by 
Supervisor Pete Rios
Supervisor Cheryl Chase
Superior Sun
Increasing job opportunities in Pinal County is the top challenge facing the Pinal County Board of Supervisors in 2015, according the board’s new leadership team.
Cheryl Chase, supervisor for District 2 encompassing much of San Tan Valley and some surrounding areas, was elected by board members as chairman for 2015. Pete Rios, supervisor for District 1 taking in the entire eastern side of Pinal County, was elected vice chairman.
“It is an honor to be thought highly enough to be entrusted with the position of chairman, and I promise to work with the county staff to meet the needs of this growing and changing county,” Chase said. She succeeds Anthony Smith in that position.
Rios said he felt likewise honored though he is more seasoned in board leadership, having earlier served as chairman of the board of supervisors in 2009-2011 when it still consisted of only three elected members. The number of supervisors was expanded to five with the election of 2012 to reflect the substantial population growth Pinal County had undergone since 2001 and give citizens more local representation.
Despite Chase being a Republican and Rios a Democrat, their plans for the coming year are alike.
“We need to double down our efforts to attract high-paying jobs to Pinal County,” Chase said. “We have residents with the talents and skills to hold such jobs but many have to leave the county to work jobs equal to their abilities. We need to bring such jobs here so they can work locally and not have to commute up to an hour daily to get to earn their livings.”
Rios agreed with Chase, adding that the Pinal County economic development picture is brightening, but with it new challenges are emerging.
“Congress in December approved legislation approving the Resolution Copper land swap in the Tonto National Forest, thus enabling the company to go forward with the required environmental impact statement. This could mean the creation of mining jobs as soon as 2018,” Rios noted.
“However, these will not be old-fashioned mining jobs. Resolution will use high tech mining technologies, with employees required to have skills in robotics and such. We’ll need to have training available so county residents will have the skills Resolution Copper needs when it finally starts its operations near Superior,” Rios explained.
Resolution Copper said it may create up to 3,700 jobs within 10 years that will create employment for people throughout the Copper Corridor.
Another pending job creating project cited by Rios is Inland Port Arizona, a large railroad hub planned near Eloy. Located east of Highway 87 between Hume Road and House Road, the 1,637 acre facility will serve as a hub where goods arriving at the port of Long Beach, Calif. will be sent by rail car to be assembled into trains according to the goods’ ultimate destination. The fate of this project is in the hands of the Arizona legislature, which will need to approve it so the Union Pacific Railroad can proceed with acquiring the necessary land.
Pinal County took a step backward in job creation when it decided not to renew an agreement with the federal government to house prisoners of the US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) unit in Eloy. According to Rios, ICE wanted to renew the pact with the same reimbursement funding. But since housing of ICE prisoners (illegal immigrants incarcerated prior to deportation) was already costing the county more what ICE was offering to pay, the county opted out. This resulted in Pinal County letting go about 100 corrections officers.
Some of these jobs could be restored with a planned expansion of the Eloy Detention Center, which could add up to 1,000 additional beds to house convicts from Arizona and other states.
Yet another job producer in the planning stage is the Phoenix Mart in Casa Grande, in which a Japanese company will have clothing items from head (hats) to toe (shoes) and accessory items for shipment to stores throughout the Western Hemisphere, Rios noted.
A major cog in plans to attract high-paying jobs to Pinal County is improving infrastructure, especially roads, which Chase said will better enable residents to get to their place of work and for companies to get deliveries and customers efficiently to and from their places of business.
Chase would like to see improvement of Hunt Highway – turning what was a two-lane blacktop providing the rural folk that used to live in what is now San Tan Valley a means to drive to a towns of Florence and Coolidge – sped up. Currently scheduled for completion in 2017, Hunt Highway is being turned into a major thoroughfare on which assorted retail and other businesses can locate and provide jobs for the still unincorporated town’s burgeoning population.
Chase also would like to accelerate construction of I-11, currently planned to abut the northern and eastern borders of San Tan Valley, as it would attract additional businesses, Pinal County targets it to be a high tech corridor, to the area.
Road improvements also play large in other job-creating ventures. According to Rios, the board is working with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to get State Route 77 widened and a half-mile spur road built to make possible the planned Apache Sky Casino near Dudleyville. A gaming facility with 600 slot machines, 12 table games, six poker tables, and a full-service restaurant, Apache Sky also will create 400 jobs, half of which the owner San Carlos Apache Indian Tribe promises will go to Pinal County residents.
These road projects hinge on the Arizona state legislature leaving the state of highway funding alone, Rios said. With a $1 billion state budget deficit looming, some in the legislature are talking about raiding the HURF (Highway User Revenue Fund) and transferring some of it to the Highway Patrol. The board will try to convince legislators that a HURF raid will hurt economic growth in Pinal and other counties, he explained.
Chase promised to use her position to further the interests of San Tan Valley, helping to turn the essentially residential community into an economic engine.
“San Tan Valley is unique in Pinal County that doesn’t mirror any other town around it, and should be developed accordingly,” she said.
Besides beneficial road projects, Chase has been meeting with local civic groups to see what can be done to turn San Tan Valley from a collection of subdivisions into a community. These include the two organizations trying to create a fire and medical district covering all or the northern third of San Tan Valley to provide the equivalent of a tax-supported municipal firefighting service covering all residents rather than just subscribers. While Chase voted to accept the impact statement of the San Tan Valley Fire and Medical District covering the whole community in September, the district’s road to creation failed on a 3 to 2 vote. Voting with Chase was Rios.
James J. Hodl is a career journalist who has worked for newspapers, magazines and trade journals. A graduate of Southern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism, Hodl began his career as a reporter with the Palatine (IL) Herald and the Morton Grove (IL) Review before becoming editor of the trade publication Appliance Service News. In recent years, Hodl has had articles published in Consumers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Home Remodeling, Kitchens & Baths and Salute; and has contributed to trade publications serving the home furnishings, restaurant and casino markets. A native of Chicago, Hodl relocated to San Tan Valley in 2013.
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