On Tuesday, in what is believed to have been a coordinated effort, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Steve Christy to reconsider a vote cast at the December 12 meeting in support of a small pavement preservation project for a handful of the County’s crumbling roads. Christy sought the new vote in order to replace the County staff’s recommended plan for his district to one his office devised.
Beginning in the spring 2018, spray coating will be performed on a mere 212 miles of fair/good rated roads in only 254 neighborhoods. Subject to funding approval as part of the Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget, year two road repairs will occur in the fall 2018.
Because the project is mostly cosmetic, failing roads, which generally lack large chunks of pavement, were not considered for pavement preservation.
Despite the fact that Supervisor Ally Miller’s volunteer representatives in the project planning process offered recommended changes to County staff’s plan, Christy only offered a motion in support of his changes.
According to Miller, Christy had admitted last week to coordinating with other supervisors in plotting the reconsideration vote. Coordinating votes is illegal. Christy denied the coordination.
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Whatever the case may be, it was very clear to County residents that a campaign was underway to smear Miller’s volunteers and deprive her constituents of a say in how and which roads would be repaired in her district.
As expected, supervisors Ramón Valadez and Sharon Bronson joined Christy in the maneuver.
One Pima County resident told Miller after the December 12 vote that Pima County Administrator “Huckelberry always finds a way to manipulate the system in his favor to screw the taxpayers. We were under the impression our road committee suggestions would be included in the property tax road repairs. Instead, Chuck stacked the ruling board with his cronies who voted to ignore Districts 1 & 4 committee recommendations. It was all just for show. They never really cared what people in the communities wanted.” That sentiment was repeated over and over again by residents during the Call to the Audience portion of the December 19 meeting.
Green Valley resident Lou Sampson read the following statement into the record:
Since I’ve been coming to these meetings for over 3 years, there’s always drama when it comes to the roads. Mr. Huckelberry has been Pima County administrator for 20 years now and previous to that he was Director of Transportation. I guess you could say that the current state of decay the roads lies squarely on his shoulders along with boards that keep hiring him and allowing him to tell them what to do instead of his being an employee of the Supervisors.
It’s my understanding that La Canada, in GV, was supposed to be milled & filled from Duval Mine Rd south to Continental. The county did a great job from Esperanza N. but then decided to move the allotted $$ to something else so we ended up with a cheap job south of Esperanza to Continental. I’ve never been on a bucking horse but I imagine it’s similar.
Since Chuck is the 2nd highest paid county administrator in the country and has presided over the 5th poorest county in western America and its decline, he has become a polished manipulator. He allows people to think they have a fair shot at getting their roads fixed. He forms committees, people volunteer when in actuality he knows exactly where the money will be spent, which politician will get the breaks and how much they will owe him. Therefore people waste a lot of personal time thinking they will make a difference when the outcome has already been determined. He blames everyone but himself for the condition of the roads. How many times has he said THE STATE SWEEPS OUR HURF DOLLARS? Isn’t it funny that Sahuarita and Marana have great roads. Guess Why? They spend ALL OF THEIR HURF MONEY ON ROADS. Here’s the breakdown. The $75,000 that is given to the GVC every year is taken from the general fund. Why is it taken out of the general fund instead of directly out of Supervisor Christy’s budget. Do the other supervisors get $75$ to have a campaign office open all year and provide a microphone for information that they want people in GV to think instead of what really is going on. Many people in GV think Supervisor Miller is to blame for everything when in reality she’s the only one that questions Chuck and where he’s spending the money. It’s important to politicians to keep people in GV away from these meetings so they can’t see where $$ is wasted and how it all happens. I would love to see something done with Canoa Hills golf course but getting in business with Huckelberry is an iffy deal. We never have $$ for roads because of “deals” like this. Why would anyone think that the county would do a good job of repairs and revival of this open space? It can’t be a park because they cost $30,000 a mile to maintain. It has to be designated open space so the price of maintenance goes down. Because Blumenthal and Huckelberry are best pals GVR will end up on the raw end of the deal but maybe Kent will get Chuck’s job when he finally retires.
Christy has also promoted a sales tax scheme. That scheme was deemed illegal by the Board’s attorney, who advised that counties with a population of over 400,000 people are not authorized to open a special road sales tax account. The statutes state specifically that only counties with a population of 400,000 or less can open a special account for sales taxes for roads.
A sales tax scheme is also the focus of Huckelberry. He is pushing for a bill that would allow the supervisors to approve a sales tax with a simple majority. Currently boards of supervisors must vote unanimously to approve a sales tax.