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What do you see as economic development opportunities for Superior?
Ecotourism, for one. When the Magma Hotel is complete, it will jumpstart Main Street to the former days. I hope to diversity the businesses in Superior, so that if one section of the economy shuts down, there are others we can fall back on. When people stop in from the U.S. 60, they see the friendliest service. It’s just all about getting them in.
How will you help to get all the local groups and school district to work together for a common vision? Do you feel there is a common vision amongst the groups and the Town?
Every group has a common vision: to make Superior a better place. But the community has no unity anymore. It saddens me because in Superior’s heyday, it was always a big production with everybody in town. One of my goals before leaving office, even if I am not reelected, is to sit down with these various organizations and come up with a plan to bring unity back to the community.
What do you feel needs to be done to ensure that Superior residents are safe and have access to police and fire services?
When it comes to public safety, if “home rule” isn’t passed, several things go out to a district and we’ll have to immediately cut services. Superior would not lose coverage from fire, ambulance and police, but the problem is that it would suffer. It’s suffering now because we cannot afford to give them the supplies they desperately need. If “home rule” doesn’t pass, it won’t be only public safety that suffers.
Do you support the Council’s recent decision to terminate the Mutual Benefits Agreement and discontinue unqualified support for the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange? How do you feel this decision will affect the Town and the Legislation?
Yes, I support it. It’s unfortunate that it had to happen—it was an extremely hard vote. It was a decision made after a long time of research. It has to be a purely business decision. Every time I vote, I vote for 2,837 people in Superior. I would want to pursue a different agreement with Resolution Copper.
From what I’ve heard at the national level, it’s really shocked Congress that we’ve made this decision. I wish Mr. [K. Kane] Graves was here sooner—we didn’t have the resources to review the agreement when Rita Wentzel was town manager. We piled everything on her. Half the community is proud, half wants to run me out of Town on a rail. We had to make a hard business decision.
If you are elected, what would you like to see accomplished in Superior over your term?
The revitalization of Main Street. A better police and fire department. We don’t have bad officers or firefighters, we just need the funds and equipment. I’d also like to see more things for the kids, more programs.
I’d like to get a school resource officer in there. When I was in high school, we had an officer and it was amazing having him around. He taught a law class and you always felt safe. His class led to me getting a criminal justice degree.
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