HomeMy WebLinkAboutState of the Town 2010
Mayor Ed Honea’s State of the Town speech
April 30, 2010
Thank you, Chuck, for that kind introduction.
When the Ritz-Carlton told the Chamber that the most affordable time slot for
this breakfast was 6:00 a.m. … well, it was pretty tempting. But we decided that asking
you to get up that early may not be such a good idea … even if it did mean breakfast at
the Ritz-Carlton. I do want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to
join us here this morning for the State of the Town. We are happy to have you here
with us in this beautiful setting.
Too often in today’s world, we are told that progress has ground to a halt. That
the economy will never be the same. That we all have to sacrifice our dreams of a better
tomorrow. It’s easy to get caught up by all the doom and gloom in the news. But I am
here to tell you that Marana has never been short on dreams. And we are not afraid to
act boldly to achieve great things for our citizens.
Today I am going to be talking about leadership in times of adversity. Many of
us in this room have faced challenges at one time or another. Raising kids, caring for an
elderly parent, paying the bills on time, juggling life’s demands. If as individuals, we
can face the most challenging circumstances, then as a community, we can face
adversity in a responsible and thoughtful manner.
When we face tough times, we rely on our personal values and our support
systems. Like each of you, the community of Marana also relies on its values. They
guide us to grow and thrive in both the good times and the not so good times. Today, I
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would like to highlight some of our most important values. Let me begin by sharing a
story that helps illustrate one of these values.
During Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, he and a group of travelers were crossing
a river that had overflowed its bank. Each man crossed on horseback fighting for his
life. A lone traveler watched the group navigate the treacherous river. He then asked
President Jefferson to take him across. The president agreed without hesitation. The
man climbed on Jefferson’s horse, and the two made it to the opposite shore safely. A
member of Jefferson’s group asked the man: “Why did you select the President for this
favor?” The man was shocked, admitting he had no idea it was the President of the
United States who had carried him to safety. “All I know,” the man said, “is that on
some of your faces was written the answer ‘No’ and on some of your faces was the
answer ‘Yes.’ His was a ‘Yes’ face.”
Marana has a “yes” face. We believe tomorrow will be brighter than today. We
believe we can find solutions to the problems we encounter. We believe in imagination,
innovation, and ideas. Our “yes face” is about attitude, about how we approach things.
Look around you at this spectacular resort hotel. It has been featured in
numerous international publications and even NBC’s TODAY Show. This magnificent
property is a good example of innovation, imagination and the right attitude. From the
very start, the Town of Marana worked closely with developer David Mehl and the
Ritz-Carlton to bring to life the vision David had for this property. I’d like to take a
moment to acknowledge David Mehl and our hosts today, the staff of the Ritz-Carlton,
Dove Mountain.
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From the beginning of the project, the Town committed extra resources and
expertise to accelerate the plan review process. This shaved about six months off the
project, saving both time and money. Once construction actually began, the Town
dedicated a senior building inspector, George Gleeson, to be on the grounds every day.
George knows this hotel better than anyone except those wearing Ritz-Carlton name
badges. The result was a partnership that ensured completion of the hotel and grounds
on schedule. I am sure everyone will agree with me when I say we are proud to have
this facility located in Marana.
This project has been responsible for generating hundreds of jobs. The hotel and
golf club combine to employ about 400 people. More than 300 jobs were created during
hotel construction over the course of more than a year.
Everyone can see what imagination, innovation and the right attitude can
produce when the top 64 pro golfers are invited to play here in February. The
Accenture Match Play golf tournament is the leading professional sporting event in
Southern Arizona. It is watched every year by millions of television viewers around the
world. The tournament also brings millions of dollars to the entire region when visitors
converge on Marana for a week of exciting golf.
Imagination, innovation and the right attitude were important as we tackled the
realities of the economy head-on during budget deliberations. Over the past three
years, tough decisions have been made by our council and senior staff as revenues fell
by more than 29 percent.
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Instead of reducing programs across the board, we took a common-sense
approach to meeting these challenges. Imagine telling your mortgage company that
you were cutting all of your household expenses equally because you had less income.
I don’t think that plan works for the mortgage company. It doesn’t work for the Town
of Marana, either. To make needed reductions to the budget, we first identified our top
priorities. We are a safe community. We are a clean community. We are a healthy
community. We decided early on that we needed to maintain programs and services
that support these priorities. They are what our citizens expect. These priorities help us
attract jobs and people to our community.
We made the difficult decision to eliminate 4.6 million dollars from next year’s
budget. Folks, what this means is that we will have a balanced budget without
imposing new taxes or fees that burden our residents and business owners.
Marana is in a strong position as the economy rebounds. Our reserves are
healthy. We have maintained our A-plus bond rating when ratings in many recession-
battered cities and towns have fallen during this crisis. Homes are being built here. So
far this fiscal year, more than 250 single-family home building permits have been
issued. We understand that our image of a clean, well-maintained community is
important to retain and attract business. With the budget the Council will adopt in
June, our residents and business owners can expect the same high level of police
services and rapid response times they have always received. We will continue to deal
quickly with problems like graffiti and potholes. And our roads and parks will be
maintained at the same exceptional level for all to use and enjoy.
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I have talked in the past about our vision for the sustainable use of Marana’s
water resources. Ensuring sustainable water supplies has been, and will continue to be,
a top priority. It is the reason we incorporated. I don’t need to remind you that water
is a precious resource. We are doing everything we can to properly manage the use and
re-use of our water. We are continuing to work with our neighboring jurisdictions to
find practical solutions for water delivery. We are also making plans to design an
efficient wastewater system that will serve our businesses and residents.
Our attitude, our “yes” face, would be less effective without another important
value. I am talking about a value that produces results. Simply put: Marana backs its
ideas with action.
We have always been a community that anticipates our needs and then gets right
down to the business of producing results. The men and women who incorporated
Marana in 1977 knew this would be a great place for many reasons: its location, its
people and its potential. As our founders handed off the torch to new leaders, we have
capitalized on some of those early visions. Drive around our community today and you
can see results.
Once just a concept on an engineer’s drawing board, construction began last year
on the Twin Peaks I-10 Interchange and the extension of Dove Mountain Boulevard-
Camino de Manana. These critical projects will link the Continental Ranch and
Continental Reserve neighborhoods with the Dove Mountain area. These are two
important commercial and residential centers in our community. I am happy to report
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that residents, business owners and visitors will enjoy an easier commute to their
destinations and improved access to I-10 by the end of this year.
Our founders also pictured a community with gathering places where people of
all ages could meet and enjoy the outdoors. This vision is so important to us that
“Recreation” is one of the five focus areas in our Strategic Plan. Two months ago, we
opened our newest park at Silverbell and Cortaro Roads. Now, people from all parts of
our community flock to Crossroads Park to enjoy a Little League game, take a walk,
have a family picnic or let the family dog play in the new dog park.
Our founders talked of a day when Marana would become home to a world-class
hotel. Today, we are gathered at the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain. This is the first time
we have held our State of the Town Address here. It is safe to say that we are all
enjoying the excellent service and attention to detail that only the Ritz-Carlton can
provide. This ballroom also fills a need. It’s a place where hundreds of people can
comfortably gather for important events.
Marana’s results have been noticed. We have received local, national and
international awards over the past year. It began last October with three Common
Ground Awards from the Metropolitan Pima Alliance. Along with our partners, we
were recognized for efforts to preserve cultural artifacts during the Silverbell Road
construction project. Our strategic plan and community engagement efforts about the
plan received an award. Our collaboration with business owners during construction of
the Thornydale Road improvements rounded out the final of our three awards. The
Silverbell Road project also earned national honors from the Associated General
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Contractors of America and the International Partnering Institute. The Arizona Chapter
of the American Public Works Association gave an award to this project, and to one of
our general managers, Barbara Johnson. Please join me in recognizing Barbara and all
of our town employees who worked on these projects.
Imagination, ideas, attitude, and results are all important values. But these
values must be rooted in a solid community foundation. We understand that our
businesses and the jobs they create are the building blocks of any successful
community. The last key value I am going to talk about today, and perhaps the most
important, is that we make sure Marana is a great place to do business.
I mentioned earlier how we partnered with the Ritz-Carlton and Cottonwood
Properties to expedite construction of this facility. We call this concierge service.
Working with the community, we have reengineered our development service function
to minimize the time businesses and builders must spend in the plan review process. If
you are building a facility in Marana, we can gather staff in one room and conduct an
expedited plan review process. Our goal is to save time and money for our customers
without compromising safety, design and aesthetics. As I mentioned earlier, we have
simplified our fee structure for many development-related services. And, we have not
raised development fees in order to balance the budget.
Making Marana a great place to do business takes thoughtful planning. Over
this past year, we convened a group of residents, business owners and industry experts
to create our first economic roadmap. The Roadmap identifies target industries or
businesses that we would like to attract to Marana. We are looking for business
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partners that complement our community vision and values, while providing good,
quality jobs for our residents.
We also understand that we must support existing business and expedite
opportunities to help companies expand. This, too, creates more jobs for our residents.
To that end, I am happy to share some exciting news with you today. I am pleased to
announce that FLSmidth Krebs (PRONOUNCED F L SMIT), is adding more than
30,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space to its Marana facility. Krebs is
recognized for its expertise in products, technologies and services in the mining
industry. It will be investing more than 2 million dollars in our community. Job
creation is big news anywhere and we are particularly happy to say this is happening in
Marana.
I am also happy to report that another important community project is moving
forward. The Marana Health Center pulled its building permit this month and will
begin constructing a 74,000 square foot facility on land directly across the street from
town hall. The Marana Health Center is an important community partner and a key to
the future development of our new Main Street. I would like to take a moment to
recognize the hard work of everyone at the Marana Health Center.
Marana is a great place to do business because we value partnerships. Let me
give you a few examples. For the first time last year, we partnered with businesses and
hotels in the Arizona Pavilions area to host our Fourth of July celebration. Because of
partnerships and corporate sponsorships, the town was able to host a phenomenal
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community event at a minimal cost. At the same time, many neighboring business
establishments enjoyed one of their busiest days ever.
The Town also works closely with other local agencies. This past year we
solidified our partnership with the Marana Unified School District and Northwest Fire.
We will be sharing facilities at little or no cost to taxpayers. It doesn’t make sense for the
town to bill Northwest Fire for using one of our meeting rooms or for MUSD to charge
us when we need a cafeteria or classroom. It makes good business sense for all three to
work together in order to save taxpayer dollars.
Today I’ve touched on three important values that make Marana a leader in
times of adversity. Marana has a “yes” face. We believe in an attitude of imagination,
innovation and ideas. We don’t just dream, we back our ideas with action. And we
believe that Marana is a great place to do business. Because of these values, we have
been successful in creating and achieving our collective vision. And because of these
values, we will continue to be successful.
Too often, leaders are expected to create the commitment and focus that comes
with shared visions. People often think it is the leader’s job to define a vision and make
it a reality. But there is a more collaborative approach to leadership and it involves all of
you.
I’ll bet many of you have seen the movie, “Apollo 13,” starring Tom Hanks. The
Apollo space program captured a time in our history when imagination and innovation
led to achieving a collective dream … the dream of being the first nation to put a man
on the moon.
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I remember watching the Apollo 13 drama being played out. Yes, not just the
movie—I am that old. Live TV broadcasts from the space craft stopped while
commentators used models to describe the astronauts’ predicament. I held my breath
along with the rest of the nation during those long seconds of silence, when the
astronauts were re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. As we all know, they safely
splashed down in the Indian Ocean.
There is a scene in the movie that shows why all of us can play a part in making a
vision happen. In this scene, a mission engineer empties a box of miscellaneous items
on a table. Seated around the table are a collection of tired engineers and astronauts.
The items on the table represent the objects that could be found on the space capsule
high above the earth’s atmosphere.
Together, the folks around that table used these miscellaneous items to craft a
solution that brought the stranded astronauts safely home. Mission control leader Gene
Kranz may have articulated the vision, but everyone on that team contributed their
ideas, innovations and imaginations to make the vision happen.
Each of you in this room has a part in making Marana’s vision a reality. I ask
you to continue lending your time and ideas by working with the Chamber, the School
District and the Town. I invite you to help us define and redefine the vision going
forward. Everyone can help make our vision happen. Just look around you. This
beautiful setting is an example of what does happen when we dream, and when we
back up those dreams with tangible action.
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I am proud to live in Marana. And I am proud to serve as mayor. I hope you
leave today with this one thought: You are all investors in this community and you all
are shareholders in the results. I challenge you to help us continue to dream, to make
ideas happen, to grow this great community.
I would like to thank the members of our town council for their service and ask
them to stand and be recognized. Please hold your applause until all are introduced.
Vice-Mayor Herb Kai and council members Russell Clanagan, Patti Comerford, Carol
McGorray, Jon Post and Roxanne Ziegler.
I would also like to thank our dedicated town staff. These men and women are a
big reason why Marana backs up its ideas with results. And, more importantly, I would
like to thank my wife Jan, for her support and encouragement. Thank you for attending
our State of the Town breakfast and may God bless you, each and every one.
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