Hobbs revamps Rio Nuevo board, removes some longtime administrators

The board that oversees Tucson’s Rio Nuevo enterprise district was shaken up this week, with Gov. Katie Hobbs exercising her energy to switch members. The Democrat eliminated 4 administrators, changing them with new members. She reappointed Fletcher McCusker, the longtime chairman.

Hobbs’ workplace known as the brand new appointees a “dynamic group” with “huge sector expertise starting from structure and historic preservation, to industrial improvement and planning, inexpensive housing design and residential infill and finance.”

The adjustments are the primary Hobbs has made to the board that oversees the Tucson taxing district.

The revamped board will “proceed to advance the work of Rio Nuevo whereas additionally bringing in new concepts, alternatives for funding, and initiatives for individuals of their communities,” Hobbs stated in an internet posting that was despatched to native reporters with an incorrect topic line a few new tax assortment platform. “With their collaborative efforts, I’m assured Tucson will proceed rising, attracting companies and creating good-paying jobs for Arizonans. I’ve full religion that by bringing collectively such a various group of people, we are going to assist Tucson attain its full potential.”

The brand new Rio Nuevo leaders are:

• Architect Sharayah Jimenez, a fifth-generation Tucsonan and founding father of CUADRO. She “brings expertise in inexpensive housing improvement, historic preservation, and neighborhood planning with a deal with desert dwelling,” Hobbs workplace stated.
• Richard Oseran, proprietor of the Resort Congress in Downtown Tucson, and an skilled legal professional.
• Architect Corky Poster is the principal at Poster, Mirto & McDonald and former College of Arizona professor who has gained “vast popularity of his ‘grass roots city design, neighborhood based mostly structure, and for pioneering an built-in strategy to historic preservation planning,'” the governor’s workplace stated. Jimenez previously labored for Poster’s agency.
• Taunya Villicana, CEO of Affinity Wealth Administration, which she co-founded in 2003. “She has over 20 years of expertise in monetary planning, beginning her profession with Merrill Lynch earlier than co-founding her personal agency,” Hobbs’ workplace stated in an internet posting.

McCusker, first appointed to the board in 2012 by then-state Senate President Steve Pierce, has been the chairman since he joined the taxing district’s management.

Pulled from the board of the district have been Jannie Cox, Jeffrey Hill, Edmund Marquez and Ross McAllister. 

The top of the Tucson Metro Chamber expressed “concern” about Hobbs’ strikes.

“This can be a nice instance of the outdated adage, ‘if it is not damaged, do not repair it,'” acknowledged Michael Guymon, CEO of the enterprise group. “Rio Nuevo was as soon as damaged
over a decade in the past and the then-governor and Legislature stepped in to nominate people to repair the mismanagement. A 2022 audit even praised the ‘district’s enchancment, transparency, financial improvement, elevated tax base, and personal sector funding incentives’ which tells me it is not damaged.”

“The chamber has stored open traces of communication with the governor’s workplace over the past many months, encouraging the governor to not disturb the appreciable optimistic momentum of the district,” the group stated in a press launch Wednesday. “The chamber understands the political nature of serving on the board; members serve on the pleasure of the governor and leaders of our state Legislature. Nonetheless, the chamber is regretful that assurances of clear communication and dialog forward of any adjustments weren’t maintained.”

The district, which is funded by taxes on gross sales by enterprise in Downtown and alongside a Broadway hall that features El Con and Park Place malls, pulls in about $15-20 million annually. It has invested in such initiatives as Tucson Conference Heart expansions, funding for privately owned accommodations, efficiency areas at Resort Congress, reworking restaurant and storefronts areas, and others.

The Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Services District Board consists of 5 members appointed by the governor, and two every by the leaders of the state Home and Senate.

The board has two vacant seats that may be crammed by legislative appointments. Remaining on the board are Chris Sheafe and Mike Levin, who weren’t appointed by a governor. Levin has been serving on the board since January 2022; Sheafe since 2012.

The administrators don’t have any time period limits, and could be eliminated or retained on the pleasure of the appointing authority.

Rio Nuevo was created in 1999 after voters authorised using gross sales tax funds to
improve income from Tucson’s Downtown and urbanize the world. Rio Nuevo
has since labored with private-sector companions to develop actual property in
Downtown but in addition in components of Menlo Park and alongside the “Sunshine Mile,”
a stretch of Broadway east of Downtown.

Arizona state authorities has oversight over Rio Nuevo, after the
Legislature and governor took over the district from native officers a
decade in the past after Republicans in Phoenix expressed disapproval of the progress of initiatives and the way the district was dealing with cash.