A Community Grows Into The Future
Parks and Recreation boasts of successful Silly Mountain, Rodeo Grounds projects
Part III in a series on Apache Junction city government for fiscal year 2007-2008
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- Juli McDaid is a single mom and, with her 8-year-old son playing multiple sports per year, she needed a little help.

Thanks to the Apache Junction Parks and Recreation Department’s scholarship program, her child, Devin Conor, is able to participate in the organization’s activities.
   “They take exceptionally good care of me and my son, especially with the scholarship program,” McDaid said. “I’m a single mom. I have three children — the two oldest boys are on their own. I don’t get any child support for Devin. With him playing four sports a year, it can get expensive. I couldn’t afford day care. I could never make it without them.”
   That’s just one of the programs offered by Parks and Recreation thanks to the City Council passing its fiscal year 2007-2008 budget. The term was successful in many ways, according to Jeff Bell, Parks and Recreation director.
   Following an extensive public process, the department created a master development plan for Silly Mountain Park, located at U.S. Highway 60 and Silly Mountain Road. The 200-acre property was acquired under lease from the Bureau of Land Management. Its requirement is it has to be used for recreational purposes. Superstition Area Land Trust— an organization with a primary mission of assuring the long-term conservation, preservation and management of open spaces surrounding the Superstition Wilderness Area— offered its suggestions for the park just in time for the department’s public process. SALT was interested in reseeding the “scar” up the mountain.

See A-1 and see Future, page A-6

City Council Begins Work On New Police Audit
Last audit done in 2003— City Manager recommends audit every 5 years
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- The city council during its Monday work session began preliminary discussions about the latest audit of the city’s controversial police department.
   The last police department audit, in 2003, revealed allegations of harassment, as well as complaints by employees that they were regularly intimidated.
   The objective for the evening was to outline what items the council would like to see in the review. City Manager George Hoffman explained the scope of work in the request for proposals in 2003 included 19 different items.
   He suggested the city council consider: • The identification of any policies, practices or procedures that do not comply with professional police standards. • An assessment of communication within the department; between police department and city departments; and between police department and the community. • Identification of any state-of- the-art programs, technology and/or methods which can be employed to increase efficiency and effectiveness. • Evaluation of the degree to which the police department’s goals, objectives and operations relate to the expectations of the mayor and city council and the public. • Projection of future workloads; service demands; and staffing levels. • Opportunities for improvement for city provided support service relationships (such as HR or finance, for example).
   “I encourage that the next audit assess personnel matters, and that such an assessment be comprehensive in nature,” Hoffman said.

See A-1 and see Audit, page A-2

Court Rules Against Recall Crew
Judge says court can’t interfere with state timeframe-No recall election on November ballot
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
FLORENCE- Pinal County Superior Court Judge William O’Neil denied a request from Apache Junction recall proponents Jim Stephens and Shannon Flynn on Wednesday, Aug. 6, to order a Nov. 4, 2008, recall election involving City of Apache Junction Mayor John Insalaco, Vice Mayor R.E. Eck and councilmembers Robin Barker, Jeff Serdy and Rick Dietz.
   Flynn and Stephens, chairman and treasurer, respectively, of a group they call “The Committee for Honest Government,” filed the request with the hope of persuading the judge to order Pinal County Recorder Laura Dean-Lytle and Apache Junction City Clerk Kathy Connelly to expedite their petition review processes so that there would be a November recall election.
   City Attorney Joel Stern said, “The public won. The public won on this one— finally.” Stern added, “She (Flynn) can do things in ‘call to the public’ as they have been for eight months. They can do all sorts of nasty innuendos and defamation but when they start filing stuff in court it’s time that they’re accountable. That’s what I tried to make happen.”
   The court ruled that it did not have the authority to interfere with the statutory 60-day timeframe that Dean-Lytle is granted under Arizona law to verify and certify the recall signatures.
   Dean-Lytle said, “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have the opportunity to communicate, that would be myself, Mr. Stephens or Ms. Flynn. It would have saved time involved for everyone that had to take time out of their busy schedule to go to court.”
   Stephens did not appear at the hearing as he was out of town. Former Apache Junction Police Chief Glenn Walp attempted to speak on Stephens’ behalf, but the judge denied his request.

See A-1 and see Recall, A-3

Overcoming A Handicap
Seventy-four-year-old George Hornick picks up second career hole-in-one at Apache Creek
By Chuck Baker
The News
Ask George Hornick what his handicap is in golf and you might be surprised by his answer.
   “I’m about a twenty to twenty-two from the white tees,” George says without hesitation.
   You might find that a little surprising for a golfer who just recently recorded his second career hole-in-one at Apache Creek Golf Club, where he says he plays three times a week and rangers twice a week.
   Two weeks ago, using a four iron, George doublebounced his tee shot into the cup on the seventh hole at Apache Creek. This one, he saw go in the hole.
   “I never saw my first holein- one,” George says, which took place five years ago, also at Apache Creek. “I was bending over to pick up my tee and one of my playing partners told me it went in the hole.”
   The first hole-in-one by George took place on the old third hole at Apache Creek, now the twelfth hole ever since the course switched nines.
   Given his handicap, you might also be surprised by his age. George will turn seventy-five this October and at the rate his is going, might be on pace to shoot his age in another fifteen years or so.

See C-1 and see George, page C-2