Supervisors vote to end contract with lobbyist

Santa Cruz County supervisors voted 3-0 on Nov. 4 to end a contract with an attorney paid to lobby for federal funds to complete the Chula Vista flood-control project and build a bridge at the Palo Parado River crossing.

The supervisors voted April 15 to pay the Chapa Law Firm of Tucson, which also represented Pima and other counties, $7,000 a month to prepare legislation on the projects.

The county must give Art Chapa a 30-day notice to terminate the contract, said Board Chairman John Maynard. “I don’t want to jeopardize either project.”

U.S. Rep Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., pushed for a $1.5 million appropriation for Palo Parado, not Chapa, said County Manager Greg Lucero. Grijalva has requested another $7.2 million for the bridge as part of a federal surface transportation bill.

But since Congress has been funding that bill on a continuing resolution, “all the new stuff (including the funds for Palo Parado) isn’t on the table,” Lucero told the Nogales International.

When he was elected a year ago, Supervisor Rudy Molera said Grijalva asked to work directly with him. “We need to get into the mix and do some major lobbying ourselves,” Molera said at the meeting.

“I think Art’s done good job, but we have our bottom line,” said Supervisor Manuel Ruiz.

The county laid off eight employees in August because of a budget shortfall and now debates each request to hire a new employee.

“$84,000 a year is a couple of positions we can save,” Maynard noted.

Ruiz cast the lone vote against allowing the Sheriff’s Office to replace a 911 supervisor and dispatcher, but voted with the other supervisors to hire a Licensed Practical Nurse to tend to inmates.

“We’re losing personnel,” said Sheriff Antonio Estrada as he asked to fill two positions in the dispatch center. One employee went to Customs and Border Protection and the other went on maternity leave.

Sympathy

“I sympathize with Supervisor Ruiz about the budget, but currently, the staffing level is at a bare minimum,” Estrada said. “I’d hate to have a call come in and have my dispatcher busy. That’s a risk I don’t want to take.”

Two supervisors approved replacing a detention officer for the jail. Ruiz said he wanted to wait until a federal stimulus grant would pay to hire six officers.

“Crime seems to be creeping up,” Bill Cox, a member of the planning and zoning commission, told the supervisors. “These areas (law enforcement) are the last bastions we have against anarchy. Let’s not allow ourselves to become any less safe.”

Two other people addressed the supervisors:

• Steve Shields, project manager for CORE Construction, said 84 local people were at work on the jail and courthouse construction; some 40 percent of the total workforce. CORE is also using some 20 local vendors, he said.

Inside work on the buildings will pick up in January, Shields said. He invited local subcontractors and workers to fill out an application now at the CORE trailer east of the county complex. The buildings should be completed by December 2010, he said.

• Kathi Campana, co-chair of the Baca Float Coalition Inc., presented two checks to the supervisors to help pay for paving the Palo Parado crossing from the end of Caballero Corte to 200 feet past the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way.

The coalition donated $2,000 and individual members contributed another $2,200, Campana said.

Palo Parado Road is a shortcut to Interstate 19 that comes off Pendleton Drive in Rio Rico. The county is working with the railroad to create a public crossing that will have signals and gates and a bridge over the Santa Cruz River.