Fredonia considering a new library building

The Fredonia Town Council met at the Town Offices on Wednesday, November 12, 2025. Council members Dirk Ballard, Kenny John­son, Frank Banks, Vice- Mayor Cecil Scott and Mayor Don Johnson were in attendance, as were Town Clerk Tracy Stumpf and Deputy Town Clerk Brittany Jackson. Mayor John­son called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.

Fredonia Town Council reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before their November 12 meeting at the town hall. Photo courtesy of Town of Fredonia.

The council first ad­dressed consent items, unanimously approv­ing the current meet­ing’s agenda and min­utes from the previous regular meeting, as well as the payment register for November 4, 2025, and November 12, 2025. The mayor and council made no reports.

Town Librarian Sheena Cram made her regular report to the council, starting with a refresher on the library’s funding. “We get our funding from three sources, one of course being the town. That goes toward wages and benefits for the employees, mainte­nance of the building, and travel expenses.” Cram continued, say­ing, “Coconino County supports us with two checks per year … that goes to all the fun stuff: programming, books, and anything we do for the kids.” The third source of funding is grants.

Cram noted that the state of the library building is an ongoing concern. The building needs extensive foun­dation work on the southern half of the building. Building a new library facility on land transferred from the school is an option that might provide for future growth at a comparable expense. The council said they would discuss the issue and provide direction.

Councilor Kenny Banks presented a proposal for adding decals to municipal vehicles identifying them as being from Fredonia, suggesting a design that includes images from the town’s heritage, like logging, mining and ranching. A motion was made and passed to have the decal designed within 30 days.

The next item was a report on homes that were damaged during the recent flooding. The mayor reported that the town is work­ing with the insurance company toward a reso­lution. He also said that the town was working on preventing damage from future flooding, including work on the manholes on Maurice Avenue.

The final agenda item was discussion about the town’s time-off policy for employees, specifically around tak­ing extended time-off. Councilor Ballard sug­gested forming a work group to examine the existing policy. A mo­tion was made to table the item pending a work meeting. The motion passed unani­mously.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.

Fredonia Town Coun­cil meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the town offices. Agendas and minutes can be found on the town website at fredoniaaz.gov