Ray Alley Is Selected As Holbrook City Manager

By Linda Kor
The Holbrook City Council has selected a new permanent city manager. During Tuesday’s council meeting Ray Alley, who has acted as interim manager for the past three months, accepted the position offered by the council.
Alley was the only applicant for the position, which was posted in-house only. The council decided Feb. 9 that anyone interested in the position outside of city employees had the opportunity to apply for the interim position when it was advertised. The entire council has been very pleased with Alley’s performance over the past months as he quickly assessed the city’s budget situation, and made immediate changes to both staff and the efficiencies of the city with minimal impact to the citizens of Holbrook. The contract the city has with Alley is for one year at a salary of $91,000 with four weeks vacation and benefits equal to those of other full-time city personnel. “The salary is for the same amount that I was making as the interim manager. You also won’t be making the past mistake of paying someone not to do a job if you choose to terminate me,” stated Alley. What Alley was referring to was a line in the contract that states that in the event that Alley is terminated by the city, he fully agrees and understands that the city shall not pay him any severance pay in any amount whatsoever regardless of the circumstances surrounding the termination. With the matter of selecting a permanent manager out of the way, Alley will now be moving on to budget discussions, which are slated to begin in the next month, starting with a meeting between the city, the chamber of commerce and the historical society on Tuesday, March 9. In a separate matter, the council decided to table any action regarding the old Northland Pioneer College campus since NPC officials indicated in their Feb. 16 meeting that they are pursuing measures to have the nine modular buildings removed. Alley had contacted the city’s legal counsel, who suggested sending a formal letter to NPC asking for compliance, then filing a notice of claim for breach of contract. “It looks like the college is working on it now. I recommend giving them the benefit of the doubt and hold on to the letter,” stated Alley. The council agreed and the matter was tabled for six weeks. The council also tabled a motion on the agenda regarding a funding request in the amount of $1,300 by the Bullets Swim Team in order to assist with the purchase of much needed lane lines for the pool. “I recognize the need, but these are difficult times with the budget. There are still two to three months for fund-raising, and I feel it would make sense to let them do what they can to raise the funds. I feel it puts it back on the people who use the facility,” stated Alley. Coach Adicia Paschal agreed with Alley, stating that what they really wanted was to come before the council now, so that they would have their foot in the door should raising the funds become an issue. The council agreed to table the matter until a later date and to determine at that time how much remaining funding will be needed. In other business, the council approved a resolution of support for an application by Police Chief Mark Jackson for grants from Arizona’s 2011 Highway Safety Plan. The funds are based on projects requested and require no matching funds.