Mayor Christian Price was decked out for baseball during the State of the City address. Photo by Kyle Norby

Mayor Christian Price’s State of the City address Tuesday covered many activities of the past year – from the completion of the State Route 347 overpass to the groundbreaking for a hotel – and explained plans for upcoming endeavors.

Video by Kyle Norby

Those include
scoping SR 347 for improvement
commercial development of Copper Sky
a new courthouse facility with groundbreaking in November
a light at Honeycutt Road and White and Parker Road
a new library
development of Estrella Gin Business Park
a monument sign at the north entry to the city

Price also gave an update on the quest for a hospital in Maricopa, an effort he said has been going on for seven years. Hospital providers, he said, no longer have the incentives to build in rural areas they once had.

“We are making really strong progress” with one provider, Price said, not naming names. The City has been having conversations with that corporation at the state and national levels.

The mayor also said calls come daily from people in the medical profession inquiring about the possibility of a hospital coming to town.

The theme this year for the State of the City address was “City of Dreams,” based on the film Field of Dreams. A mini baseball diamond bordered by rows of corn cropped up in council chambers and many of the attendees were seated on bleachers. The Rev. Arnold Jackson stole the show with a James Earl Jones-esque speech at the end expressing confidence people would come to Maricopa.

For the mayor, a big applause point centered on the post office. Price has been using some personal connections to make the post office experience more convenient for residents. The current post office building was constructed in 1990.

Price said a high school friend works in the office of the district manager. He indicated that has gotten him the ear of the manager and of the postmaster general to discus the issues of the Maricopa facility.

“The need for our little post office to change is upon us,” he said.

Today’s post office building in Maricopa. Photo by Mason Callejas

The expectation is a series of events:

  1. Placement of 2-3 blue mailboxes around town so people don’t have to brave the crowded post office parking lot and lines at the counter to mail their items.
  2. The construction of a satellite office to handle some of the mail duties.
  3. The eventual construction of a new post office that reflects the size of the community.

Price also said the City is trying to lay the groundwork for a 500-acre business and industrial park, exhibiting a concept by Union Pacific. The location would include a commercial rail spur that would make Maricopa “stand apart in the business world and the Greater Phoenix metro region.”

Price said it had potential to be “transformational.”

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