Meeting Minutes
August 7, 2026

The meeting of the Naco Sanitary District was called to order at 5:01PM. On roll call, Luis Silva, Jesus Guerrero, Victor Silva, Charles Behney and Stephen Dey were present.

Under Old Business, the board reviewed the minutes from the July 10, 2026 meeting. A correction was suggested to include the last name of a public commenter named Roland. It was noted that Roland had declined to provide his last name at that meeting. No other corrections were made. Mr. Dey made a motion to accept the minutes as written, which was seconded by Mr. Behney. The motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Behney and Mr. Dey attended an impromptu meeting with the City of Bisbee’s Planning Director, Ms. Melissa Hartman. The planning director has given the “green light” to move forward with a work group to discuss plans for a regional constructed wetlands and a recreational park for Naco and Bisbee. Newly elected Mayor Amy Burkert is also to attend. A series of upcoming work sessions will be scheduled with the mayor elect.

WIFA Debt Authorization Resolution: WIFA legal counsel and Casey Alman requested a minor modification to update two ARS statutes in a previously approved resolution from August 2025. NSD attorney, Mr. Denis Fitzgibbons confirmed the resolution remains correct in principle, with two changes from the original debt authorization resolution of 2025, which were requested by the WIFA legal counsel.
NSD has matching funds in capital reserve accounts to pursue WIFA loans to increase operations and maintenance flexibility. All regional stakeholders from the 2025 executive summary are now in agreement, with no adversarial positions from Cochise County or the City of Bisbee regarding regional cooperation and shared aquifer protection and effluent treatment.

NSD is working with Kimley-Horn, who is drawing up specifications for two new monitor wells to return the district to full compliance.
A severe storm over Bisbee caused a massive flash flood on the Naco property the previous day. Floodwaters reached six feet deep, breaching the site’s dikes and dams, while turning the access road to Monitor Well #3 into a river. Mr. Dey and Mr. Behney inspected the damage. Search and rescue teams were granted access to the property to look for a potential missing body. The recently repaired dike and dam infrastructure will need to be rebuilt. NSD continues accelerated monitoring due to prior nitrate and coliform exceedances. A total coliform notice was received from the last test, and nitrate status results are pending.

The site’s flowmeter is back online, bringing the flowmeter into compliance with ADEQ. To protect the newly replaced equipment from future lightning strikes, lightning suppression is needed. Mr. Fitzgibbons confirmed that expenditures under $5,000 do not require a public bidding process.

A motion was made by Mr. Behney and was seconded by Mr. Luis Silva. The motion was approved unanimously.
NSD Chair Charles Behney recused himself from the next agenda item and handed the gavel to Vice Chair Stephen Dey.
The board reviewed a proposed independent contractor agreement combining site management and office management duties for Charles Behney. Stephen Day questioned if these roles should be split into two separate contracts to stay well under the annual $5,000 bid threshold if hours scale up. Legal counsel advised that the combined contract could proceed as written, and be split later if hours increase beyond the bid threshold.

The board adopted three amendments recommended by legal counsel:

Section 2.2 (Invoice and Payment): Changed to specify that the district shall pay each invoice within 30 days of receipt, only after explicit approval by the board at a regular or scheduled meeting.
Section 5.2 (Board Meetings): Added language stating that if the contractor is an active member of the NSD Board, they shall not receive independent contractor hourly compensation for attending board meetings.
Section 7.2 (Limitation of Liability): Amended to state that the district’s liability under the agreement shall be limited explicitly to the total amount of the contractor’s liability insurance.

A motion was made by Mr. Dey, and seconded by Mr. Victor Silva to accept the independent contractor contract with the specified legal amendments. The contractor agreement was passed by all four voting members. Mr. Behney abstained due to his recusal. The gavel was returned to Chair Behney. Mr. Behney thanked the board for their vote of confidence.

The board next reviewed and discussed Resolution No. 08-07-2026, which contains the modified language requested by WIFA regarding matching funds in a loan for the Kimley-Horn preliminary engineering review.

A motion was made by Mr. Dey and seconded by Mr. Behney to approve Resolution No. 08-07-2026 as written. The motion was unanimously approved.

For the Call to the Public, Mr. Behney read to the public: Public comment will be limited to 3 minutes. State statutes prevent Board members from responding directly to public comments or questions. The board may, at it’s own discretion, place the topic on a future meeting agenda for discussion.

Ms. Lori Anderson expressed concerns regarding potential conflicts of interest concerning the approval of a sitting board member for paid site and office management roles. She spoke of comments from the prior month’s meeting regarding public noticing requirements or a public vote, and questioned the need for taxpayer funds for legal and management expenses.

Ms. Kimberly Welz requested the formal public disclosure of the Naco Sanitary District’s balance sheet and financial statements. She mentioned a major increase in local property taxes and stated that residents have a right to see how tax dollars are distributed, including attorney and contractor compensations.

Mr. Behney replied that all district financial records, QuickBooks entries, and the three years of financial statements recently compiled for the USDA are fully open public records. Citizens can request copies directly from the District Office Manager, Mr. Ralph Garren.
Mr. Ron Craiger (Sp?) questioned the NSD’s long-term administrative scope, asking if the board intends to stick strictly to wastewater operations or if it plans to expand into external community projects (housing, tree planting) utilizing public grants or credit lines, which could place an undue financial burden on Naco’s population of roughly 1,200 residents. Per state statutes, board members refrained from directly debating or answering public comments.

Mr. David Loyd shared historical perspectives regarding the district’s past chairs and leadership, including a proposed space port, fist fights and interviews with the Arizona Attorney General regarding alleged open meeting violations. He claimed that early NSD boards operated entirely as volunteers and warned the current board to remain careful regarding legal regulations and state compliance.
A motion was made by Mr. Behney to adjourn the meeting at 5:28 p.m. Mr. Dey seconded and passed unanimously. The meeting officially concluded at 5:29 p.m.

____________________________________
Charles Behney, Naco Sanitary District Chair