MARANA — Marana residents won’t be voting in November on whether the town should acquire the Marana Wastewater Treatment Facility.The Marana Town Council voted to delay the ballot measure on Tuesday night. The council voted to put the measure on the November ballot on June 26, which was the last town council meeting before the 120 day deadline for an item to appear on the November ballot.“A couple of things have happened since that meeting that cause us to believe that the time element is not quite as critical,” said Frank Cassidy, Marana Attorney. “And because of that, and because of the time for taking it off the ballot is now going to come up in early August, we think it makes more sense to go ahead and wait. We can always add this item again either for our regular March ballot or our May 2013 ballot depending on what happens now with the court cases.”The town was going to ask the voters to authorize the town to acquire the Marana Wastewater Reclamation Facility and the wastewater facilities, set back areas, access rights, and current and future service area connected to or associated with the facility. The facility in question is located in the northern part of Marana and services about 1,800 residents and businesses in that vicinity.
The delay gives the Arizona Court of Appeals time to consider a town motion asking the court to reverse a decision regarding a 1988 vote in which Marana residents elected to allow the town to enter the wastewater business. The court ruled on June 14 that the election did not address specific plants, such as the Marana Wastewater Reclamation Facility. If the court reverses that decision, the ballot measure would not need to go forward.
The council also discussed appointing members of the council to negotiate for the town in the wastewater dispute with the county on Tuesday night.
“I kind of wonder about the relevance of this right now,” Honea said. “Would anybody have any problem if we tabled this until the next meeting and kind of see where were going?”
“I think this is something we need to go ahead and deal with and be prepared in case the opportunity ever arises to discuss settlement with the county,” town council member Jon Post said.
Honea suggested that himself and Marana Vice Mayor Patti Comerford, along with a senior council member available, be appointed to represent the town. Adding that those people have been involved in the discussion the longest.
Post and fellow town council member Roxanne Ziegler disagreed.
“I generally believe that you send the people to negotiate that have the ability to, not the ability, but to, as you and the vice mayor obviously have the ability, but generally have the highest success rate, the highest chance of success,” Post said. “Given the personality clashes I would think that you and the vice mayor would bring the chances of success down a couple of notches, respectfully, mayor, vice mayor.”
“I have to respectfully agree with council member Post,” Ziegler said. “I negotiate for a living and believe me, the first thing you want to do is send people in to a negotiation that you feel that you have a good chance of success. This isn’t a reflection on you or the vice mayor, this is reality. And reality of the situation is I think we would be better off sending someone else then yourself or the vice mayor at this time.
“As Jon said, it’s not like it’s personal, we’ve been in this fight for five years. We know who the county likes and dislikes, they dislike most of us up here. I’m not trying to be funny actually, cause this is too damn serious for me anymore. So I am going to be serious. We need to rethink what you’re thinking because it will not succeed with your choices.”
Honea said that was one reason he wanted to table it because the council has never had a discussion about who should represent the town. Post made a motion to table the original motion until the next meeting, so that the mayor has a chance to talk with individual council members about who would like to be a part of the negotiating team and why, and see if the council can come to an agreement about who should be on this committee.
Source: Marana News