Progress 2009

Fountain Hills

December 2009

A look back at the Town of Fountain Hills’ fi rst 20 years and projections about the future.

A special section of TIMESTIMESTHE FOUNTAIN HILLSTHE FOUNTAIN HILLS

2 / Fountain Hills Progress December 2009

Town of Fountain Hills celebrates 20thReception, programto be held Saturday, Dec. 5

By Bob BurnsTimes Reporter

The Town of Fountain Hills cel-ebrates the 20th anniversary of its in-corporation on Saturday, Dec. 5, and it will be a celebration in conjunction with other traditional holiday activi-ties in town. Specifi cally related to the anniver-sary event there will be a reception to honor all former elected offi cials in the town. There are about three dozen. The reception will be held from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and include a photo session. Following a reception there will be a program from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. with comments from each of the town’s for-mer mayors. The reception and program will take place in the Grand Ball Room in the Community Center. There will also be a dedication cer-emony of the memorial honoring the late Councilman Keith McMahan. The memorial includes a bronze plaque with McMahan’s likeness along with a

depiction of many of the events in the community he helped stage. Rural/Metro fi refi ghters will be outside the Community Center grilling hot dogs and soda and other drinks are being provided by the Maricopa Coun-ty Sheriff’s Offi ce. Both agencies will have vehicles on display.

Mayor Jay Schlum, left, talks with Town Manager Rick Davis about various topics at Town Hall. The Town will have its 20th Anniversary on Saturday, December 5.

Town provides services thatgive residents a quality lifestyle

(cont. on page 14)

Since incorporation in 1989 local government in Fountain Hills has fo-cused on providing citizens with the services they need for a quality, stable, livable community. Fountain Hills takes pride in and strives to maintain the quality of life that had it ranked by Phoenix Maga-zine as one of the top places to live in the Phoenix area for two consecutive years. The community has also received recognition as Arizona’s Best Afford-able Suburb, and is also ranked as one of the nation’s most affl uent communi-ties. The basic purpose of a town gov-ernment is to provide its citizens ser-vices on a daily basis.

In the Town of Fountain Hills, mu-nicipal government provides resident services and is a source of information for newcomers or other residents who have questions about the community and the town’s neighborhoods, zoning ordinances, Town Code, law enforce-ment, street maintenance, etc. The home for government services is at Town Hall located at 16705 Av-enue of the Fountains at La Montana Drive. The main phone number is (480) 816-5100; fax number is (480) 837-3145. The Town of Fountain Hills also has an Internet site detailing such informa-tion as community resources, events, administration details, employment oppor tunities, other information, local links and more. Town Council meetings may be

Thank You!Thank You!

The staff of the Town of Fountain Hillswould like to thank all our

residents for letting us serve you!

www.fh.az.gov 480-816-5100

A dedication ceremony will be held Saturday, Dec. 5 for the Keith McMahan m e m o r i a l plaque, a part of the Town’s 20th A n n i v e r s a r y celebration.

December 2009 Fountain Hills Progress / 3

Best Place to Live in the Valley – Phoenix Magazine 2006Best Affordable Suburb – Business Week 2009

CONGRATULATIONS Town of FOUNTAIN HILLSon 20 years of Remarkable Progress

The Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce celebrates 20 years of great partnership with the Town of Fountain Hills – working together to stimulate business vitality and enhance the quality of life in our community:


We are proud to have We are proud to have provided leadership to provided leadership to our community since our community since its incorporation.its incorporation.

From left: Former Mayors John Cutillo, Jerry Miles, Sharon Morgan, Jon Beydler, Wally Nichols and Current Mayor Jay Schlum.

It took three tries in the 1980s to get community incorporated The road to incorporation wasn’t paved with glitter, rubberized asphalt and lollipops. No, the battle for local control or self-government was fought between citizens for nearly a decade with let-ters to the editor, fl iers, court petitions, telephone campaigns, public meetings, back-room politics, neighborhood cof-fees and old-fashioned stump speeches. The third time proved the charm, as they say, since two previous incorpora-tion elections failed before the Decem-ber 1989 vote was successful. The roots of incorporation can be traced back to the 1970s, however, the decade the community of Fountain Hills was born. Maricopa County was in charge of certain government functions – police protection, maintenance of Shea Blvd., building safety, planning and zoning – but all other services were provided by a myriad of special districts. The original community developer started Fountain Hills that way, and by the late 1970s there was enough in-fi ghting and “us versus them” men-tality to cause people to examine the possibility of establishing a municipal government. The fi rst such election in 1983 evolved more into a “developer against anti-developer” mentality, and those who thought the effort was premature

won out. Interestingly, none of the incorpora-tion elections were massive mandates. The 1983 election had 768 votes against incorporation and 651 in favor. As building steam picked up through the mid-1980s, however, the Civic As-sociation and others still thought there was a better way to go. The existing Road Districts, for ex-ample, were mired in lawsuits and bickering. Miles and miles of roads here were still dirt, and maintenance on ex-isting pavement was pitiful. Incorporation proponents started examining more closely the munici-pal revenues that a new town would receive – along with the expenses that would come with self-government. By the late 1980s, however, more wrinkles came to light. The City of Scottsdale was annexing property left and right, and city offi cials there were eyeing Fountain Hills parcels as poten-tial commercial cash cows along the McDowell Mountain boundary and Shea corridor. To conduct incorporation elections, organizers needed the permission of neighboring municipalities. Efforts really started in late 1984 to bring a second incorporation election to the community, but hassles with annexation of a 405-acre parcel into Scottsdale, a court battle with the City

of Scottsdale and negotiations with of-fi cials from that city over a mutually agreeable border prevented those at-tempts from coming to fruition. In February of 1988, Scottsdale fi -nally granted permission to conduct a second incorporation here. That election was held on July 26, 1988 (the summer election date itself drawing plenty of criticism), but the effort failed by a mere 65 votes (1,599 “no” votes to 1,534 “yes” votes). Undaunted by the loss – and likely buoyed by the narrow margin – by De-cember of 1988 a new committee had been formed to push incorporation. Chaired by local businessman John Cutillo, this committee was called Foun-tain Hills Citizens for Self Government. Throughout 1989, a three-pronged approach evolved out of the political chaos – some said “status quo” was the way to go, others were still pushing for annexation by Scottsdale, and Cutillo’s group stumped hard for incorporation. Solid fi nancial arguments for incorpo-ration, coupled with waning interest from Scottsdale regarding annexation, likely sealed the deal for self-government. Remaining as an unincorporated ter-ritory under Maricopa County jurisdic-tion for various governmental functions appeared less viable as Fountain Hills continued to grow in population. The fateful day was Dec. 5, 1989.

With a 62 percent turnout from eli-gible voters, the citizens approved self-government with 438 votes to spare, the largest margin among the three incor-poration elections. The fi nal vote tally was 2,100 “yes” votes for incorporation and 1,662 “no” votes. “It was a very, very busy year for a lot of us with door-to-door brochure deliveries, fundraising activities, pub-lic forums and committee meetings,” Cutillo recalls about the year 1989. “The strength of our campaign was to bring on local government, with the ability to provide increased police pro-tection, an improved parks system and paved and maintained roads. “We had a budget that showed we could do it, and, most importantly to the campaign, we had more than 100 volunteers who brought that message forward. “We fi nally won, and history has proven us right.” Maricopa County continued to “as-sist” Fountain Hills for the fi rst six months, but by July 1, 1990, the Town of Fountain Hills was offi cially on its own. Barely an infant, the new town gov-ernment had to hit the pavement run-ning. There was no time to crawl or take baby steps. And here we are, 20 years later…


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Incorporation vote passed, then it was time to get busy forming government structure After the votes were counted, and supporters of incorporation had a little party because the community was offi -cially a town, someone probably spoiled the fun by asking, “OK, now what?” That may not be exactly what happed back in 1989 after the incorpo-ration election for Fountain Hills, but supporters did fi nd out that building a municipal government from scratch is no small task. Councilwoman Cassie Hansen was around then, and offi cially became the town’s fi rst employee when she was hired as town clerk. But, before she was a paid employee, she did the job on a volunteer basis for a time. “We thought while we were work-ing on the incorporation committee that we were pretty well organized,” Han-sen said. “We learned there were a lot of details we had not thought of. “It’s a credit to the (appointed) coun-cil that they quickly recognized the need for the formation of subcommittees.” There were 17 or 18 subcommittees formed with citizens coming forward to volunteer some expertise, or just get in-volved. The committees covered the de-tails, personnel, insurance, offi ce space, even a logo committee. Hansen said the Civic Association at the time had several pieces of property

with taxes coming due. They were anx-ious to deed that property over to the new town. There was also a Census subcommit-tee. The 10-year federal census was just a few short months away and an accu-rate count was vital for the town when it came to allocating funds from state shared revenues. At that time incorporation support-ers were quite certain they could pro-vide the needed services to the town using strictly the funds the town could receive from the state. Hansen said that as town clerk she was busy preparing for a council elec-tion, also due to come up in a few months. There were resolutions that the council needed to act on related to the election that had to be done quickly. In the fi rst months there was no of-fi ce space and Hansen found herself working out of her home. She said in-terim Town Manager Mike McNulty would come over and work would be done across the kitchen table. Hansen said she also spent some time on the road visiting other towns. There were details to fi gure out such as how to write the agenda for a Town Council meeting and what offi cial forms the town would need to have to

operate. She got this information by vis-iting clerks at other communities such as Carefree and Cave Creek. One of the town’s fi rst controversies centered on where to get offi ce space. Mayor John Cutillo advocated the use of the old library site, which was one of the Civic Association properties the town inherited. Cutillo liked the idea that the town owned the building and would not have to pay rent. However, the building was simply too small. The library had relocated to space in one of the three buildings owned by MCO Properties at the time, and the de-veloper also offered the town space in the same building – rent free for the fi rst couple of months. The council accepted the offer and

Instrumental in getting incorporation accomplished and then working hard to get things running were, from left, the town’s fi rst Mayor John Cutillo, current Vice Mayor Cassie Hansen who was the town’s fi rst employee as town clerk, and former Maricopa County Supervisor Jim Bruner who named the town’s fi rst council.

set up shop in about half of Building C in the MCO complex. “We liked that option because it would be easy to expand as the town grew,” Hansen said. One of the fi rst issues with the new offi ce space was furniture and equip-ment. They early on were using type-writers, until Peter Putterman offered the use of one computer. Putterman was eventually employed by the town as its IT specialist. The town would eventually grow to use all three of the buildings in that complex before moving into the current Town Hall building in 2005. The council held its fi rst meetings in the School District’s Administration Building.

(cont. on page 13)

Here are some familiar faces around Town Hall over the years...

Paul Nordin was the fi rst permanent town manager hired by the town. Nordin served from 1990 until 2002.

Tim Pickering began work as town manag-er in 2003 and served until 2007.

Bill Farrell was the town’s f irst legal counsel serving from 1990 until 2002.

Andrew McGuire is current town attorney serv-ing since 2002.

Bev Bender has served as town clerk since 2003. She has worked for the town since 1994.

Stuart Shoob was the town’s fi rst municipal court judge starting in 1990. He retired in 2002.

Ted Armbruster was hired to serve as mu-nicipal court judge to replace Shoob, and he is still serving.

Tom Ward has worked for the town since 1992 and served as public works director since 2003.

Robin Goodman was the town’s first di-rector of Parks and Recreation.

Mark Mayer started as Parks and Recre-ation director in 2001 and continues on that job today.

Pat Harvey took over supervision of the street department for the town in 1990 and retired in 2001.

Steve Gendler was Fountain Hills Town Marshal from 1992 to 2002.

Gary Jeppson was the Town’s fi rst plan-ning director, serving in that position from 1990 to 1998.

Richard Turner has headed Planning and Zoning for the town since 2005.


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Six have served as Mayor When Fountain Hills was incorpo-rated the mayor was not elected inde-pendently of the Town Council. Begin-ning with the fi rst council appointed in 1990 the mayor was selected by council members from among their ranks. John Cutillo, who headed the com-mittee pushing for incorporation, was appointed to the council and then named the fi rst mayor of the commu-nity. It was under Cutillo that the town fi rst established itself with its own codes and zoning regulations. It was 1994 that the mayor was fi rst selected by the voters and Cutillo re-ceived the citizens’ endorsement for a two-year term as elected mayor. He served until 1996. In 1996, Jerry Miles, a real estate and development attorney transplant-ed from California was elected mayor. Under Miles, growth and develop-ment issues came to the forefront. This included a number of multi-family condominium and apartment projects.Also, a proposal to form a charter city was presented to the voters and reject-ed. Sharon Morgan, the fi rst woman to serve as the town’s mayor, was elected in 1998. Morgan worked, and still does, as the events coordinator for the Cham-ber of Commerce. Her tenure as mayor was marked

by continued growth and the efforts to balance growth and land use concerns. Morgan served two, four-year terms and during that time the town did much of the work to acquire more than 700 acres of land in the McDowell Mountains for a Preserve. Voters ap-proved a bond issue for the purchase. It was under Morgan that the Town Council made the controversial and highly divisive decision to take over providing fi re service effectively abol-ishing the existing Fire District. In 2002 Morgan was challenged by a boisterous and controversial busi-nessman, Jon Beydler. Beydler’s outspoken demeanor and controversial ideas marked him for a short term as mayor. Beydler proposed the idea of dig-ging canals in the downtown to create a “Venice of the West.” He was also frequently in confron-tations with Fountain Hills resident and Maricopa County’s own contro-versial Sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Beydler was the target of a recall ef-fort a year after he was elected and in 2003 was voted out of offi ce. Defeating Beydler in the recall was Wally Nichols, a retired business ex-ecutive with a soft spoken, easy going manner – the antithesis of Beydler. Nichols’ focus was on planning. Under his leadership the town devel-oped a Strategic Plan as a tool for fi scal

And 32 other citizens have served on council

Our MayorsThe entire history of the Town of Fountain Hills the past 20 years can be found in the administrations of the six mayors who have served the local government. The six gathered earlier in 2009 for a keepsake photograph in Fountain Park. The Fountain Hills mayors, standing in the order in which they served, include, from left, John Cutillo, Jerry Miles, Sharon Morgan, Jon Beydler, Wally Nichols and current Mayor Jay Schlum.

planning based on citizen input and desires. Nichols is to date the community’s most popular mayor being elected to two additional two-year terms without a challenger. Nichols left offi ce in 2008 by his own choice. Jay Schlum, a member of the Town Council, who had just completed a four-year term, stepped up to run for the mayor’s offi ce. He was challenged

by former Mayor Jerry Miles in that election. With Nichols’ support, Schlum was the victor and is just completing a two-year term as mayor. The youngest mayor to date in Fountain Hills, Schlum appeals to the interests of a younger generation mak-ing the town open to addressing the concerns of young families. Schlum’s term expires in 2010 and he is seeking re-election.

(cont. on page 10)

Thefi rstTownCouncil

Soon after the results of the 1989 incorporation election were known as many, as 60 residents applied to sit on the fi rst Town Council for Fountain Hills. The fi rst seven were interviewed and selected by Jim Bruner, Fountain Hills’ representative on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The board ultimately approved the ap-pointments. The fi rst council appointed by the supervisors included Harry Barber, Joe Bill, John Cutillo, Charlie Fox, Dick Haugen, Marti Lemieux and Mike Minarsich. Harry Barber was a retired adver-tising executive who opposed incorpo-ration and wanted to act as a “watch-dog” during the organization of town government. He served from January 1990 to May 1990. Joe Bill was a transplant from Min-nesota who was an assistant adminis-trator for Mayo Clinic. He supported incorporation and sought to lend his

organizational and administrative skills to starting the town government. He served from January 1990 to May 1990. John Cutillo was a retired com-mercial businessman who chaired the incorporation campaign that was ulti-mately successful. The early council se-lected the mayor from among its ranks and Cutillo served as the town’s fi rst mayor from 1990 to 1994. He was the fi rst elected mayor in 1994 and served until 1996. Charlie Fox was employed by Mc-Donnell Douglas aircraft in a budget capacity. He brought this expertise to the incorporation committee and ulti-mately to the fi rst council. He served from 1990 to 1993. Dick Haugen was a transplant from Minnesota and worked as hotel/resort manager and was a supporter of Foun-tain Hills annexation into Scottsdale. He served from January 1990 to May 1990.

BarberCutillo Bill

Fox Haugen Lemieux Minarsich


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Clark

Council(cont. from page 8)

Marti Lemieux was another Min-nesota transplant who was employed as an insurance claims adjuster. She was and remains to this day a busy volunteer and active in civic activities. She served from January 1990 to May 1990. Mike Minarsich was an Arizona native who relocated his business to Fountain Hills in 1987. He was in-volved with the Citizens for Self Gov-ernment campaign for incorporation. He served from 1990 to 1994. In March 1990 the town held its fi rst council election with those elect-ed taking offi ce in June 1990. Cutillo, Fox and Minarsich were retained for full terms. Those joining them as the fi rst elected council were Frank Clark, Wally Hudson, Bill O’Brien and Peg Tibbetts. Frank Clark was a retired auto executive who served on the council from 1990 to 1996. Wally Hudson was an insurance executive who served on the council from 1990 to 1996. Bill O’Brien was a physician who served on the council from 1990 to 1998. Peg Tibbetts was one of the town’s earliest residents, a civic leader and volunteer. She served on the council from 1990 to 1996. Subsequent council members in-clude: Don Lawrence who served from 1993 to 1998 is pastor at Christ’s Church in Fountain Hills. He was ap-pointed to fi ll a seat vacated by the resignation of Charlie Fox. Marianne Wiggishoff served from 1994 to 2000. She was a former ad-vertising executive. She also served on the Fountain Hills Neighborhood Property Owners Association archi-tecture committee. Sid Apps, a local chiropractor in Fountain Hills served on the council from 1996 to 2000. Al Poma was a restaurant owner in Fountain Hills. He served from 1996 to 2000. Penfi eld Mower served from 1996 to 2000. He was a retired sales and marketing manager in the chemical industry. Sharon Hutcheson was a member of the Planning and Zoning Commis-sion and led an effort for more restric-tive subdivision and zoning ordinanc-es. She served on the Town Council from 1998 to 2002. John Wyman, a retired Marine Corps offi cer and businessman served

from 1998 to 2002. John Kavanagh served as a Port Authority of New York police offi cer and is now a criminal justice educator. He served on the council from 2000 to 2006, and is now a member of the Ari-zona House of Representatives. John McNeil is a utility attorney and preservation activist. He served from 2000 to 2002. Susan Ralphe was a community preservation activist who served from 2000 to 2006. Leesa Stevens was a community preservation activist and served from 2000 to 2006. Mike Archambault is a long-time community business man and cabinet maker. He was elected in 2002 and is still a council member. Rick Melendez is a retired business man with dual citizenship in El Sal-vador and the U.S. He served on the council from 2002 to 2004 and is cur-rently Honorary Consul for his native El Salvador. Kathleen Nicola served from 2002 to 2005. She was a local Realtor and died in offi ce following a boating ac-cident. Ed Kehe is a retired educator and community activist. He served on the council from 2004 to 2008. Keith McMahan served from 2004 to 2009. He was a long-time resident who held elective office on the Road Districts and Unified School Dis-trict Board. He died soon after be-ing elected to his second term on the council. Jay Schlum is a business manage-ment executive. He served on the Planning and Zoning Commission be-fore being elected to the council where he served from 2004 to 2008. He was elected mayor in 2008. Ginny Dickey is employed by the State of Arizona and is active in pol-icy at the state level. She served sev-eral years on the Unifi ed School Dis-trict board before being elected to the Town Council in 2006. Henry Leger is a business manage-ment consultant. He was elected in 2006 and continues to serve. Dennis Contino is a business ad-vocate and activist and was elected to the council in 2008 to a term that ex-pires in 2012. Cassie Hansen was the town’s fi rst employee and worked as Town Clerk for more than a decade. She was elect-ed to the council in 2008 and serves to present. Dennis Brown is a building con-tractor and served as former chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commis-sion. He was appointed in 2009 to fi ll the remaining term of Keith McMa-han.

Lawrence

Mower

McNeill

Melendez

Hudson O’Brien Tibbetts

Wiggishoff Apps Poma

Hutcheson Wyman Kavanagh

Ralphe Stevens Archambault

Nicola Kehe McMahan

The current Town Council and Mayor of Fountain Hills. Members are, seated from left, Mike Archambault, Mayor Jay Schlum and Henry Leger. Standing, from left, are Ginny Dickey, Dennis Brown, Dennis Contino and Cassie Hansen.


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5 have been a part of Town staff since early days

Town employees with nearly 20 years working for the town include, from left, Town Engineer Randy Harrel, Building Permit Technician Lari Bratcher and Deputy Town Manager Julie Ghetti.

Greg Elco, left, and Steve Calhoon began working for the town as soon as the town took over the street operations from the old Road Districts.

If Fountain Hills has had success during its fi rst 20 years as an incorpo-rated community it can be attributed largely to the people who have been working for the town during that time. Of the approximately 80 people working for the Town of Fountain Hills today, there is a handful who have been here since near the beginning. In July 1990, the beginning of its fi rst full fi scal year in existence, the town absorbed the old Road Districts into its own street department. With the dis-tricts came the employees also, two of whom are still working for the town, Steve Calhoon and Greg Elco. About a month later, in August 1990 the council decided they needed some-one to balance the checkbook and Julie Ghetti was hired as an accountant. Today, Ghetti is not only one of the longest tenured employees, she is one of the highest ranking. She holds the position of deputy town manager and fi nance director. The next summer, in June 1991, Lari Bratcher was hired as the assistant to then town clerk and now Councilwom-an Cassie Hansen, and Randy Harrel was hired as town engineer to oversee the project to pave the streets in Foun-tain Hills. Today, Harrel still oversees engi-neering for the town and Bratcher was a building permit technician until in-formed in mid-November that she was being laid off along with several other employees due to town budget cuts. When Ghetti started there were just 10 employees on board at the time. She has no regrets about being here two de-cades later. “I love the work, I love the commu-nity,” Ghetti said. She believes the incorporation of Fountain Hills added considerable val-ue to the community, that and approval of a bond issue for a high school, and the result was a growth explosion that doubled the population from 10,000 for the 1990 Census to 20,000 in 2000. “It is my personal opinion that in-corporation added value that made the community a more desirable place to live,” Ghetti said. There are numerous improvements in the town that may be a direct result of incorporation, Ghetti believes. Those include the street paving project, the developer, MCO Proper-ties, donated land for parks, including the donation of Fountain Park and also taxpayer support of amenities like the library as well as Mountain Preserve land. There is also the construction of fa-cilities in the cultural complex that in-clude the Library/Museum, Commu-nity Center and Town Hall, according to Ghetti. “The government has done well as

the steward of the environment and community,” she said. “I wouldn’t be as passionate about any other commu-nity.” Bratcher came to Fountain Hills in 1982 when there were about 3,400 peo-ple living here. She said there was a lot of excitement about incorporation. “The whole thing was a grass roots effort,” Bratcher said. “It has been a great opportunity to see a town grow from the ground up.” While Bratcher was fi rst hired as ex-ecutive assistant to the town clerk, she had previously worked for the develop-er’s committee of architecture. She was eventually moved to the town’s build-ing safety department based on her pre-vious job experience. Her familiarity with the county zon-ing codes also made her an asset to the fi rst Planning and Zoning Commission. Bratcher also volunteered with the town Marshal’s Department during her long tenure. She became the fi rst certi-fi ed female offi cer in the community. Bratcher remembers the hard work getting things started as a young town. “The early team did a heck of a job,” she said. “It was a wonderful experi-ence. “It was a close knit group knowing we were all in it together.” Despite her layoff, just prior to this publication going to press, Bratcher said she had fond memories of working for the town. Harrel came on in the summer of 1991 as the town was gearing up for a major project to pave the streets in town. “It was the fi rst major project of any kind by the town,” Harrel said. “It is still the largest to date.” The cost of the project was $4 mil-lion and 120 streets were paved total-ing 11 miles of asphalt. The $4 million in bonds for the project will be paid off this year. By comparison, Harrel notes that the proposed project to add one climbing lane, a bike land, curb and sidewalk to less than a mile of Shea Boulevard will cost about the same. The growth also brought a number of major subdivision projects for Harrel to oversee also, in particular SunRidge Canyon and then FireRock Country Club. Along with the growth, Fountain Hills brought its own challenges for en-gineering, according to Harrel. “This is a lot different than other Valley communities,” he said. “There is signifi cant terrain, a lot of rock outcrop-ping, no underground drainage and ex-pansive soil.” The town also has signifi cant surface drainage with washes and detention dams for fl ood control. “In one fell swoop we went from be-

ing pretty minimal as a town to having a lot of jurisdictional items to look af-ter,” Harrel said. In 1997 MCO turned over Fountain Park, along with its technical equip-ment, to the town. As town engineer, Harrel was in charge of the Fountain for about a year before Parks and Rec-reation took it over. Harrel said the street department the town inherited from the Road Dis-tricts was in his word “abysmal.” “We had a good core of personnel, but their equipment was heavily used when they got it,” Harrel said. Elco and Calhoon offer no argument to that assessment. Elco, who arrived in Fountain Hills in 1978 went to work for the Road Dis-tricts in 1980. He noted that much of the equipment the district had was second hand bought at surplus auctions. He said it was not unusual to purchase two pieces of type of equipment and use one for parts. Elco said that was true of an early street sweeper the districts had, as well as some heavier equipment like a dump truck. Before incorporation the primary job of the street department was dust con-

trol and grading. “Before paving many of the streets had to be graded after every rain storm,” Elco said. “It seems like it rained more then. We were always out doing storm clean-up in the early days.” Working for the Road District re-quired a lot of cross training, Calhoon said. “We had to maintain our own equip-ment,” he said. “We had to swap out engines, transmissions, anything. “If it was the vehicle assigned to your crew you were supposed to do the maintenance. We had to fabricate a lot of equipment. “We once built a dump truck from a sweeper.” Incorporation meant a lot of changes in the street department. “It has been the improvements in technology over the years that have made the biggest difference,” Elco said. “There is an emphasis on safety with traffi c control and barricading, we have to comply with minimum standards.” “The equipment and technology has been the biggest difference in making the job easier,” Calhoon said. “Now the cross training is learning to use com-puters.”


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Start-up(cont. from page 6)

Time capsule to be openedItems sought for new one

Fountain Hills residents celebrating the 50th anniversary of the town’s in-corporation will be able to look back in time to see what the community was like in 1989 when a time capsule bur-ied 20 years ago will be opened at Sat-urday’s celebration. As that will be opened, Town staff is already making plans for a new 2009 time capsule. The Town of Fountain Hills is ask-ing residents for help on what to put in this time capsule, which will be

opened in 2039 on the 50-year anniver-sary of the town’s incorporation. Some examples of needed objects include a Fountain Hills Falcons 2009 yearbook, a Blackberry or other kind of high-tech item, a set of coins minted in 2009, a map of Fountain Hills, local restaurant menus, popular music, 2009 fashions/clothing, and current event items both local and global. Time capsule donations can be made at Town Hall now through Dec. 31.

And meet they did. According to Hansen the council held more than 30 meetings in the fi ve months before the fi rst offi cially elected council took over. That did not include the numerous meetings that the subcommittees held, and council members served on those committees also. Among the business at hand was the adoption of a Zoning Ordinance – the fi rst one was adapted from the Mari-copa County ordinance, which early development in the community was

based on. “The fi rst council was really on task,” Hansen said. “There were a number of people who did come to the meetings. “(The meetings) were more open, people didn’t hesitate to participate in the conversation. “Many of them had been involved in incorporation.” Looking back, Hansen said Mari-copa County Supervisor Jim Bruner did a terrifi c job selecting the fi rst council members. “(Bruner) deserves a lot of credit se-lecting the people he did,” Hansen said. “They came from varied backgrounds and had a very high level of commit-ment.”

Just recently personnel from the Street and Parks and Recreation departments worked together to unearth the old capsule. Its contents from nearly 20 years ago will be unveiled at a special ceremony at the Community Center on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 5, to help commemorate the 20th anniversary of incorporation.

Back in the day, Mayor John Cutillo and School Superintendent Walt Dunne, above, manned the massive ropes to bury the time capsule in Fountain Park near Saguaro Blvd.


Services(cont. from page 2)

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On behalf of The Fountain Hills PTO, the board of directors congratulates the Town of Fountain Hills on its 20th Anniversary of incorporation.

We are pleased to be a part of this vibrant community supporting our schools, students, teachers and families. The PTO has a long history in Fountain Hills and appreciates the services provided by the Town.

We wish the Town continued success and look forwardto a long, productive partnership.

viewed live on the Internet. The Web site may be accessed at www.fh.az.gov. The town also operates the gov-ernment access channel on Cox Cable Channel 11. The cable access features a variety of public programming as well as Town Council meetings and other public meetings. The specifi c daily schedule may be found on the town’s Web site.

Here is a brief description of each town department and the responsi-bilities of each.

Mayor and Town Council The town’s elected offi cials are re-sponsible for establishing the policies of the town and setting the budget to implement those policies. Listed are the current council members and the year their term ends, and council ap-pointed staff are as follows:Mayor Jay Schlum (‘10)Councilman Mike Archambault (‘10)

Councilman Dennis Brown (‘12)Councilman Dennis Contino (’12)Councilwoman Ginny Dickey (‘10)Councilwoman Cassie Hansen (‘12)Councilman Henry Leger (‘10)Town Manager - Rick DavisTown Attorney - Andrew McGuireTown Magistrate - Ted Armbruster The fi rst town manager, hired on an interim basis to help with the tran-sition to becoming a town, was Mike McNulty. Paul Nordin was the fi rst town manager hired by the council on a permanent basis. Bill Farrell was hired as the fi rst town attorney, a job he held until 2002, when current Town Attorney Andrew McGuire was hired.

Administration The town manager oversees opera-tions with the help of key staff includ-ing deputy town manager/fi nance director, town clerk, administrative assistants, etc.; who are responsible for day-to-day operations, computer services, record keeping, data entry, licensing, payroll, ac counting, Town Council administrative duties, facility manage ment, loss control, etc. Cassie Hansen, who is now a coun-cil member and current vice Mayor, was the fi rst town clerk for Fountain Hills, for more about her recollec-

tions of the job see separate story. Bev Bender is the current town clerk.

Public Works The town’s Public Works Division includes the Engineering and Street departments, as well as facilities and open space maintenance. Tom Ward is public works direc-tor. Engineering performs all civil engineering for the Street Depart-ment and related tasks; inspects and approves new construction in town such as streets, sidewalks, subdivision grading, etc.; coordinates with Com-munity Development Department on plan reviews for such things as hillside, drainage, fl ood control, sub-divisions, re-plats, etc. Randy Harrel is town engineer. The Street Depart-ment maintains all public streets, al-leys, rights-of-way and traffi c-related equipment; erects and maintains approp riate street and traffi c signage; provides traffi c control signage and other equipment for special events, etc. The late Pat Harvey was supervis-ing the Road Districts at the time of incorporation and was the town’s fi rst street supervisor.

Planning and Building safety Planning and Building Safety is responsible for short and long-term planning and zoning; enforces Zon-ing Ordinances; reviews zoning cases brought forth by developers and other property owners; oversees the Build-ing Safety Depart ment; provides staff for Plann ing and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustment (var iances to Zoning Ordinances). The town’s code enforcement bureau operates within this depart-ment. Richard Turner is the current planning and zoning director. Gary Jeppson was the original director for the department. Building Safety oversees all new construction and major additions and remodels; ensures local safety codes are met for electrical, plumbing, me-chanical, structural require ments, etc.; has no architectural or aesthetic con-trol. Peter Johnson is building offi cial.

Municipal Court The Municipal Court hears non-felony cases generated within Foun-tain Hills, primarily traffi c-related of-fenses; also hears other misdemeanor cases, some criminal, and it issues orders of protection and restraining orders. The court has jurisdiction over or-dinance violations cited in the com-munity. The court is also home to one of several Teen Court programs in

(cont. on page 15)

CongratulationsCongratulationsWe are proud to be a part of the Town of Fountain Hills We are proud to be a part of the Town of Fountain Hills for the past 20 years and look forward to many more!for the past 20 years and look forward to many more!


Services(cont. from page 14)Maricopa County. The Honorable Ted Armbruster is presiding judge. He is just the second person to hold the job. The town’s fi rst magistrate was the Honorable Stuart Shoob.

Parks and Recreation Parks and Rec coordinates many local recrea tional and leisure pro-grams, activities and sports leagues for pre schoolers, youths, adults, fami-lies and seniors; respon sible for pub-lic park planning, construction and main tenance; staff contact for Parks and Recreation Commission. The depart ment also schedul es events and activities in Foun tain Park and the Fountain Hills Community Center. Mark Mayer is Parks and Rec-reation director. Robin Goodman was the fi rst director for the Parks and Recreation Department, overseeing a department that developed several major parks, including Golden Eagle, making good use of grant funding.

Citizen commissions The Town Council appoints citi-zens to several panels, including the

Planning and Zoning and Parks and Recreation commissions, Board of Ad-justment, McDowell Mountain Pres-ervation Commission, Community Center Advisory Commission, Public Safety Advisory Commission, Senior Services Advisory Commission and the Strategic Planning Advisory Com-mission. All of these commissions meet on a regular basis in public meetings. The sessions are scheduled regularly as follows: Town Council meets the fi rst and third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall’s council chambers. Planning and Zoning Commission meets the second and fourth Thurs-day of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall. The Parks and Recreation Commis-sion meets the second Monday of the month at 5:30 p.m. at Town Hall. The Board of Adjustment meets on an as-needed basis the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m., also at Town Hall. The McDowell Mountain Preserva-tion Commission meets the fi rst and third Tuesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. at Town Hall. The Community Center Advisory Commission meets the third Monday

Town serves its senior citizens According to a statistical analysis released by the Town of Fountain Hills in 2007, the percentage of the popula-tion over the age of 60 is roughly 26 percent. Fountain Hills has always had an active and interested senior population resulting in the town establishing a Se-nior Services Advisory Commission a couple of years ago. The town has been able to provide space for seniors to get together for ac-

of each month at 3:30 p.m. at the Com-munity Center. The Senior Services Advisory Commission meets the fourth Mon-day of each month at 3:30 p.m., at the Community Center. The Public Safety Advisory Com-mission meets at Town Hall quarterly at a time and date to be announced. The Strategic Planning Advisory Commission meets monthly as coor-dinated with members.All public meetings are posted with agen-da at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled time.

tivities ranging from basic social gath-erings for card games or woodcarving, to lectures and day trips. The seniors fi rst set up shop in the Sunset Kiwanis building on Kiwanis Drive. It was the base for the spe-cial transportation services as well as Home Delivered Meals. The growing membership in Senior Services prompted a move to space in one of the buildings the town was leas-ing for Town Hall around 2000. The group stayed there until the town moved out into its own building in 2005. At that time the seniors had the option of using space at the new Town Hall building or moving into the Community Center. The group decided it made more sense to move into the Community Center where other activities and events the seniors were interested in were taking place. The town took over management of Senior Services about 2007. Although it has long been a desire of the group, whether the future holds a stand-alone senior center for the town remains to be seen.

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Issues have been addressed by councils, staff There were plenty of “issues” be-fore Fountain Hills became incorpo-rated, and of course there have been more than enough top issues the past 20 years since that fateful election. Here is a compilation of major is-sues confronting the Town of Fountain Hills since 1989.

McDowell Mountains In government’s quest to establish a mountain preserve, there was plenty of angst in town about the cost per acre, how much land should be acquired, how much of the hillsides could really be developed by MCO Properties, etc. There were various threats of law-suits, condemnation proceedings, stalled negotiations, etc. The town ended up spending about $13 million overall to purchase moun-tain land from MCO, and today the Fountain Hills McDowell Mountain Preserve boasts 950 acres (not all of it purchased) and many trails; a major trailhead will be built once Adero Can-yon is developed in the future.

Mayoral recall Various councilmembers have re-signed over the years for differing reasons, but the only municipal recall election to date was held in 2003 when then Mayor Jon Beydler faced a land-slide of controversies. Beydler was challenged by Wally Nichols, and Nichols went on to easily win and serve two additional two-year terms.

State Trust Land Approximately 1,300 acres of state-owned land was always sandwiched between Fountain Hills and McDowell Mountain Regional Park to the north. Incorporation didn’t change that fact, but many residents always as-sumed the vacant land was park land, which was incorrect. Various attempts were made over the years to purchase or preserve the land before it went to public auction, but Ellman Cos. purchased the land for development a few years ago. Opponents sought a referendum election against the town zoning, but those efforts failed. The developer has approval to build more than 1,000 resi-dential units on the property, but the economy and earlier referendum ac-tions have stalled development efforts.General Plan One of the requirements from the state of Arizona for municipalities is that they have a General Plan. Fountain Hills adopted such a plan soon after incorporation, although it was essentially a mirror of the existing

zoning already in place here prior to incorporation. The plan has undergone some revi-sions since then, and the town is cur-rently undertaking more revisions that will be voted on by the public in 2010. The General Plan is a broad-based document intended to guide future de-velopment and planning in town.

Strategic Plan For many years the town didn’t have a “Strategic Plan,” but then May-or Wally Nichols, who had an exten-sive corporate background, launched a movement to initiate a Strategic Plan. The plan is more specifi c than a General Plan, for example, and is in-tended to guide the Town Council in making fi nancial decisions and capital improvement plans with an eye to-ward the future.

Vision Plan The latest version of planning to come to Fountain Hills, much time was spent on formulating a “Vision Plan” for the downtown area. Although not a formal planning document yet, it is intended to be part of a plan to show potential developers what Fountain Hills wants its down-town to look like. The plan splits the downtown into nine “districts,” and probably the most visible change was adding develop-ment along the east side of Saguaro Blvd. in Fountain Park and shifting an entertainment center or complex to an area near Verde River Drive and Pali-sades Blvd.

Downtown A large swatch of commercial dirt still stands bare on the south side of Avenue of the Fountains. Various po-tential developers have put the prop-erty in escrow and proposed a vari-ety of mixed-use development plans (condos, offi ces, retail, movie theater, restaurants, etc.) but none has come to fruition. Meanwhile, development north of Avenue of the Fountains has been spotty, with much infi ll remaining. The town spent a considerable amount of money fi xing up the Avenue’s north side – sidewalk, lighting, landscaping, seating areas, etc. – but little work has yet been done in the median, which may yet be done in the future.

Streets When Fountain Hills incorporated in December of 1989, there were many existing residential streets that were still dirt.

A 1991 bond package approved by voters took care of those streets, and developers were responsible for taking care of the rest when they would build subdivisions, etc. For decades, however, debates over street paving and maintenance raged in the Hills amid the Road Districts.

Road Districts Speaking of Road Districts, they were established as special districts when Fountain Hills was initially de-veloped in the early 1970s. They proved to be a major source of in-fi ghting, however, along with vola-tile disagreements and lawsuits with the developer, between citizens, etc. Their fi nancing source was lim-ited as well, putting a major crimp on maintenance project and necessary equipment purchases. A state law was eventually passed that would allow a municipality to dis-solve a road district. One of the fi rst orders of business for the new Town of Fountain Hills was dissolving the four Road Districts here and taking over their personnel and operations.

Community Center One of the major capital improvements done by the town over the years was building the new Community Center. It was fi nanced through revenue bonds, however, which are paid back by sales tax proceeds. The town also swapped land to ob-tain the parcel at Avenue of the Foun-tains and La Montana Drive, today’s home of the Town Hall, Community Center and Library/Museum complex. The former Community Center was given for use by the Fountain Hills Community Theater.

Library/Museum Financed by a voter-approved bond package, the Fountain Hills Branch Li-brary and adjacent L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum serve as a fi ne complement to the nearby Community Center and Town Hall complex. There is additional land owned by the town, which at one time was en-visioned to contain an outdoor am-phitheater and performing arts center. A parking garage had been proposed there at one time as well. Those types of decisions will be made by future Town Councils. The branch library is actually oper-ated by the Maricopa County Library District. The museum is operated by the Fountain Hills & Lower Verde Val-ley Historical Society.

Town Hall The town’s offi ces were originally set up in one building of the three-building complex housing the commu-nity developer along Palisades Blvd. A decision was eventually made to build a new Town Hall, with advocates saying it would actually save the town money. Again, revenue bonds were used to fi nance construction, not voter-approved bonds. Disputes with the former landlord at the Palisades complex proved costly to the town, however, as it lost a major lawsuit.

Lawsuits It is not uncommon for a municipal-ity to be juggling several lawsuits at one time, since often times public entities and the decisions they make are prone to controversy and legal disputes. The town has lost a fair share of high profi le lawsuits over the years, however, prompting some controversy from citizens the past 20 years.

Zoning/Subdivisions Through the 1990s and into the new decade, just about every subdivision and zoning change that came before the Town Council faced some kind of opposition. Such projects as SunRidge Canyon, FireRock Country Club and a myriad of small developments faced criticism. Several vocal citizens in town over the years have opposed changing “the rules” for developers and generally wanted the town to not have “cookie cutter” neighborhoods. In most cases, the proposed zoning changes had less density than what the original zoning allowed.

Target center The proposed Target center (offi -cially Four Peaks Plaza) also faced op-position from neighbors, and they suc-cessfully petitioned for two separate referendum elections. Voters in each instance backed the project, and construction then proceed-ed. The center has had some tenant turnover, but the major anchors of Tar-get, Pier One, Petco and others still re-main since day one. The KFC/A&W restaurant closed this fall, however.

Signs The Town of Fountain Hills has had to deal with signage many times the past 20 years. Different sign codes have been ad-

(cont. on page 17)


Issues(cont. from page 16)

The Governing Board and the staff of Fountain Hills Uni-fi ed School District congratulate the Town of Fountain Hills on the 20th anniversary of becoming a town. Fountain Hills USD serves approximately 2280 students in grades Preschool through 12. McDowell Mountain School serves grades P-2, Four Peaks grades 3-5, Fountain Hills Mid-dle School grades 6-8 and Fountain Hills High School grades 9-12. The district enjoys a reputation of excelling schools with a wide array of programs at each grade level that prepare stu-dents for college and post high school employment. Approxi-mately ninety percent of graduates of Fountain Hills High School attend post secondary education.

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opted over the years in an attempt to codify what is allowed and what is not. Some of the more vexing areas have included A-frame signs, banners and fl ags, temporary signage, open house signs, neon, garage sale signs, etc.

Fire District One of the more controversial is-sues the past 20 years was the council decision to dissolve the Fire District and take over fi re service operations. The district was a separate gov-ernment entity, with its own funding sources, and was in the process of forming its own fi re department and not contracting for personnel with the privately-held Rural Metro Corp. The town took over operations, however, prompting various lawsuits and disputes, and Fountain Hills still contracts with Rural Metro today for fi re and emergency medical services.

Sales, property taxes The Town of Fountain Hills did in-stitute its own sales tax in the munici-pality as a funding source for the Gen-

eral Fund. The Town Council can by itself in-stitute and increase the sales tax rate – no vote of the public is needed. A bed tax also was instituted, vari-ous charges are made against utility bills and development fees also were started several years ago for new con-struction. Three different public elections have been held to institute a property tax for general operations, but voters rejected them all. There have been some bond pack-ages over the years that voters have approved.

Charter There has been haphazard talk over the years of forming a charter govern-ment here, which involves a series of elections. In essence, a specifi c charter would be written for the local government, which would clarify more of the is-sues now generally decided just by the Town Council. For example, a charter could be written stating that any sales tax in-crease would need a public election involving the voters. As it stands now, the council, with a mere four votes, could increase the sales tax rate.

An election was held once to change the “Town” of Fountain Hills to “City” of Fountain Hills, mostly in name only, the fi rst step of the chartering process, but it was rejected.

Washes Citizens banded together in the 1990s to pass an initiative forcing tougher re-strictions on proposed improvements being made in local washes. The town has taken over much of the wash property in town from the developer, but those favoring the wash initiative were fearful that massive park improvements would be made in the washes similar to the Indian Bend Wash in Scottsdale. Park advocates were only exam-ining the possibility of linking a trail system in the washes, utilizing exist-ing utility cuts and dirt roads, but the initiative was approved by voters any-way.

Mayor’s position At one time the Town Council used to choose who would be mayor from among themselves. John Cutillo had that fi rst honor, but he himself led the charge for hav-ing the position of mayor become a

separate elected offi ce. Voters agreed with him, and they approved a measure to make the may-oral position a separate two-year term from Town Council seats. The fi rst Town Council also served without pay, but members rather quickly instituted a relatively nominal pay scale for six council members and mayor.

Law enforcement The Town of Fountain Hills does not have a municipal police depart-ment. Instead, it contracts with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Offi ce for police protection. At one time the town had a rath-er large Marshal’s Department that would enforce town codes and assist the Sheriff’s Offi ce in various matters. The groundwork was thus being laid to form a municipal police de-partment here through the Marshal’s Department, but the Town Council eventually pulled the plug on that idea and the department was essentially disbanded. The Sheriff’s Offi ce contract has been modifi ed over the years to ex-pand the beat coverage in town with regard to police protection.


General Plan, Strategic Plan, Downtown Vision shape future During the fi rst 20 years of Foun-tain Hills growth in the community depended on the developer’s master plan for guidance. Since incorporation the municipal Fountain Hills has created a whole new set of tools for planning the future for the town. Some of those, such as the General Plan are mandated by law, but others like the Strategic Plan are en-tirely the choice of the town leadership and citizens. The General Plan is the formal doc-ument that outlines land use objectives for the incorporated town. State law requires a major update of the General Plan be put before voters at least every 10 years. The last major update was adopted in 2002. The timing related to the town’s 20th anniversary is a coincidence but maybe kismet also with the council is on the verge of considering a General Plan update to be placed before voters next May. According to town Planning and Zoning Director Richard Turner the work began on a simple General Plan update a couple of years ago. How-ever, delays related to a new and sig-nifi cant piece of the puzzle, the former State Trust Land now owned by the Ellman Companies, brought the time-line to the doorstep of needing to plan for the major update. Turner said it is fi scally prudent to go ahead with the major update now rather than approve a minor update only to start the process over again to go before the voters in two years. The General Plan is something of conceptual overlay on how various parts of the land are to be used such as residential housing, commercial retail or offi ces or industrial use. It also outlines what land is to be left as open space, where roadways are as well as other transportation ele-ments. For example, the General Plan may designate an area for low density hous-ing. The layer underneath is the Zon-ing Ordinance, which would specify what zoning is on the property, such as R1-43, which is for lots of about one acre in size. In 2004 town leadership made a decision that it wanted input from the public on the future of Fountain Hills and wanted that input formalized. Over the entire year of 2005 citizens were brought together to talk, they were surveyed all in the name of cre-ating a Strategic Plan for the Town of Fountain Hills.

The Strategic Plan outlines what is expected of the town in the way of amenities and services that equate to the quality of life residents say they want in their community. The council uses the plan as a tool for budget planning on an annual ba-sis. The 2005 Strategic Plan was based on a fi ve-year life span so there is an update process underway for that doc-ument also. The updated Strategic Plan is ex-pected to go before the council for adoption next spring. Since development began in Foun-tain Hills there has been a parcel of land in the central part of the commu-

nity across from Fountain Park that has remained untouched by enterprise. This past year the Chamber of Commerce and a group of business people got together to hire a consul-tant to create a concept plan for the downtown area, which would encom-pass the long vacant parcel as well as other portions of the downtown. The town got on board to help fi nance the project. Vernon Swaback, a renowned Scott-sdale planner and his fi rm, met with business leaders and citizens over six months to develop what is known as the Downtown Vision Plan. The concept is to create a “district” plan that outlines where various uses

ranging from residential to entertain-ment and business should be put. The plan is being used with some success during this down economy, to show potential developers and busi-nesses what Fountain Hills has to offer. According to the town’s Economic De-velopment Administrator Lori Gary, the plan shows potential users where the town would like their business to go and why it will work in relation to other business and residents as poten-tial customers. With a toolbox that includes these types of documents, the town hopes careful planning will result in a suc-cessful and vibrant community over the next 20 years.

Resident Arlie Denomme looks at details of the Downtown Vision Plan with Swaback & Associates Planner Jeff Denzak.

Here’s a yearly record of Town’s building permits The population of the Town of Fountain Hills doubled between 1990 and 2000, the fi rst decade following in-corporation. A refl ection of that growth shows up in the number of building permits the town has issued for residential dwelling units. These numbers include single-family homes, duplex units and multi-family dwelling units such as apartments and condominiums. The growth in condominium units was big in the late 1990s. In 1990, the fi rst year after incorpo-ration, the town’s numbers track from July through December when the new town issued 45 residential building permits. In subsequent years the numbers are as follows: 1991 – 167

1992 – 236 1993 – 398 1994 – 681 1995 – 683 1996 – 687 1997 – 1,170 (includes 664 multi-family) 1998 – 784 1999 – 680 2000 – 489 2001 – 301 2002 – 174 2003 – 172 2004 – 311 2005 – 478 2006 – 238 2007 – 81 2008 – 29 2009 – 7 (Jan. through Oct.) It is easy to see the economic ups and downs over the years based on

building activity in Fountain Hills. There was a steady climb through the 90s and a drop off in the early 2000 years. There was a slight rebound mid-decade with the severe drop-off since 2007 into the current economic reces-sion. The importance of the building as an economic engine for the town is re-fl ected in the value of the permits. Between 2000 and 2006 the value of the residential building permits for the town averaged about $110.5 million per year. The peak was in 2005 when per-mits had a total value of $152,635,025. The town receives both permit fees and sales tax from construction to boost the town’s coffers. As seen in the fi gures, since 2007 construction has not been a signifi cant revenue producer.


of the Town of Fountain Hills and the 10th Anniversary ofDesert Vista Dog Park

Celebrating theCelebrating the20th Anniversary20th Anniversary

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Thank you for welcoming us into your community.

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Congratulations on Congratulations on your 20th anniversary your 20th anniversary

Fountain Hills! Fountain Hills!

An overview of your municipal government

(cont. on page 20)

The fi rst 20 years of life as an incor-porated community for Fountain Hills is probably not much different than the fi rst 20 years of life for many of its citi-zens. There has been a share of triumph and tragedy, but mostly it has been the routine business of getting the job done. For the town and its equivalent of 81 full-time employees that means pro-viding citizens the services they need and desire to have a fulfi lling quality of life. To accomplish that task this year the Town Council has given its em-ployees a General Fund budget of ap-proximately $14.5 million. The General Fund is the source of money for the town’s day-to-day operations. The town also maintains a capital fund for one-time facilities and equip-ment purchases, and these projects are also included in the budget. For in-stance, this fi scal year there is an addi-tional $12.8 million for capital projects. There are additional funds in the town budget also including highway

user, and excise tax fund, court en-hancement, public art, special reve-nues, development fees and debt ser-vice. The budgeted expenses for all of these funds are a total of $35.3 million. One of the key responsibilities of the town, or any incorporated commu-nity, is providing public safety services to its citizens. The town’s pre-incorpo-ration history left it with a tradition of law enforcement and emergency ser-vices provided by outside agencies. The town has continued to use con-tracts to provide these services with the Rural/Metro Corp. for fi re protec-tion and emergency medical opera-tions. The Maricopa County Sheriff had jurisdiction over the area prior to incorporation by virtue of its duty for the county. A contract is required to continue those services for the munici-pal entity. This current fi scal year the town will pay Rural/Metro $3 million and MCSO $2.8 million (see separate story in Progress for additional information

on these agencies). The town owns and maintains a number of building facilities within the community. Those include the three major facilities within the downtown cultural complex; Town Hall, the Com-munity Center and Library/Museum. There are also facilities the town has “inherited” including the Community Theater complex which includes build-ings that were formerly the library and community center. The town became the owner of the two fi re stations (a total of three build-ings) when it took over the fi re district in 2001. The town also owns the Sunset Ki-wanis Building on Kiwanis Drive. Town Hall itself totals 33,500 square feet on two fl oors, with the Commu-nity Center covering 30,000 square feet over one story, and the Library/Mu-seum is a 21,000 square-foot building with 15,000 for the library and 5,000 for the L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum. The remaining 1,000 square feet in that building is common area.

A Downtown Vision Plan took shape over this past year that provides a blueprint for future planning and de-velopment in the downtown area. The town is working to formalize the plan developed by Swaback Partners for the Chamber of Commerce and its Busi-ness Vitality Advisory Committee. The town’s Economic Development Coordinator Lori Gary will use the planning tool to provide vital informa-tion to developers and businesses in-terested in settling in the community. As the town has grown there has been an increasing need to improve communication between town govern-ment and citizens as well as other gov-ernment level entities. Several years ago the town hired a public information offi cer, Katie Deck-er, to fi ll that role. Currently her duties have been expanded and she holds the title of community affairs and media relations administrator. Decker oversees the town Web site and various town publications. A year ago the town began to look

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Town has contracts forPublic Safety services

(cont. on page 21)

Public safety services for the Town of Fountain Hills have evolved over the years since incorporation much like the town itself. Currently the town receives its pri-mary public safety services through contracts with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Offi ce and Rural/Metro Corp. These providers date back to the begin-ning of development in town and pro-vide the citizens of Fountain Hills with profes sional and modern equipped law enforcement, fi re protection and emergency medical services 24 hours a day.

Fire Department Rural/Metro Corp., a private Scott-sdale based company, has provided fi re protection and emergency medical services dating back to an agreement with the developer when the fi rst resi-dents moved into town. Residents eventually formed a fi re district to pay for upgraded services and the district continued to be the fi re protection and EMS entity until 2001

when the Town Council voted to take over the services. This was after the district had made a decision to discon-tinue its Rural/Metro contract and cre-ate its own fi re department. Since the dissolution of the fi re dis-trict Rural/Metro has remained the town’s service provider. The town owns the fi re fi ghting equipment that includes fi re engine pumpers, a multi-purpose ladder truck, utility vehicles and other apparatus. Fully equipped ambulances with paramedics also are dedicated to serve Fountain Hills. There are two fi re stations in town; the main facility located on Palisades Boulevard at Avenue of the Fountains also houses administrative offi ces. The second station is located on Saguaro Boulevard south of Shea Boulevard. The Fountain Hills Fire Depart-ment places a heavy emphasis on fi re prevention and education programs with ongoing safety programs for area schools and special events. The depart-ment also works with the town Parks

At the time Fountain Hills incorpo-rated there were 5,231 residential dwelling units in town. Today there are 12,870. Of those 64 percent are single family homes, and 36 percent are in multi-family development.

In 1991 the total Primary Assessed Value for the town was $79,044,032 (Source: Town of Fountain Hills). In 2009 the total Primary AV for the town is at $563,493,503 (Source: Mar-icopa County Assessor’s Offi ce).

In 1990, the year of incorporation for Fountain Hills, the U.S. Census Bu-reau counted 10,030 people living in Fountain Hills. The 2008 estimate by the Maricopa Association of Gov-ernments for Fountain Hills popula-tion was 25,995. The next U.S. Cen-sus count will be April 2010.

Fountain Hills is 20.3 square miles. Golf courses make up 6.5 percent of the land. Open space, parks, washes and Preserve, make up 21.4 percent of the town. Single family housing covers about 25 percent of the land.

The town was able to secure Heri-tage Fund grants totaling $3.7 mil-lion to develop and improve Golden Eagle Park, Four Peaks Park, Foun-tain Park and Desert Vista Park. The four major parks total 132.64 acres.

The third time’s the charm. The town had held two previous incor-poration elections before voters fi -nally approved the proposal in 1989.

The original master plan for Foun-tain Hills projected a build-out population of 70,000. By the time of incorporation that projection had been scaled down to about 40,000 due to concerns about the availabil-ity of water and other issues.

Town facts

for ways to improve effi ciency in the operations of its facilities. The council approved an experiment with a four-day work week and currently the town is operating on that schedule. Town Hall is open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to allow citizens an extra hour early or late to conduct their business with the town.

Overview(cont. from page 19)

We can all be proud of our park facilities A signifi cant goal for the Town of Fountain Hills over the past 20 years has been the design and development of an outstanding Parks and Recre-ation system for its citizens. Golden Eagle Park was the fi rst ef-fort of the department with a focus on playing fi elds and playgrounds to ac-commodate the needs of all ages. The park was developed on about 30 acres along Ashbrook Wash behind the Golden Eagle Detention Dam. The site is adjacent to the high school and the facility has been used for some school athletic activities over the years. Golden Eagle Park includes a base-ball fi eld, three softball/baseball fi elds including one for Little League, bas-ketball courts, tennis courts and a sand volleyball court. The park also includes picnic rama-das for large groups. Four Peaks Park was built on 27 acres in the neighborhood adjacent to Four Peaks School and includes school recreational grounds. It was developed to encompass improvements to exist-ing ball fi elds next to the school and tennis courts on the site.

A large soccer fi eld was built new along Del Cambre Avenue north of the school to become part of the park. Desert Vista Park is a 12-acre site off Saguaro Boulevard at Desert Vista Drive. The fi rst improvements to the site included an off leash recreation fa-cility for dogs and owners. More recently the town completed improvements at Desert Vista that in-clude a skate park, soccer fi elds, a play ground and picnic ramadas. The town’s central attraction is Fountain Park, which was deeded to the town from MCO Properties in 1997. The 66-acre park includes approxi-mately 30-acres of lake and the town has added improvements that include an outdoor performance amphitheater, sidewalks, playgrounds, a splash pad built in conjunction with Rotary Inter-national and several picnic ramadas. In the future the town hopes to have development of a 40-acre park site in the planned Ellman Companies de-velopment on the former State Trust Land. The town is also working in con-junction with the School District in

planning two park sites to be adjacent to McDowell Mountain School and Fountain Hills High School Mark Mayer is director of Parks and Recreation. Bryan Hughes is recreation supervisor overseeing programs and events. Don Clark is parks supervisor with the job of overseeing fi eld opera-tions at the park facilities.

Town hasreceived manyawards over the years Over the two decades since in-corporation the Town of Fountain Hills has been recognized by mu-nicipal and government organiza-tions for excellence in operations in several areas. The Government Finance Of-fi cers Association has presented the town with the award of Finan-cial Reporting Achievement for 13 consecutive years. This award looks primarily at fi nancial documents such as an-nual reports and audits. The GFOA has also presented the town with its Certifi cate of Recognition for Budget Prepara-tion for eight consecutive years. This recognition is based on budget documents and ease of public access and understanding. Deputy Town Manager Julie Ghetti has been the staff employee with primary oversight for fi nan-cial activities over this period. The Parks and Recreation De-partment has recognized by the Arizona Parks and Recreation As-sociation on four occasions for ex-cellence. In 1994 the department re-ceived the Outstanding Program Award for Fort McDowell Foun-tain Hills Appreciation Day. The town received the Out-standing Facility Award for Popu-lations Under 60,000 in 1999 for Golden Eagle Park. In 2006 Mayor Wally Nichols was named Outstanding Public Offi cial by the APRA. The 2006 St. Patrick’s Day Cel-ebration received the Outstand-ing Community & Neighborhood Special Event Award for Popula-tions Under 25,000.


Robert & Mary Ellen McKee Branch

HAPPY 20th ANIVERSERYThank You Town of Fountain Hills for Inspiring

And helping another child BE GREAT!

MichaelScharnowEditorThe Fountain Hills Times

It’s amazingwhat we haveaccomplished

Public safety(cont. from page 20)and Recreation department to offer CPR training for citizens with regular monthly classes. Firefi ghters typically respond to more than 3,000 calls annually, and more than half are calls for emergency medical service. Sheriff’s services Prior to incorporation the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Offi ce provided pro-tection to Fountain Hills as part of the unincorporated area of the county. In the early days there was normally one deputy patrolling the streets. After incorporation the town hired a former Scottsdale police offi cer, Ron Dean, as town marshal. That job was eventually taken over by Steve Gendler who built a department along side the Sheriff’s Offi ce with a goal of eventu-ally having a town police department. The hybrid system worked for a while, but eventually it became appar-ent the town would need to make a de-cision on law enforcement for the town. At about the same time the town de-cided to take over fi re service it also de-cided it would contract with the Mari-copa County Sheriff’s Offi ce for all law

enforcement needs and the Marshal’s Department was disbanded. Under contract with the town the Sheriff’s Offi ce has established a stand alone administrative district based in Fountain Hills that maintains a squad of patrol deputies at all times, with units on the street to respond to emer-gencies and complaints. Personnel based here include a detective squad and a commanding offi cer. Sheriff’s deputies assigned to the community provide assistance with

community programs, traffi c com-plaints and there is one school resource offi cer at the high school, who also works in the Middle School. The Fountain Hills Sheriff’s Posse actively assists deputies and is in-volved with local neighborhood and commer cial patrols, vacation watches, search and rescue operations, etc. The Arizona Department of Public Safety highway patrol squad assigned to the Beeline Highway outside Foun-tain Hills also has offi ces at Town Hall.

The Fountain Hills Rural/Metro Fire Department and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Offi ce work together to respond to emergencies in Fountain Hills.

(cont. on page 22)

You know life can be rather dull when one of my greatest thrills is driv-ing by a local park and seeing activity. It can be anything from kids on a swing or a colorful youth soccer game to Little League baseball and senior softball with an attitude. That’s because 20 years ago we didn’t have such facilities as Golden Eagle Park, Desert Vista Park, a “new and improved” Four Peaks Park or the ownership and maintenance of Foun-tain Park. We didn’t have the McDowell Mountain Preserve, a connecting trail to McDowell Mountain Regional Park or the freshly dedicated Botanical Garden.


No, we had a lot of bickering, about 112,000 special districts, plenty of dirt roads and no real direction in the com-munity. Depending on your interests in life you might point to different aspects of Fountain Hills that catch your fancy, but one of the accomplishments in my life that I enjoyed tremendously was being in on the ground fl oor of starting the Parks and Recreation Department. Such things as the mountain views, the Fountain, the quiet evenings, the desert beauty – they were here before incorporation and hopefully will re-main forever. But the Town of Fountain Hills is only 20 years old, and the local govern-ment has accomplished much during that time. I will only take a small slice of credit for helping start Parks and Recreation – many other citizens and town staffers have picked up and carried that ball the past two decades. But as founding chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission, it is certainly fun to look back and see where we were 20 years ago and admire the progress since that time. My oldest son, Joshua, was born on March 12, 1991, the day voters passed a bond package to allow the brand new town government to pave the dirt resi-

Scharnow(cont. from page 21)

dential streets – including the one I still live on. Both of my boys were able to grow up here and utilize the brand new parks for a variety of sports and activities – heck, even the dog park once or twice. To me, that’s what local control and local government are all about – serv-ing the needs (and wishes) of the people who live here. The higher you go in gov-ernment (county, region, state, federal, etc.), the bigger the bureaucracy and the more diffi cult to affect real change and real improvements. The Town of Fountain Hills has been accused of that, of course, but the bottom line remains this – town government is essentially made up of neighbors who are employed by us to improve our quality of life, keep us safe, etc. That doesn’t happen 100 percent of the time, but there really is no good al-ternative. No better solution exists. It was the right thing to do, and it remains the right thing to be involved in. If you don’t participate, who will? If you don’t include your voice in the cacophony, who will listen? Get involved, make a difference, be a part of the solutions the next 20 years instead of just griping about the prob-lems. That’s what a group of individuals did more than 20 years ago, and it has made all the difference for Fountain Hills – the community, the town, the people.

Just prior to the fi rst incorporation election in 1983 this publication came out in an editorial (when we didn’t publish editorials on a regular basis) and recom-mended that voters not pass the measure. The newspaper felt then that the tim-ing wasn’t right, the reasons being thrown out there seemed more vindictive than positive. Indeed, voters did turn down the effort. Six years later, however, much had changed in Fountain Hills. By the early win-ter of 1989, the electorate was preparing to vote on the third attempt at incorpo-ration. The future seemed much brighter – the projected revenues were positive, the attitudes were positive, the reasons for local self-control were positive. And so The Times of Fountain Hills, the offi cial name of our publication back then, came out with an editorial in favor of incorporation. Two opposing camps had popped up – “status quo” and “annexation” by Scottsdale – which made for an interesting election, but their reasons just weren’t compelling enough. Those other alternatives no longer seemed viable (and there were many dubious ques-tions as to if the City of Scottsdale really wanted to annex us, anyway). The majority won to make the third time the charm – 2,100 “yes” votes to 1,662 “no” votes for incorporation. Next to turning on the Fountain for the fi rst time in 1971, signifying the “birth” of this community, the December 1989 vote, in our opinion, was the most signifi cant moment and decision in the history of Fountain Hills. As with any government, there has been a fair share of bumps and potholes on the road of self-control the past 20 years, but the larger picture no question screams out the fact that incorporation was the best thing to ever happen to Fountain Hills. One of the big buzzwords you often hear today is “quality of life.” There is no question that the quality of life for citizens has drastically improved in Fountain Hills under incorporation. Our local government stands as a testimony to what can happen when citizens band together for the common good. Incorporation has given us many capital improvements, many new programs and services and an improved status in the state of Arizona. There is no perfect Utopia, of course, but the Town of Fountain Hills is a shin-ing example of citizens working together to improve their respective community. Congratulations on the fi rst 20 years…and may the future be as bright and pro-ductive as the past two decades.

COMMENT

A signifi cant time in history

What does the future hold? Mayor, Town Manager give views Gazing through the fog of the cur-rent economic crisis, Town of Fountain Hills offi cials can still see a bright fu-ture in their crystal ball for the commu-nity, thanks mostly to the efforts of its citizens. Mayor Jay Schlum and Town Man-ager Rick Davis gave separate assess-ments of Fountain Hills in 20 years, but both believe it will be the citizens who will make the difference. “Fountain Hills will be known as a very unique community that offers a superior quality of life,” Davis said. “It is one of the distinguished areas of the Valley. “Fountain Hills has that, and it

is ours to lose. It will be the chal-lenge over the next 20 years to be able to maintain that branding and qual-ity of life.”

Davis said he be-lieves the citizens are up to that chal-lenge, because of where they have

brought the community in its fi rst two decades. “This will more and more become a strong civic minded community,” Schlum said. “Volunteerism is becom-ing more important and necessary. It is part of the core and character of this community.” Over the next 20 years Fountain Hills will need to reinvent – not itself – but the way it maintains itself, accord-ing to Davis. “Financing the city in the year 2030 will not resemble how we are doing it now,” he said. “There will be no more new development, and retail alone will not be able to support the quality of life we have. “Finding a new fi scal model will come out of an effort of citizen collabo-ration and creative thought. “I do not know what that will look like yet.” Davis believes that the future will bring retail into Fountain Park and along the Avenue of the Fountains, as proposed by the recent visioning pro-cess. He said there will be greater diver-

sity in residential options, and, yes – there will be a movie theater in the year 2030. Schlum said even though Fountain Hills will have grown to a medium sized city of between 35,000 to 40,000 people it will maintain its small town appeal. “We will be able to retain the small-town character through citizen engage-ment,” Schlum said. “Government will be focused so much on budgets for the next several years maintaining our quality of life will require citizen in-volvement.” The things that make Fountain Hills so attractive to visitors, the art fairs and festivals such as Oktoberfest and St. Patrick’s Day will carry on with the support of volunteers, according to Schlum. Another aspect of the appeal of Fountain Hills is rooted in the natural environment surrounding the commu-nity. “The green tide is coming and more and more people are in much more agreement with what that means,” Da-

vis said. “This town is very committed to environmental initiatives. “We will have more usage of our trail system, as that is a way for people to touch the So-noran Desert.” Schlum agrees that Fountain Hills will benefi t from its surroundings. “We are in a unique position to ben-efi t from our natural environment,” Schlum said. “We have a lot to offer tourists as well as citizens on a daily basis.” Like any community, the future in Fountain Hills will depend on the ac-tions of its citizens and offi cials, ac-cording to Davis. “I believe we will see the people and offi cials do the right things,” he said. “There is a saying, ‘it is not enough to wait for the future, you have to be the future you want’.”

Jay Schlum

Rick Davis


Fountain Hills Cultural& Civic Association

Th e Fountain Hills Cultural and Civic Association, which was incorporated on December 26, 1978 as the Fountain Hills Civic Association, is our community’s oldest volunteer charitable association. When Fountain Hills was incorporated in 1989 the FHCCA had already been serving the residents of this community for more than ten years. We are proud of our 30 years of community involvement and look forward to being an active part of this community for at least 30 more years.

Our community services include: • Civic Education programs and political forums

• Sponsorship of the Fountain Hills public art collection

• In Home Concerts

• Th e statewide annual piano competition for junior high and high school students

• Our live holiday poinsettia tree

• An annual juried art show

• School educational and art programs

• Sponsorship of our Community Chorus and our Community Band

fountainhillscca.orgfountainhillspublicart.com


Expect Excellence.(480) 837-2500 www.MCORealty.com

Honored to grow with the Town of Fountain Hills.

Progress 2009

Documents

Transcript of Progress 2009