KINGMAN – Mohave County Supervisor Jean Bishop (R-Dist. 4) on Sept. 6 spoke to the Kingman Republican Women on a variety of topics including her proposals for use of the District 4 allocation of the Rescue Plan fund. Mohave County will receive $41 million from the Federal Government which the Supervisors voted to split evenly by supervisorial district.
While she doesn’t agree with the huge giveaways by the Federal Government, she believes it was important for the County to accept the funds in order to benefit Mohave County residents.
“I don’t agree with that. If you give money away, it has to come from somewhere,” she said. “But if the County doesn’t take that money it is going to go somewhere else; so, if we can do some good for Mohave County, I think we should take it.”
Bishop stated that the first issuance of funds—$1.3 million—will be used to put together a health plan for the rural communities in District 4. It will include a mobile health unit that will have a Registered Nurse. The unit will visit the rural communities on a rotation basis and administer medical tests, provide vaccinations, school shots, and other routine health services.
“More importantly,” she emphasized, “They will be able to give them resources where they can get help with food, utilities, rent, and a lot of different things that Mohave County Community Services offers already.”
She added that getting the word out in a lot of areas is somewhat difficult. Bishop said the grant for the van and staffing will run for five years. “At that point, it will end and the new Board, whoever it is, will decide if it is a value that they want to continue and fund with county tax dollars,” Bishop explained.
Bishop informed the group that another $2 million will be used to put in sewer connections to the Butler area of Kingman. She said it is very important to our water aquifers because the lots in many parts of the Butler area in North Kingman are 50 feet by 100 feet with homes on them.
“With that many septic tanks concentrated in one area, there are a lot of nitrates that are seeping into our ground water,” stated Bishop.
She further explained that the Hualapai aquifer is being depleted faster than water is going into it and we do not want that water to be contaminated.
“Eventually the ADEQ [Arizona Department of Environmental Quality] will come to Mohave County and say we have to get rid of septic tanks and get sewer,” she said.
A specific area, according to Bishop, will be targeted and the County will enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Kingman for people within 100 feet of a sewer line to be required to hook up to the sewer in the event of a septic tank failure.
Bishop outlined her plans for spending $1 million on a new well for the Golden Valley Improvement District. She cited an incident where the one well went down recently and residents were without water for ten days. She mentioned the new well will provide some redundancy but if one well goes down there will be a backup.
She said there will be another $2 million next year with which she plans to use to help some of the rural water companies such as White Hills, Meadview, and Dolan Springs. She added that any leftover funds will most likely be used to piggyback onto Supervisor Lingenfelter’s proposed broadband project.
Other issues Bishop covered included the increase in the homeless population in Kingman, zoning matters, water retention ponds, and the County Fairgrounds. Bishop advised that the Board of Supervisors will not take over the operations of the Fairgrounds until Dec. 31. She said that, in the meantime, the Fair Association will continue with the Fair as scheduled.
Bishop recently faced two back-to-back, failed recall attempts which never made it to the ballot and has been the subject of relentless vicious attacks on social media.
“If I could give advice to anybody that I have learned over my years in elective office, it would be to stay the heck off social media,” Bishop stated to laughter from the group.
“It is an evil place, it truly is,” she pronounced. “People don’t have to tell the truth, they can make up anything they want, they can photoshop, they can make videos, take clips from several different meetings, put them together and make you something that you truly are not.”
She announced that she will not seek another term as County Supervisor. “I am term limiting myself,” she said. “I have had two full terms [as Supervisor] and two full terms as Constable; I think it is time to have a couple of terms of retirement now.”
Bishop said she has worked every day for what is right for Mohave County and one of the ways she has done that is meeting with State leaders to share with them critical issues that are important to Mohave County.
“I think the Board has done a really good job since I have been in office,” she said. “We have raised taxes a couple of times, but we have also reduced taxes more times than they were raised. But, unfortunately, property values keep increasing [and that is] good if you are selling but if you are there for the long haul you don’t like to see your value increase and then your property taxes increase regardless of the tax rate.”
