Every year, leaders from Arizona’s 91 incorporated cities and towns convene to discuss some of the most important issues and policies affecting Arizona communities, including Globe, Miami and Superior. The gathering is a conference organized by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, a voluntary membership organization working to promote self-government within the state.
This year’s conference, which took place August 19 to 22, had the largest turnout in years, says Globe Mayor Al Gameros, who was among the attendees representing the City of Globe. An event that normally draws 900 to 1,000 people drew between 1,600 to 1,800 attendees this year, he says. This was the first year that all seven councilmembers from Globe could attend the conference.
“The networking, I think, is huge because you talk to other mayors and other councilmen in other communities, small and large,” he says. “There, you really share information and you learn, we all deal with the same issues most of the time, so how should we address them?”
Issues considered this year included: Arizona’s powergrid, AI and local government, statewide transportation, water scarcity and security, economic development, mining, wildfires, housing, and health care.
One of the panels that stood out to Gameros most focused on the potential impact of the Big Beautiful Bill on healthcare in Arizona.
“It was an eye-opener, really, to hear how it will affect directly and indirectly, our city,” he says. “We're talking about $80 million in cost to Arizona alone because of Medicaid.”
“The Medicaid cuts, either directly or indirectly, are going to affect our state and especially rural areas, rural hospitals,” he continues. “We have an amazing hospital. Not very many rural communities have a hospital like we do, and it’s going to be affected.”
“We really won't know the effect of it until probably around 2027, 2028, something like that,” he adds. “But we've got to prepare for it.”
Gameros also presented on a panel centered around wildfires and the many challenges they pose to communities.
He reviewed state funding and what is available in the way of financial relief from fires.
“We went through the Telegraph fire and the flooding that took place in our community,” he says. “We didn't qualify for federal FEMA funding because the cost wasn't high enough.”
Another issue explored during the panel was loss of home insurance due to living in fire-prone communities. Gameros says that the governor’s office is working to form a task force to look at insurance reform.
“We can't dictate whether they insure you or not,” he says, “but we can work together to try and get these people qualified for insurance again.”
He also spoke about wildfire protection planning and the community protection plan for the Globe-Miami area.
He noted that plans are in place in the event of a public safety power shutoff in the area, where power is shut off in certain areas if weather creates a fire risk.
“We've developed a plan where we identify the people in need – the disabled, the elderly, the people that are on oxygen,” he explains, “because the power could be shut off for 24-plus hours. That would be tough for a lot of people.”
Ultimately, as far as wildfires go, “I think, we're prepared,” he says of Globe-Miami.
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