Mon, October 06, 2008
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Yesterday in the evening I went to the Sahuarita’s City Council meeting at Anamax park’s meeting room. It was also my first time at the park, which is very beautiful and I encourage everyone to stop by and visit. To find Anamax, I went to mapquest and got directions to get there. It is easy, get on Sahuarita road towards I-19, turn left onto La Canada and while driving through it there will be a sign directing to Anamax Park.
It was my first time ever to be present in a city council’s meeting. It was about 30 or more people present, only to notice that later on at least half of us seating in the audience were presenters and left when their presentations and question sessions ended. Punctually starting at 7pm, Mayor Charles E. Oldham called to order. We did the pledge of allegiance directed to the flag as well as a moment of silence. Is the moment of silence done instead of prayer? Or, is it for some other reason, I am curious. To my mind it was for the victims of 9/11 whom I thought of during the moment of silence, but, hey, that is just me.
Present were the mayor, Marty Moreno (vice-mayor), and council members Lynne Skelton, John Sullivan and Joseph Taylor, as well as Town Manager Jim Stahle and Sandra Olivas, clerk. They all seem very knowledgeable and take seriously what they do. I looked for Barbara Dolan but she was not there. Here are tidbits of the meeting:
-April 1st through 30th declared to be “The Month of the Young Child” in Sahuarita.
-Presenters for the Regional Transportation argued their plan of expansion in Pima county, you can check it in details at www.yes1and2.org and see how it will affect Sahuarita if passed in the ballot.
-Telecommunication equipment for the police department of Sahuarita approved. Currently there are officer safety issues occurred such as dropping calls in remote areas with hand held radios.
-“Municipal Wireless Feasibility” study presented by MRI. Presenter talked about who will benefit and what Sahuarita will gain if free wireless internet is provided in our community, how it will impact residents, business, and surrounding neighborhoods. If passed, project completion is estimated to be on December of this year.
-On November ballot, there will be a Joint Technical Education District Proposal that expands opportunity to increase technical education to students within different districts such as Oro Valley, Marana and Sahuarita. The Council expressed support for the measure.
-Sandra Olivas reported that an audio digital recording of the City Council meetings will start to be uploaded to the website http://ci.sahuarita.az.us/ next month.
-Sandra Olivas also reported that over $6,000 were collected in delinquent license fees from businesses.
-Last but not least, Jim Stahle’s birthday is today. Happy Birthday!
Andrew,
My husband and I am extremely excited, we feel very lucky to live here, even more if the structure is set up.
It was talked in depth among city council members and the presenter, some members of the public said it would be a great step in education, especially online ed. for high schoolers.
I hope this talk between them is shown in the minutes that should be posted in the City Council's website soon so everyone knows what questions were asked.
It would be cool to hang out after the meeting among the commoners like me and discuss what was talked, get some reactions.
I did not see the facial expressions of how the people felt about free wireless internet.
Frankly, I wanted to get up and say, "Please pinch me, I think I am dreaming. Did you say free wireless Internet?" lol
I hope it passes and is implemented like you said, I could take my laptop anywhere in Sahuarita.
About the free wireless internet service being proposed for the town, does this mean I can set up my home computer to access the internet also? If so, how does Cox or whomever is your ISP feel about it?
Maybe I'm missing something here but if I can dump one more bill, great!
David,
I wanted to ask this same question, but I got shy. Me too, would like to know how internet providers feel about it. From what I understood, that would be the case, one less bill to pay ;-)
Mona, great summary of the meeting! Its great to hear about residents attending their Town Council's meetings and being interested in what items they are considering. I am sorry I missed you, it was my sister's birthday and with the emphasis that the Town Manager and Council put on family, they graciously let me have the night off.
I am glad everyone is so excited about wi-fi coming here! I just posted some comments about the timeframe for the project on the other wi-fi blog on this site, but wanted to also respond to David's comments.
The Town started looking at wi-fi as a way to increase public safety for police and efficiency for Town employees working in the field, but as we learned more, the idea kept getting better and better.
Having wi-fi in the Town would indeed mean that residents could use this to access the internet and save some money on internet service providers. Best of all, some residents cannot even get high-speed internet right now due to their location in the Town, so they are thrilled about finally being able to surf the internet in the 21st century!
In regard to the savings that residents realize from free wi-fi, there have been some preliminary economic studies in other communities that cite the additional money that stays in the local economy with the savings. In other words, if you don't have to pay $40 for internet access every month, you could spend that money buying groceries or home furnishings or other items in Town, which will mean more jobs, businesses, etc.
Another economic benefit is the amount of money saved by businesses on internet access. This is especially important for start-up businesses for which cash flow really matters.
Andrea Kelly did a great article in the Star today, which is available on the News section of this website. If anyone has further questions, please post them on the blog or email me at bdolan@ci.sahuarita.az.us.
Mona, thanks for the report from Town Hall. I'm interested to know what you and others in Sahuarita think about the Town offering free wireless Internet. Did that get the crowd (such that it was) at the meeting excited? Was it talked about in depth or only introduced? The trend of cities going wireless is catching on around the country but it's still pretty rare and difficult for large, sprawled out communities like Tucson and Phoenix. If Sahuarita can set up the infrastructure early what a great draw that will be for the Town over neighboring communities. How cool would it be to carry your laptop out to Sahuarita Lake Park on a sunny day and browse SahuaritaStar.com from your grassy perch under a tree? :)