Minutes - Naco Sanitary District

Public Budget Hearing 6/13/2025
10:00 AM

Special Meeting
11:00 AM
NSD Business Office
1326 W. Highway 92 #12
Bisbee, Arizona 85603

Minutes

The Public Budget Hearing was called to order at 10:30 AM. Roll Call had Luis Silva, Jesus Guerrero, Andew Foster and Charles Behney present. Stephen Dey was present by conference call. There was no one from the public present, so the meeting was adjourned at !1:00 AM.

The Special Meeting of the NSD was called to order at 11:00 AM. Roll Call had Luis Silva, Jesus Guerrero, Andew Foster and Charles Behney present. Stephen Dey was present by conference call. The unapproved minutes for May 2, 2025 were discussed. Mr. Guerrero noted a spelling error that was corrected for the record. There were no more additions nor corrections, so Mr. Dey made a motion for approval of the minutes that was seconded by Mr. Behney. The minutes for May 2, 2025 passed unanimously.

Next, Mr. Behney stated that the requests for funding of the Preliminary Engineering Review with USDA and the Water Infrastructure Financing Agency were ongoing. Mr. Behney and Mr. Dey attended a transboundary conference that was held in Douglas and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute regarding wastewater and treatment plans with Agua Prieta and Douglas.

Mr. Behney met with Mr. Francisco Morales, who is the new border liaison with the North American Development Bank (NADB) for Arizona communities. Mr. Morales stated that Naco, Arizona is eligible for EPA funds for its system.

Mr. Behney also met with City of Douglas employees, City Manager Ms. Ana Urquijo, Deputy City Manager/Treasurer Mr. Luis Pedroza, Mr. Miguel Arvizu of Water and Sewer, and Ms. Daritza Villalobos the Grants & CMO Project Coordinator. Ms Villalobos offered to assist NSD with grants, while Mr. Arvizu and his staff want to tour the NSD WWTP. A work session for Douglas discussed actions and plans regarding the wastewater effluent upgrades for the ongoing port expansion on the west side of Douglas. In the past, the City of Douglas has provided assistance with their vacuum truck and they continue to help the Naco pueblo with advice and support.

The Sonoran Institute informed Mr. Behney that they would be adding the Naco pueblo to their agendas for future planning and research.

NSD Director Mr. Jesus Guerrero discovered the source of the water exceedence that was documented with the WWTP flowmeter and was filling the third lagoon. It was coming from a municipal water line break in Naco, Sonora approximately 600 feet east of the Naco Port of Entry, which then infiltrated into the ground before entering the NSD collection system. ADEQ was alerted, and they met with the Mexican authorities. The leak was repaired and the exceedence was stopped.

Mr. Behney was contacted by the Eisenhower Institute regarding their public policy report regarding the Naco-Bisbee sole source aquifer and NSD’s plans to remediate and mitigate the aquifer problems with a constructed wetlands and WWTP renovations. Mr. Dey stated that he had been interviewed by the Eisenhower Institute and was impressed with their enthusiasm and research.

Under Old Business, the minutes for May 2, 2025 was discussed. Mr. Guerrero found a typo which was corrected. Mr. Behney made a motion to approve the minutes with the corrections, which was seconded by Mr. Foster. The motion passed unanimously.

Next on the agenda was the finalized NSD budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026. Mr. Behney informed the Board that NSD Manager Monika Patience had revised the Total Taxes of the tentative budget from $120,000 to $123,500 based on the 2025-2026 Tax Rate that was available online at the Cochise County website. The Board had no other revisions. Mr. Behney made a motion to approve the budget with the change, which was seconded by Mr. Dey. The motion passed unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 AM.

__________________________
Charles Behney, NSD Chair

Regular Meeting 12/6/2024
10:30 AM
NSD Business Office
1326 W. Highway 92 #12
Bisbee, Arizona 85603

Minutes

The regular meeting of the Naco Sanitary District was called to order at 10:33 AM.

On roll call, Jesus Guerrero, Andrew Foster and Charles Behney were present. Stephen Dey was absent. Office Manager Monika Patience and Site Maintenance Manager Chris Willhoite were also in attendance.

First order of business was to conduct an election of Chair and Vice Chair. Andrew Foster nominated Charles Behney for Chair. This was seconded by Jesus Guerrero. There were no other nominations, so Mr. Behney stands as Chair.

Next, Mr. Behney nominated Andrew Foster for Vice Chair, which was seconded by Jesus Guerrero. As there were no other nominations, Andrew Foster stands as Vice Chair.

The meeting was reconvened with the new officers at 10:35 AM. Under old business, the minutes for 6/19/2024 were discussed. Mr. Guerrero noted that the meeting adjournment time was incorrect. This was corrected. The minutes were then unanimously approved.

Next, the resignation of board member Angelica Coronado was discussed. Mr. Behney explained that former Chair Stephen Dey had received a letter of resignation that had not been received by the NSD board. This letter needs to be sent to the Cochise County Clerk of the Board. Then an announcement regarding this vacancy will be published, and letters of interest can be received.

NSD meetings were discussed. The current regular meeting date of the first Friday of the month was continues unchanged. The location of meetings at the business office continues unchanged. Meeting posting locations continue to be online, the Naco Post Office and the Naco Fire Department.

The board then discussed the ADEQ inspection of the wastewater treatment plant on 11/21/2024 and its findings, which noted a lack of compliance at the WWTP.

Site Maintenance Manager, Chris Willhoite stated that the first priority was to hire Verhelst House crews to clear the weeds away from the lagoon berms. He discussed the time necessary to contact contractors, including the Verhelst House to remediate the defiencies before January 15, 2024. He reported that Silvic Electric has replaced fuses after the last power disruption. Mr. Behney stated that the January 15^th date was aspirational and not a hard deadline. Mr. Willhoite stated that he would begin contacting contractors immediately. Mr. Behney gave Mr. Willhoite the new site log, which includes the aquifer protection permit, site work logs, the Emergency Response Plan, and the ADEQ inspection report of 11/21/2024.

Mr. Behney made a motion for an emergency appropriation of $10,000 to hire equipment and crews to bring the WWTP back into full compliance before January 15, 2025. Mr. Willhoite stated that January 15^th would be difficult due to the holidays. This deadline was not a hard deadline, according to Mr. Behney. Andew Foster seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously.

During public comments, Naco resident Dennis Grissom was offered a tour of the WWTP site.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:19 AM.

________________________

Charles Behney NSD Chair