Thank you both Blaine and Lyn for the wonderful poem-I made a copy and shall continue to reread it-

God bless you, Blaine and Martha-

Loraine Simons

 

 

Excellent- another example of conscientious, competent government.

Fred Layman

(Lyn's note: Fred is referring to the Streets program.)

 

 

 

You can all be very proud of how you are managing Carefree. Well done Carefree!! KGDS!!

Ed Morgan

(Lyn's note: Ed's response was to the financial report.)

 

 

 

Could Carefree's Council and Mayor be loaned to my town government?

Rick

(Lyn's note: There are some people on my CFT email list who live in the surrounding area.)

 

Curious Lynn. Given the super low interest rates and tax write offs and depreciation, why didn’t the town refinance and retain the monies for future emergencies? It would be nice to see the financials used to make the decision of payoff versus refinancing the debt.

Bob Brenner

(Lyn's note: I posed your question to Mayor Schwan. Here is his reply: There are no tax write offs for municipalities, as municipalities are not subject to federal or state taxes; municipalities are not for-profit entities. The two notes each cost the Town about 4.5% in annual interest. Refinancing to a lower interest rate seemed to be problematic given the already low rates, the costs of refinancing, and the short length of the two notes. In Arizona, municipalities are restricted on how funds can be invested and the Town earned about 0.3% on its investments. There is no opportunity to make a more aggressive investment by Carefree because of the restrictions imposed by the State. After paying off the two debts, the Town still had $4,000,000+ to meet emergencies. The Council did do a financial analysis based on the facts and concluded that no debt saved money for the Town and its citizens. Simply put, why pay 4.3% interest to earn 0.3% as income?)

 

Lyn, I’m so glad you heard support from other Carefree residents who are working with Debbra Determan/Foothills Foundation, on the Homeless Project, after we discussed this. The Homeless Project began early this year when Marshall Stein called a number of people that he thought would have some interest in shaping a homeless program for people in Cave Creek/Carefree/North Scottsdale/New River. It was precipitated by a homeless man who was sleeping in the parking lot of the Food Bank. And he had a dog, which concerned him more than his own troubles. This led to a meeting that expanded into a regular gathering at the Phoenix Police Station. We are now at a point where we are exploring dividing into two directions: a “First Responder” program… immediate help with housing and food, with the assistance of the Phoenix, Cave Creek and Carefree law officers, and support by Rural Metro, Maricopa County law enforcement, and others; and a longer term set of solutions for the homeless, about to be homeless, and the temporary needs of the locals, Seniors, and of course, migrating homeless based on climate at a given time.

Debbra has been the ideal person to head this project, and has drawn many clergy who want to be part of one or more solutions, including local churches and even inner city clergy. It is a difficult array of issues, and is premature to discuss them today, but larger community involvement will soon be vital for any solutions to be applied. If you will permit, I will report regularly with news on this for the Carefree Truth news publication.

One job description has been fairly clear cut from the beginning, and is my responsibility to gather support for: help for the homeless critters that are traveling with the humans that we will attempt to assist.

Many human homeless avoid contact with service facilities, for fear of their animals being turned over to Maricopa County Pound. We are talking primarily dogs, but as we work our way into the “about to be homeless” category, there will be more issues of horses, cats, and others. The folks in the north county areas have been wonderful, in taking in “just one more” as their neighbors are forced to leave their homes. The community is endlessly giving in working with local shelters, email or phone banks and yes, even Maricopa County Pound, in absorbing the huge overflow.

Over the past recession years, we have assembled a loose email network of residents, mini shelters, formal shelters, and Veterinarians, who have been very caring. As part of this project, we would like to have for our own efforts, a more comprehensive listing of all of these good people. This would include anyone who could foster for a day or two (as we place the humans) or foster a little longer; or who would take another dog or critter (with proper investigation of health conditions, etc); who would commit to bringing a bag of animal food to the Foodbank for this purpose on a regular basis; who would help with forwarding calls to their own neighborhoods and networks; and which of our already overloaded vets will commit to taking calls through this program, and whether any free services are available (primarily shots).

Would each of you who reads this message please respond, ideally by email, but phone is good too, and identify what you can do on a reasonably predictable basis? Till now, we have not had many homeless to deal with. But as we think of expanding the program to be more pre-emptive, to address the persons in our own communities who are being ejected from homes, or families that need help with food or healthcare, will you be able to be on a list that we may call you? And please describe specifically what you can handle without burdening your own self and family unduly. And please indicate if you can help only with a referral through this program, or if you can help on a more general basis.

Thanks to you all, and please also forward your names and email to Lyn Hitchon, the editor of this newsletter, so you can stay current on the latest.

Blessings and strength to all.

Sara Vannucci, 480-231-3549, or just leave a message at 239-7770, and email at saravannucci@att.net.