The Payson Town Council held its regular meeting on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, starting at approximately 4:01 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers, 303 North Beeline Highway, Payson, Arizona, and adjourning at approximately 6:08 p.m. Mayor Stephen Otto presided. Present were Vice Mayor Susan Tubbs and Council Members Charlie Bell, Jim Ferris, Brett Flaherty, Dallin Haws, and Scott Nossek; Tubbs and some staff participated via Zoom. The agenda included the consent calendar, an Event Center booster station and arena cover presentation, the FY 2026-27 fee schedule, two minor General Plan amendments, first public hearings on a Building Advisory Board ordinance and the Longhorn Ranch PAD rezoning, and a property tax levy direction. Mayor Otto removed Item H.1 (Waste Collection and Disposal Services) from the agenda because it was not ready for council consideration.
Okay. Councilman Ferris, would you do the invocation for us, please? Dear Lord, we want to thank you for this opportunity to get together as a community body, and may all the deliberations what we uh contemplate here, what's in our hearts, what's in our minds, would be acceptable to you, Lord. And we just ask for your blessing over PAISA over our first responders, Lord. And uh Lord, we just ask that you be with us and all that we do, and we just give you thanks for all the blessings that you bestow on each one of us and the rim country as a whole. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic withstands one nation under God with liberty and justice for all. Now may we have a roll call. And Vice Mayor Susie Tubs is appearing to be as it uh brings us to call to the public. As a reminder, it's election season and state law prohibits any town resource, including staff time, equipment, and anything of value to be used to influence an election. This prohibition applies to call to the public. You can talk about a town issue, but please do not advocate for a specific candidate or ballot measure. We appreciate your efforts to help the town comply with state law and avoid using taxpayer monies to influence an election. Call to the public allows citizens with an opportunity to speak on any issue within the legal authority and jurisdiction of the town of Payson. The town must abide by Arizona Open Meeting Law, and this agendized item is the public's opportunity to be heard at this meeting. When called to speak, please approach the podium. Speak towards the microphone so your statements can be heard. Give your name, the town request that you address your comments to the council as a whole. Call to the public is regulated by time, place, and manner of restrictions. You cannot speak more than once at this meeting. Each speaker is limited to three minutes. You may not donate your time to another speaker. Note that the council will not be entering into a dialogue with you or answering your questions. State law prohibits the council and staff from responding to your questions and comments. With that, let's start the public comments. Ralph Townsend. No, Ralph. Michael Fox. Council members, thank you for letting an old guy like me talk. I bet a resident uh first of all, my name is Michael Fox. I've been a resident here in Payson for about seven years now. I'm proud to pay my taxes here. I'm a Vietnam War era veteran. And I'd uh just be very brief. I just thanks to the council members who support our library. It's a wonderful library. I use it. I've gone to hear some wonderful presentations there. And I hope we'll continue to keep that in our town. Thank you. Mike Gwyn. My name is Mike Quinn. Um I just wanted to speak about recreation in the town. Um, I think the Department of Recreation has done an excellent job. Uh, and it's certainly noticeable with the what they did at the rodeo grounds, but I'd like to encourage the town to make good use of vacant land that they have. There's a lot of vacant land over here by the police station, and there's vacant land on Main Street that the city owns. This vacant land a lot of times for very little cost can be changed into something that looks better or is uh more useful. Uh I came from a little town in North Dakota and a pizza business burnt down. It was an empty lot. We turned it into a little park, and it's been there for about 20 years now.