There were two major events that involved Oro Valley Mayor Joe Winfield. One was saving 45-holes of municipal golf. The other was creating a nature preserve from the former Vistoso Golf Course. Last week, at the polls, Winfield was punished for one and rewarded for the other.
Punishment for making 45-holes of municipal golf financially viable
Joe Winfield inherited a big problem when he entered office in 2018. That problem was 45-holes of municipal golf that, under the leadership of the prior mayor, was a mult-million dollars, money sucking problem. Winfield received a large percentage of the votes in that election because voters thought he would fix the problem: Fix, as in, close one of the18 hole municipal golf courses; turn it into a linear park; and lease the 9-hole Pusch View Course to HSL Properties.
Winfield started in that direction. He was met with substantial golf community resistance. Several hundred members of that community attended multiple hearings on the matter, imploring the Mayor not to close anything.
There was so much push back that Winfield changed direction. He set out on a course to find a way to make municipal golf financially sustainable with no more than a $750,000 annual town subsidy. According to the town and Winfield, he did just that.
One would think that the municipal golf community would reward Winfield for his success. Rather, they punished him at the polls last week. The two voting precincts that essentially comprise the municipal golf community (precincts 194 and 12) voted overwhelmingly for Danny Sharp last week, Sharp received 2,276 votes. Winfield received 1,650 votes. That’s a difference of 626 votes. For all of his effort, Winfield got 42% of the vote. That’s quite a punishment for the person who saved Oro Valley Municipal Golf!
Reward for creating the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve
So how did Winfield win? He received overwhelming support for his work in creating a nature preserve from the former Vistoso Golf Course. What he did was to step in to make the deal happen. Negotiations between the owner of the course, involved residents, and the Conservation Fund were “dead in the water.” Winfield and Vice Mayor Barrett, together with Town Council Attorney Rothschild got involved, putting the force of the town behind the resident effort to create the preserve. They were successful. It is a reality today.
Last week’s Rancho Vistoso resident vote was a reward for Winfield for his effort. He received 5,942 votes to Danny Sharp’s 4,691. That’s an 1,251 voted difference in favor of Winfield. Winfield received 65% of the vote in the precinct most closely impacted by the Preserve.
Fortunately for Winfield, the vote count reward he received for doing the right thing to create the nature preserve exceeded the punishment he got for saving municipal golf.
- - -
