With the holidays fast approaching, it is truly a wonderful time of the year, to celebrate, to reflect, and to spend time with family and friends. Can it be almost one year since I became your Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor? The time has flown by and lots of work has been done in that time-frame. We want to give you a quick update as to what’s been happening lately in the Verde Valley.
Supervisor Michaels was honored to speak at the Sedona Heritage Museum during their Veterans Day tribute. Later in the day, she received the honor of assisting in the swearing in of another Arizona Ranger!
Jerome Slide Area Mitigation
Supervisor Michaels paid a visit to the Jerome Slide area and met with the workers from the Buesing Corporation, who in conjunction with Yavapai County are performing the slide mitigation work on UVX Road.This road is adjacent to Perkinsville Road in the Jerome shopping area.Construction consists of soil nail and shotcrete reinforcing to stabilize the slope and miscellaneous erosion control. Here is what they are saying in Jerome:
From Candace B. Gallagher, CMC, Town Manager/Clerk, Town of Jerome “Supervisor Michaels … I would like to chime in with my own appreciation here! This is clearly a huge and complicated project, and I honestly don’t know how the town would have been able to address it so effectively. My deepest gratitude to you and the County Supervisors for your assistance with this!”
From Rusty Blair, Town of Jerome Fire Chief, “As Fire Chief and a citizen of Jerome I’d like to thank you and the Board of Supervisors for taking on the slide project behind the fire station. The scope of this project would not allow for the town to be able to afford the efforts put into this project. Once again the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors have out done themselves in helping our small community”.
Overlooking the Jerome Slide Mitigation Project
Establishment of American Viticulture Area in the Verde Valley
We know the Verde Valley likes its locally grown and bottled wines and the exciting news is we have now been established as an American Viticultural Area (AVA)! Move aside Napa Valley and Sonoma, the Verde Valley is here!
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) recently established the approximately 200 square mile Verde Valley viticultural area as an AVA to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines. A petition had been received from the Verde Valley Wine Consortium on behalf of local grape growers and winemakers, proposing the establishment of the Verde Valley AVA in Yavapai County, Arizona. There are 24 commercially-producing vineyards within the proposed AVA as well as 11 wineries. According to the petition, the distinguishing features of the Verde Valley AVA is its climate, soils, and topography. For a wine to be labeled with an AVA name, such as “Verde Valley,” at least 85% of the wine must be derived from grapes grown within the AVA boundary lines and bottled in the State of Arizona.
Christmas Parade
With a theme of We Are The Verde Valley, Supervisor Donna Michaels and her team (including representatives from Sedona, Camp Verde, Verde Villages and Village of Oak Creek) had not one, but two floats in the 67th Annual Cottonwood Christmas Parade! On Saturday, December 4th, the parade route wound its way from the Verde Valley Fairgrounds through town and on to Main Street, all the way through Old Town Cottonwood. It was a blast! Plan to come out and watch the parade next year, or better yet, join us on one of our floats.
Off-Highway Vehicles – OHV’s
We can all understand the enjoyment of an off-roading experience, but do we understand the effects this has on our precious forest lands and the people who reside in those areas?We need to be able to save lives and preserve our public lands.
In October Supervisor Michaels had the opportunity to attend the Arizona County Supervisors Association meeting, where issues of importance for all Arizona Counties were discussed. Supervisor Michaels brought forth the OHV use and its effect on our forest lands. From there, the issue of preserving our Forest Lands has escalated as far up as the Arizona Senate!
