Karin Uhlich picked to fill open seat on Tucson City Council

Karin Uhlich has been appointed to take a vacant seat on the Tucson City Council, where she long served before.

In a unanimous vote Monday, the council chose Uhlich from four finalists to replace Steve Kozachik.

She will represent Tucson’s Ward 6, the seat her fellow Democrat Kozachik held from 2009 until his resignation at the beginning of April.

In a presentation to the mayor and council Monday, Uhlich committed to not running for the seat in 2025, something that she was on record about throughout the appointment process. She also committed to the council that she will stay in her “current Ward 6” home through 2025, which is how long her appointment will last.

Uhlich said she has been living in “cohousing” in Ward 6’s West University neighborhood since 2022, and that “creative” infill methods like these are ways to combat the ongoing affordable housing and housing instability crises Tucson faces.

“There shouldn’t be empty buildings in this city, not office buildings or office spaces owned by the city, and not homes. And so shared housing, cohousing, tiny housing communities” are all solutions, Uhlich said.

This is the second time Uhlich has filled in for a council member who resigned, after also serving as an elected member of the council.

Uhlich was elected three times total to represent Ward 3, from 2005 until 2017. Paul Durham then won the Ward 3 race after Uhlich did not seek reelection, but once Durham resigned in 2021, she was appointed to complete the remaining 10 months of his term.

Due to the state flat tax going into effect in 2021, the city of Tucson will be facing a budget shortfall “of at least” $80 million in 2026, “possibly more in 2027,” Mayor Regina Romero said during the meeting.

In response, Uhlich said her prior experience with budgetary scares made her the right fit.

“As many recall, in 2009, 2010, 2011, we were facing deficits of $40 million, $50 million, without much warning and in the midst of an economy that was crashing around us. I feel that (my) experience would guide me well,” Uhlich said, when asked what she can offer. “We did our very best and I would commit to protecting those core services and our employees.”

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“In terms of immediate action,” Uhlich said, a full “occupancy study” of city office space would be a good start. Another action Uhlich suggested was to “streamline” the permitting process for the city’s Building and Development Services Department.

Outside of her work as an elected official, Uhlich has been the director of housing and health services for Arizona Complete Health since October 2015. She also founded the Southwest Center for Economic Integrity in 2002, according to her résumé.

Ward 4 councilwoman Nikki Lee moved to appoint Uhlich, citing her prior experience as a councilmember, her time in that role dealing with city budgets, and wanting the appointee to be someone who could “really hit the ground running.”

Uhlich was one of two candidates who received votes from every member of the all-Democratic council, according to the City’s Clerk’s Office. She received first-place votes from Romero and councilmembers Lee, Lane Santa Cruz and Richard Fimbres. She was Paul Cunningham’s third choice and Kevin Dahl’s fourth.

Cunningham’s first choice was Ted Prezelski, an aide of his, but he decided to vote for Uhlich because he wanted to be “unified” as a council, although this process was a difficult one for him, he said during the meeting.

“First of all, I’ve served with Karen Uhlich for 12 years and nine months, and based on (these rankings), I’m going to serve for another 18 (months) and I’m totally good with it,” Cunningham said Monday.

“At the end of the day, this is how we’re going to do it. It’s the safe move, probably the best move when you really go over everything,” he said.

The other two finalists were Vince Rabago and Pamela Powers.

Kozachik’s departure, which he announced in March through a weekly newsletter, originally resulted in applications from 11 Democrats and one Republican.