So I went to the Chino Valley Town Hall which, as it turns out, is not where you will find the Mayor of Chino Valley. "The town hall is too small for a Mayor's Office" said the helpful young lady at the window as she jotted the mayor's phone number on the back of my business card. A couple of phone calls later I found myself sitting with Mayor Fann in her office at Arizona Highway Safety Specialist and discussing the myriad issues confronting Chino Valley.

But first some housekeeping. Mayor Fann is a Republican who was elected in March to her third two year term as Mayor of Chino. She relocated from Prescott where she served on the city council and also served a term as vice Mayor. I was interested to learn that while she is charged as Mayor with running the Town Council meetings, she only has one council vote just like the other six members.

As Mayor, Fann also represents Chino at town, county and statewide functions. In addition to her mayoral duties, she serves as chairman both of the Upper Verde River Protection Coalition and the Central Yavapai Metropolitan Planning Organization. Needless to say, she doesn't sit around and watch TV much. One of the items that will be front and center during this term is updating the town's general plan. Mayor Fann is clearly excited about this since it is essentially a statement of Chino Valley's vision for it's own future.

Fann believes that there can be sustainable growth in Chino but, as she is quick to note, "It doesn't have to be rooftop to rooftop." The Mayor's vision for Chino is that of a town that can contain a variety of communities within it's 63 square miles, "where there are schools, community centers or parks,"she said, "It might make sense to zone for smaller parcels so that young families just getting started can afford to own a home rather than rent. But it would also make sense to set aside areas that could be zoned for larger homes or ranches."

And she looks forward to the back and forth between the town and it's residents at the public meetings that will be held along the way to formalizing the new plan. Something that you may not know unless you own property here is that Chino Valley has no property tax. So getting the most out of every dollar spent and being careful to prioritize spending is very important. This is why the town is moving first to bring town water to the parcels along highway 89. "Businesses need to have a reliable safe water supply and bringing town water to our business corridor will encourage growth and create income for the town and jobs for the people who live here," the Mayor said.

Certainly this is a strategy that has already paid off in recent months with additional shopping and dining choices. And before the year is over ground will have been broken for the construction of a new Days Inn at the intersection of Road 1 South and Highway 89. And speaking of Route 89, you don't have to have lived here long to notice that it gets kind of busy sometimes. To alleviate the traffic congestion on route 89, the town is working with landowners in the southeast corner of town to build a bypass road that would connect route 89 with route 89A near Glassford Hill Rd.

Last - but certainly not least, the water supply is as mugh a concern for Chino Valley as it is for all of the southwest. The mayor proudly points out that the Chino Valley water processing facility near Old Home Manor is currently recharging 90% of the water it processes into the little chino aquifer. "This is partly because it's a new facility that makes use of state-of-the-art machinery and partly because the plant is located on a site that is geologically favorable to water absorption" she says.

Getting to safe yield (where water supply is equal to water demand), which is a mandate that must be met by 2025, will require sourcing additional water from the Big Chino aquifer. This, of course, is the idea behind the recent agreement with Chino Grande, LLC to bring water in by pipeline; a project that is still in its early stages, but one that the mayor also sees as win-win situation. "Chino Valley gets the water it needs with minimal environmental impact and thousands of acres of land will never be developed."

Clearly you can learn a lot about Chino Valley from Mayor Fann (once you find her). In fact, there's a great deal going on in Chino Valley and al lot of people like Mayor Fann are working hard to make this town a great place to live and work. As time goes by I hope to introduce you to many more of them and to let you know just what they're doing.

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