Taking Action to Protect Flagstaff

There is a lot going on these days. Wildfire season has started early and my heart goes out to those who have been afflicted by the Tunnel Fire. Thirty homes were lost. Despite the tragedy, I saw our community come together to help those in need, providing homes for evacuees, giving food and clothing, and sheltering animals. I want to thank our brave firefighters and all our first responders who helped our surrounding community in the midst of such a crisis.

Council recently held our budget retreat to establish budgetary priorities and policies. We are heavily prioritizing public safety issues, including purchasing two ladder trucks for our fire department, a new radio system, and increasing benefits and wages for our staff. We are also considering expanding our C.A.R.E Team, our 9-1-1 response unit consisting of a behavioral health professional and EMT that are able to respond to appropriate calls that do not require police. They have been active now for one month and the early data and results have been astounding.

We are moving toward no longer having fireworks for 4th of July festivities, instead doing a yearly light show instead. This is a changing world and we have to adapt to the new reality.

Another priority we are moving forward with is regarding stormwater infrastructure. Though our partnerships with other government agencies, we’ve been able to secure more than $16 million to assist in flooding efforts. We have a lot of work still to do to fully fund and implement mitigation efforts to protect our people and their properties. The fact that some of our neighborhoods still look like warzones is unacceptable.

In the coming six to eight weeks, the City Council will be deciding on what bond measures to place on the November ballot. A citizen committee was formed in December to help recommend a course of action. This will be a very difficult decision and I would really like your input. Stormwater infrastructure is my top priority, but we have many important issues to consider. Our wastewater treatment plant is at capacity, we need more multimodal transportation infrastructure in the city and we are working to address the simultaneous declared emergencies of climate and housing.

As always, if you want to provide input on these critical decisions, please send council an email at council@flagstaffaz.gov or email me directly at paul.deasy@flagstaffaz.gov. If you add your phone number, I’d be happy to give you a call as well.

Stay safe, Flagstaff! FBN

By Mayor Paul Deasy

Paul Deasy is the Mayor of Flagstaff.

All opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Flagstaff City Council