AZ League Connection

The League's Monthly Online Newsletter

Issue 193: May 2019

Executive Committee Spotlight: Casa Grande Mayor McFarland

Name, title & city/town Craig H. McFarland, Mayor, City of Casa Grande
Year elected to office 2016 and 2018
Years served as Mayor 2.5 years
Hometown Fresno, California

  1. Why did you decide to serve in local government?
  2. My wife wouldn’t let me buy a motor home (actually a funny story but too long to tell). I have always been active in my community (events, volunteering, boards, etc.) and as I retired in 2015 had some time to give. Local government is where things get done, where the rubber meets the road. I want to make a difference and Make Casa Grande better.

  3. What are the biggest challenges facing your town today?
  4. Education, workforce development, downtown redevelopment, stagnate revenue, I-10 widening between Chandler and Casa Grande, water, infrastructure (roads and TI’s), AZ State Legislature...all important and in no particular order.

  5. What opportunities do you see for your community?
  6. I see opportunities for our industry. We have 20+ large industrial businesses located in our industrial parks. We have new industry like Lucid Electric Car manufacturer, Nikola Hydrogen Electric truck manufacturer, LKQ Car Part Recycler, Attesa Race Track, ASU Science & Technology Center, CG Main Street Neon Park, CG Community Recreation Center, CG Trail System, CG Community Marketing Office and Housing starts. 2017 saw 100 permits, in 2018 there were 350 permits and in 2019 there have been more than 200 permits in the first three months.

  7. What are you most proud of during your time in office?
  8. Some of the things I am most proud of are: the Mayor Taskforce on Homelessness and the opening our new CGHELPS Resource Center (April 29, 2019), the opening of our CG Community Recreation Center (May 6, 2019), City of Casa Grande’s Strategic Plan and its incorporation into our city culture and its actual on-going implementation, our economic development work over the past two years (#3 Opportunities listed above are the results of this work), lowering our Building Impact fees (effective May 1, 2019), major upgrades and improvement to our park system, streamlining and modernizing our building permit and Inspection process. Please note: I did not do this all by myself, it was and continues to be a team effort (council, city staff, local business leaders all working collaboratively to make it better).

  9. Why is the League important to cities and towns in Arizona?
  10. As stated in #1 above, local government is where things get done, where the rubber meets the road. The League is our Champion. The one organization that is looking out after the cities and towns. They are our eyes, ears and spokesperson with the Legislature and state officials. It is needed now more than ever as cities and towns are under attack.

 

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