This is the second of our postings on the five factors that played out in the 2018 Oro Valley election.---
Factor 4: You can "dress-up the pig" but it is still a pig
The pig, in this case, is the town owned 45-hole "country club." This is also known and "The Oro Valley Community Center".
The town purchased this property in 2015 from the major campaign contributor to the Majority-4, Hector Lopez (HSL). The purchase of the golf course enabled Lopez to buy the El Conquistador Resort. Based on a town sponsored survey taken long before the purchase, a golf course and a community center were never among the 30 plus desires of the community.
The purchase of the El Conquistador Country Club veered Oro Valley off course. It split the council. It caused a referendum effort, an effort rejected by the town on technical grounds...
...despite thousands of lawful signatures. The referendum was rejected by a town clerk who, we are absolutely convinced, allowed a clerical mistake to go "unnoticed" until submission time. The thousands who signed the referendum never got to vote on it. Apparently, they never forgot the callousness shown by this town clerk, and by extension, the Majority-4, to the people of Oro Valley.
Now, the town was the enemy. Trust was lost.
And the leaders of the town, the Majority-4, were behind it.
Anyone with an open mind could see the many signs that this acquisition was going to be a financial disaster
- The sport of golf is on the decline
- The course and the community center were expensive to operate
- The course and the community center required millions of dollars in investment
- Supporting these losses required an increase in the sales tax
- This year, they approved a $6 million bond. The funds will be used to replace aging and leaking golf course irrigation lines ($3.8 million) and to remodel the outdated community center ($2.2 million)
- The golf course had a decreasing membership
- The clubhouse, which is now the community center, was a run down, non code compliant building
- And, when real accounting takes place, as documented on these pages in LOVE, this facility costs the town millions in losses.
Mayor Hiremath and his majority moved ahead with the purchase. They raised the sales tax to pay for operating losses. They faced and barely won a recall election. Then, this year, the council "doubled down" on their investment. They authorized a $3.8 million bond to pay for golf course improvements.
Voters saw all this.
Voters know a pig when they see one
In this case, it's a pig that gobbles up money that could be used for purposes with a much greater benefit to the many who live in Oro Valley.
The 2018 election told the Majority-4 that: "If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is a duck"... regardless of what the Majority-4 tell you.
Leaders who do not recognize and deal with reality are not the leaders that the people want.
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Next Up:
Factor 3: "Views Matter"
