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HomeMy WebLinkAboutState of the Town 2022 STATE OF THE TOWN 2022 MASTER SCRIPT INTRO /MARANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE / DOCTOR MONICA FOWLER On behalf of the Marana Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, it is my pleasure to welcome you today to the 2022 Marana State of the Town at the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain. I'm Dr. Monica Fowler, Chair of the Marana Chamber of Commerce and owner of Fowler Chiropractic, a local small business operating in our community for more than a decade. We look forward to this event each year and it always sells out due to the hard work and preparation by a great team of professionals. Thank you to the Marano Chamber of Commerce staff, the Town of Marana Communications Team and the many volunteers who give their time to this event. In addition, it would not be possible without the support of the community and businesses. I would now like to highlight our two signature sponsors: CalPortland and Tucson Association of Realtors. For several years, CalPortland has exemplified their commitment to our community through their signature sponsorship of the State of the Town. This year, we are grateful for the continuation of this commitment. We are excited to celebrate with CalPortland that for 10 years the Rillito Cement Plant has received the Energy Star Certification. Congratulations to Mark Simmons and the team on this accomplishment! Please join me in a round of applause to thank CalPortland! Now, please welcome Jeff Hebb to share a few words from the Tucson Association of Realtors... Thank you to CalPortland and Tucson Association of Realtors! Finally, it is my pleasure to introduce today's Master of Ceremonies- Dan Marries, Evening News Anchor at KOLD News 13,where he has been keeping Marana informed since 1999. Dan is deeply involved in our community and each year we are grateful for his enthusiasm and commitment to this event. Welcome, Dan! DAN MARRIES /SPONSORSHIPS / LUNCH It is an honor to be with you all today. Each year, this event highlights the community and some of the community partners working to ensure that Marana is an incredibly special place. Many of you here today exemplify that culture, and I want to thank each of you for your contributions to Marana. We gather today to "look ahead" to the community we strive to become. We already have so much to be proud of.Together,we set the foundation for growth. Marana is the fastest- growing community in southern Arizona because people want to be here. For good reason, too.Today,we envision our full potential together. This event is possible due to the strong sense of community and the businesses and people who are investing in that future. Thank you to the sponsors of this afternoon's event. In addition to our Signature Sponsors, we are grateful for the support of the following businesses: Our Diamond Sponsors: Anstar Productions Group Bayer CTI HSL Properties Management &Training Corporation Pima Federal Credit Union Trico Electric Cooperative's The Ritz Carlton, Dove Mountain TEP In addition, today's Ruby Sponsors: CornerConnect Mattamy Homes MHC Healthcare / Marana Main Health Center Southwest Gas Corporation The University of Arizona Visiting Angels These companies and organizations listed in your program and on the screens around me have invested in our community and we would like to thank you for your commitment to Marana. I'd also like to take a moment to recognize a few folks in the audience today. We have several elected officials with us, and I'd like to invite each of the elected officials to stand to be recognized for your public service. Finally, I'd like to take a moment to recognize members of the armed forces, veterans and emergency responders who are here with us today.Thank you for your service to Marana and our country. Please stand to be recognized. DAN MARRIES/ PRESENTATION OF COLORS, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, NATIONAL ANTHEM Please stand for the Presentation of the Colors and the Pledge of Allegiance by Marana Police Department and Northwest Fire District. Followed by the National Anthem sung by the Marana High School Chorus. DAN MARRIES/ INTRODUCE INVOCATION Pastor Dale Moe will now lead the invocation. 12:00 NOON / DAN MARRIES / LUNCH BEGINS And now please enjoy your lunch.The program will begin in a few minutes. LUNCH DAN INTRODUCES VIDEO (10 MINUTES INTO LUNCH) I hope you're enjoying your lunch! Before I invite Mayor Ed Honea up here to start the presentation, I'd like to draw your attention to the screens,where Town of Marana staff have prepared a special message. VIDEO PLAYS DAN MARRIES/MAYOR ED HONEA INTRODUCTION Mayor Honea is the third generation of a five-generation Marana family and has served on the council on three different occasions. He worked for the U.S. Postal Service in Marana as a contractor for 29 years before retiring in 2007. Mayor Honea is a member of the Pima Association of Governments, including chair in 2014, and the chair of the Regional Transportation Authority. He serves on the executive board of the Arizona League of Cities and Towns and is a member of Arizona Town Hall, Central Arizona Association of Governments, the Arizona Association of Economic Development, the Marana Optimist Club, and Marana Chamber of Commerce. He formerly served on the Marano Health Center and Marana Food Bank boards. Mayor Honea is a graduate of Marana High School, the U.S. Naval School of Construction, and Pima Community College. He served in the U.S. Navy Seabees during the Vietnam War and is a lifetime member of VFW Post 5990 in Marana. The mayor is an outdoor enthusiast and avid hiker and can be found most days on one of the many trails that run throughout the Marano Community. He has two children and three grandchildren. TOWN OF MARANA/MAYOR ED HONEA OPENING REMARKS (no teleprompter) DAN MARRIES/ BRIAN HEITHOFF INTRODUCTION Brian Heithoff has been Trico Electric Cooperative's CEO / General Manager since April 2021. Brian has worked for electric cooperatives for more than three decades, including 23 years as a CEO. Prior to joining Trico, he served as the CEO of High West Energy for ten years, which serves members in southeast Wyoming,western Nebraska, and northern Colorado, including the Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Prior to his service at High West Energy, Brian served in numerous positions in the electric co- op industry. Brian has four children ages 25 and 21 - he has two sets of twins. His partner of six years is Marge Kammerer. Brian has also been actively involved in the communities where he has lived, serving on the governing boards of three local chambers, three economic development organizations, two hospitals, two Rotary Clubs, a local bank and several non- profit organizations. Please welcome Brian Heithoff! TRICO ELECTRIC / BRIAN HEITHOFF Good afternoon. I am happy to be here today to talk about Trico Electric Cooperative's long standing and strong relationship with the Town of Marano. I moved to Marana one year and one week ago from today, and I couldn't imagine a better place to work and live. I have felt truly welcomed into the community and feel right at home thanks to many of you in this room today. As a matter of background, I have worked for electric cooperatives for more than three decades. Whether it is farm coops, food coops, credit unions or electric cooperatives,we all serve communities,without the pressure of making profits for external shareholders. Trico began as a non-profit in 1945, started by seven farmers and ranchers in Avra Valley, and has grown to more than 45,000 Members. I am proud to say that Trico has a long history-over 75 years- of being a strong community partner and supporter in Marana and throughout our service territory here in Southern Arizona. Since 1983 the Trico Foundation has awarded $3.1 million in education scholarships to Members and their families. Trico's POWER Grants program has provided $700,000 in funding to local non-profit organizations in our community, such as Marana Health Care and Marana Unified School District. Additionally, many of our employees are youth league coaches, leaders in our churches and in local non-profits and active in the business community through our local Chamber of Commerce. It is a strength of the cooperative business model that our designed purpose is to meet the needs of local people. Our theme today is Looking Forward. Like Marana, Trico values innovation, and we live that value by continuously improving how we serve our Members. With dynamic leadership and strong commitment to economic development, Marana is booming, and we look forward to partnering in this progress. We are investing in the facilities that deliver power to our Member's homes and businesses. I am happy to share that over the next four years, Trico will be investing almost 70 million dollars to continue improving our electric infrastructure. Some highlights from this plan, much of which will take place in Marana include: • Connecting more than 4000 homes and businesses. • Constructing almost 34 miles of new lines between our distribution substations.This will allow us to route power from different directions to reduce and limit outages. • We are building a new substation delivery point which will be north of Tangerine Road and east of 1-10. It is named our Adonis Substation. • We are also upgrading our Marana Substation for system improvement, and to position us well for growth. As a non-profit, our mission is to make sure that service is cost-effective and sustainable. Regarding the word "sustainability", I want to mention a couple of success stories. The way we look at sustainability at Trico, is that it includes providing reliable service, as well as being good stewards of our environment. There are approximately 900 electric cooperatives in the U.S., serving in almost every county. We are gratified that Trico's electric distribution system is in the top 25 percent for reliability of service. Trico is also not only one of the largest and fastest growing cooperatives in the nation, but is considered one of the leaders in terms of transitioning our cooperative to a more sustainable energy mix. Trico's community scale systems provide over 45 million kwhs per year of renewable energy, or enough to power more than 4,500 homes. Located just down the way on Tangerine Road, right next to our headquarters, is Trico's Community Solar Farm. It was constructed in 2011. Avion Solar went into service in 2018 and is located near the Marana Airport. It is a 10 MW solar generating facility that can provide energy to power 3,000 homes. By the summer of 2023, it will also include a 15MW Battery Energy Storage System. Currently under construction is Chirreon Solar and Battery Storage Facility, located in Pinal County- near Saddlebrooke.This facility will be completed this Summer and will provide energy to an additional 3,000 homes, and include another 15MW battery energy storage system. At Trico we believe that connection powers our purpose, and this connection brings us together as a community-with the understanding that we can do more together than we can do by ourselves. We are dedicated to continuing to invest in sustainable, cost-effective energy and contributing to the future and quality of life of in Marana. Thank you. DAN MARRIES/ DAN STREETER INTRODUCTION Dr. Dan Streeter is in his second year as superintendent for the Marana Unified School District. Prior to coming to MUSD, Dr. Streeter served five years as the superintendent for the Humboldt Unified School District, Yavapai County's largest school district. During that time, Dr.Streeter led a major strategic reform plan focused on redefining, redesigning and reimagining education.This included the collaborative development of a strategic plan focused on a system-wide vision of 21st century education consisting of a focus on collaborative teaching and learning environments, high quality instruction, standards- referenced reporting, and competency-based education. Dr. Streeter earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University with a research emphasis in personalized learning environments. Additionally, he received his National Superintendent Certificate from the American Association of School Administrator's as a part of the 2019 West Coast Cohort and currently serves as a member of the AASA Personalized Learning Cohort. Currently, Dr. Streeter serves as the president for the superintendent's division of the Arizona School Administrators Association. Dr. Streeter and his wife, Emily, have two children, Colin and Cade. Colin attends UCLA and Cade is attending Mountain View High School. Please welcome Dr. Dan Streeter! MARANA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT/SUPERINTENDENT DAN STREETER Good afternoon, my name is Dan Streeter and I am proud to serve this community as the superintendent of the Marano Unified School District. While the town of Marana boasts a rich history full of tradition, it is the vision for the future that excites all of us in this room today. It is the combination of culture, nature, and opportunity that has created this high-quality sense of place with a future focused vision. The Marana Unified School District mirrors this history, vision and trajectory. What started as a small school house in Rillito in 1889 and evolved into the Union High School building and later into the Marana Elementary school District has now evolved into the MUSD that you know today. Today we are one of the largest school districts in Pima County serving over 12,500 students in 18 different schools...and growing. We support 1,800 employees including over 700 teachers. We work closely with the Parks and Recreation Department, the Economic Development and Tourism office, the Chamber of Commerce, and numerous regional and local business partners. In essence,we are the community school district. With that said, it is undeniable that these past two years have proved to be infinitely challenging. It is important to acknowledge those challenges...because as we had to endure those, much like each of you had to endure similar or identical challenges...we have always kept an eye on the future...much like each of you. You see....while we were dealing with ever changing models of remote learning, hybrid learning, and a full return to in person learning that took their toll on our students, staff, and our parents. While we were engaged in the debates regarding masking and contact tracing which proved to be taxing, grueling, and down right divisive....We were looking ahead with an eye on the future.... We celebrated teacher of the year award winners, continued work with the University of Notre Dame's STEM Department, our graduates earned over$21 million dollars in scholarships and 141 industry certifications from our CTE programs,we expanded partnerships with community businesses and agencies, and we worked to identify future opportunities with the Town of Marana. We were...and are.. FULL SPEED AHEAD. As we think about the State of the Town, and the State of MUSD...I would ask you this. How would you answer the question...what skills will our students need to have when they graduate from MUSD? In the interest of time, I will not ask you to share out at your table and compare answers and share out to the whole group and engage in a strategic planning process...But, I would guess that you were thinking of skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, problem solving, and punctuality.These are common themes in my conversations with local and regional industry leaders. And, if I asked you...what experiences do we need to provide our students in order to best develop these skills? I would guess that you would like to see students engaged in relevant, project based learning opportunities; and in real world internship opportunities with industry partners; and in learning activities that bring our business community into our schools. So...as I think about the symbiotic relationship that exists between the town and the school district, it is exciting to know that we are all looking forward. In that spirit, The State of the Marano Unified School District and the future of the Marano Unified School District includes: • A strong focus on developing early literacy skills for our students with an expansion of our preschool programs into each of our elementary school sites • A continued focus on relevant, rigorous and innovative academics that prioritize the development of critical future focused skills through project-based learning • An intentional move towards developing key town and business partnerships that will prepare our students to directly contribute to and enhance our local and regional industry needs • And finally, a focus on addressing future growth by developing learning environments that match the desired pedagogy for student skill development through new school construction, strategic repurposing of existing schools, and updating our current schools You see we have a tremendous opportunity in front of us. We have an opportunity to cultivate a true cradle to career community. We have an opportunity to collectively and collaboratively provide a direct link between our schools and the needs and opportunities within our own local business community. That's where we are headed, and hopefully where we are headed with each of you. Thank you. DAN MARRIES/AMANDA WIGGINS Amanda Wiggins is the President/CEO of the Marana Chamber of Commerce working alongside a 16-member Board of Directors, to lead the Chamber in furthering its mission as the voice of business working to build economic growth and quality of life in the Marana community. She values serving the community and is an active member of the Junior League of Tucson. As an experienced community leader, Amanda Wiggins and her family relocated last year to Marana, AZ from Tallahassee, FL where for more than seven years she held various roles within the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. Amanda is the proud wife of Dillon Wiggins and mother to Elliot and Theodore. Please welcome Amanda Wiggins! MARANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE / PRESIDENT & CEO AMANDA WIGGINS I am excited to stand in front of you today, asked by Mayor Honea, to share a "look ahead" on behalf of the Marana Chamber of Commerce and our business community. Your Marana Chamber of Commerce has covered a lot of ground in the last year and, much like the Town of Marana,we are not slowing down! Today, I am excited to highlight a few of the internal accomplishments and a look ahead into the ever-increasing external impact of the Marana Chamber. To begin with, as some of you may know, this is my 4th day back to the office following a period of Parental Leave after the birth of my second son, Theodore. So, I've basically gone from have zero adult conversations for six weeks to speaking to nearly 500 people today! Did I mention I was excited to be here? In all seriousness, I am immensely proud to have worked alongside our incredible Board of Directors to adopt a family-focused and inclusive Parental Leave Policy for current and future team members of the Marano Chamber of Commerce. In addition, to ensure our organization moves forward as quickly as our community, our Board and staff recently went through a rigorous and successful Strategic Planning session. We will continue our reputation of transparency and accountability by sharing that 3-Year Strategic Plan through our website. Today, I am excited to share the three primary goal statements with you: First, The Marana Chamber of Commerce will be an integral part of the Marana Community and the Greater Southern Arizona region through active participation, informed advocacy, and collaboration. Next, the Marana Chamber of Commerce will evolve into an organization that is essential to the well-being and success of every business in Marana and its surrounding communities. Finally, the Marana Chamber of Commerce will improve and enhance its capability as an organization through infrastructure revitalization. Our organization recognizes that the strides we make internally allow us to give maximum value externally to our membership through opportunities to build strong connections, collaborate and amplify their business' stories. To ensure strong connections,just this year, we will host nearly 30 dynamic events dedicated to networking and building relationships within the Marana business community. Facilitating these connections is a keystone of the work that the Marana Chamber of Commerce undertakes. To ensure collaboration, business owners and leaders will grow their businesses, find solutions to challenges, and positively impact the community through more than two dozen luncheons, workshops, and industry roundtables. Just this year, we have already hosted two Workforce Development Luncheons bringing together expert panels focusing on talent pipeline development, education and employer recruitment and retention. To ensure we are a platform to amplify the voices of our membership, you will notice that through all of our social media and digital content, it is our priority to highlight our member businesses and the individuals leading them. As one example, please enjoy hearing from a few of our members about their positive momentum as they look ahead and pay attention to a special announcement at the very end of this video... <<<VIDEO PLAYS (3-4 minutes)>>> With the release of our new logo that is strong, current and meaningful,we are excited to continue to raise the bar on what it means to be a Chamber of Commerce. We are one organization whose strength is that we are made up of a diverse group of more than 500 member businesses.These businesses are led by many of you here today. Thank you. You are here because you care about Marana, you are here because you are dedicated to being a part of the future of Marana. Let's do it! And let's do it together. DAN MARRIES/MAYOR HONEA/TOWN OF MARANA COMMUNITY AWARDS Thank you to our speakers! There's so much excitement in the room today and I am grateful to be a part of celebrating our future. Now that our guest speakers portion of the presentation is completed, I would like to re- invite Mayor Honea to join me in honoring the Town of Marana Community Award recipient. Each year, the Town of Marana honors members of the public for their service to the community. Todd McGee has been praised by members of our community for his contributions to the Marana Little League. He finds time outside of his busy work schedule to put kids and families first. As one member of the public told the Town of Marana, "my daughter almost didn't play softball because she was shy and scared.Todd came over and assured her how much fun it was going to be.That was 5 years ago, and now it's truly her passion." Another parent said, "He not only makes the impossible possible, but he makes Marana a better place for our kids." Today,we recognize Todd for his willingness to go the extra mile to support the Marano community by presenting him with the Branding Iron Award. Please come up, Todd, and accept your award. DAN MARRIES I MAYOR HONEA RE-INTRODUCTION MAYOR HONEA I FINAL REMARKS (Off teleprompter)