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We have much to be thankful for here at Maricopa County.
I wish each of you, and your family, a joyous
Thanksgiving and Holiday Season!
Sincerely,
 Denny
Barney, District 1
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors
www.maricopa.gov/dist1/
(602) 506-1776
The Madison Street Jail has been empty for
more than 10 years. Completed in 1984, the building no longer complies with
corrections standards and we were left with two options: tear it down at a cost
of about $9 million, or use it for another purpose.
After a great deal of study, we determined
the interior could be demolished and converted into 230,000 square feet of
modern office space while leaving the exterior intact. This re-purposing, set
to begin in the spring of 2017, will help us reduce the number of buildings the
county currently leases in the downtown area, saving money overall.
If all goes according to plan, it is expected
the County Attorney’s Office will move into 225 W. Madison in the spring of
2019.
Touring the empty Madison Street Jail with Deputy County Manager Reid Spaulding and appreciating the inmate artwork
Many of our community
members struggle to find basic comforts that we often take for granted.
Together with our partner organizations, Maricopa County has been able to
provide permanent housing for more than 500 people and counting.
Additionally, my colleagues
and I voted to extend the life of the temporary overflow shelter located at 12th
Ave and Jackson Street until February 2017. This extension will allow us to
continue working with our partners to find permanent housing for the most
vulnerable.
For more information on how Maricopa County is working to reduce
homelessness, read my recent article in the Ahwatukee Foothills
News.
 In
October, Mary Martin began work as the new Director of Maricopa County Animal
Care & Control (MCACC).
Ms. Martin has been involved with
animal welfare for more than 30 years. Since 2009, she served as the executive
director for the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, where she took the shelter from a 65 percent live-release rate to a
stable 94 percent.
Mary has experience overseeing a system that included a
stationary and a mobile spay/neuter service, a full-service veterinary hospital
and a behavior center. From 2007 to 2009, she was the executive director of the
Spay Neuter Project of Los Angeles. Mary was also the medical director here at MCACC
from 1999 to 2003. We are incredibly thankful to have her back on board and
look forward to working with her in this new capacity.
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Celebrate fall with an adoptable dog!
 Maricopa
County has joined the national "Stepping Up" Initiative to help the
seriously mentally ill get treatment instead of keeping them in jails.
Without change, large numbers of people
with mental illness will continue to cycle through the criminal justice
system, resulting in tragic outcomes, missed opportunities for connections to
treatment, inefficient use of funding and, most importantly, a
failure to improve public safety.
Read my Arizona Republic article on
how Maricopa County is helping those with serious mental illness.
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Learn more about the Stepping Up initiative
Maricopa County received 57 NACo Achievement Awards this year, more than any other county in the nation!
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