City asks for cooperation as clock ticks on flood mitigation plan

As the City of Globe focuses on cleaning up after the floods of 2025, city leaders are asking for cooperation from the community to meet tight deadlines tied directly to emergency funding.

Debris and sediment removal is one of the first steps in a multipronged cleanup and mitigation effort, but the city must have buy-in from property owners along Pinal Creek in order to honor the terms of a grant authorized by the National Resource Conservation Service to offset the $24 million cost of the project.

All of the work — from evaluation of the damage, to engineering design, to construction of long-term mitigation features — must be done within a 220-day window that began on Jan. 30.

In order to begin the process, the city must have access to private property along the creek to evaluate the damage, and design features to offset the possible effects of future flooding.

More than 80% of the creeks within Globe city limits are privately owned, adding a layer of complexity to an already complicated set of tasks. Since the city owns only a small portion of drainage corridors, legal access is required to evaluate conditions, maintain infrastructure, and pursue long-term flood mitigation solutions.

To achieve this, the city is asking property owners along Pinal Creek to agree to a temporary Right of Entry (ROE) to allow access for equipment and personnel involved in the much-needed work.

“We want to emphasize that this is only temporary,” says Globe Mayor Al Gameros. “It isn’t turning over land to the city or anything: This is to go in, make a plan, and engineer it to get that area safe again.”

To make it as easy for landowners as possible, the city has assembled informational packets that are available to landowners at the Globe Municipal building, located at 150 North Pine St. There is also information and general updates available at the city’s website at www. globeaz.gov under “Flood Info.”

The work will ultimately protect residents’ lives, homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure by reducing flood risk and positioning the city to compete for additional funding to offset the costs of recovery, estimated at about $96 million in total.

The project consists of three parts that are happening simultaneously. Step one is evaluation and planning, requiring the ROEs. Step two is design and planning, which will require Temporary Construction Easements (TCE) to be used only if construction access is required to individual properties. Step three will be long-term, case-bycase solutions based on engineering results, that may require permanent agreements with landowners. 

Due to the timeline, all three “prongs” are happening simultaneously.

“This is all driven by the NRCS grant that we’re up against,” says District 5 Councilman Mariano Gonzalez. “We have to get those ROEs just to be able to survey and form the engineering plan of action.”

Gonzalez says the city has already entered into contracts with engineers and other contractors in the research phase, to expedite the timeline so workers can “get in there and start mucking the soil and sand.”

The city must put up initial funding for the work, but will receive ongoing reimbursements from the NRCS. Thanks to concerted effort by city council over the past decade, there is a $3 million contingency fund available that will help to soften the financial blow, but Globe will still be on the hook for 25% — $5.5 million — of the final costs.

Gonzalez credits the hard work of city staff and administration for the ability to acquire funding and abide by the terms of the grants, all while carrying on the day-to-day functions of the municipality.

“Our staff sure makes us look good,” he says. “I’m really proud of them: They are as good as any government in the state, and that includes Phoenix and Tucson.”

As a backdrop to this project, the city is concurrently going through an appeals process with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which denied an initial request for emergency funding.

According to Globe Fire Chief Gary Robinson, the State of Arizona has filed the appeal, but is still awaiting a response from the federal agency.

In the meantime, the city and its staff have so far met all the deadlines and provided all the necessary information to both the NRCS and FEMA and now can only await the outcome of the appeal for federal dollars.

“We’ve met the documentation guidelines they’ve asked for so far, and we’re making headway,” Robinson says. “We need to get the ROEs, get the surveying stuff done, and then we can start on the construction side of things. The sooner we can get to that, the more we can accomplish.”