Don Jones
I am writing this letter to all concerned Mammoth residents. There has been a lot of work accomplished this year by the Public Works personnel and the Mammoth Town Council. All persons need to know that all the improvements to the town were approved by our town Council. This shows what an excellent job our council is doing to improve our town with our small allotted funding. This is also the end of our fiscal year report.
Water storage tank # 2 was refinished in 2016-2017 paid for with CDBG Grant Funds. Tank #1 was refinished this year using our CDBG Grant funding (Both good for 20 years). The sewer ponds aeration pumps were all repaired with one extra for a back-up. The main electrical lines were repaired and have been trouble free for over a year. Number 4 well has been converted to true 3 phase power with three new transformers installed and complete re-wiring of the well pump. Well electricity has been cut by 1/3rd. An IGA was passed with the county and a new radio tower was constructed at the sewer ponds. This new tower will give the town access to the new digital dispatch radio service in the future. A new sewer connection was installed at Cecil Trucking. The Town is now in compliance with all homes and facilities connected to sewer and water (A town ordinance). A new pump was installed at the pressure tank serving four customers. The old pump will be used as a back-up when repaired. The swimming pool showers have been repaired and all floors re-painted. The diving board was rebuilt, painted, and is now in excellent condition. For continued operation the town needs to budget and plan for a pool re-finish. The side walls are starting to disintegrate and tiles need to be replaced. One problem here is the funding. Pools are on the bottom of the list for grants. Possible grants from casinos or Mines? The Community Center has been re-modeled and is in constant demand. New laminate flooring has been installed. More tables were purchased. The interior has been painted and we have received many compliments. The rest rooms are the next to be remodeled in 2019.The booster pump station is in good operation after new pumps, Cla-Val’s were installed. Cast iron impellors were installed on both pumps and are holding up great. We have a back-up booster pump and a back-up Cla-Val for immediate repairs if the machinery breaks down. The ball fields have been repaired where needed. Two new dug-out roofs were installed at the softball field. The back stop and bleachers have been repaired at both fields. Sprinklers have been repaired at all parks and ball fields including the soccer field. Public Works has started to re-model # 5 well. It is in need of new breaker and service panels along with the installation of true 3 phase power and should be completed in 2019. The Town Council has approved new LED highway lighting but we need to find the money to replace all high pressure sodium lights. There will be a large savings in power when completed. The town’s police cars have been maintained on a monthly basis but all three needs to be replaced with newer models. We have been replacing with used parts from old cars but the town needs to put this on the priority list.
Future plans for the town are: A grant of $417K to include new electronic water meters. Also, in this grant new water main valves (approx. 275) will be purchased. This grant has been approved and will be facilitated by CAG. Many thanks to Alan Urban and Ken Hebert for their hard work at CAG.
A $30K grant has been applied for to pay for engineering costs for a USDA loan to replace all water mains in the town (PER). This is a search grant for low income towns to pay the engineer through USDA. All applications for our USDA loan/grant have been turned in for the total replacement of all old water pipes in the town. The total loan will be over $3M. Now, if approved, the town will need to consider on how to repay the loan. The RTA tax money has built up to $2.6M at Pinal Co. The town has submitted a plan to repave streets in bad repair using the $300K a year allotted to us with those tax monies. These tax funds will be available to the town for the next 20 years. Special thanks to Councilman Sloan. Bob shows up several times a week to offer his help. He goes over the agenda and voices his concerns with myself and office staff. The town audits are caught up and were 4 years in arrears. Many thanks to Pat Walker Consulting and Colby & Powell for their management of our finances. I will be leaving at the end of this year. Contrary to uneducated belief I am not making the salary of persons working here in the past. I am making $30K less a year. In fact I am making less than I made 35 years ago.
/s/ Don Jones
Mammoth Town Manager/Public Works