Donna has been leading nonprofit and public initiatives, advocating for youth and families, and being actively engaged in the community for over 40 years. With a career marked by passion, commitment, and impactful leadership, she brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of our community’s needs.
Donna played a pivotal role in establishing the Casa Grande Youth Commission and devoted a decade as an adviser, fostering leadership and engagement among our youth. She was the Chair of the Police Advisory Board, the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board and is a graduate of the Casa Grande Leadership Academy.
For over two decades, Donna was an integral part of the Pinal County Juvenile Court, serving as the Program Administrator II and Public Information Officer. She led the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Unit, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to justice and child welfare. She recently retired in April.
Donna’s civic involvement extends far beyond her professional duties. She has held key positions such as Chairman of the Casa Grande Alliance Board of Directors, Vice-Chair of the Pinal County Town Hall and was appointed to the Governor’s Commission on Service and Volunteerism, highlighting her statewide recognition as a leader.
Now, after eight years of working hard for the people of Casa Grande as a city councilwoman, Donna is running for Mayor.
1. If the decision was solely yours, what would you do with the old high school auditorium and how would you fund it?
When I was first elected to City Council in 2016, there was much talk about the auditorium. My original hope was to find a way to restore the auditorium to its original state. In doing research on the project, I discovered other council members before me had that same desire. But without grants readily available, nor individuals or investors interested in funding the project, it was left as is. When those seated members looked at the cost in 2004, it was $3.2 million. For the same work today, it would be over $13 million. I feel it is not fiscally responsible to use taxpayers’ money to do so. I do, however, feel that we can make effective use of that property as we explore expanding our city complex to enhance services to our community and provide a healthy environment for our employees.
2. Community members have indicated the need for improved city infrastructure. What would be your priority projects, and how would you fund it?
I have had the opportunity to network with many other local city officials over the last 8 years in office. We all agree on the same thing. We need to improve city infrastructure. With Casa Grande ranked #8 in fastest growth, it comes as no surprise that infrastructure is high on my list.
Transportation infrastructure is a priority. Upgrading our roads is a constant demand. We must do this to accommodate growing traffic and improve the connectivity. We have scheduled over $7 million this next year for specific projects that will be completed within a year. The funding comes from several different entities: development impact fees from new growth, construction sales tax, local sales tax as well as the enterprise funds collected.
Along with the road improvement comes providing transportation. Our CG Links service has proven to be a dynamic addition we offer our community. We took our time when developing our transportation service. Why? We wanted to do it right the first time. Following up with other municipalities and programs, we were able to dive into what would fit the needs of Casa Grande residents. While it is limited in the route destination at this point, I am extremely pleased that our ridership averages 153 per day and in the first six months we helped 14,000 passengers.
I would like to see the expansion of routes happen to accommodate more passengers. There is a cost involved with this program and we have been fortunate to receive grant funding. Moving forward, we will have a fare structure but will need to be diligent in obtaining federal funding and/or grant funding to expand our route coverage.
Our next fiscal budget will continue to focus on infrastructure improvements. Our water treatment management is on the priority list. There are so many “behinds the scenes” improvements being made and while most do not “see” the improvements like they do on improved roads, it is necessary for the city to enhance this type of infrastructure.
Housing is part of my infrastructure priorities. While the city is not in the business of selling homes, we are responsible to help navigate what our community needs. In fact, over 75% of all voters feel their community needs affordable housing. My own community outreach regarding housing needs has taught me that we have diverse opinions about what Casa Grande needs: too many apartments being built, lack of mobile home communities, the need for more independent senior living, townhomes and patio homes, etc.
Our recent housing study by staff validated what inventory we have and what we will need in the future. With this study, I want to work to balance our inventory and plan accordingly. This means we, as a council, will need to be diligent in our decision making.
3. Homelessness is a growing problem. What would you do to help solve this issue, and how would you fund it?
Homelessness continues to be a problem in Casa Grande. Mayor McFarland took this problem head on when he first took office in 2016. Engaging both myself and Lisa Fitzgibbons as co-chairs of the Mayor’s Homeless Task Force, we brought a host of community partners together to dive into cause and effect. The cause of homelessness is much deeper than housing. It is about people who have unmet needs, be it mental and physical stability, food deficiency, unemployment, etc. The effect is that our community suffers due to public health, crime and safety, overwhelmed social services, and economic impact. We even have other communities that are sending their homeless population to Casa Grande for help.
This is not just a city problem; it is a community problem. I feel we have been addressing the problem. The Mayor nor city council members cannot solve this problem alone. While the federal government would like every community to have a shelter, they offer no funding for it. Our coalition of partners include faith-based groups, social service organizations, civic groups and individuals who help with food, clothing, water, hotel stays, showers, and temporary overnight stays in local churches. If we had proper funding for a shelter, it could help. But the problem would not go away. As a city, we need to continue to collaborate with our community partners to find ways to keep our community healthy and safe while combatting the homeless crisis.
4. Driving through Casa Grande, there are many areas with blight (weeds, trash, poor upkeep), including several city-owned properties. How would you beautify Casa Grande, and how would you fund it?
The city code enforcement team of three works with blight complaints. The city had over 2,300 cases with 64% of our residents who complied to clean up their property.
Additionally, the city currently budgets $100,000 per year for our Clean It & Lien It program. I would like to look at our city ordinances specific to businesses who have blight issues and how we can streamline the process more efficiently to have it taken care of sooner.
The city has an obligation to keep our city-owned property clean as well. We realize that staff cannot keep up with all the demands and that is why we are looking for a third-party contract to help us with those high visibility areas. It will be paid for from our general fund.
A number of months back I met with several groups of citizens who were concerned about the blight in Casa Grande. My initiative with them to “fight the blight” began shortly after the Mayor’s State of the City Address in March.
Since then, it ignited community members to become champions for change. Over two hundred members have joined the Clean Up Casa Grande group and are helping clean up litter in their neighborhoods as well as joining the city’s Adopt a Street program. This is a community working together, with the city, to find solutions.
5. Should Casa Grande build a new City Hall and find a new purpose for the current building (Old Main)?
I love our City Hall and would not want to see our Council Chambers moved. I do believe; however, we need to look at space availability and how we can enhance the much-needed space for staff and make city departments more accessible to our customers. When we look at the city owned property surrounding City Hall, we could design a “campus.” It has been discussed about building our new fire station on that campus and adding more office spaces for our Finance and Human Resources departments. Nothing has been finalized. It would be a financial obligation to make that happen and it could come from a number of sources, including a possible general obligation bond. As I mentioned, this is all in the preliminary discussion phases. My recommendation will always be to include our community in the discussions, so they have input. This will take budget recommendations that will not be solved by one source.
6. Do you support consideration of additional funding opportunities to help “catch up” on needed projects? If so, what would those be? Increased property tax? Sales tax? Something else?
Casa Grande will always be catching up on projects. It is the nature of cities across America. Our roadways and transportation are one of the most visual projects we need to catch up on. We are assessing how we can change our current processes so that we are better prepared. As our economy and workforce need changes, adjustments to keep up with the needs.
I do support additional funding opportunities that are driven by need and with community comments and engagement. This is especially true when it comes to increasing any type of tax. This would be my last recommendation and only after every other avenue was exhausted.
In the area of blight and beautification projects, we have the opportunity to continue applying for state and federal dollars. The Community Development Block Grants support community development for infrastructure, including street repair and beautification projects. The city has been awarded this funding in the past and we need to continue to look at this funding to help us catch up in other areas it allows for.
There is also TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) funding that enhances transportation alternatives (pedestrian and bike infrastructure). I often hear from citizens who would like to see improvements made in this area as it promotes alternative modes of transportation. This federal funding may help us catch up in this area.
Finally, we are fortunate to have unique partnerships with private and nonprofit organizations as well as public-private partnerships that improve the local quality of life in Casa Grande. While these projects may seem small in nature (such as beautification of the flower garden at City Hall, purchase of the library bookmobile, creating the children’s memorial garden), it certainly adds to the flavor of who we are as a community and how it helps our staff focus on the bigger “catch-up” projects.
