County Supervisors Chairman Snider checks in with his constituents

If you thought last month was busy – hang onto your calendars because the next several months are even busier than that!

However, before I go to the calendar I’d like to share some news about various developments and on-going initiatives around Pinal County.

Road work on McCartney Road at the Cox Road intersection is now complete: this project – funded by proceeds from the recently reauthorized county half-cent sales tax for roads – constructed a four “barrel” drainage culvert to safely convey run-off under McCartney at the major wash just east of Cox Road and added turn lanes at the intersection in order to make it safer for the driving public.

If you travel to and from the Casa Grande area to the Signal Peak Campus of Central Arizona College (or beyond to Coolidge and points east of there), I think you’ll agree that the project is a huge success and a valuable improvement to our road system. No longer will McCartney Road be closed “due to flooding in the wash” at that location!

By the way, there’s similar work being undertaken on McCartney (further east between Bel Air and Overfield) to construct drainage culverts and turn lanes; however, that work is being done by developers with projects in the area.

On the Pinal County Health District front, additional front-line health care staff have been hired and the County’s public health clinics in Casa Grande and Apache Junction are now officially open six days a week from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Additional staff is being sought in order to add hours of operation at the Mammoth Clinic. The County’s mobile health care clinic – deployed in Maricopa two days a week at present – has been so successful that their patient load has come close to doubling after only the first two months of regular operation in the area.

The Women, Infants & Children program in Maricopa now accepts appointments on Wednesdays and Thursdays are mostly reserved for childhood immunizations. For more information on our public health care clinics and/or the Pinal County Health Care District, go to http://co.pinal.az.us or call (520) 866-7301 or (800) 231-8499.

One of my concerns, on a global level, has to do with the need to “grow our next generation of leaders.” A number of our county’s local governments – e.g. the cities of Casa Grande and Maricopa – are addressing this issue with individual programs generically called citizens’ academies: these are periodic classes for local residents with an interest in learning more about how their local government works and how they might become more involved as members of boards or commissions. However, Pinal County has at least two other similar programs that are worthy of mention: the Hispanic Leadership Institute and Project CENTRL.

The HLI program is the brain child of the Latino Familia Initiative and seeks to educate and engage interested Pinal County residents in learning more about the various levels of governance. The Institute is currently working with its third class and the 10-week program – held week at night to facilitate the many working people who attend – travels to locations around the County. I had the honor of being one of their annual speakers during one of last month’s classes, along with Teresa Martinez, Congressional District 1 Liaison for Representative Rick Renzi. As part of their graduation, each student commits to become an active participant in their local government of choice.

Project CENTRL is a more ambitious program that’s headquartered in Casa Grande in the local offices of the University of Arizona’s Cooperative Extension Service. The Project’s administrator is the redoubtable Everett Rhodes who is also a graduate of the program. Project CENTRL brings some 30-40 students of Arizona government from all over Arizona together and during a two-year class process, they are introduced to leaders from federal, state, tribal, county, and city/town governments as well as experts in other areas of interest.

I was thrilled and honored to be asked to address this group, for the third year in a row, in two venues: a specific briefing on Pinal County issues and then a separate panel discussion with Casa Grande Councilman Dick Powell and Gila River Indian Community Economic Development Director Lloyd Notah comparing and contrasting our various forms of government and the issues we all face.

OK – time for a squint at the calendar before you run out of patience and we run out of space. The 41st Annual O’odham Tash Indian Celebration kicks off into high gear beginning on Feb. 14 and runs until (roughly) Feb. 18. Some of the activities include arts and crafts, several days’ worth of rodeo events, and The Big Parade on Feb. 15.

One week later, Pinal County residents are invited to view another Big Parade, in Sacaton: this event commemorates the 63rd Anniversary of the Iwo Jima Flag Raising. The parade starts at 9 a.m. – there’ll be a special fly-over of the parade route by a WW II B-17 bomber! – and will feature various military units, veterans’ organizations and groups, American Indian Code Talkers, and much, much more. For more information on the Iwo Jima Anniversary events, contact the Ira H. Hayes American Legion Post 84 (520) 562-8484 or [email protected]).

In keeping with the theme of saluting our past, the Casa Grande Valley Historical Society will hold its annual meeting from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 23 at the museum, 110 W. Florence Blvd., Casa Grande. For more information on this great organization and the wonderful work they do, call (520) 836-2223.

And as if that weren’t enough for your social calendar, Against Abuse, Inc. will be holdings its third annual Seeds of Change Gala (a fund-raiser for a new shelter in Maricopa for victims of domestic violence and child abuse) that same evening, Feb. 23. Call (520) 836-1239 for more details.

See you ’round the neighborhood!

David Snider is the supervisor for Pinal County District 3.

Submitted photo