Powell back in the 1

fall and I saw a restroom building and it had a plaque on 2

the side saying that it was built with State Lake 3

Improvement Funds. 4

MR. REAM: There’s one near Tempe Town Lake 5

somewhere, too. 6

Last one. San Rafael State Natural Area. Of 7

course this park is closed to the public. We do have a 8

24-hour presence down there. We’re going to have two 9

employees down there. Our Regional Manager will work out 10

of the Big House and use that Big House as an office, and 11

we have a full-time watch person/maintenance 12

person/mechanic Ranger, one of those Swiss Army knifes 13

that I talk about that Rangers are. They just do 14

everything, is going to be living down in the cowboy 15

houses. So we’ll have a full-time presence down there. 16

We have just recently sent out a Special Use 17

Permit for grazing this season with out conservation 18

owner who is part of our conservation (indiscernible), a 19

gentleman named Ross Humphreys. If the Special Use 20

Permit is satisfactory and he signs it, from March 21

through August, it will be grazing on our 3,200 acres of 22

(indiscernible) down around San Rafael. 23

So we’ll have some cows and we’ll have some 24

calves and we’ll have some cowboys and we’ll have some 25


52

Rangers out there this year, and we won’t have a repeat 1

of next year where someone else is reporting our fire. 2

We’ll report our own fire if it happens. 3

And then Contact Point, we continue to work 4

with BLM on that. Sorry to be so long. I won’t have to 5

do this again for quite some time, but a lot has happened 6

since January 15, 2010. 7

MR. CHAIRMAN: And San Rafael brings to mind, 8

there is some, I believe some legislation pending having 9

to do with credits or tax -– or whatever, for the movie 10

industry is what I’m getting at. And San Rafael and 11

several of our other parks would be ideal locations for 12

movie folks to move into. And there is a potential 13

source of income for us. 14

MR. REAM: It used to be that San Rafael was a 15

very valuable -– western, because there’s no power lines 16

or anything down there. It’s a problem for us on 17

occasion, but it’s really good for the movie people. Now 18

with all this digital photography, you can just take the 19

power lines and airplanes and trails out. 20

But still, we’re always open for that. Now 21

that we have people down there we can do it again. We 22

just couldn’t do it without designated people. 23

MR. CHAIRMAN: Kay? 24


53

MS. DAGGETT: Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ream, on the 1

Special Use Permit that you’re having at San Rafael, is 2

that with the same gentlemen that was doing it before? 3

MR. REAM: Yes. 4

MS. DAGGETT: Okay. 5

MR. REAM: Yes, it is. He is the underlying 6

rancher and he pays a little more and is a little easier 7

and we work with him. He just opens a gate and it’s the 8

same old pastures that it was when it was San Rafael 9

Cattle Company and the same old direction for the cows. 10

They know where to go. 11

MR. MARTYN: Mr. Chairman? 12

MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes, sir. 13

MR. MARTYN: A couple of things on San Rafael 14

and Ross Humphreys. I’ve been invited to a dinner with 15

him. It is good to him. We are working with our nature 16

group as well, our NPAC, as they work through the 17

environmental piece of that. This agreement is six 18

months for the cattle. NPAC has voiced some concern. 19

You show me the science where it says that the cows are 20

going to hurt the place, and then we’ll talk. Until then 21

keep doing your study, basically. 22

So we’re working both sides. They have a 23

mandate. I gave them this a year ago almost. You know, 24

figure out, you prove to me that cows are going to damage 25


54

this property and our obligation, then we’ll stop. Until 1

then we’re going to help protect the property. So we’re 2

leaning forward in that capacity. 3

Also, on San Rafael, working with Mike Ingram 4

and the Joe Foss Institute, which I recommend you take a 5

look at. They have a big fundraiser. Mike Ingram is a 6

big developer. He’s the guy that built the Town of 7

Maricopa basically. He’s also part owner of 8

Diamondbacks, a good -- a great American. Anyway, they 9

have an event with the Foss Institute and they have asked 10

to have the ability to use the San Rafael house over a 11

weekend. He’s a huge John Wayne fan and it will be sold 12

and auctioned as such as the McClintock House. So we’re 13

looking at that later in the late summer, early fall 14

timeframe, where it will have a chuck wagon on food 15

bought out and they’ll spend high dollars to be on our -– 16

on the park, and that will benefit the Joe Foss Institute 17

and it won’t involve staff, other than just being there 18

to make sure everything is taken care of. 19

MR. CHAIRMAN: I might add, although most of 20

the folks on this Board are well aware of it. One of the 21

main reasons to get those cattle in there is to protect 22

us from a fire hazard standpoint, because when you don’t 23

keep it grazed down a little bit, as we found out a year 24


55

ago, you’ve got a potential fire that would take that 1

house out in nothing flat. 2

So thank you, Jay. Kent? 3

MR. ENNIS: Mr. Chairman, Board Members, I will 4

be as brief as I always try to be. 5

The visitation in January of this year was up 6

three-tenths of 1 percent. Year-to-date throughout the 7

system, visitation is up 3 percent. But what we expected 8

to happen for a couple of years now finally happened with 9

regard to revenues. And that was while the revenues were 10

-– excuse me, the attendance was essentially flat or 11

slightly up, the revenues in January were down, about 15 12

percent. Fortunately, it’s one of our lowest revenue 13

months, and the reason of course was that the revenue 14

system where you can book and pay for your reservations 15

in advanced caused an advanced funding of revenues. 16

That, and it was also a very cold month. 17

So we’re right now working with staff to map 18

out exactly what we can expect to disentangle the current 19

revenues from the pre-booked revenues in the future, just 20

so that when the more important months come along, that 21

we can have at least some idea what is coming. It’s not 22

exactly an easy task to do that, but now that we have the 23

system, we really don’t have any choice. 24


56

Overall, revenues throughout the system are up 1

year-to-date to a little over 2 ½ to almost – well, 2

closer to 2 percent. So we’re in good shape. 3

The Off Highway Vehicle Recreation Fund –- 4

MR. MARTYN: I’m sorry, can you go back one 5

slide. Mr. Chairman, I just want to make sure Mr. 6

Chairman that you recognize that if you look at 7

September, October, November, that they’re all up. 8

That’s reservations. It’s going to be this way from now 9

on. You get three months. It’s kind of a little delay 10

when you see it. So that down in January, if you look at 11

the increase we had September, October, November, 12

December, it’s really about the same. 13

So we’re not overreacting, but we are cognizant 14

of it, and now we know to plan where that blip is. And 15

we saw this reduction throughout all the parks. It 16

wasn’t just one park that went down because of cold 17

weather. It was parks system-wide. 18

MR. ENNIS: And we, just to add onto that, we 19

have no adjustment at all to our overall forecast for the 20

year. We’re up and we expect (indiscernible). 21

The Off Highway Vehicle –- yes, sir? 22

BOARD MEMBER: Just a second. So they make 23

reservations –- 24


57

MR. MARTYN: And the money goes in the system 1

that day. 2

BOARD MEMBER: Okay. So some of the 3

reservations are for March and April? 4

MR. ENNIS: Correct. 5

MR. MARTYN: Yes. 6

BOARD MEMBER: Okay. Do they make them as far 7

out as –- 8

MR. MARTYN: A year out. 9

BOARD MEMBER: -- October, November? 10

MR. ENNIS: Yes. They can make them at least a 11

year out. 12

BOARD MEMBER: Okay. 13

MR. ENNIS: But as the Director said, this is 14

part our system now and we can easily track what is 15

already booked. 16

BOARD MEMBER: So would you think when we -- 17

say we hit April, will it be really down because you’re 18

going into the summer months? 19

MR. ENNIS: No. Because they’ll be making 20

reservations for our summer parks. There are those that 21

plan six months out, there are those that plan 12 months 22

out and there are people like me, if we get a week out, 23

we’re good. So the reservations really pick up. 24


58

BOARD MEMBER: It will take a year or so to 1

cycle through and then it will be more -- 2

MR. MARTYN: To give us a better track record, 3

Mr. Chairman and Mr. Everett. It’s also as Mr. Ream 4

brought up, January was a four-weekend month this year, 5

which is uncommon. Usually you get five weekends out of 6

the months. So they’ll see an impact there as well. 7

MR. ENNIS: OHV Fund is up slightly this year, 8

about 2 percent. So we’re doing well there. The State 9

Lake Improvement Fund is essentially dead on track, so 10

we’re doing well there, and the hope for and anticipated 11

change to legislation in Fiscal ’14 would be nothing but 12

good news for us. We’ve been talking with ADOT about 13

that for a number of years. 14

This legislation that the Director mentioned 15

actually came out of them. So I guess they kind of 16

talked them into it. 17

Let’s see, overall I would mention that our 18

overall cash flow is doing well. We’re about year-to-19

date, about 4 percent under spent, which should translate 20

–- and we have some fairly expensive initiatives that the 21

Directors mentioned to you in the past. We need uniforms 22

for the staff, which will cost several hundred thousand 23

dollars, a little over 300,000, which is a wonderful new 24

thing for the look and morale of the Agency. And then we 25


59

also have the two items that we’ve mentioned to you 1

before. The consultants for concession planning. That 2

will probably start kicking in the fourth quarter of this 3

fiscal year, and also the Federal Lobbyist will probably 4

be kicking in also in the fourth quarter. 5

But even so, even with those anticipated 6

expenditures, we are actually under budget for the 7

moment. And hopefully, we’ll stay that way. So I’d be 8

happy to entertain any questions. I ran a little longer 9

this time. 10

MR. CHAIRMAN: I might add that the uniforms 11

were an issue of interest if not concern at the luncheon 12

before the awards ceremony. There were a couple of 13

questions about when the new uniforms were coming. So I 14

think the folks on the street are anxious to see that 15

coming down the road. It sounded like they were looking 16

forward to it. 17

MR. MARTYN: Mr. Chairman, to that point, I 18

hope you had a chance to look at our Employee Survey 19

results. That was a pretty comprehensive document that 20

indicated uniforms and we’ve addressed those directly. 21

A couple of things on the budget discussion, 22

adding on to Mr. Ennis. We’re looking at enhancing our 23

educational opportunities throughout the Agency, mostly 24

the leadership aspect of the organization. I will be 25


60

going to Harvard next month for a weeklong executive 1

leadership course. My GI Bill is paying the $7,000 for 2

the course. It is -– the name of the course is “Driving 3

Government Strategies,” which is basically about private 4

public partnerships in Government. So it is right in our 5

wheelhouse of where the organization is at and what we’re 6

looking to do. 7

Additionally, we’re going to send two members, 8

the Chief of Operations and the Head of Procurement, to 9

the Eller School for a week. It’s a $1,500 course and it 10

has to do with government in management and leadership. 11

So we’re going to start investing those few dollars in 12

our leadership. We don’t have the resources at this time 13

to say, hey, go to college and take six credits and we’ll 14

pay for it. We don’t have that kind of money for the 15

organization. But we do -– we have identified key 16

leaders in the organization and we’re going to start 17

investing them where we have the resources. So just if 18

it comes out, what the hell is Bryan is going to Harvard 19

for? You have a heads up. By the way, he’s paying for 20

it and that there are good things that will definitely 21

come of out this. So just about the heads up on the 22

budget and where we’re headed. 23

MR. CHAIRMAN: Very good. Yes, sir? 24


61

BOARD MEMBER: Do you have a photo of the 1

uniforms or something you can send us? 2

BOARD MEMBER: There’s no composite yet. It’s 3

pieces, parts that we’ve brought in and we just awarded 4

it. But I will get something out. 5

BOARD MEMBER: You’ve approved -– I mean, 6

you’re ready to go with them, right? I mean they’re 7

ordered? 8

MR. MARTYN: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Everett, we’ve 9

awarded the contract through Ace. We’ve got all the 10

pieces and parts and everything and it’s -– I’m very 11

excited about it. The procurement process moves 12

amazingly slow. My hope is that within the next 100 13

days, we will have our uniforms out there and I think you 14

will all be very proud of the way your Rangers look. 15

BOARD MEMBER: I actually have a picture of you 16

in the uniform I can send to them. 17

MR. MARTYN: We’ll wait until the Rangers -– 18

but I will tell you that in my e-mail that I sent out, a 19

brief discussion we talked uniforms, what my criteria was 20

for this, and my criteria was function, appearance and 21

cost in that order. Gives me a uniform that works. One, 22

I don’t care how good it looks; if it doesn’t work, it’s 23

no good to us. Two, it’s got to look good; and three, 24

we’re not going to underbid this. We’re going to get a 25


62

quality product that you can wear and use for a long 1

time. And I think we’ve accomplished that. 2

MR. CHAIRMAN: They look good says Ken. 3

All right. I think we’re down to Item H. Next 4

meeting is programmed to be on the 29th of March at Tubac 5

Presidio State Historic Park. And I don’t know, we’ve 6

got two folks sitting here today who may or may not be 7

with us then. It all depends on what the Senate does. 8

But Kelly, if you would -– first of all, Tracey, I would 9

like to thank you for your -– the last six years anyhow 10

that you’ve been on the Board and present you with a 11

little thanks. 12

(Clapping) 13

MR. CHAIRMAN: I appreciate all your support 14

and help. 15

MS. WESTERHAUSEN: That was a really good time. 16

MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes, it was. And we won’t tell 17

the lawyers what we really did. 18

MR. CHAIRMAN: Good luck to you, Tracey. And 19

come see us when we go to Tonto. 20

MS. WESTERHAUSEN: Yes. 21

MR. CHAIRMAN: You’re invited. Bill? Six 22

years, 16 -– ’76. Thank you, Bill. It’s been a real 23

pleasure to have you on board and I really appreciate 24

your professionalism and your insight. 25


63

MR. SCALZO: Thank you. 1

MR. CHAIRMAN: And the young kid you’re 2

bringing on board, I’m sure he’s going to step right in. 3

MR. SCALZO: He’s even smarter. 4

MR. CHAIRMAN: Thanks, Bill. 5

(Clapping) 6

MR. CHAIRMAN: Does anybody have anything you’d 7

like to bring up or have posted on the Agenda for down 8

the road? Yes, sir? 9

MR. MARTYN: We owe the Board Members their 10

lifetime pass. 11

MR. CHAIRMAN: Yes. 12

MR. MARTYN: So we owe you that. 13

MR. CHAIRMAN: That’s right. 14

MR. MARTYN: I thought we had those. I will 15

get those to you right away so you can get out to the 16

parks that you have well earned. Thank you, Mr. 17

Chairman. 18

MR. CHAIRMAN: And I don’t know when we’re 19

going to Tonto, but you know we’ll be there and we’ll let 20

you both know in case you care to come. At least spend 21

the night before with us, the evening before. 22

BOARD MEMBER: No, you have to stay for the 23

meeting. 24

MR. CHAIRMAN: Oh, okay. 25


64

BOARD MEMBER: That’s what they tell me. 1

MR. CHAIRMAN: If there’s nothing further, we 2

stand adjourned. Thank you for coming in on a slightly 3

adjusted schedule. 4

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CERTIFICATION 1

2

I certify that I transcribed the testimony in the 3

foregoing matter from a CD, and that the preceding pages 4

of typewritten matter is true, accurate and complete 5

accounting of all testimony from the audio recordings, to 6

the best of my skill and ability. 7

I further certify that I am in no way related to any 8

of the parties and that I am not in any way interested in 9

the outcome thereof. 10

Dated this _____ day of November 2013. 11

12

___/s/ Dawn Archambo__________________ 13

Dawn Archambo 14

Certified Electronic Transcriber No. 00231 15

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Revisions made on January 28, 2014 by: 17

18

__/s/ Angela F. Miller_________________ 19

Angela F. Miller, RPR, CR (AZ50127) 20

Certified Reporter 21

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