Miami town manager sees brighter future

What people may not understand about him is that he can see a totally transformed Miami in business and in the neighborhoods and I think he is the man who can get it done.”

Susan Hansen, former Miami councilwoman and chair of Miami Genesis.

Alexis Rivera believes the future can be brighter than the past for the town of Miami, and unity of vision and education are the keys. He is not alone in these thoughts, but he is realistic about how fast progress can move.

Two Miami heavyweights see him as a man with vision and the tools to see that vision come to fruition. Susan Hansen, former town council woman for 10 years and chairwoman of Miami Genesis, said she has been through six town managers, and Rivera is “one of the best.” Joe Sanchez, also a former town council member and a former Gila County Board of Supervisor, agrees.

“What people may not understand about him is that he can see a totally transformed Miami in business and in the neighborhoods,” she said, “and I think he is the man who can get it done.”

The native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, has lived in the Globe area for 23 years, and he knows about the good and has heard plenty about the bad regarding Miami. 

“I have heard a lot of negativity about Miami during my years of living here. . .  about how it can’t return to what it used to be,” he said. 

Rivera’s voice dropped off at this point in the interview, and he smiled and shook his head. 

“When you bring $14 million to a town like Miami, that is notable,” Sanchez said, referring to grant funding Rivera has brought to Miami so far. “That is besides the general grant money that goes into the budget.”

Hansen said Rivera isn’t one to talk a lot about himself or even defend himself when Council meetings take a negative turn, but he is always positive about projects nonprofits and others bring to his attention that will improve the town in meaningful ways.

“At this time, Genesis is working on the Downtown beautification, and he is so involved,” she said. “I will call him, and he will clear the way.”

She said his responsiveness and can-do attitude was refreshing compared to the last manager because “there was no communication.” 

Town manager tenure

Rivera has been town manager since 2022, and the clearest theme of his administration so far has been a renewed attention to recreation, housing, downtown revitalization, outside partnerships and grant-funded infrastructure.

His most visible contributions, with the help of the Miami Town Council, town staff, Miami Genesis, mining companies, Arizona State University (ASU) and funding agencies, have been the following:

• Veterans Memorial Park: Installation of modern playground and volleyball court in partnership with Capstone Copper Pinto Valley Mine.
• Hostetler Pool: The historic pool was resurfaced, renovated and returned to public use in partnership with the Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center.
• Bullion Plaza recreation area: Development of a skate/walking path and disc-golf course. Resolution Copper funded the skate/walking path, and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold funded the disc-golf course and the Keystone Stairs renovation. 
• Municipal buildings: Roof work at the Miami Police Department and library completed. HVAC project at Police Department completed. Sundt Foundation donated funding for the Miami Memorial Library roof.
• Code enforcement and public safety: The Town restored its code-enforcement function and appointed a permanent police chief.
• Planning and Downtown revitalization: Rivera initiated Miami’s partnership with ASU’s Project Cities in the Spring of 2023. It produced five community analyses: Miami’s first Downtown design guidelines and revitalization playbook, emergency management recommendations, green-infrastructure concepts and tourism strategies. Visit https://globalfutures.asu.edu/project-cities/project/town-of-miami to read the entire studies and learn more about Miami’s bright future.
• Long-range planning: The Town Council adopted a three-year strategic plan covering July 2025-June 2028, establishing priorities for infrastructure, economic development, public safety, recreation and municipal operations.

The Miami Inspiration Housing project is still underway, and when it is completed will be a 40-unit housing development – the first of its kind since 2009. 

There are also millions of dollars of mitigation work ongoing in the Bloody Tanks Wash, Latham/Cherry Flats, Adonis Basin and Mackey Camp. Rivera said there are plans to create trail systems in the Orphan Street area once testing, mitigation and stabilization are complete. Mackey Camp will also be the home of short-term RV for recreation and pump track with trails. 

A new coffee shop is also in the works.

Big issues

Although Miami’s future is beginning to take shape outside of people’s dreams and beyond the architect’s renderings, there is still a big need for housing, especially with the opening of Resolution Mine and speculation about the Copper Fox and the San Manuel mines. 

Rivera said his goal is to better present to the world who Miami is. “We need a better community, a better government, better housing, schooling, all of it,” he said. “This community deserves the best of everything.” 

Fernando Shipley, a town councilman in neighboring Globe, said Miami was fortunate to have someone like Rivera at the helm with his background in accounting and his innate ability with people. “Even when he became the town manager, I was like, are you sure?” Shipley said, referring to how hard town politics can be. 

Shipley related an experience he had while at a recent conference where he was talking with ASU officials, and they asked him if he knew “Alexis.”

“Ye-e-s,” he said. That is how it often is, Shipley said, as he makes the rounds at the frequent conferences and workshops he attends. “He just knows how to relate to people from all walks of life.”

Hansen said that relationship (?) skill is important for the Town of Miami as it deals with its housing and flooding issues. “You know we wouldn’t have gotten the big refurbishing flood money without Alexis,” she said. Sanchez concurred.

Regarding housing, it will take special skills to build up the stock for the town.

“We don’t have any land, and so we have to work within our means as far as existing housing,” Hansen said. ‘Tear down or restore the ones that are viable. . . or work in neighborhoods that are carved out of mountains.”

Regardless, according to his supporters, Rivera seems to have at least a line on contacts or the ability to write grants when the need arises. The consensus is that his vision would flourish with a little unity.