Marana voters will choose between two of the town’s senior statesmen for mayor in the August election.
The next mayor will help the young town begin its fourth decade.
The incumbent, Ed Honea, has been mayor for 13 years and has served on the Town Council for a total of 29 years in various terms. His challenger, Dan Post, father of Vice Mayor Jon Post, has served on the Marana School District governing board for 35 years.
Honea said Marana residents are happy. He gets a complaint around once a month.
“The town of Marana right now is the most successful it’s ever been. We have beautiful parks, we have beautiful roads, people love our police,” he said. “And I’ve been a part of that. I want to keep going like we are going.”
Post said he was recruited to run for mayor, and agreed to run because Marana needs a mayor who gets along with regional neighbors and builds better relationships with the county, school district and community college district.
His experience as a businessman and a public servant and his extensive experience with balancing budgets would serve him well as mayor, he said.
“There’s no group that has to be more conscientious about living within their means as a school district. We have ‘X’ amount of money, and we have to get a job done with the money that’s appropriated to us — and no excuses,” Post said. “We can’t just reach out and tap the taxpayers every time we need a little extra money.”
The Marana mayor is paid $21,000 a year. The Star interviewed the two candidates about their platforms. Their comments were edited for length.
What’s something you’ve done in the past few years to make Marana a better place?
Honea: I was the main person behind building the Marana Senior Center. When we annexed the Ina-Orange Grove-Thornydale area, and we all of a sudden had a couple of pennies and a bucket to put it in, we had some innovative ideas. We’d done a lot of things for youth. We hadn’t done anything for the older people in our community. So I floated that idea to the manager and the Council, and the next year we built the senior center at Ora Mae Harn Park.
Post: The Marana School District is one of the best in the state, and that doesn’t happen by accident. One of the most consistent things at the Marana School District has been my service. We’ve created an environment of cooperation with our staff and teachers. We’re not in the news for quarreling and fighting and controversy. I’ve been a key factor in creating that culture.
What is the biggest problem in Marana, and what specific actions will you take to fix it?
Honea: We don’t really have major problems. We’re doing more housing, more business. I think our people really are happy with us. One of our biggest challenges is that we’re growing so fast that we need more public amenities. We have to build a police station and we had to raise sales taxes a half-cent. It’s an issue you have to take care of, but it’s an issue brought on by success. At the end of four years, that half-cent goes away and that station is paid for.
Post: One of the biggest problems is that Marana is facing some serious financial issues. Marana has the highest debt per resident of any entity in Southern Arizona, and they’ve taken on a lot of debt that hasn’t been voter-approved. That debt is going to be put on the backs of any future residents and businesses who wants to come to Marana. In the future, it’s going to be very expensive to come into Marana if they want to build or grow here. And I think Marana has to deal with that issue.
What town services would you prioritize in budget talks?
Honea: Police, parks and roads. I’ve been very supportive of building new parks. We’re getting ready to build a new park, Tangerine Sky Park. We’re looking at adding a splash pad at Silverbell Crossroads Park. Town swimming pools and splash pads are free to use, and I’m very proud of that. I’m proud of our road system. We have dedicated funding for road maintenance.
Post: I’d look at the books. I think we need to do an audit and see where we’re overspending and whether we’re top-heavy with employees. We need to take a good, hard look at our expenses and the debt the town has committed itself to. I’d sit down with the town manager and the finance director and involve the Council, and have some serious budget talks. The Council is not being utilized as a team like it should be.
What should the town government do to spur economic development?
Honea: We’ve done quite a bit. What we’re looking for now is attracting people to build storefronts. We don’t have any empty storefronts — everything’s full. We do incentives now, but we don’t take general fund taxpayer dollars for the incentives. The way we work is the taxes you would pay, like construction sales tax when you build a building, we’ll give all your money back to you if you do some things we want. We need to address the demand for commercial availability.
Post: Marana is fast becoming a bedroom community, and we need to address the issue of bringing businesses and industry that creates jobs that aren’t just fast-food jobs and service jobs. We’ve got all the hamburger stands and outlet malls that we need. What we need is some well-paying jobs. Fees need to be competitive in the region. The town could set aside industrial areas and plan ahead for all the accompanying things they need, like industrial sewer and water, electricity and easy access to the freeway and roads, that would make it attractive for businesses to come here.
How should the town balance growth with preservation and conservation?
Honea: We’re pretty big on preservation and conservation. On the flat grounds, like Gladden Farms, we will allow more housing per acre on a big piece of property. But if you go up and look at Tangerine and Twin Peaks, we only allow an average of two houses to the acre in there, because that has more cacti and more washes and more rocks. The way we accomplish that is clustering all of the homes on a portion of the acreage, making it cheaper for the developer, and the rest of the property stays open desert forever. That’s the reason people want to move there. We’ve tried to be innovative. We can also build multipurpose facilities, such as parks that double as water retention basins, and we can share facilities with schools.
Post: The ideal place for growth to occur is on the slopes in the desert, as opposed to destroying the green belt and the farm land. The farm land is the easiest place to build, but it’s also the part that contributes the most to the environment. We should be considering the best of both worlds by putting the growth up on the slopes and preserving the agricultural community. There’s a mitigation of the amount they’re allowed to build on the desert, but there’s no such mitigation on the farmland. They’re trying to preserve the wildlife on the desert, but most of the wildlife now is down on the farmland. For a lot of the agricultural land, it’s too late. It’s already been bought by the developers because the town has made it easy for them to build on it. I would begin the discussion to provide incentives for them to build on the slope land. There’s a lot more of that land than there is farmland. Marana brags about preserving its heritage, but it’s already zoned away most of its heritage.
