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City of Globe: Projects Update
AROUND GLOBE PROJECT UPDATES
SPONSORED CONTENT
BY THEA WILSHIRE
Rick Powers (L) and Jerry Barnes (R) stand in front of the existing bridge which will be demolished once the new one is completed. Photo by LCGross.
August, 2021 – This monthly feature takes residents behind-the-scenes to learn of the accomplishments occurring at the City of Globe as they advance their four pillars of community wellbeing: public safety, infrastructure, quality of life, and economic development. This month highlights several infrastructure and public safety projects, including rebuilding local bridges, refurbishing the pool, and adding sidewalks for safety.
Every 3 years, ADOT does an assessment of transportation infrastructure around the state. They found several structurally deficient bridges within the City of Globe. Jerry Barnes, the City Engineer, explains, “While they’re not going to fall down today, these issues are serious enough that we have to replace the most impacted bridges.”
Fortunately, that is happening now.
Barnes shared that two of Globe’s most deficient bridges are being replaced. Barnes has invested 6 years of work into the safety assessments, engineering, and contracting for the bridge replacement projects and their culmination comes at an ideal time when the city is looking at 3 to 5 years of heightened flood risk secondary to the Telegraph fire. A major component of any infrastructure project is acquiring funding, a process made more difficult with the economic challenges secondary to COVID-19. Barnes led the city in applying for grants and advocating at the state level for infrastructure funding and his work has paid off.
The city received $2.82 million in state appropriations to replace Connie’s bridge and $1 million in federal grant dollars for the Cottonwood bridge (near the train depot) for which the city matched $500,000 to complete the Cottonwood project. For safety reasons, the new Connie’s bridge will be at a higher elevation than currently which changes the grade and impacts the railroad crossing. This makes the project more complicated and adds an additional $600,000. Representative David Cook sponsored a bill that brought in $1.16 million to help pay for the signalization expenses, grade adjustments, and improvements to Hill Street (specifically paving and repairs to sidewalks) for the blocks between Highway 60 and the new bridge.
Barnes is not sitting on his laurels and continues to research additional grants for a slew of other infrastructure projects. He recently applied for $2.2 million of competitive Rural Transportation Advocacy Council funding administered by Central Arizona Governments. If granted, the request will fund sidewalks from Connie’s bridge into the canyon to keep walkers safe, particularly kids heading to the Community Center. This ties in well with the recreation planning for this site that includes repairing the pool, replacing the playground equipment, adding a splash pad, and making major
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“Connies Bridge” serves over 18,000 cars a day and has been showing structural issues, including constant pavement repairs, which put it at the top of the list for replacement. The bridge is a critical element in Globe’s transportation planning since it is the only connection allowing residents in Six Shooter and Ice House canyon to get to and from town. Photo by LCGross
The new bridge crossing (below) will be built just beyond the current location (above) and includes the removal of the current bridge at Connies. Courtesy photo
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improvements to various ball fields. Because sidewalk expenses are high, Barnes has divided the project into 4 phases to aid in project management and funding: Cherokee Road to Ice House Bridge, Ice House Bridge to Oil Circle Road, Oil Circle up to the ball fields, and then Oil Circle to Connie’s bridge. If awarded the entire request, the money will fund all 4 phases; otherwise, phases will be done based on the amount of funding received. Globe is requesting all of the available money for our region and our application is up against other communities advocating for their transportation infrastructure needs.
In public gatherings, people often suggest the city “just find a grant for that.” This is seen as a simple solution to cover expenses as varied as repairing municipal buildings to adding lighting to ball fields. However, what many do not realize is that grant writing is arduous and time consuming. Most larger cities have their own grant department solely focused on this task. The City of Globe does not have this resource, so acquiring grants is added to the already full duties of department managers. To get a grant, one must look for specific funding for a unique need and find a grant for which your organization qualifies. Once an appropriate grant is found, the applicant must gather a variety of materials required by the funder, craft a well written letter of intent, and wait until this is reviewed to see if the city/agency has permission to proceed. If given a green light, the grant writer will complete a much longer application to tell a compelling story of the need, the community where the money will be going, and how fiscal accountability will occur for the requested funds. The completed application is judged against what may be hundreds of other applications requesting the same pot of money. This process typically takes 1-2 years from research to award.
Last month, we highlighted the $500,000 the city received from BHP for multiple recreation initiatives. This month, additional encouraging news about recreation comes from Linda Oddonetto, the Globe Economic Development Director. Her department applied for and was awarded a $50,000 grant toward pool renovation from Arizona Complete Health, a managed care company contracted by the State of Arizona to serve as an intermediary for state-insured health programs. Their parent company, the Centene Corporation, formerly helped pay for one of the large picnic pavilions at the Old Dominion Historic Mine Park.
Once the new bridges are in place and if the city acquires funding and builds the sidewalks, this will complete what Barnes calls “the perfect corridor” for providing safe connectivity and better quality of life for the residents of Globe. u
GLOBE, AZ – Every ten years the United States undertakes the decennial Census and following the Census, government entities and citizen committees begin the process of redistricting to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of the population in Federal, State, and Local Government voting districts.
On Tuesday, August 3, 2021, the Gila County Board of Supervisors adopted a Resolution to establish guidelines for the selection of the Gila County Redistricting Advisory Committee.
The Guidelines were adopted to support a fair and unbiased redistricting, assist the Board of Supervisors in a fair and unbiased selection process of Redistricting Advisory Committee members, and to provide a better understanding of the role of committee members.
Citizens interested in being considered as Committee Members must address a letter to their County Supervisor which includes information as to why they wish to be considered for the Committee; what qualifies them to serve on the committee; what expertise they bring to the Committee; and any additional personal information they would like the board of Supervisors to consider in the selection process. Additionally, they must complete an Interest and Self-Disclosure Form.
Interested citizens can obtain further information from: Steve Christensen, Supervisor District 1 – (928) 474-7101 Tim R. Humphrey, Supervisor District 2 – (928) 402-8753 Woody Cline, Supervisor District 3 – (928) 402-8511 Gila County web site www.gilacountyaz.gov under “Board of Supervisors”
Citizens must complete and submit their application for consideration no later than 5:00 pm Friday, September 3, 2021. The Board of Supervisors plans to announce the Committee Members at the Board of Supervisors meeting to be held at 10:00 am, Tuesday, September 21, 2021.
El Comunicado de prensa el Agosto 3, 2021
El CONDADO de GILA ANUNCIA PAUTAS PARA el REDISTRICTING COMITE CONSULTIVO
GLOBE, AZ – Cada diez años los Estados Unidos se compromete el censo decenal y siguientes del Censo, entidades gubernamentales y comités ciudadanos de iniciar el proceso de redistribución de distritos para garantizar una distribución justa y equitativa de la población en federales, estatales y locales distritos electorales del Gobierno
El martes, el 3 de agosto de 2021, la Junta de Condado de Gila de Supervisores adoptó una Resolución para establecer pautas para la selección del Condado de Gila Consultor Redistricting Comité
Las Pautas fueron adoptadas para apoyar una justa e imparcial redistricting, ayuda la Junta de Supervisores en una justa y proceso de selección imparcial de Redistricting miembros de Comité consultivo, y para proporcionar una mejor comprensión del papel de miembros del comité
Los ciudadanos interesados en ser considerado como Miembros del comité deben dirigir una carta a su Condado de supervisión que incluye información en cuanto a: por qué ellos desean ser considerados para el Comité; lo que los califica para servir en el comité; qué pericia que traen al Comité; e información personal adicional ellos querrían que la Junta de Supervisores para considerar en el proceso de selección. Adicionalmente, deben completar un Interés y la Auto-Revelación Forma.
Los ciudadanos interesados pueden obtener información adicional de:
Steve Christensen, El supervisor Distrito 1 – (928) 474-7101 Tim R. Humphrey, El supervisor Distrito 2 – (928) 402-8753 Woody Cline, El supervisor Distrito 3 – (928) 402-8511
El Condado del sitio web de Gila www.gilacountyaz.gov abajo “junta de supervisores”
Los ciudadanos deben completar sus sumisiones para la consideración no luego que 5:00 P.m. viernes, el 3 de septiembre de 2021. La Junta de planes de Supervisores para anunciar a los Miembros del comité en la Junta de Supervisores que encuentran ser tenidos en 10:00 soy, el martes, el 21 de septiembre de 2021.
