City council to discuss riverfront payment issues

The various resolutions that provide the framework for a development agreement between the city and private riverfront developer C.W. Clark will be discussed during the Yuma City Council's meeting Wednesday.

The discussion was placed on the council's Aug. 5 agenda at the request of Councilman Cody Beeson after several local subcontractors appealed to the city for help in receiving payments due to them for work they did on the Hilton Garden Inn. At the Aug. 5 meeting, Larry Kimball, director of hotel development for the developer, told the council he had received an e-mail from the bank saying the subcontractors who had submitted payment application would be paid that week.

The discussion item on the riverfront development was then continued to this Wednesday's meeting that will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the council chamber at Yuma City Hall, One City Plaza. No reason was given for tabling the item.

During Wednesday's meeting, the council also will be asked to award the bid for construction of the Pivot Point Plaza, a historic interpretive project to be build around the recently relocated 1907 Baldwin steam locomotive next to the Hilton Garden Inn. The project is meant to celebrate the entry of the first railroad into Arizona in 1877 across the Colorado River at what is now Madison Avenue.

Low bidder at $848,492 was Larry D. Builders Inc. of Fort Mohave. The project will be funded in part through the American Recovery and Revitalization Act. Additional funding will be through the Transportation Enhancement Act and the city of Yuma Hospitality Tax.

Preceding Wednesday's meeting, the council will hold a roundtable worksession at 3 p.m. today in Conference Room 190 at Yuma City Hall. During the roundtable, the council will discuss lodging statistics for May and June and promotion of Yuma as an Arizona meeting destination. Bob Ingram, president of the Yuma Visitor's Bureau, and Jeanine Rhea, chair of the Yuma Innkeepers Association, have been invited to participate.

Following the roundtable, the council will move to the council chambers at 5 p.m. for its regular worksession.

Charles Flynn, executive director of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, will present an update on the Multispecies Conservation Program funding opportunity for long-term maintenance of the Yuma East Wetlands.

Also, Pat Wicks, the city's finance director, will give a presentation on current discussions with the Auditor General's Office regarding interpretation of expenditure limitation reports.