The Marana Town Council race features two incumbents and a newcomer vying for two positions.
Roxanne Ziegler, running for a fourth term, said she’s passionate about Marana and about serving the people of the town. She said she saw the town go through rapid growth and wants to focus on what the people want.
“I’m not the go-along-to-get-along type of politician,” she said. “People support me because they know I use my head for decisions but I have a lot of compassion and passion too. My only concern every day is what’s good for the citizens of Marana, and it’s my only concern even when it goes against our leaders sometimes.”
Dave Bowen is running for a second full term. He originally filed to run for mayor this year, but changed his mind and is running to keep his seat on the council, where he says he’s being effective. He said he wants Marana to be a strong and independent community but also wants it to cooperate with regional partners.
Marana residents are pleased with the town government, Bowen said. People he talks to on the campaign trail “just can’t find anything to gripe about,” he said.
This is John Officer’s first time running for an elected office, although he’s served on town commissions for several terms. He said he wants to participate in town government and serve the town at a different level after watching the town grow and helping to develop strategic plans.
Long ago he originally got involved with the town government after he negotiated to pay off an expensive speeding ticket through maintenance work and enjoyed the first-hand look at what goes on in town services.
“The Town Council has been doing a great job,” Officer said. “It’s tough coming in as a newcomer. It’s not that anybody’s doing anything drastically wrong, it’s just my time to throw my hat in the ring.” Some longtime council members are comfortable and some people are ready for a change, he said.
Marana Town Council members are paid $16,400 a year.
The Star interviewed the three 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?
Bowen: I have a strong business background and my emphasis has been on budgeting, financial accountability, and making sure we’re financially stable. And we are — our budget is balanced with no trickery.
Officer: I’m proud of being from Marana. I’m serving on the Planning Commission and understanding the plans for subdivisions that are coming up and the changes they want to make and helping to decide what changes we can live with.
Ziegler: Something dear to my heart is supporting our veterans in Marana. My father was in the Air Force for 30 years and I grew up living on military bases. Marana became a Purple Heart Town and we recently opened the Marana Veterans Memorial Cemetery. I pushed for a town council resolution in support of the Fisher House.
What is the biggest problem in Marana, and what specific actions will you take to fix it?
Bowen: I don’t think we’re facing any huge problems right now. We should strengthen cooperation between the town and the school district. One of the things Marana needs to be an attractive place to live and work is a school system that people want to bring their children to. We can have opportunities for dual usage of facilities and buildings, we can explore ways to promote the school system, and we need to work hard to bring a higher education facility to the town.
Officer: It has taken the town quite a while to build the strategic plan and the master plan, and you can come in with an idea and we will work with you on it, but it’s not going to change overnight. There’s got to be a good reason for changes. My role would be to help make sure the plan is followed and changed as needed and to ensure they’re smart changes.
Ziegler: The biggest opportunity facing us is infrastructure. We have a lot of land out there but we don’t have the infrastructure. When somebody wants to build something, they’re usually responsible for the infrastructure. There are times that we’ve helped, like with the mall, we put some infrastructure in for them and they will pay us back. I do wish we could have some shovel-ready areas that a company could come into. We’re spending $8 million to put in a sewer line on the west side. That’s a start. The next step would be adding some of these development projects to our budgets.
What town services would you prioritize in budget talks?
Bowen: Capital improvement projects, roads and road maintenance, police and police response times, and efficient business services with good customer services for individuals as well as big business.
Officer: Police, parks and recreation, and investing in infrastructure including wastewater systems. Maintenance is my No. 1 priority in almost anything.
Ziegler: Parks and recreation, police department, roads.
What should the town government do to spur economic development?
Bowen: This year so far we’ve built about 250 new homes and 11 new commercial buildings. What we can do is continue down the same road we’ve been, which is making sure our people are customer friendly and our codes are up to date.
Officer: We’re setting aside areas that are just for that. We’ve got the tech park area down on Tangerine Road that we’ve set aside for opportunities. We fully support a lot of the businesses along I-10 and Cortaro that have been growing. We just did the mall, and the town did a good job turning its attention to helping the developers to bring the mall in. The town is moving in the right direction, we’ve just got to have all the players on the same court.
Ziegler: Two years ago we set up an economic development department. They have a new website that is nothing but tourism in Marana. We’ve got several hotels we’d like to see full of people out enjoying our parks and trails. We have a lot to offer. Marana is a quaint little town and people can come here and within 50 miles they can keep busy for a week. We’ll draw people in who will spend money at the hotels, theaters, the mall and restaurants, and of course all of that is sales tax revenue. Some tourists may stay and build homes here.
How should the town balance growth with preservation and conservation?
Bowen: Because we are one of the fastest growing communities in Arizona, and because there’s such a push to build houses, we have developers courting us all the time. Developers and builders come with a mindset that they want to make a profit — and I’m all for that because I’m a businessman too — but I want to make sure what we do and what we allow preserves the natural beauty of Marana, the environment, and the farming and ranching culture that we have here. We have a heritage we need to safeguard. That’s going to be a constant battle. We’re updating the land use code. All kinds of technical details factor in to how we develop the town. The document should reflect our cultural values and the quality of life we want, and it should address things like lot sizes, density and viewsheds. We should push back when necessary, because we want communities, not just houses.
Officer: Marana’s got a good long-range plan, and it can be tweaked and adjusted, but they’ve got a plan and they’ve stuck to it. They can’t be bought by every whim that comes through. In every new subdivision there’s got to be a percentage set aside for preserving open space. There are wildlife corridors between the mountain ranges and the river to preserve.
Ziegler: We do it a lot with open space. We work very closely with the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection. I love animals and I always make sure their habitat is not disturbed, or if it is, to mitigate it somewhere else. I think we’re very good stewards of our habitats and our endangered species.
