Carefree Truth
Issue #665, July 6, 2018
I have heard and read mayoral candidate Mike Farrar's claims that the only reason the water concerns are being addressed now is that he has made it a campaign issue. Because this would be a major undertaking, there has been a Water Advisory Committee looking into the feasibility of this for over a year. The committee included Mayor Les Peterson, Vice Mayor John Crane, and Councilman Mike Krahe, among others. It has now progressed to the point where an outside engineering study is underway to determine the cost and complexity of bringing Carefree residents served by the Cave Creek Water Company over to the Carefree Water Company.
Mr. Farrar further claims that he has been asking for this engineering study since last September. Not having found anything in our Carefree Truth records about that request by Mr. Farrar at a Council meeting, I made a Public Records Request to learn if there had been any communications of this nature from Mr. Farrar to the Town, outside of a Council meeting.
All of the attachments are emails to or from Mike Farrar containing the word "water" from June 30, 2015 through July 2nd, 2018 if you would care to download and read them. If not, I will give you the Reader's Digest version of their content.
March 31, 2016: Mr. Farrar sent an email to Gary Neiss noting, "The light is out on the left eye on the spider at the splash pad". Mr. Neiss responded, "I was not aware of the light being out at the water feature".
November 7, 2016: Mr. Farrar sent an email mentioning a State House Bill signed into law impacting water and waste water services invoicing that had no bearing on Carefree.
April 5, 2017: In an email from the Mayor to Mr. Farrar, the Mayor mentioned the Cave Creek Water situation, the 526 Carefree homes and the businesses on the west side of Town, and that Cave Creek may be nearing the limit of their CAP allocation.
September 14, 2017: There was an email from Mr. Farrar to Gary Neiss suggesting a source for DOT money for road and "water expansion/acquisition". (FYI - These monies are only available to qualifying rural communities and Carefree is not a rural community.)
February 12, 2018: There was an email from the Mayor to Mr. Farrar expressing concerns that the Italian Festival, originally planned to occur in Mariachi Plaza, might impact access to the Water Company.
March 23, 2018: There was an email from Gina Kaegi to Mr. Farrar expressing concerns that the Italian Festival, originally planned to occur in Mariachi Plaza, might impact access to the Water Company.
March 31, 2018: Mr. Farrar was on the distribution list for a letter from the Maricopa Board of Supervisors Gates to the City of Phoenix asking for an extension of water hauler permits to service Desert Hills.
June 15, 2018: There was an email from Scottsdale thanking Mr. Farrar for touring their water treatment plant.
June 21, 2018: Mr. Farrar asked if the Town had posted a quorum announcement for the June 26th water committee meeting.
Below, you will find the response to my Public Records Request. In his capacity as a Councilman, Mike Farrar has never written an email expressing interest in the water situation or asking for an engineering study.
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
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From: kandace@carefree.org
To: LHitchon@aol.com
Sent: 7/5/2018 12:40:03 PM US Mountain Standard Time
Subject: Public Information Request - Farrar/Water
Lyn
Attached are emails in response to your Public Information Request on July 5, 2018. A search was run from June 30, 2015 through July 2, 2018 as this is how the records were archived.
I cannot confirm if the word "water" was in emails sent by Mr. Farrar, or in
response to Mr. Farrar's email. Only that the email communication between Mr. Farrar and others contained the word "water" or the word "water" was in the subject line.
Thank you,
Kandace French Contreras, CMC
Town Clerk/Treasurer
Email: Kandace@carefree.org
Phone: 480.488.3686 Fax: 480.488.3845
PO Box 740, 8 Sundial Circle, Carefree, AZ 85377
See attached EMails: http://carefreetruth2.com/emails-carefree-truth-665---7618.html