The first meeting of the new composition of the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors following the November election was held in Prescott on Wednesday, January 8th. District 2 Superintendent James Gregory was reelected as President, and District 1 Superintendent Brooks Compton was elected Vice President.

declaration

During the meeting, the board designated Monday, January 27, in Yavapai County as “America’s Downwinder Day of Remembrance” and the week beginning Sunday, January 19 as “National Medical Death Investigator Week.” approved one declaration.

“This is very personal to me because my family is also a victim,” Compton said before reading Downwinder’s statement.

“Despite assurances from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, many Yavapai County residents who work and live downwind from above-ground nuclear test sites are adversely affected by radiation exposure caused by above-ground nuclear tests,” the declaration states. It has been stated.

The U.S. military conducted more than 100 ground-based nuclear tests between 1951 and 1992 at the Nevada Test Range, formerly known as the Nevada Test Range. Radioactive fallout from these experiments subsequently spread across the Southwest, affecting northern Arizona, Nevada, and southern Utah. . The people who lived in these areas from 1947 to 1962 are known as “Downwinders.”

The federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which funded medical care for downwind residents and uranium miners, recently expired in June 2024. Downwind resident activist Sherry Hanna told the board that she, along with the new administration and Elise Whitman, hopes to see federal funding restored. Staff Assistant to U.S. Congressman Eli Crane [R]reads a letter from Crane to that effect.

“Americans contaminated by our government’s nuclear testing and waste will no longer receive the life-saving assistance that the RECA program has provided for the past 30 years. Congress cannot allow this to continue,” Whitman said. I read it. “I co-sponsored HR 6753, the Uranium Miners Act, which would reauthorize the RECA program for an additional four years and allow exposure victims to file claims as their symptoms manifest.”

grant

The board also approved applications for community development block grants to Verde Valley Habitat for Humanity, Prescott Valley Food Bank, Prescott Valley Meals on Wheels, and cesspools in Ash Fork and Seligman. purification system. The Northern Arizona Council of Governments estimates the county will receive $1.3 million in CBDG funds, with awards issued in September.

A press release from Yavapai County states, “Yavapai County is allocated a Community Development Block Grant every four years, and these funds are used to serve low- to moderate-income residents within the county. “There must be,” it says.

“The funding source is Federal Housing and Urban Development Funds through the Arizona Housing Authority, administered by NACOG in Northern Arizona. It started with.”

Estimated awards for the three projects are $519,000 to Meals on Wheels and Prescott Valley Food Bank, $400,000 to Verde Valley Habitat for Humanity, and $500,000 to Yavapai County Development Services. of the request for $280,000.

Eleven organizations have applied for CBDG grants, including Cottonwood-based Steps to Recovery Homes, which received $400,000 to purchase properties for transitional housing. was demanding. The City of Camp Verde requested $650,000 to widen the sidewalk along Seventh Avenue. And Hope House of Sedona requested $201,771 to increase support services for homeless students and their families in the Sedona area.

“At this time, apart from the funding request we have submitted to the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, we plan to proceed with the continuation of the Seventh Street Sidewalk project in 2026, when we are scheduled to receive CDBG funds.”Camp Verde Public Works Director Ken Krebs said:

“Nearly 40 percent of all households in the Verde Valley alone are housing-burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and after paying for all maintenance and repairs on their homes, they have little money left over.” writes VVHH in its grant application. said the applied funds will be used for home repair programs and are expected to benefit about 50 homeowners.

The Yavapai County Department of Development Services and Environment has asked for $500,000 to replace aging cesspools around Ash Fork and Seligman, and estimated that each new septic system would cost between $10,000 and $40,000.

Although cesspools have been a standard method of managing human waste for thousands of years, and old cesspools are a valuable source of data for archaeologists, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality banned cesspools in the 1970s. and made it mandatory for new homes to be connected to septic tanks. Or a sewer system.

“For the past 50 years, cesspits have been basically illegal, so if they break down, you can’t replace them.” [or] It needs to be repaired,” said Yavapai County Development Services Director Jeremy Dye. “Those cesspools are primarily in the Ash Fork and Seligman areas. But they are all over the county…We estimate there are between 5,000 and 10,000 cesspools in Yavapai County. The number could be even higher.”

“We’ve seen an increase in these homes over the last few years. Their systems are starting to fail, and over time these older systems are going to have more failures,” Dye said. Ta.