Residents praise increased patrols, urge dog park and changes to voting reporting

Two members of the public addressed the Pinetop Lakeside Town Council during the meeting's call to the public, praising recent increases in police presence and urging the council to pursue community projects and voting-process reforms.

Larry McCormick, a county resident who said he has lived in the area about eight years, praised the stepped-up patrols along State Route 260 and called for them to continue through the summer. "I just wanna applaud the overall, presence of the police and hope it continues throughout the summer when we're invaded by the large numbers of part timers that come up," McCormick said, adding that the patrols improve safety after past traffic fatalities on SR 260.

Kenny Kale, who told the council he is not currently a town resident but has longstanding ties to the community, described multiple priorities for the town including annexation, a dog park committee, affordable housing, road improvements and youth recreation. He urged changes to election reporting and vote-counting practices, saying, "A system of full observable hand counts with the machine counts could only add to the safety of our system of democracy," and recommended that Navajo County towns "push to abolish the practice of bundling votes, totals, which could make it hard to see vote manipulation and return to reporting by polling place." Kale also requested that the council form a dog park committee consisting of community members, town staff and council representatives.

Mayor Stephanie Erwin acknowledged the comments and asked the chief to pass along thanks to officers for the increased policing. Council members did not take formal action on the public comments during the meeting; the agenda noted the council may direct staff to study matters raised and consider them at a later date.