I’d like to introduce myself and give you some background, as well as let you know where I stand on important issues in our community:
- Fire safety is a topic that should be at the top of any list. Neighboring departments refuse to acknowledge our current fire service provider, Rural Metro, as an automatic aid recipient. What does that mean to us? It means that if there is a fire emergency, neighboring departments reserve the right to refuse service to us. We have three options: 1. Contract with Scottsdale. 2. Contract with Daisy Mountain. 3. Start our own fire department. We are working through all three options and will conduct public meetings where your opinion and voice will be important. All three will be more costly than what we do now, but what we have now is not sustainable. Consider the Cave Creek fire from 2 years ago that came dangerously close to our town. Imagine us not having automatic aid to help battle those fires, now you understand why this is so important to resolve.
- I have served on Carefree’s town council the past four years, and am seeking my third term. In 2018, six candidates ran for six seats. In 2020, our mayor ran unopposed. In both instances, there were members of council that would have “termed-out” if we had the current term-limit proposal in place. So then what? No mayor? Only 3 or 4 councilmembers deciding policies for our town? Term limits limit the pool of qualified candidates. We have a term limit in place now, it’s called a vote.
- We are in the midst of a 25 year drought. I made the commitment when I ran in 2018 that we were going to do something about the brown drinking water and uninspected half-buried fire hydrants that were supposed to be serviced by the neighboring water company. The transition should be complete by year’s end. We are adding $1.1 million dollars of annual revenue (and the C.A.P. allocation of the additional accounts coming to the Carefree Water Company service) to help pay for this transition. Current customers served by Carefree water will also benefit from this transition, as important system infrastructure updates will be made throughout.
- Regarding eminent domain and the water storage tank being constructed on Tom Darlington, this was a carefully planned public process. Experts determined that the location on Tom Darlington was found to be the best site, as it was in line with underground utility piping, and its elevation would help to service lower elevation properties on the west side of our town.
- Economic development keeps property taxes at bay. The Hampton Inn is going to be an amazing anchor-tenant to our town core, contributing $250k of direct tax revenue, and another $500-$750k indirectly, to our town. In addition, it will bring in new people and new businesses.
- Most of the current councilmembers have been local residents over 20 years. My family moved to Phoenix when I was just 6 months old, in 1972. Carefree’s current mayor graduated from Arcadia High School in Phoenix in the 1960s. Carefree’s Vice-Mayor built his home in Carefree over 30 years ago, and still lives in that same home. Your current councilmembers are all Arizonan’s, and we are all passionate about Carefree.
Carefree’s finances are now at their best in the history of our town, despite a pandemic! We have over $14,000,000 in cash reserves. We are in great shape as a town, and continue to get better, due to stringent fiscal management by our amazing town staff and your council working together. - Our councilmembers are involved in activities outside of council that directly benefit our community. I serve on the Cave Creek School District Strategic Planning Committee, I was president of the Cave Creek Museum during the organization’s most challenging year (2020-21) due to closures of the pandemic. I’ve been a council liaison for MCSO during events like bike week and other off-peak events, regularly collaborating with our local MCSO Captain on safety concerns in our community. I’ve been very involved with our holiday events, such as Christmas concerts and Chanukkah festivals, coordinating our livestreaming so that those that cannot attend in person can still participate.
- As president of the Cave Creek museum, we worked with the town of Carefree on a proclamation to rename the Sundial Plaza in honor of Carefree’s most important living pioneer, Gerry Jones. The boulder (near the Sundial) is from Gerry’s property (he hand-selected it and stood there for nearly 90 minutes with me as he made sure the crane operator placed it EXACTLY the way he felt would show the best). The plaque on the boulder was donated by the museum, and Gerry wrote the inscription. March 6, 2021 was proclaimed “Gerry Jones Day” in the town of Carefree.
- I am also the proud owner of the first house built in Carefree (1959) and count the home’s builder, Gerry Jones, as a good friend of mine, along with his wife Leslie, so preserving our town’s history and culture is very important to me. Thank you for your time.
- Most of the current councilmembers have been local residents over 20 years. My family moved to Phoenix when I was just 6 months old, in 1972. Carefree’s current mayor graduated from Arcadia High School in Phoenix in the 1960s. Carefree’s Vice-Mayor built his home in Carefree over 30 years ago, and still lives in that same home. Your current councilmembers are all Arizonan’s, and we are all passionate about Carefree.
Vince D’Aliesio
[email protected]
