6 candidates vie for Sahuarita Town Council seats

Two newcomers and four incumbents are vying for the four seats up for grabs on the Sahuarita Town Council in this month’s primary election.

Incumbents Melissa Hicks, Bill Bracco and Gil Lusk are finishing their second terms on the council while Lynne Skelton, who was first elected in 1999, is asking voters for another term.

Newcomers Robert Housley, owner of Sahuarita based Southern Arizona Renovations, and John Sparks, Governing Board clerk for the Sahuarita Unified School District, are seeking their first terms on the seven-member board.

Candidates who receive a simple majority of the votes cast in race in the Aug. 30 primary will be automatically elected to office. If four candidates are not elected then, a runoff election for the remaining open seats will be part of the Nov. 8 general election, as required by state election laws.

With an estimated population just below 26,000, the town of Sahuarita has hit a growth spurt since its incorporation in 1994.

In the years since the population boom, the town has begun to lay groundwork to foster economic and community development, including annexation projects like the Sahuarita East Conceptual Area Plan, aggressive incentives for new businesses and the development of civic centers.

We asked all the candidates about the biggest issues facing the town and how they would help tackle those issues. Sparks did not return several emails and phone calls from the Star seeking his comments.

Bill Bracco

The current vice mayor and owner of Fish Window Cleaning, Bracco, 57, thinks the biggest issues facing the town are attracting employment centers and expanding the town boundaries to the east.

He wants to see the town develop areas where residents can live, work and play all in one place, and he thinks annexation plans like SECAP are what will drive this growth.

“The plan is there, (SECAP has) been approved and now it’s just waiting for the economy to catch up,” he said.

While those annexation plans can sometimes take years to take hold, Bracco said he and the council have made strides in the effort to attract new businesses by reducing regulatory red tape and creating easy and free pathways for new businesses to develop in Sahuarita.

“All we can do as a government is get out of the way and make the environment as easy as possible for growth,” he said.

Aside from economic development, Bracco wants to see the town looking toward the future — planning for future infrastructure maintenance and improvement, along with re-evaluating the town codes.

Melissa Hicks

First elected in 2011, Hicks, 46, believes that the Town Council she has been a part of was successful in large part because of its diverse and collaborative nature. But the town has grown quickly, she said, and that means the town needs to have a dynamic and diverse approach to the future.

She specifically cited the area plan, known as SECAP, as one of Sahuarita’s key building blocks.

“SECAP, I believe, is huge — our annexation to the east — just so we have more property, more land to develop and continue to grow,” she said.

Collaboration with the southern region in general is something Hicks championed. She’d like to see relationships develop with Tucson’s aerospace sector and the other developing communities along the proposed I-11 highway.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

She thinks these relationships will be fostered through rezoning and annexation.

Aside from economic development, Hicks wants to develop the community aspect of Sahuarita by funding “more parks and more ball fields.”

Robert Housley

Housley, 33, wants to control what he believes is an overactive Town Council and further incentivize small-business development — all while doing everything in his power to prevent taxes from being raised.

“My biggest problem with the town is that they spend a lot of time on petty things,” Housley said. “It costs money to turn the lights on and hold a council meeting.”

The third-generation general contractor thinks the answer to Sahuarita’s economic woes is through the cutting of political red tape and developing infrastructure to attract small businesses.

“Twenty years ago anybody with a hammer could go in to business and be successful. It’s just not that way anymore,” he said. “There’s just so much in the political makeup of things — especially in the building industry — that make it too top-heavy.”

Gil Lusk

Lusk, a former National Park Service park superintendent of 35 years, was appointed to the council in 2012.

In his time on the council, Lusk, 73, has worked toward the expansion of the town boundaries, rebranding and developing the town’s commercial and retail sectors.

In the future, though, Lusk wants to better Sahuarita’s ability to attract industry.

“Right now we depend on sales tax for our revenues, and without industry and additional commercial, we’re not going to be able to go forward without additional taxation of some kind — and none of us really want to see that,” he said.

Lusk wants to see industry come to Sahuarita for more than just the tax revenue, however. He pointed out that the community wants jobs, they want the town to offer more than an excellent school system and a good place to raise a family.

“We’re trying to have a place where they have jobs and have the ability to take care of their families,” he said.

Lynne Skelton

The longest-serving member of the council, Skelton, 58, was first elected in 1999 and has worn many hats during her time serving the town, including a stint as mayor from 2007-2011 and vice mayor from 2011-2013.

Skelton views economic development as the biggest issue facing the town and wants to see the money spent in Sahuarita stay there.

While economic development is a long-term goal that the majority of the candidates share, Skelton said adding to Sahuarita’s parks and recreation facilities are among her top priorities.

“Where we need to continue to grow is in the development of the families in our area — for the kids to be able to have a place to practice their sports leagues and maybe have additional recreational facilities.”