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Winslow Mayor Tom McCauley is excited to start the New Year. Elected in May, January will begin the first full year of his term. McCauley is a registered Independent when it comes to party affiliation and is determined to govern in a non-partisan fashion. “I just want what is best for Winslow,” said McCauley. “I have the best interest for our town at heart.”
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For example, McCauley has been working diligently with commercial landowners along Mike’s Pike Blvd. in order to gain development opportunities. “I have already had multiple conversations with owners, The Winslow Development Company and for sale signs will be up on that land soon. I want to see that land sold and developed.”
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He also has aspirations to expand broadband in the area and to look into bringing a solar farm to Winslow. “We have these opportunities here and both of those will create jobs. I would also like to sit down with the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) Railroad and talk to them about creating two spurs, not just one in Winslow that will come off the yard on the west end and the east end into what would be a warehouse district. That is another opportunity for jobs.”
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McCauley’s ideas for growth are based on the fact that Winslow is a stop on I-40. He continued, “We are absolutely a stop now because of the 10-hour rule for the truck drivers. So we have that opportunity to warehouse here and transfer to trucks and trains. That is basically what we are looking for there as far as economic growth.”
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Recently, the Winslow City Council annexed a 245-acre parcel south of the city. McCauley has plans for not only that lot, but the annexation of others as well. “That is another thing that I would like to research going in to 2019, the annexation. If we annex these lands, will we be able to get funding from the ADEQ (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality), the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the Arizona Department of Water Resources, or whoever to be able to take water and sewer services to these annexed areas? There are many I would like to see incorporated. Not just the empty lots, either. We have subdivisions like Bushman Acres that lay on county land that would benefit from city-maintained sewer lines. I think we could be the facilitators of that.
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“I would like to see them annexed into our city limits. For two reasons, one, that would bring their water bills down to a normal rate and two it would clean up our environment by getting them off of septic systems. Another thing is that it would allow the people in those subdivisions to vote. They live here, they work here, they spend their money in town but they don’t have a voice in our city government. If we could do that for Bushman Acres, Ames Acres, Five Mountain Estates and Gunter Heights, we will realize the property taxes back to our school district and the city.”
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He added that annexing those areas would also increase the numbers in the census. “We are absolutely going to have to increase our census numbers. If we can pick up the outlying subdivisions, we can add another 2,000 people to our rolls in Winslow. Once our population is over the 10,000 mark, we see more federal dollars. Our census is so important. We need to make sure everyone is counted, and we need to be able to reap those federal benefits. It’s our money, we pay into those funds through taxes and we need it to come back into our city.”
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Other than economic development and census numbers, McCauley is also concerned with continuing to remove blight from Winslow. “We are headed in the right direction in terms of blight. We need to continue knocking down things that don’t belong anymore or that are safety issues. If current property owners refuse to restore or repair buildings, the buildings need to be discarded. On the other hand of that, we need to start with the beautification side of it. We can take down as much as we can, but then we need to replace it with something that is aesthetically pleasing.”
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McCauley’s thoughts on aesthetics include planting of trees along roadsides and between buildings. “We could plant Mondale Pines or African Pines. All along our parks and cemetery should be pines. Pines would change the appearance of this town in five years. The air quality would be awesome, and the maintenance on pine trees is minimal. Trees improve the quality of life for everyone around them.”
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He continued, “We want our town to be beautiful and we want our town to be a destination. That’s why we just passed the arts and entertainment district ordinance.” The ordinance outlines the area between First and Fourth streets from the Chamber of Commerce at Campbell Street to the La Posada Hotel at Colorado Ave.
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“Now we can take buildings along that strip and turn them into micro-breweries or eateries. We can turn them into wine house and galleries. They need to be able to have liquor licenses so with the ordinance we don’t have to have a 300-foot separation between a restaurant with a bar and a church.”
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McCauley sees the district as a way to bring revenue into Winslow. “Why not capitalize on what tourists and locals want? Why not make our town a destination for art, food, music and culture?”
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The mayor has hopes for the Winslow Levee project as well. The project has been a decade in the making and recently McCauley met with the Army Corps of Engineers and Representative Tom O’Halleran regarding the levee and flood plain issues.
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“They finally have all of the data put together that they have been gathering regarding what is needed to repair and restore our levee. The Army Corps of Engineers is going to sign-off on going ahead with the design phase of the project, which is huge, huge news. Now, we are waiting for funding from the federal government so we can get our design drawings done. Look for that around 2021. Once that is finished, then construction can begin and it will take a lot of Winslow out of the flood plain. Not only will that benefit property owners but it will allow us to go after even more commercial developers.”
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Mayor McCauley will serve until 2020 and has not yet decided if he will run for re-election. “I am here to make a difference, I am not yet looking to re-election. I just want to work as hard as I can while I am in office to improve our city and the lives of our citizens. I am excited about the upcoming year, 2019 is going to be a great year for the City of Winslow.”
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