04/20/26 Minutes Study Session

MINUTES 
 
WICKENBURG COMMON COUNCIL 
STUDY SESSION 
Monday, April 20, 2026, 2026 - 3:00 P.M. 
155 N. TEGNER - COUNCIL CHAMBERS 
WICKENBURG, ARIZONA 85390 
 
A. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Bratcher called the meeting to order at 3:01 PM 
 
B. ROLL CALL 
Present: 
Mayor BG Bratcher  
Vice Mayor Brian Jones 
Councilmember Kristy Bedoian 
Councilmember Shawn Clark  
Councilmember Margaret Nyberg 
Councilmember Rebecca Rovey 
Councilmember Art Rubash 
Staff Present: 
Troy Smith, Town Manager 
Trish Stuhan, Town Attorney 
Steve Boyle, Community Development Director 
Amy Brown, Town Clerk 
Cason Chambers, Public Works Director 
Les Brown, Police Chief 
Robert Martinez, Finance Director 
Tarah Mayerhofer, Human Resources Director 
Ed Temerowski, Fire Chief 
 
C. ITEMS OF BUSINESS 
 
1. Discussion and Direction to Staff Regarding FY27 Budget Preparation, Session 
#3 
 
Troy Smith, Town Manager, stated that this is the third budget study session that 
will include the Town Manager’s budget. The tentative budget is scheduled for 
May 4th, so if the Council doesn’t finish the discussion by 5:00, we plan to take a 
break and conduct the regular meeting. We will then reconvene this meeting to 
finish the discussion tonight. If not, there will need to be a special meeting 
scheduled to finish the budget discussions. This is a financial plan, so there will 
be changes from tonight’s budget to the tentative budget. This is the largest 
policy the Council has to decide each year.

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
Page 2 of 11 
 
Mayor Bratcher wanted to discuss the Council liaison assignments to emphasize 
that it is important to go to the meetings and report back to the Council. Below 
are the current assignments and these will come back in December, when the 
new Council is seated. All members were fine with keeping the current 
assignments.  
 
 
Tarah Mayerhofer, HR Director, stated that she received a request for the 
Council to look at the idea of PHI Air Medical (PHI Cares) membership for town 
residents or town employees. This same request was heard by the Council on 
December 20, 2021, and June 19, 2023, without it being approved either time.  
 
Option 1 is to cover all households in the town limits. This will cover PHI air 
transports from Maricopa and Yavapai Counties but will not have national 
coverage. Membership isn’t insurance and residents on AHCCS/Medicaid are 
excluded. The cost is $7 per household annually at an estimated cost of $24,290-
27,118. The town will have to provide PHI membership cards to residents and 
provide an annual resident roster. 
 
Option 2 is to cover full-time town employees at a cost of $60 per employee to 
cover their household. This is a national plan and is estimated to cost 
approximately $7,380 for 123 employees. There is a business benefit plan which 
would just be adding another benefit for employees while they are employed or 
there is a business gift plan which means the membership will remain with the 
employee even if they leave employment with the town.  
 
The Council needs to consider if this is a core municipal service and appropriate 
to use General Fund resources to pay for this as it will be an ongoing annual 
funding commitment or would the Council like to add this benefit to employees.  
 
Consensus of Council was that this is not the town’s responsibility as it is not a 
core municipal service.  
 
Maya Kwiedacz, Management Intern, presented information on the three grants 
the town has talked about offering. The town currently has the Commercial 
Façade Grant and Tourism Marketing Grant. The addition is the Community

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
Page 3 of 11 
 
Support Grant that has $50,000 designated for it which will give a process for the 
non-profit support grants as the Council requested that come at budget time 
instead of throughout the year from contingency. The Council heard a 
presentation from the Arizona Community Foundation about them managing the 
Community Support Grant or does the Council want to keep this with the town 
managing the grant. Does the Council want to only offer the grants one time per 
year? If they are all town managed grants, does the Council want to designate 
the Economic Development and Transportation Advisory Committee (EDTAC) as 
having the awarding authority or the Council want to take that back as a Council 
decision? 
 
 
 
Mayor Bratcher stated that having the Arizona Community Foundation manage 
the grant allows residents to put in money to help fund the grants.  
 
Consensus of Council was to have the town manage the Community Support 
Grant, have one cycle per year per grant, and have EDTAC manage the 
awarding of the grants. 
 
Cason Chambers, Public Works Director, presented the five-year Capital 
Improvement Projects (CIP) list with a discussion on the FY27 items only.  
• Airport Taxiway A Rehabilitation - Grant funded and underway with some of 
the project rolling over into next fiscal year 
• Adams/Jefferson Undergrounding of the Electric - Some of the project rolled 
over to next year with Phase 2 that came to the Council on March 2, 2026 
• Fire VHF System Upgrades - Spread over several years to get radios and 
some of the issues are the availability of the equipment. Town Manager Smith 
stated that the town has a very good deal by working with other municipalities 
to share the costs as radio towers are very expensive. 
•  Fire Ladder Truck Replacement – Cost is $1.57 million with expected 
delivery of November or December

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
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• IT Police Mobile Data Terminal Replacements – New fire workstations out of 
the fire department budget 
• IT New Workstations – Replace aging stations 
• IT Building Low Voltage Cabling – Replacing internal cables 
• Library Children’s Room Expansion – Easier access from the Library 
Reciprocal Fund 
• Maintenance Shop Door Rehabilitation and Motor Replacement  
• Sunset Pickleball Restrooms – This will be a 140 square foot building with 
one unisex bathroom and a utility room. The location will be across the 
parking lot due to easier access to utilities. A drinking fountain will be on the 
exterior of the building for filling water bottles. The cost is closer to $130,000 
but the question is whether the Council wants one or two restrooms. Two 
restrooms will result in a redesign being needed along with additional costs 
and more time. The current design is estimated to be completed by August 
2026. Consensus was to keep it at one restroom.  
• LED Lighting Improvement Grant – Upfit town facilities 
• Replace Aging HVAC Units  
• Seal/Stripe Sunset Park Parking Lots 
• ADA/Safety Upgrades at Town Parks 
• Pool Heaters and Covers – This is not being recommended to continue with 
this project as the cost is now at $202,000, so much higher than originally 
projected. Consensus of Council was to not do this project. 
• Sunset and Sunrise Park Design/Engineering – It is being recommended to 
move forward with getting 60% plans at a cost of $500,000 so that the town 
will know the costs and be able to apply for grants.  
• Coffinger Baseball/Football Field Renovations – Rolling forward some of the 
project budget into next year as it will not be finished by July 1 
• Community Center Construction – The renovations are estimated to be 
between $5-7 million with 100% plans not yet received in order to get an 
accurate estimate. This building was built in 1970 with 10,000 square feet of 
usable space. Significant repairs are needed in equipment upgrades, HVAC, 
electrical, plumbing, roof structure & trusses, ADA access, ADA restrooms 
and fire sprinkler system. In addition to the structure issues, there will also be 
some remodel work to maximize the usable spaces including a commercial 
kitchen, removable stage, exterior cosmetic repairs, and enclose the patio 
and lobbies. The remodel will add 3,806 square feet of new usable space. 
There is $5 million in next year’s budget for this project with $1 million this 
year’s budget. 
• Shade Sail Repair on Playgrounds 
• Replace Turf at Sunset Park 
• Garbage Can Replacement Downtown 
• CAP Building Demolition and Parking Lot – This building was built in 1979 
and is the old Community Action Program (CAP) office building. There was an 
assessment of the building with it receiving a 30 out of 100 score. Less than a 
score of 35 means that it is urgent as the building needs to either be

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
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stabilized or replaced. The plan is to demolish the building and make it into a 
parking lot for the town building next door that was the temporary fire station 
(TFS). The TFS will be turned into the Emergency Operations Center and be 
used as a large conference room/training center with the remodel of that 
building in FY28. Town Manager Smith added that this building is not a good 
look for the town and this demolition is critical since the town hasn’t been 
keeping up on the maintenance of the building.  
• Smoke Eater Renovation – This has been moved back a year but is another 
example of the town not keeping up on the maintenance of buildings. This 
was constructed in 1906 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It 
was deeded to the town in 1984 by the volunteer fire department as a youth 
center and is currently used for police virtual training. The interior and exterior 
are in poor condition. The idea is to create ADA restrooms in the rear of the 
building and create a meeting space for youth or public safety in the front of 
the building. 
• Paint the Exterior of the Train Depot – It was suggested to let the Chamber of 
Commerce do this for less money and pay them.  
• Lewis Addition Streets – Chip seal 
• Coconino Parking Lot Upgrade – This project can start once the construction 
vehicles for the museum are moved as this is their staging area. Dan Finley, 
Sigler Western Museum, stated that they expect to have the building 
complete by August 2027 and then hopefully open December 2027. The 
pavilion will seat 300 people for dinner. Community Development Director 
Steve Boyle stated that the town doesn’t have a parking requirement for 
downtown so businesses can use the streets and town parking areas. 
Consensus was to keep it as a public parking lot in next year’s budget. 
 
MOVED BY Councilmember Margaret Nyberg to recess at 5:04 PM until after the 
regular Council meeting 
SECONDED BY Councilmember Rebecca Rovey  
VOTE: 7 – 0 (Yes – Mayor Bratcher, Vice Mayor Jones, Councilmembers 
Bedoian, Clark, Nyberg, Rovey, and Rubash) 
 
Council restarted the meeting at 6:00 PM. 
 
Public Works Director Cason Chambers continued presenting on the CIP list.  
• Tegner Street Phase 3 – South Tegner and expand the road 
• Community Center Parking Lot Rehabilitation – Pave the dirt lot next to the 
Community Center Parking lot and work on the Community Center Parking 
Lot 
• Wastewater (WW) 1 Headworks Upgrade, UV and EPS, Grit Removal 
Improvements and Intensification – Rolled over from the current fiscal year as 
project waiting for permits to start project – These are paid by WIFA and 
ARPA funds.

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
Page 6 of 11 
 
• Lead Service Line Inventory Program – This is waiting for federal 
requirements regarding inspecting lines to see if there is lead for homes built 
before 1990 that is from the shut off valve of the home.  
• Utility Room at the Airport is split between WW1 and WW2 – Adding a 
restroom to the metal structure 
• Water 1 Land Acquisition – Future well site on state land north of the airport 
runway 
• Monitoring Wells – To test water 
• Shade Structures and Fencing Improvements – To protect pumps and other 
equipment to extend their life and make them secure 
• Adams/Santa Cruz Waterline Replacement – Rolled over but the project is 
underway and has CDBG funding 
• El Pajarito Waterline Project   
• Mariposa Well Replacement – Engineered this year with rehabilitation next 
year 
• Fuel Tank Cleaning at the Fuel Facility – There is water in the bottom, so this 
needs to be completed. 
• Public Works Copier – Matching Town Hall’s copier and purchased outright 
• Police Vehicle Bay Power Run – There is no power to their vehicle bay for 
charging.  
 
Town Manager Smith stated that there are $24 million in projects on the list for 
next fiscal year, but those will probably not all be completed in one fiscal year. 
There were $19 million in last fiscal year with many of those rolling over. He does 
not expect that we will get all the projects that are budgeted done this fiscal year.  
 
Finance Director Martinez stated that the Council already had a discussion 
regarding the funding agreements. Currently the town looks at the actual bed tax 
revenues collected from the previous fiscal year and subtract the operating 
expenses and planned expenditures designated by Town Council. Then the town 
sets aside 15% for contingency. The remainder is then divided into three equal 
parts, and 33.3% will be paid to the Chamber of Commerce, Del E Webb Center 
and Sigler Western Museum. The summary of the actual amounts is below: 
• FY25 Revenue - $260,803 
• Operating Expenses - $130,500 
✓ Other Contract Services - $90,000 
 
➢ Chamber of Commerce Sponsorship Agreement $60,000 
➢ Wasatch Mountain Media $30,000 
✓ Marketing II - $10,000 
✓ Matching Improvements - $25,000 
✓ Devore Statues - $5,500 
• 15% Contingency - $19,546 
• Marketing - $110,757 
✓ 3 Funding Agreements 
• Each of the three organizations will receive $36,919

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
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Since the pool heater and cover project will not happen, that will put money back 
into the bed tax contingency.  
 
Consensus of Council was to keep the Bed Tax Contingency at 15% and split at 
33% for the 3 entities.  
 
Director Martinez then reviewed the state shared revenue and local tax. Last 
year the town lowered the expected revenue by $1 million. This year staff is 
recommending that it be dropped by another $500,000, bringing it to $8 million. 
This is due to the downward trends that have been seen this year as well as less 
state shares being received due to the addition of San Tan Valley. Council gave 
staff direction to keep the property tax levy relatively flat at $628,450 which 
reduced the rate to .3856. Below is the breakdown for General Fund revenues: 
 
 
Our largest IGA (Fire) is created based on budget amounts and actual 
expenditures. For right now we show facility rentals down 12.7%, as we know 
this will be down due to the community center being closed due to construction. 
The Other Revenues category includes interest income which will be lower based 
on this budget as we have a lesser amount of cash invested into LGIP, which 
means we will earn less interest. The transfer out includes the fire station loan 
and $2.4 million to streets.  
 
Town Manager Smith stated that he told management not to submit any 
personnel requests this year and to continue with a five-year CIP plan. The 
budget process this year was a hybrid base budget approach where finance built 
the budgets for the departments based on historic spending and encouraged the 
reduction in operating expenses. This budget includes a 9.5% increase in health 
insurance benefits and a 5% increase in wages for all employees. Last year 
employees received a 4% increase as that was all that the town could afford. The 
5% increase is on the low end of the expected 5-8% increase of other

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
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municipalities. This is paid for primarily because the town saved about $891,000 
by not having an unfunded amount for the Public Safety Personnel Retirement 
System and it was budgeted. Staff has looked at other options to try to stay 
competitive and within budget.  
 
Tarah Mayerhofer, HR Director, stated that the Council’s compensation 
philosophy target was at 50th percentile (market median). The town is currently 
10% below the market for salary and 13% below the market for total 
compensation, so we are not meeting our compensation philosophy. She 
participated in an El Mirage class and compensation study, which means that 
she gets the results to know where we stand and their compensation philosophy 
is to be at 65th percentile. Other target cities are at 55th-75th percentile and are 
implementing a 5-8% total compensation increase. The town’s Employee 
Advisory Committee recommends having a 2% employee match to the 457b 
retirement accounts. The town currently offers a 457b plan though Nationwide 
with 36% of employees enrolled or 44 employees. The estimate is that 75% of 
the employees will do a match of 2% so the cost is about $150,000. This can be 
looked at annually to see if the Council wants to continue to provide this match. 
There are tax incentives to putting the money in a retirement plan instead of in a 
paycheck. This benefit would be for full-time employees only, including public 
safety. This benefit increase is not included in the budget yet.  
 
Consensus of Council was to keep the employee increase at 5% and add the 
benefit of a 2% employee match in a 457 plan.  
 
Finance Director Martinez then reviewed the department budgets. All 
departments include the 5% wage increase and the 9.5% health insurance 
increase. Departments with an asterisk have a CIP project that will also increase 
their budget. Departments did very good at increasing their budgets this year. As 
a summary, below are some reasons some of the budgets might be increase 
• 
General Services includes increases for Genysis, $120,000 for FSL, and 
$50,000 for ACF or Town Grant Funding 
• 
Human Resources includes increases for employee development and 
employee benefit portal 
• 
Town Clerk includes increases for short term rental and elections 
• 
Town Attorney includes increases for flat fee due to FY25 Actual if it had been 
billed by the hour, 5% indirect 
• 
Economic Development includes increases for Placer AI and Canva 
• 
IT - $20,000 workstations and $200,000 low voltage cabling 
• 
Public Services - $8,000 New Copy Machine 
• 
Police - $35,000 Vehicle Bay Power 
• 
Fire - $100,000 VHF System Upgrades, $1,573,000 Ladder 751 
Replacement, $8,600 Mobile Data Terminals

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
Page 9 of 11 
 
 
 
Contingencies and reserves are for emergencies, mid-year requests, and 
unanticipated expenditures. The General Fund Reserve will be maintained in an 
amount not less than 15% of new General Fund revenues for the budgeted fiscal 
year. Contingency will be established for all other applicable funds of at least 
10% and the equity of all funds will be maintained to meet the objectives of the 
fund. $100,000 will be budgeted under General Services each year to indemnify 
the town of unanticipated insurance claims. Expenditures may be made from 
contingencies only upon approval by the Town Council. Below show the 
balances for the contingencies and reserves: 
 
• Restricted Projected End of Year Fund Balance – $21,778,705 
✓ Contingency $1,201,535 at 10% 
✓ Capital Reserve $1,000,000 
✓ Reserve $5,283,553 at 30% 
• Unrestricted Fund Balance - $14,293,617 
 
The enterprise fund budget is below with the ones with asterisk’s have CIP 
projects.

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
Page 10 of 11 
 
 
 
The Enterprise Funds contingency and reserves are below: 
 
 
The expenditure limitation for FY26 was $63,473,203 and FY27 will be at 
$66,901,115. There are certain items that are excluded from calculating the 
expenditure limitation including: 
• Debt Service 
• Dividends, interest, or gains 
• Grants, aid, or contributions 
• Funds received from State of Arizona 
• Contracts with other political subdivisions 
• Refunds, reimbursements, and other recoveries

Town Council Minutes of April 20, 2026 
Page 11 of 11 
 
Below shows the last two completed years with their expenditure limitation 
compared to home much we actually use by showing the amount that we were 
under the limitation.  
 
 
The timeline for the budget is: 
• Tentative Budget Resolution and Adoption – May 4 
• Policy Review – May 18 
• Final Budget and Tax Levy – June 1 
• Final Budget Adoption (Special Meeting) – June 1 
• Property Tax Rate Adoption – July 6 
 
D. EXECUTIVE SESSION - (Council May Vote to Go Into Executive Session Pursuant 
to A.R.S §38-431.03(A)(3) to Receive Legal Advice from the Town Attorney on Any 
of the Above Agenda Items.) 
 
E. ADJOURNMENT  
MOVED BY Councilmember Margaret Nyberg to adjourn at approximately 7:17 PM 
SECONDED BY Councilmember Rebecca Rovey  
VOTE: 7 – 0 (Yes – Mayor Bratcher, Vice Mayor Jones, Councilmembers Bedoian, 
Clark, Nyberg, Rovey, and Rubash) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ATTEST: 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
           BG Bratcher, Mayor 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Amy Brown, Town Clerk 
CERTIFICATION 
I, Amy Brown, the duly appointed and qualified Town Clerk of the Town of Wickenburg, 
do hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes 
of the study session of the Town Council of Wickenburg, Arizona held on April 20, 2026. 
I further certify the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Amy Brown, MMC 
Town Clerk