City Leaders Lead Charge in Washington D.C. for Brighter Future

Published on March 30, 2023

It’s no secret that Maricopa’s Mayor and City Council members are constantly hitting the phones, pounding the pavement, and battling for every available moment of facetime with local partners in order to build this community. Now, for the first time in three years, they’re resuming the effort to personally deliver Maricopa’s top priorities straight to Capitol Hill.

“This is how we get it done for Maricopa,” said Mayor Nancy Smith.

This week, the Mayor, Vice Mayor and three other members of council traveled to Washington DC to advocate directly for Maricopa’s needs. It’s their chance to build powerful partnerships with lawmakers and deliver tailor-made appeals to prioritize a range of critical projects in Maricopa.

“Our elected officials in DC rely on our communication to understand how they can help us achieve our needs and goals,” explained Mayor Smith. “As with most communication, face-to-face interactions are the most effective way to establish mutually beneficial relationships. The dialog flows easier and we leave a lasting impression with a personal connection.”

“Team Maricopa” educated congressional partners on an array of projects, ranging from SR 347 improvements, to a box culvert by Desert Sunrise High School, and a new city park in the heart of Maricopa’s City Center. Thanks to this exact type of federal support, the City has already recently secured funding for a pedestrian bridge to help reenergize the Heritage District, an aquifer recharge project, and a plan to expand waterline infrastructure in order to service on the West side of the city.

To achieve the next round of goals, the visit gave the Maricopa DC team a chance to prove that it’s doing its homework.

“We wanted them to know that we’re not sitting idle waiting for help, but that we’ve made incremental progress through partnerships with our local and state representatives to find solutions to our biggest challenges,” added Mayor Smith. “Being able to demonstrate how we’ve leveraged those connections to secure funding for major projects such as the Riggs Road overpass opened their eyes to how we do business in Maricopa.”

Vice Mayor Rich Vitiello highlighted that the trip gave the group a chance to bring back to the forefront another project that’s sat on FEMA’s shelf for more than a year; Maricopa’s Flood Control District. Once approved, that plan will pave the way for a new wave of commercial and residential development on the East side of Maricopa.

“Trips like this help out tremendously. It took 15 years to get the overpass, working with ADOT and the federal government to get the TIGER grant. These trips are necessary to fix the 347 and the flood district. We will never stop pushing to get things done!”

Maricopa City leaders demonstrated how strong partnership with our state representatives are optimistically close to helping secure millions of dollars in funding for improvements along SR-347 at the Cement Plant Road and Casa Blanca intersections. The improvements will remove cross traffic completely at these intersections, improving both safety and congestion. With that momentum in mind, Team Maricopa lobbied federal lawmakers for the tall order every resident longs to see; the widening of SR-347.

“We are thrilled to report that we received full support and agreement to assist with a future grant request,” said Mayor Smith. “The City will continue working with a core team including Gila River Indian Community, Maricopa Association of Governments, ADOT, State Legislator, Pinal County, and Maricopa County to prepare a grant request when the design work is complete. What these means is, when we get all these groups together and in position to submit the grant request to widen 347, our federal partners are committing to support our request.”

The annual visits to Washington were halted during the pandemic. Now that they’re back on, the Mayor is already eager to return and offer insight into this piece of the process that often goes unseen.

“As you can see, these are big asks. And again, this is how we get there,” Mayor Smith explained. “It may seem Maricopa shot up overnight, but it’s taken many behind the scenes meetings like these and sleepless nights to get much of it done. That’s what we know residents expect of us and we’re proving to them that we deliver.”

Pictured: Councilmember Henry Wade, Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona's 4th Congressional District,
Mayor Nancy Smith, and Vice Mayor Rich Vitiello