Mayor’s SOTC address takes citizens on a journey from the past to move ‘Globe Forward’

Globe Mayor Al Gameros gave his fourth State of the City address on a hot evening in late-September, painting a detailed picture of the inception of the City’s economic revitalization and laying out Council’s vision for the future.

The theme of the address was Preserving Our History, Planning Our Future: Globe’s Path Forward.

Gameros, who along with Councilmen Freddie Rios and Mike Pastor have been re-elected for another four years, set the stage for another two years for the current Council—including Vice Mayor Mike Stapleton, Mariano Gonzales, Fernando Shipley and Jesse Leetham—to continue the momentum of a plan that started in 2016.

“I am honored to work alongside these dedicated individuals committed to serving our City with a unified vision and goals,” Gameros said. “I also want to thank our City staff. The great things that are happening in our City can be most accurately measured by the commitment and hard work of our dedicated staff and employees.”

Where It All Began

Harkening back to his time as Chief of the Globe Fire Department, Gameros described the state of the City in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008.

Coinciding with the last decade of his 28-year career, Gameros saw the elimination of many City staff positions, furloughs, and an overall 2% reduction in his department’s budget.

By 2016, Gameros had retired and been elected to council where the City faced “deteriorating equipment with no capital improvement plan, taking in used vehicles from other cities for police and fire [departments], with no population growth for decades and aging infrastructure in our 100-year-old city.”

Thus began the move to create a sustainable, modern economy that could better withstand the vagaries of external forces. City leaders wanted to find a way to capture some of the dollars represented by roughly 30,000 vehicles passing through the community daily, find investors, businesses and developers and “take a lead role to control [the City’s] own destiny.”

“It began with the leadership of this council; It began with a vision; It began with setting goals; It began with creating a plan,” Gameros said. “It was about reaching out for help, looking at and visiting other communities that were beginning to thrive to help guide our plan.”

To begin the process, the City entered into its first partnership of this era, joining forces with the Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), “a 501c3 nonprofit that operates in 13 western states to provide training, technical support, and financial resources and advocacy so rural communities can achieve their economic goals and visions.”

With the help of a $45,000 Building Rural Economies grant, Globe established its Economic and Community Development Department and embarked on its first-ever tourism marketing campaign. RCAC also facilitated the City’s Strategic Action Plan update for 2019-2022 and provided training for City staff to take over the process in 2020.

That relationship continues to this day and Globe continues to benefit from the partnership, through technical assistance for both City staff and local businesses from a new $3 million grant to provide further training for the cities under RCAC’s scope of service.

But more unforeseen roadblocks slowed progress, from the COVID pandemic to fires and floods in recent years. Despite numerous setbacks, Council maintained its focus and took advantage of opportunities, such as money from the Coronavirus Relief Fund—the CARES Act— which provided $150 billion in federal aid to cities throughout the country.

“Even through these difficult times, we never lost our focus on the plan that we had set in motion,” Gameros said. “Our staff was creative with funding guidelines, aggressive in seeking grant funding, and working with investors and developers we became more visible and involved at the state and national level.”

Much of the funding has come thanks to hiring a lobbyist in Washington DC, which has been augmented by two Council visits to Washington to attend the National League of Cities Conference and lobby for additional funding.

Along the way, the City has also bulked up staffing levels in order to facilitate growth and manage grant monies that have become a vital part of City funding.

Measures of Success

Over the past eight years, Globe’s operational budget has grown significantly and signs of progress are showing up all over town in the form of rehabilitated infrastructure, blight reduction, and new building projects.

All around town, the success of the City’s plans are coming to fruition.

Recent successes include:

• The rehabilitation of the Community Center Pool;
• The $4.4 million Connie’s Bridge project (anticipated opening by the end of the year);
• The $2.8 Cottonwood Bridge replacement;
• The ongoing rehabilitation of the Michaelson Building, thanks to a partnership between Gila County and the City and $750,000 in federal funds; and
• The $21 million Gorman Hill Street School project, creating 64 units of affordable senior housing;
• A $100,000 feasibility study to rehabilitate the McCormack Tunnel with funding from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.

Upcoming projects include:

• $14 million fire station project;
• $2.2 million new ladder truck;
• $3.5 million Jess Hayes sidewalk project;
• $158,000 Safe streets and roads project to improve the safety of pedestrian and vehicle traffic in historic downtown on Broad Street; as well as,
• $254,000 project to upgrade the skate park at the Community center and a $100,000 project funded by BHP to install additional outdoor exercise equipment at the community center

The financial numbers also provide an indication of the success of the City’s plans overall. According to Gameros, the total amount of grants funds received since 2018 in all City departments is $127 million and Council has put a capital improvement program in place to replace vehicles and equipment for fire, police, and public works.

Other fiscal highlights include:

• 173% budget increase from $24.2 million in 2016 to $66.3 million for fiscal year 2024-2025;
• 68% increase in the operational budget over the same period from $11,465,632 to $19,260,943;
• 134% increase in sales tax revenue from $3,614,792 to $8,456,299; and,
• 183% increase in Bed Tax revenue from $90,567 to $256,592.

Additionally, the FY 2024-2025 budget includes:

• $14.4 million for water and sewer improvements;
• $9.4 million for roads maintenance and bridge construction;
• $19 million set aside for possible grants and donations.

“We have come a long way but we still have a lot more to do to reach that final plateau of sustainability,” Gameros said.

Globe Forward

At the heart of the renaissance, is the concept of Globe Forward, a multi-part plan that ranges far into the future and includes initiatives such as Globe Clean and Beautiful and Gila PROUD for urban renewal and community beautification projects.

In order to serve the greater demand of services that growth will bring and manage projects that receive external funding, the City is also bulking up staffing in critical departments and has hired a grants manager to continue its funding model.

“For our Council and staff, this means as we plan for our future and prepare for growth we are focused on a greater quality of life for our residents now and for future generations,” Gameros said. “Through hard work and dedication and a shared vision with goals and planning, your City Council has worked with City Administrators and Staff to create the pathway to a diverse and thriving economic future.”

Another important part of Globe Forward is the effort to update fire and building codes by the beginning of 2025. Globe is currently using codes that are long out of date.

Closing Comments

As the Mayor reached the end of his presentation, he reiterated the work of City staff and the dedication of City Council and emphasized the importance of the partnerships the City has developed.

He ended his speech with a call to action sent out to the entire community to “become part of that positive force that continues to drive our momentum and be part of our success.”

“This story is not about me, it is about all of us: Your city council making decisions, and your City staff planning and making it happen with the support of you, our residents. We have an amazing community,” Gameros concluded. “True leadership is a privilege to better the lives of others and the community they serve.”