Water Resources
Water is one of my greatest passions. Since 1971 (before the Town of Marana was founded!) I have served on the Cortaro Marana Irrigation Board of Directors and have also attended every Colorado River Association conference for the last 20+ years. Serving in these capacities has allowed me to assist Marana in water acquisition and conservation. My priority has always been protecting and securing our water supply for today while ensuring that we have a future of controlled business and residential development. Our future depends on a safe and affordable water supply. Water is a factor in every aspect of our lives and Marana’s ability to develop.

Marana was originally incorporated in 1977 to protect our water from the encroaching City of Tucson. Farmers and citizens supported early incorporation as long as there was no property tax collected by the newly formed town. To this day, there is no property tax in Marana and I intend to keep it that way.

The Town’s focus has always been to acquire future allocations of 100-year water supply and control the use of those allocations. Over the years, I have helped secure these allocations for the Town of Marana and have encouraged changing new construction requirements to conserve water in our family homes. This will preserve the groundwater for residential use while recharging the aquifer. We must work to make Marana’s water operations as efficient as possible and build strong relationships with other communities.

A perfect example of this is the Dove Mountain area and the communities to the east along Tangerine Road. Marana partnered with the City of Tucson to supply water and sewer to these communities. Currently, the City of Tucson holds the highest priority and largest allotment of the Central Arizona Project (CAP), more than our neighboring city, Phoenix. I have also discussed with municipalities and the tribal community and they have the allocations for the CAP water.

As a local farmer, I’ve converted 2000 acres of my farming operation to a designated groundwater savings facility. This allows the use of Central Arizona Project water (Colorado River water) directly from the canal and leaves the groundwater for residential and future uses. The Groundwater Management Act regulates our current and future water use in Arizona and a part of that act is called “Safe Yield”. It requires that there is a balance between the amount of groundwater pumped and the amount that’s naturally replaced. Myself and other farmers in Pima County were the only farmers in Arizona to reach the “safe yield” goal that was set, so I am confident that I will be able to continue managing our water supply efficiently.

Public Safety
The Marana police department currently has two officers for every 1000 residents and maintains a response time of 2 minutes for Level 1 and 2 calls. This is one of the fastest response times in the state! Having a peace of mind where you live is necessary. The Marana police force is an integral part of our community. Please thank your local police officers for their dedication to your safety.

I’ve always endorsed public safety funding and will continue to do so to keep you safe and at peace.

Economic Development
Marana must continue to be a great place to do business. As a council member, I have worked hard to attract new employers with good-paying jobs to Marana. With the current economic conditions around the world, we must work even harder to find and create local jobs for our residents.

We need to continue to strategically plan and prepare our infrastructure for roads, water, sewer, and new businesses.

We should also sing our community’s praises . . . loudly! We need to promote Marana to the business world, not just in southern Arizona but to businesses throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Businesses need to know we are here and that we can make a difference in their bottom lines as well as their employees’ quality of life. Marana is an exceptional community and we need to spread the word!

Fiscal Responsibility
While Marana continues to grow, we need to work doubly hard to ensure that the town of Marana’s finances is robust. The financial decisions made by the council directly impact Marana’s residents and the welfare of our community is vitally important.

It is pertinent that financial decisions are made with intentionality and with the Marana residents at the front of mind. Both my strong business sense and my ability to make tough decisions have been and will continue to be valuable to the Town of Marana.

Schools
When schools are overcrowded, have outdated facilities, and their Arizona School Report Card statistics are below average, it’s detrimental to young students and business growth. Businesses see the area as less desirable for growing families. Marana is very fortunate to have excellent education leadership at the district level as well as quality and caring teachers and staff. It’s vital to give them the proper support.

I negotiated with the owners of the Marana Landfill to include a “tipping fee” for each ton of trash deposited into the landfill. The fees go directly to the Marana School System and have funded over $300,000 in student scholarships and tutoring in reading and mathematics. The tipping fee agreement is an annual contribution that will continue to fund our Marana Schools for 80 years.

Our kids deserve a quality education and I will work as hard as I can to ensure that they receive the best education possible.

Our schools are the key to our future!