The Pima County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday appointed a retired former county executive to fill the seat of Supervisor Richard Elías, who died on March 28.
After an emotional tribute to the five-term supervisor, the board voted 3-1 to appoint Betty Villegas to fill the remainder of Elías’ term, which expires in December. District 4 Supervisor Steve Christy was the only opposing vote.
Villegas is a Tucson native and a 23-year Pima County employee who retired in 2018 as the county’s affordable housing director. She is not among those who filed to run in the 2020 election for the District 5 seat Elías held.
In her letter of interest to the board, Villegas said she worked closely with Elías at the County Housing Center before he took his appointment in 2002. His family expressed their wish for her to fill Elías’ seat.
“My experience working for Pima County as the Housing Program Manager for more than 17 years means that I am intimately familiar with how the county structure functions,” Villegas wrote to the board. “As well, I possess valuable crisis management experience, having served as a leader in affordable housing during the Great Recession and foreclosure crisis. I would seek to support the board’s efforts to help all of the county’s residents and serve as a reminder of the concerns that kept Richard up at night, and as an advocate of the solutions he championed.”
The board also voted to name Supervisor Ramon Valadez as the new chair of the board, a title which Elías also held.
In addition to their tribute, the supervisors also passed a proclamation dedicating the month of April 2020 to the memory of Elías, asking departments to create an appropriate memorial for reflection.
“We will miss our brother Richard,” Valadez said through tears. “Like all brothers, sometimes you love them a lot more than you like them, and Richard was no exception to that rule. He had a gift for driving each of us individually nuts. … If we remember anything, let’s remember the moments of levity, the moments of laughter, the moments he drove us crazy and then made us laugh again.”
Elías, who died in his home of a presumed heart attack, represented the county’s District 5 — which encompasses much of midtown Tucson and the south side — since February 2002. He won reelection in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016, and filed papers to run for another four-year term the week before he died.
“He and I were on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but he truly believed in his causes and cared about this community,” said Republican Supervisor Ally Miller. “He will be very missed.”
Villegas will assume her role as District 5 supervisor immediately. She has served on several community boards and commissions, including United Way of Greater Tucson, Arizona Housing Alliance, Arizona State Housing Commission, Los Descendientes del Presidio de Tucson and the Tucson Pima Arts Council/Arts Foundation of Southern Arizona, according to a county news release.
The new District 5 representative will be decided in the Nov. 3 election. There are four candidates running for the supervisor spot, including Adelita Grijalva, daughter of Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who was a longtime friend of Elías and a former county supervisor.
