
The City of Prescott took another step this week toward the long-planned $64.3 million runway extension that officials say will have a number of positive impacts for passengers flying out of the local airport.

By the end of July, a 13-member committee is expected to be on board to take on the multi-year process for updating the Prescott General Plan.

is name is among the most well-known in the annals of Prescott’s music and park scenes, and yet, the gravesite of local benefactor J.S. Acker does little to sing his praises.

Beginning in July, nearly 1,500 employees of Yavapai County can expect to see salary increases averaging about $4,000 per year, plus a 3.5% cost-of-living raise.
After years of planning and months of construction, the long-closed Lower Goldwater Lake is scheduled to open to foot traffic on Monday, May 23.

A proposed community garden near Willow Lake, formation of a General Plan Committee and possible improvements to the city’s website will be among the issues the Prescott City Council will consider this week.

In a move that was termed a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to help rural communities improve their water and sewer systems, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors agreed this week to use nearly $8.8 million of its COVID-19 recovery money to fund 37 utility projects.

Expanded improvements near the Granite Creek Park splash pad, planning for a new park in the Granite Dells, and land for a new fire station could be among the new projects that benefit from the City of Prescott’s share of COVID recovery funds.

Much has changed in the construction industry since the City of Prescott bought its new City Hall building about a year ago, and those changes are translating to significantly higher costs for renovations to the new building.

Anyone proposing a name change on a city building or street in the future will know going in that they will be responsible for the costs of changing or adding signage.

With the addition of more than 20 new staff positions and a 7% raise for employees, the City of Prescott’s tentative budget for the coming 2022-23 fiscal year is the largest ever proposed.

More than $8 million in American Rescue Plan Act money could be going to water and sewer systems throughout Yavapai County soon, if the Board of Supervisors approves about three dozen recommended projects this week.

The sale of a piece of City of Prescott property on McCormick Street this week opens the door for the construction of a marketplace that is planned to feature a food hall, a distillery and residential units.

With enthusiastic support this week, the Prescott City Council took a step forward in a multi-agency effort to preserve about 3,300 acres of open space on Glassford Hill.

With sales tax revenues showing nearly 7% growth so far this fiscal year, and bed tax up more than 45% year-to-date, the Prescott City Council is set to head into its budget planning for the coming fiscal year next week.

Sale of the city’s McCormick Street property, an agreement for preservation of open space on Glassford Hill, and changes to the city’s policy for naming buildings, will be among the issues the Prescott City Council will consider this week.

Despite appeals from a number of Yavapai County departments this week, the Board of Supervisors made just a handful of adjustments to the budget for the upcoming 2022-23 fiscal year.
In the wake of the first-ever Type 1 fire during the month of April in the Prescott National Forest, Arizona’s U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema stressed the need for year-around fire-fighting vigilance this week during a stop in Prescott.

Yavapai County took the first official step this week in a regional effort to preserve a large chunk of open land on Glassford Hill.

A city park that would include a three-acre lake, a pavilion, and a network of trails that would connect to existing Granite Dells-area trails is being planned in northeast Prescott near the intersection of Highway 89 and the old Highway 89A.

With a $5 million bequest in hand, the Friends of the Prescott Public Library organization has started the planning process for a new city library branch in the Granite Dells area.
More than a dozen people representing at least 10 different construction, development, architectural and lending firms turned out last week for a pre-bid meeting for purchase and redevelopment of the old Prescott City Hall building on Cortez Street.

More than $6 million of one-time costs in Yavapai County’s Finance, Juvenile Detention, and Facilities departments could be covered by American Rescue Plan Act funds, which would free up more money in the county’s general fund for personnel and program needs.

As retired surgeon Tom Rusing watched the news coming out of Ukraine in the early days of the war with Russia, he could not get the suffering he was seeing out of his mind.

Dramatic images from the 2018 Camp Fire in California, as well as information from the ongoing Crooks Fire south of Prescott, provided the context this week for a pitch to the Prescott City Council for a quad-cities climate risk assessment.

When the Indian Fire ignited just south of Prescott in May 2002, officials say the community had a major factor going for it: preparedness.

It took eight months of recruitment and interviewing, but the City of Prescott now has a new City Attorney under contract.

With development expected to increase on the City of Prescott’s leg of the Pioneer Parkway/Commerce Drive intersection, Yavapai County is asking the city to contribute about one-fourth of the cost of a roundabout configuration being planned at the corner.

After months of review and eight public meetings, Prescott’s hotly debated 2022 Water Management Policy won City Council approval this week.

Possible approval of the 2022 Water Management Policy, the choice of a new City Attorney, and plans for a new roundabout intersection on Pioneer Parkway will be among the issues the Prescott City Council will consider this week.
The dream for Western Heritage Center Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Gallagher has always been to showcase the rich history of Prescott right in the community’s heart – on Whiskey Row.

For months, Yavapai County Supervisors have been hearing that a lack of competitiveness in employee salaries has resulted in high turnover rates and inability to fill some job positions.

Yavapai County will have more flexibility for how it uses $10 million of the $45.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act money the county is receiving.

With this week’s approval of a $3.8 million contract for broadband improvements, Yavapai County has now devoted more than $16 million of its American Rescue Plan Act money toward improving high-speed internet in unserved and underserved areas.

The brutal winds, the unusually early occurrence in the fire season, and the rugged terrain all continue to be factors in the efforts to fight the Crooks Fire burning south of Prescott.
For generations of Prescott High School students, painting the “P” on Badger Mountain was a point of pride, a rite of passage, and just a fun time with friends.

Nearly a quarter of the $45.7 million that Yavapai County is receiving through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) could go toward general county government services, depending on a decision of the Board of Supervisors this week.
A major Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University project that will increase both safety and the capacity for students is in the planning stages at the Prescott Regional Airport.

Getting working bicycles into the hands of the people who need them has been the mission of Prescott College student Benjamin Pennacchio as he navigates his senior year of college.

As Prescott City Council members see it, the Prescott Regional Airport and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are critical links in filling the needs in an ongoing worldwide pilot shortage.
Six months after a rezoning for Dunkin’ Donuts on north Willow Creek Road was delayed to get more traffic information, the project got a thumbs-down from the Prescott Planning Zoning Commission this week.

In a move that will help Prescott complete a goal that was made in the 1990s, the Prescott City Council approved a fencing contract this week for the stretch of Peavine Trail between Prescott and Chino Valley.
From light post to light post, the decorative banners that decorate the streets of downtown Prescott often vary in design, color, and lettering.
In what is expected to be the second in a series of four construction contracts for renovations to a new City Hall building, the Prescott City Council agreed to spend about a quarter-million dollars this week for second-floor improvements.

More than eight decades after a sacred baptismal font mysteriously disappeared from a historic Catholic church in Caborca, Mexico, two Prescott men were successful in their years-long mission to return the vessel to its rightful home.

A contract for remodeling office space in the new Prescott City Hall building, a fencing contract for a new section of the Peavine Trail, and new banners for downtown Prescott will be among the issues the Prescott City Council will discuss this week.
Supply issues will push off the full opening of the Lower Goldwater Lake, but the City of Prescott still plans to open up the lake for partial use by early May.

Training in cybersecurity will be available to local adults, students, and teachers through a contract that the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors approved this week with the Center for the Future business-incubation program.

Yavapai County’s top two management officials, who have combined experience of more than 40 years of working for the county, have both indicated that they will retire by the first of 2023.

With one $12.6 million contract already approved, Yavapai County is looking ahead to possibly two more contracts that will help to improve broadband (high-speed internet) in unserved and under-served areas of Yavapai County.