4-year council candidates square off in debate

Candidates exchanged views – and a few verbal jabs – at the UltraStar Multi-tainment Center on July 26 in hopes of scoring points with primary voters.

The debate included candidates for Maricopa City Council, Arizona Legislature (District 11) and United States Congress (District 1). It was the last public forum for candidates to face off before early voting. The primary is Aug. 26, but early balloting begins July 31.

More than 100 community members and campaign supporters showed up at the event.

InMaricopa partnered with UltraStar, Maricopa Monitor and Maricopa Chamber of Commerce to hold the debate, which featured candidates running in primary elections this election season.

The seven candidates running for three City Council seats with four-year terms in this year’s election — Peg Chapados, Marty Hermanson, Rachel Leffall, Vincent Manfredi, Patrick Melvin, Nicholas Sheppard and Henry Wade — were asked about local issues such as attracting and retaining businesses in Maricopa, the State Route 347 overpass project, the future of utilities, taking action on building a new public library and their vision for the future of Maricopa.

Manfredi talked about balancing attracting new businesses with supporting existing businesses.

“One of the most important things when you talk about local business is understanding that business here in Maricopa is not just the store fronts that you see, but all of our home-based businesses,” Manfredi said. “In this room alone, there are probably 20 to 30 home-based businesses that work through Maricopa. Those are the businesses that we have to support because they will become our store-front businesses of the future.”

Sheppard shared his immediate priorities in the grade separation project.

“We need to make sure that our citizens understand the process that will be going on, making sure they know alternate routes and giving them the opportunity to know the correct path to get around the tracks and also letting the citizens on either side of the track know that they will have access to both sides,” Sheppard said.

Candidates were asked about what can be done about high utility costs.

Two-year term candidate Nancy Smith shared her idea of a feasibility study for buying out Global Water, which Wade disagreed with.

“Well I’m glad to be in a room with a bunch of millionaires,” Wade said. “Because all these tax increases that we are looking at I’m sure you as the community are appreciating the fact that we are going to do that. When I moved here in 2007, I was told Maricopa would have 125,000 people, and that hasn’t happened as the foreclosures hit, and we have made adjustments as a community but their rates are still reflected by that number, and they need to adjust now as well, and we need to encourage them to do that.”

Wade mentioned the need for transparency in response to the public’s unhappiness with the tax increase to pay down Copper Sky debt.

Chapados, a current Council member, explained her stance on approving this increase while addressing the question of how she plans to get the new public library project jump started.

“Don’t shoot the messenger, but I am one of the Council members that approved the 35 percent tax increase, which is a one-year increase and 61 cents,” Chapados said. “The reason we did that was to pay down our debt; the sooner we pay down the debt service the sooner we can start talking about building that library, which voters approved in 2008.”

Hermanson agreed with the decision and explained its importance in moving forward with expansion projects in the city.

“While I wasn’t a part of the Council when the voted on the one-year tax, I do agree with it,” Hermanson said. “By paying down our debt, we are actually going to be saving a lot of money on the interest that we would be paying and allow us to build infrastructure like this to grow.”

Leffall stressed the Council’s role in keeping the community informed and educated on issues and getting people excited and invested in getting involved in the discussion of what is going on in Maricopa.

“We have to have buy-in from residents. If the community doesn’t buy in to the development of infrastructure and growth in Maricopa, then it’s going to be a tough task to have the support in order for our visions to be realized,” Leffall said.

Melvin explained why he is qualified to serve as a Council member.

“I’m fair, friendly, accessible and accountable. I am also competent with 21 years’ experience with the city of Phoenix Police. I also started the Maricopa Police Department, and I have served as the police chief and assistant city manager. I know City Hall, and I can hit the ground running.”