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As Town continues search for Police Chief, Miami looks to reviving Neighborhood Watch
Miami’s Town Council will explore the prospect of restarting the Neighborhood Watch Program in a future work session. During the Council’s March 24 regular meeting, Town Clerk Karen Norris said she would work on some tentative dates for that session and inform the community when it will be held.
“Neighborhood Watch could be the answer in lieu of calling the Dispatcher’s Office,” said Councilmember Jose “Angel” Medina. “Neighborhood captains would be a point of contact for neighbors and police officers.”
“There’s a lot of information and planning we can do together,” said Mayor Gil Madrid, who described the planned work session as “where we’re going to really buckle down and get a program going.”
Medina added that the Town’s previous Neighborhood Watch Program “was working pretty good for a while, but we couldn’t get that many people to step up and be captains.” He said the previous program had also run into funding issues.
“You can have a neighborhood captain people can go to with information or questions. That relieves a lot of stress on the police officers. The neat thing about this program is that you get to know your neighbors,” Medina said.
The Miami Police Department will be represented at the work session, as the Town’s search for a new police chief continues. With candidate Scott Veach declining the position, the Town is now exploring a promotion to chief from within the department.
Town Manager Alexis Rivera reported that Phase I of the Keystone Stairs renovation was complete, and quotes for Phase II would be requested; that the Town and Central Arizona Governments were discussing possible grants for road, sidewalk, and mobility projects; and that the Town, ATLAS Engineering, and Gordian were pursuing a brownfields grant to renovate a property on Roosevelt Street.
Lady Vandals Champions Day
The Council also proclaimed Saturday, March 29 as Miami High School Lady Vandals Champions Day, to honor the 2A girls basketball state champions. The day will include a 4 p.m. parade down Sullivan Street, and will tie in with the Miami Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, taking place at 11 a.m. at the high school.
The Council also approved agreements regarding two grants for municipal improvements: a $1.09 million Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona grant to remodel and upgrade the Town wastewater treatment plant, and the second half of an $85,000 Arizona Community Foundation/U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to upgrade LED lighting at Town Hall, the Miami Library, the Council Chambers, and Copper Mountain Transit.
David Sowders, who now lives in Globe, has been in southern Arizona since childhood and grew up in Tucson. David earned an associate of applied sciences degree from Eastern Arizona College. He has 10-plus years of experience as a newspaper reporter and editor in Safford and Globe, and his articles have won several Arizona Newspapers Association awards. Writing, hiking and discovering new places around Southern Arizona are some of his greatest joys.
