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HomeMy WebLinkAboutState of the Town 2009Mayor Ed Honea's State of the Town speech April 24, 2009 Thank you, Paul, for that introduction. Welcome to Marana's State of the Town breakfast. Before I get started, I want to take this opportunity to thank my wife Jan for being so supportive. A lot of my work takes place in the evenings or on weekends and that can make it tough to plan time together. I also want to thank the Marana Chamber of Commerce and Marana Foundation for hosting this breakfast. Both organizations do outstanding work by bringing people together in the community. We have many dedicated sponsors for today's breakfast, including signature sponsor CalPortland. Please join me in appreciating the many fine businesses that supported this event. Marana's Town Council represents everyone who lives, shops or owns a business here. The council cares about the community and puts in many hours to ensure that Marana remains an outstanding place to live and work. Please join me in recognizing Vice Mayor Herb Kai and Council members Russell Clanagan, Patti Comerford, Carol McGorray, Jon Post and Roxanne Ziegler. Their families also deserve our appreciation for understanding the demands placed on these outstanding individuals. Our town's senior leadership is strong. Town Manager Gilbert Davidson and Assistant Town Manager Deb Thalasitis are charged with Marana's day-to- day operations and the supervision of our more than 320 employees. These are challenging jobs even during good times. The Council and I appreciate the countless hours Gilbert, Deb, our general managers, department heads and employees put in to keep up with the many challenges our community faces. I also want to thank all of you who have taken time out of your busy schedules to join us today. I'm always excited to start my day by talking about the many exciting things we have happening in the town of Marana. All of us here who- work for the town are happy to have you with us. To better familiarize you with Marana, I want to offer a geographic overview. Marana is divided into three distinct regions. Today, we're gathered near Continental Ranch, the town's largest residential community. There are more than 4,000 homes located in Continental Ranch, which has been around for nearly 20 years. Located nearby is Sunflower, one of Marana's two retirement communities. Nearby Cortaro Road is home to one of our town's vibrant business districts with restaurants, large anchor stores and small specialty shops. North Marana is where the original incorporation took place and is the area where many families who are new to Marana have settled in the recent past. It's also the location of our beautiful municipal complex, which will be the centerpiece of our new downtown in the coming years. Despite the slowdown in the economy, many private sector partners are eager to meet with the town to discuss projects associated with our downtown. The groundwork is being placed for what will be an exciting downtown, one where people can work and live. It also will be a gathering place for events large and small and will serve as source of community pride. I look forward to the day, which is coming soon, when the first downtown projects begin construction. To the east of us is Dove Mountain, home to several beautiful residential communities, the PGA TOUR Accenture Match Play Championship and, when it opens this fall, aone-of-a-kind Ritz-Carlton resort and homes. As you all know, the Match Play was held on the new Jack Nicklaus course this year and will return next February 15-21. Even though he was only around for a couple of days, Tiger Woods made his PGA TOUR comeback in Marana. His presence brought worldwide attention to our town and helped sell more than 65,000 tickets to the event. Worldwide viewership of the event was at record levels when Tiger played, including the largest-ever TV audience to watch second- round action at the Accenture Match Play. It would be incredibly expensive to buy the exposure our town received that week on the Golf Channel and NBC. Last year, we discussed several important subjects during the State of the Town Address, including our ongoing discussions with FEMA and the long- awaited Twin Peaks Interchange. I'm proud to say that both situations have been resolved thanks to the dedication of your town council and the men and women who work for the Town of Marana. Late last month, we received word from FEMA that it had accepted our floodplain study, ending more than a year and a half of discussions. The problems began in the summer of 2007 when FEMA tried to place many areas of Marana into a remapped floodplain, a move that would have affected a large area in this community. We received immediate support from Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Senator Jon Kyl, our council authorized the money to conduct a scientific floodplain study and our staff followed through. We worked with FEMA to reach a resolution that saves our citizens about $9 million a year in flood-insurance premiums. But we areri t finished. Through various capital improvement projects and private sector partnerships, the town will work to have as many affected areas as possible removed from the new floodplain because public safety is our top priority. I'm also pleased to report that construction on the Twin Peaks Interchange will begin in the next few weeks. This vital project has faced its share of delays as the town worked with federal, state, county and Regional Transportation Authority officials as well as the Union Pacific Railroad and private property owners to gain all the clearances necessary to move forward. The Arizona Department of Transportation Board met in Marana last week to award the bid on this approximately $51 million project and the contractor is ready to start mobilizing its people and equipment to begin 18 months of work. When completed, Twin Peaks and its sister project, the expansion of Dove Mountain Boulevard-Camino de Manana, will link Continental Ranch and Dove Mountain with an overpass at I-10 and a bridge over the Santa Cruz River. The roadway will take a lot of traffic off Cortaro Road and the frontage roads, increasing safety for the many motorists who travel through the area each day. This is a major accomplishment for the town and is the result of many years of partnerships with the public and private sector. A balanced water portfolio is crucial to the future of any community. Marana must effectively manage all its water resources, including wastewater. By using sound environmental policies, we are able to provide quality water to many of our households and businesses. We will continue to secure our water resources for the benefit of our residents and business community. Water is the foundation on which a sustainable community is built. As you can see, Marana has many things that are attractive to residents and business owners. This is a tight-knit community of people who expect nothing but the best from their local government. That's one of the reasons why our Council, town management and citizens worked together last winter to craft a strategic plan that sets priorities for our community as it grows and prospers. These difficult economic times will not last forever and the town will be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when conditions improve. This morning, it seems appropriate to talk about the new day just over the horizon. In Marana, we know where we are and we know where we're going thanks to the hard work put in by Council, staff and citizens to turn our collective vision into reality. The plan's vision statement conveys our town's unique place in the region: Marana is the centerpiece of the Sonoran Desert experience, where fun and progress meet. I'm here this morning to share with you highlights of the strategic plan and its five priorities: commerce, community building, heritage, progress/ innovation and recreation. Commerce I want to take a few minutes to go into greater detail about these priorities. I'll start with commerce, the foundation of any strong community. Without jobs, you have no sustainable community. Our citizens want to see the town build upon its unique assets in order to attract and maintain career- oriented commerce. To that end, the town is developing its first economic development roadmap that will chart the course we take in drawing high-level business and industry to Marana. The roadmap is essential to defining what economic development means for Marana. It will show us our community assets, as well as the areas we need to improve upon in order to become a viable location for new and relocating businesses. The roadmap will define areas of town that are "shovel-ready" for construction. A key to the process is the feedback we will receive from community partners as we identify what types of business and industry we want to attract. This committee work will include a survey of the incentives and business attraction processes the town uses to support economic growth. We need to assure that our practices are competitive in the regional, national and global markets. Our private-sector partners include representatives from the Marana Chamber of Commerce, town citizen committees, major employers, small businesses, education, tourism and hospitality and utilities. The committee is about to start its work and the town will solicit public comment later this year. An important element of the economic roadmap will be the ability to attract and retain business and industry. Our residents must have opportunities to work in Marana. It's the only way we can reach our goal of becoming aself- sustaining community where people can live and earn livable wages. Some of those employment options one day will be found in our downtown of the future. As many of you know, our downtown disappeared in the 1960s when Interstate 10 was built in this part of Arizona. More than 40 years later, your Town Council has made the re-establishment of a downtown Marana and surrounding central business district a high priority. Both downtown and the central business district will include a combination of residential and business communities, places where our residents can live, work and gather with friends and family. The economic slowdown has affected some of these plans, but I'm happy to report that members of the private sector who believe in Marana are working with town staff to keep our plans on track. The new downtown will be the heart of this community and I'm proud to say that heart is beating loud and strong. We will re-establish our downtown, we will have a central business district and we will see more and more people both living and working in Marana. Downtown and the central business district will be centers of commerce in this community. But they areri t the only ones. The town envisions our regional airport, the growing Dove Mountain area, the Tangerine Road district and the east side of Interstate 10 at the soon-to-be-built Twin Peaks Interchange as areas with great potential. Commerce is the engine that drives any community and Marana is ready to hit the accelerator. Community building We already have touched upon water and wastewater but I just want to re-emphasize the importance of the subject. No community can stand on its own without those resources and the town will continue working toward that goal, to ensure that we have sustainable sources of water to meet the needs of the community. Marana will continue being a safe community, thanks to the work of our outstanding police department. Quality neighborhoods and a stable business community stay that way because of a solid police force and I'm happy to say we have one of the best. The men and women of the Marana Police Department do an incredible job of keeping our town secure. They build and maintain public trust by holding themselves to the highest standards of performance and ethical values. One of our most important community partners is the Marana Health Center, which has been providing outstanding healthcare to this region for more than 50 years. Much of that time, the health center has worked out of a 17,000- square-foot building that was constructed in the 1960s. Despite an expansion in 2001, the Marana Health Center lacks the capacity to handle the heavy patient load it serves every year. For that reason, the town is working with the health center as it builds a modern 70,000-square-foot facility just west of our municipal complex. Once completed, the new Marana Health Center will be able to accommodate more than 150,000 visits a year in its medical, dental and behavioral health facilities. This is a project the town is proud to support because of the many benefits it offers our residents. As mayor of Marana, one of my honors is serving as chair of the Regional Transportation Authority. The RTA does many great things throughout Pima County and one of its new services, established in partnership with the town, is going to be a huge benefit for our citizens. Beginning May 4, the RTA will fund new SunTran circulator service that will serve Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita and Green Valley, greatly improving connectivity in our community. People will be able to connect from one transit system to another and link to such places as shopping destinations, libraries or medical facilities. Each community will have designated routes and stops with service on Mondays through Saturdays. The Sun Shuttles will stay within each of the communities and riders will be able to connect to other Sun Tran services and travel across the region. Better regional connectivity is one of the many keys to building a strong community and this new transit option is a step in the process. Heritage One of the many things the town does well is celebrate its long and diverse history. While the town was incorporated in 1977, people have lived here for hundreds of years. All played important roles in making Marana what it is today. The town commemorates its heritage through community events, such as our annual Founders' Day. The event draws thousands of people from across the region to celebrate and appreciate where Marana has been and where it's going. Founders' Day, the Star-Spangled Spectacular and our Christmas Tree Lighting celebration offer fun for the entire family and give our residents a chance to learn about this region's rich heritage through displays, artifacts and history lessons from people and organizations who know this wonderful place well. One of the subjects we have discussed during the past couple of State of the Town Addresses is the need for a cemetery to honor those who have meant so much to Marana. I'm happy to report that ground will be broken on the Barnett Road facility in June. For the first time in generations, Marana families will have the opportunity to memorialize loved ones in their hometown. Progress/innovation The town's talents for innovation will ensure that this remains a model community where people want to live and work. We will remain forward- looking as we deal with the current national recession. Many of the old ways of doing things no longer apply. We have to continue adopting the best practices of our industries as we work to meet the needs of our ever-changing community. For example, our new employee evaluation system requires better accountability and is tied directly to the town's strategic plan. We are here to serve our citizens in the best ways possible. The town is aggressively working to retool its development services process. Our staff puts the customer first and delivers the kind of personal service that our citizens deserve. When development picks up again, and we all know it will, Marana will be known as the best place in the region to do business. We also expect developers and business owners to think in progressive ways when they come to Marana because that's what our citizens deserve. Town leadership will see to it that Marana continues to be a model of excellence in the region. Recreation Marana is located in prime territory for recreation and our citizens and visitors take full advantage of those opportunities. Our proximity to the Tortolita and Tucson mountains provides abundant hiking, biking, walking and equestrian options, we have excellent golf courses and our award-winning parks and recreation department and its programs are second to none. We understand that our recreation offerings must continue keeping pace with public demand. Earlier this month, we broke ground on the Silverbell- Cortaro District Park, near Wheeler Taft Abbett, Sr. Library. When completed, the park will have soccer and softball fields; basketball, tennis and volleyball courts; armadas; restrooms; playgrounds; a dog park; an outdoor performance area and pedestrian walkways and paths. In the future, we plan another large park in the northern part of town, near the airport. We also will continue playing a leading role in desert and wildlife preservation. The town leases state land in the Tortolita Mountains and our draft habitat conservation plan and environmental impact statement are available for review at marana.com. Conclusion Like most other Arizona municipalities, we face growing budget challenges. Staff and Council continue to aggressively monitor our revenue picture. We developed creative ways to reduce expenditures this fiscal year and working toward a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2010.Our priorities are to ensure that our community remains safe, that we maintain and keep current our infrastructure, that we position the town for a quick recovery when the economy rebounds and that we align our decision-making with the strategic plan. The town has been prudent in its budgeting throughout its history because we all knew lean times would eventually arrive. Tough decisions will need to be made and we can t shy away from that fact. Times like these make our strategic plan even more important during the budget process. We are employing this important document to set priorities during budgeting and will use it again later to determine how well we have served you, our residents and business owners. This is a trying period for all of us, but a new day is coming and the Town of Marana will be well-positioned for success when that happens. We believe in the power of community and the importance of each and every person who lives, shops or does business here. That's why the public comment component of the strategic plan is so crucial to the plan's success. Town Council, management and. staff based much of the plan on what our citizens had to say because we all answer to you. We all have the same goal: to make Marana the best possible place to live. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today and I hope each of you continues to make Marana a community that all of us are proud to call home. Thank you for attending our State of the Town breakfast and God bless you all.