Announcement of Candidacy

I want to take this opportunity to announce that I will be seeking a third term as the mayor of Globe in the 2024 election. A lot of thought, the continued support of my wife and family, and the grace of God have led me to this decision. My intention when I initially ran in 2016 was to serve in office for one term, maybe two. I had some thoughts and ideas for changes for the benefit of our city and thought that those changes could occur in that time frame, but I quickly found out that making changes does not happen overnight. For the past eight years I have been fortunate to work with an amazing council that continues their passion of elevating Globe to another level for the benefit of our city residents, and a staff that makes it happen. The momentum and continuity that we have at this point continues to help move our plan forward. But of course, it is up to the voters of Globe to go out and vote if they want to see more of the direction that we are heading.   

In order to be successful, there has to be a vision with goals and then a plan to make it happen. As I stated earlier, it takes years of implementing that plan, additional revenue, and building relationships and partners locally, in the state, and at the Federal level. I understand it is about being patient, focused, and passionate to get to the end game. We cannot allow the distractions of major events that we had to deal with as council in the past couple of years – such as COVID, fires, and floods – to keep us from moving forward.

We continue our focus on economic development and the upgrades to our aging infrastructure in order to build the sustainable future for our city. We are fortunate that the majority of our city is designated an “opportunity zone” that attracts investors and developers who want to bring their projects and build and get a tax credit in return. These designations are huge for all rural communities with the impact they make. We are also focused on the three major concerns of our community that were disclosed in a needs assessment in 2017. Those are housing, quality of life, and education. We also understand that it takes money to bring those things to fruition. The only way not to put the total burden on our city residents through property tax is to create new ways of generating additional sales tax revenue through economic development and tourism.

We have added more key positions in the past year in our Development Services Department in order to keep up with the many projects in progress and those pending to begin in the next year and beyond. We have worked at making our community a more attractive place for visitors and have seen the improvement along our highway corridor with the partnerships with numerous businesses and organizations. Beautification is about pride in where we live and what our community looks like, and requires the buy-in from all of us. Our next step is to make sure that our building and fire codes are up to date to help protect the public and our business community, especially in our downtown historic district. We owe it to you to protect your investments.

Jesse Hayes Road

Sidewalk Project

Council approved three separate contracts in order to get this project started. The city received $3.5 million in state funds for the installation of sidewalks from the new Connie’s Bridge to the Community Center entrance. The contracts included the following:

• Contract with Sunrise Engineering for Phase 1 design services for Oil Circle Road, Ice House Canyon Road, and Jesse Hayes Road not to exceed $74,052.

• Contract with Sunrise Engineering for Phase 2 design services for Hagen Road, Jesse Hayes Road, and Skate Park not to exceed $54,671.

• Contract with Rick Engineering for Phase 3 for professional support services for Pinal Bridge and Oil Circle Road not to exceed $70,352.

Copper Mountain Transit

The Copper Mountain Transit offers transportation for our Globe-Miami community with two fixed bus routes, A & B, and a curb dial a ride service. This is a federally funded program through the Arizona Department of Transportation, who is the main funder. The City of Globe, Gila County, and the Town of Miami each contribute $73,000 annually to this program. The Town of Miami is the administrator of the program.   

The bus routes run from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru Friday with 34 stops up to 8 times a day and some stops 16 times a day. Dial a Ride service is scheduled by appointment in 15-minute intervals from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday thru Friday. It is recommended to call 24 hours in advance to reserve your time as these slots fill up quickly. The fare is $1.00 per zone one way, and there are four zones.

For more information on the services offered or to reserve a Dial a Ride, call Melinda or Andrea at 928-473-8222 Monday thru Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Safe Street Grant

The city was awarded a Safe Street Grant from the Department of Transportation in the amount of $124,846.39 with a city match of $31,000 for a total amount of $155,846.39. The grant is sponsored by Senator Mark Kelly and will be used to identify and improve safety upgrades in the Historic Downtown District. Vision Zero is a project to help eliminate fatalities and injuries in the approved area on Broad Street. The grant is a temporary planning project over 18 months and requires the hiring of a moderator to conduct a public hearing for input from residents and to collect data throughout the process. After the initial 18 months, the city will then use the data to apply for an implementation grant to make the changes permanent. This is an ideal time to address safety issues on Broad Street due to increase of pedestrian and vehicle traffic that we are now experiencing.     

First Fridays

First Fridays have become a monthly signature event and continue to grow each month with more participation from downtown businesses, vendors, and cruisers. Our Economic Development team spends an enormous number of hours planning this event. This event is not only enjoyed by our local residents in the community, but by many more people who are now coming from out of town on this day to enjoy the event. Everyone is invited to participate in the downtown cruise that begins at 5:30 p.m. starting at the Active Adult Center. We invite the community to come downtown and support the participating businesses and enjoy live music, food trucks, and vendors. Anyone wishing to set up a vendor booth during any First Friday event may do so at no cost by contacting Melissa Steele at 928-425-7146.