Bullhead City Council Work Session and Tour – February 3, 2026
Bullhead City Council Work Session and Tour – February 3, 2026
On Tuesday, February 3, 2026, the Bullhead City Council convened for a special meeting that included a tour of the Optimum Community Center (2:00 PM), a work session (3:30 PM) to discuss Phase III of the center, and an executive session for legal advice regarding the La Plaza Hotel. No legal action was taken during the tour or work session.
Tour of Optimum Community Center
- The council toured the Optimum Community Center (2380 Optimum Way), viewing the recently remodeled gymnasium, bathrooms, classrooms, recreation offices, and shaded pickleball courts. The tour highlighted investments in the north part of Bullhead City.
Work Session Discussion on Phase III
- City Manager Toby Carter and Recreation Director Angie Johnson presented a revised plan for Phase III, shifting from remodeling an existing building (the “700 building”) for indoor pickleball to constructing a new 80×200 foot building. The new building would house four indoor pickleball courts (compared to the originally planned three) and could double as a community room by removing nets.
- Estimated costs: the pickleball building shell and finishes approximately $1.5 million; a new community pool (roughly 100×100 feet) about $2 million. Total for both projects estimated between $3–4 million. The current fiscal year had $1 million budgeted, with about $600,000–$700,000 potentially carried forward.
- Council members expressed strong support for the overall direction. Key points from council discussion:
- Councilmember Newland noted the existing pool at Ken Fovargue is used to capacity and supported adding a pool at the north facility.
- Councilmember Dahlman emphasized ensuring the indoor courts meet tournament specifications (minimum 30×60 feet per court) and praised the ability to add a second building later.
- Councilmember Smith and others suggested getting input from the pickleball community, as done for Rotary Park courts.
- Vice Mayor Alfonso asked about phasing; staff indicated both projects could be built concurrently, but design for the pool would take 6–9 months, so pickleball could be completed first.
- Councilmember Ring and others highlighted the positive transformation of the old school into a community asset.
- Mayor Tom Brady and staff discussed pool size: a 100×100 foot pool would accommodate lap swimming, water aerobics, and lessons but would not be an Olympic-sized pool (which would at least double cost). The council did not support an Olympic pool due to space and cost constraints.
- Staff mentioned potential partnerships with Legacy (for grants) and possible corporate sponsorships for naming or banner opportunities.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken, as the meeting was a work session. However, the council gave clear direction to move forward with both the indoor pickleball building and the new community pool at the Optimum Community Center, with a preference to start pickleball construction first given its shorter design timeline.
- Staff will refine designs, engage with user groups (pickleball players, pool users), and bring detailed funding and phasing proposals to the council during upcoming budget discussions.
- The council unanimously voted (7-0) to adjourn into executive session at the conclusion of the work session.
Meeting Transcript
By our local community. If you have any questions, please call 928-763-0193 or stop and see us at 2275 Train Road here in Bullhead City. We are located off Highway 95 between Marina Boulevard and Hancock Road, right next to City Hall. We've had many, many problems. You've heard me talking about the wipes and the fleshable wipes that are really not flushable. We've had to replace two or three uh pumps at the beginning of that plant to a cost of about 40,000 apiece just about every year. Bullhead City was incorporated in August of 1984. The police department took over in 1985. We are in the Northwest area of Arizona, and we sit right on the Colorado River, right across the river from Laughlin, Nevada. Our mission here is to make sure that we provide the service that the citizens want and deserve by getting out into the community and listening to them, carrying what they want out of their police department, and then changing our practices accordingly. The way the system of government is set up in America, the citizens give us our power and authority. And so it's really important that we get out and we listen to them. So getting out in the community gives them a chance to come up and tell us what they want and ask us questions and get to know us. My focus on constitutional policing is keeping it at the forefront. The Constitution is such an important document in our society and our way of life that you understand that our authority to police comes from the consent of the government. So if you understand that principle, it gives that document a different dimension. So constitutional policing for me is keeping it at the front, making sure my decisions are in line with the principles of the Constitution. And you also have to evaluate how has the Constitution been interpreted by the courts. They handle boats in the summer, the waterway patrols. They do a lot of OHB, which is the off-highway vehicle or the UTV uh patrols as well. So through the deserts on like Can Ams or side by sides. We do a lot of those patrols and enforcements as well. They do a lot of homeless uh outreach because in our area, there's because of the weather, you can have a lot more homeless than say somewhere cold. So we have a lot that are out in the desert that we can go out to with those UTVs and those side by sides, and we can reach out to them, provide them some of their resources. We have officers get out in the school zones, every school zone in town, uh, for about two, three weeks. And we have them get in the center lane, turn on their lights, uh, let citizens know, hey, school's back in session, slow down. You got kids walking around. Uh, so it's a safety aspect. But then the other cool thing that happens is our officers get out, they start interacting with the kids, you know, doing some high fives, handing out stickers, just encouraging them to get back in school. And the reason why that's so important is because you know, with kids, you never know what background they come from. When you get out and you interact with them, these kids get to see, man, these guys are they're just they're normal people, normal men and women. And uh inspiring them. Backup is our mobile crisis unit, and it stands for Bullhead Area, Community Crisis Unification Program. We serve the general service area of Bullhead City. The mobile crisis unit is important for our community members who suffer from uh middle health diagnosis and or acute crisis. The piece is geared towards uh assisting our public safety, both our law enforcement and our EMS uh individuals, so that when they identify on scene someone who has an acute crisis or a mental health diagnosis, we can come in, take command of that scene when it's safe, and get our public safety and our EMS personnel back on the street doing the BS. The Bullhead City Police Department Packed Academy stands for Police and Citizens Together. At Bullhead City Police Department, we believe an informed community is a safer community to live in. And our police and citizens together academy is designed to give people a hands-on look at the Bullhead City Police Department. And we also take them out to our range with our range instructors, and we give them a hands-on experience. They get to shoot our handgun, our rifle, they meet our forensic specialists and go through training with them. They tour our forensics lab and they lift a fingerprint, seeing that it's not just something easy to do, that there's a lot that goes into processing a crime scene. I personally like working here because the outpouring of support from this community is palpable. You can feel the support from this community. The reason why I got into government. Twofold. One, because I want to make sure people's rights are upheld. Even the people that choose a negative lifestyle that's not conducive to civil society. You know, their outbreaking loss, they still need to be protected with their rights too. But the other reason is to make sure that government stays within its bounds.
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