|
March In Review
March was a very busy month for our Ward 4 team, and April is shaping up to be just as busy. This edition of our newsletter is designed to reflect on the month of March. Moving forward, my goal is to deliver a newsletter twice a month so they are shorter and easier to consume.
Officer Adam Buckner
I wanted to begin our newsletter by honoring Officer Adam Buckner. Adam lost his life in the line of duty on March 31. Although I never had the privilege of working with Adam, it’s clear that he was an outstanding police officer, leader, and human.
The Ward 4 team and residents send our love and support to all those impacted by this tragic loss. We pray for comfort for Adam’s wife, family, friends, and colleagues during these unimaginable times.
To our TPD teammates and our entire public safety team, you are in our thoughts and prayers as you process this tragedy. Please do not hesitate to utilize the resources available to you as you navigate the emotions and pain from this incredible loss.
The Erik Hite Foundation has graciously setup this donation site to support Adam’s family during this incredibly difficult time: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/tpdofficeradambuckner/
Photo: Tucson Police Department
|
|
Best Wishes to Steve Kozachik
I’m grateful for the 4 years that I was able to work with Steve K. on the Council. I learned a lot by watching him in action, and his voice will be missed at the Mayor & Council table. I could always count on Steve to speak his truth and remain focused on the mission we were elected to carry out. The Ward 4 team and I wish Steve all the best as he steps into the next chapter of his life and career.
While it will be hard to fill Steve’s running/biking shoes, we are working through that process now. Information on the process to fill the Ward 6 Council Vacancy is on the City’s website: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/News-articles/Process-Begins-to-Fill-Ward-6-Council-Vacancy.
In order for the public to engage with the qualified candidates seeking appointment, the League of Women Voters will be inviting all qualified candidates to attend a forum that they will be hosting and moderating.
|
|
Budget Town Hall
As a reminder, the community has 2 opportunities this week to engage in a Budget Town Hall. We have fiscal challenges on the horizon, and this will be a great opportunity to learn more about those challenges, why Tucson is facing them, and how the City Manager and his team are proposing we navigate those challenges to minimize negative impacts to the city’s service delivery in future years.
There are a lot of tough policy decisions that must be made to ensure that the City of Tucson remains fiscally strong, and your voice is critical to the budget adoption process.
Ward 4 residents will likely find it most convenient to join the April 4th Town Hall happening at the Ward 2 Office (7820 E. Broadway Blvd.), but you’re welcome to attend either event.
|
|
5th Annual SheTech Explorer Day
We kicked off the month of March with our 5th annual SheTech Explorer Day! SheTech is a one-day no-cost event for high school girls that features hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics alongside women professionals from a variety of backgrounds and industries.
Special shout out to the City of Tucson Office of Economic Initiatives team, led by Barbra Coffee, for all your incredible work in organizing this event and making it a reality...for the 5th time!
|
|
|
Without the investment and support from this year’s sponsors, these students could not have had this experience. Thank you to those who worked together to make this day happen! 👏
|
|
Artificial Intelligence in the City of Tucson
I requested a Study Session item to bring my colleagues and the public up to speed on what we’ve been up to regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the City. The City has been leveraging AI in multiple ways long before more accessible generative AI services, like ChatGPT, exploded on the scene in late 2022.
One great example of how we’ve been leveraging AI to deliver more reliable services is in the Tucson Water Department. In a nutshell, Tucson Water leverages AI technology to assess the condition of over 4,600 miles of water infrastructure. The AI application looks for patterns from previous pipe failures and assigns a score to pipe segments based on where we are more likely to see failures.
From there, we use that data to help us prioritize water infrastructure replacements in our capital budget planning. This allows us to do our best to prevent negative impacts to our service delivery (because a pipe breaks) while trying to get as much life out of our water infrastructure as possible (and keep costs lower).
I have been working with city staff since last year to champion the expansion of the right AI solutions in our organization. By “right AI solutions”, I mean solutions that will support our employees (not replace them) and allow us to improve our quality and timeliness of services that we deliver to the Tucson community.
As this work continues, it’s essential that everything we do aligns with our Guiding Principles to ensure responsible and transparent use of AI in our organization. This is essential to maintain and deepen public trust between residents and the City of Tucson.
 Stay tuned as we continue to discuss this topic and make meaningful progress by responsibly leaning into technology and AI to do better internally as an organization, and externally for the Tucson community.
|
|
National League of Cities Congressional City Conference
Although I’ve been involved with the National League of Cities (NLC) since my first year in office, this was my first time attending an NLC conference. It was a great experience, and you can see a short video that summarizes our trip on my Facebook page.
 
|
|
NLC AI Advisory Committee
I was honored to be tapped to co-chair the NLC’s new AI Advisory Committee, alongside Mayor Van Johnson (Savannah, GA). We had our first committee meeting at the NLC conference, and I’m eager to work with my peer elected officials, city staff from across the country, NLC staff, and Google as we work to create a playbook for US cities, towns, and villages to leverage along their own AI journeys.
 “Along with the organization’s federal priorities, NLC also announced the formation of an Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee to help local leaders demystify, de-risk, and ultimately harness the opportunity this rapidly evolving technology represents. By year’s end, the Committee will produce a summative playbook for cities nationwide that provides curated insights, strategies, and best practices for cities using artificial intelligence. The Advisory Committee will be chaired by Savannah, GA Mayor Van Johnson and Tucson, AZ Councilmember Nikki Lee. NLC is also pleased to announce that Google is a founding partner of the AI Advisory Committee and a member of the Centennial Collection, NLC’s 100th Anniversary Sponsors.”
You can read the full press release here: https://www.nlc.org/post/2024/03/11/national-league-of-cities-leadership-address-top-federal-priorities-for-local-governments/
|
|
Tucson Roadrunners Public Safety Night
I had the honor of “dropping the puck”, alongside these public safety professionals, at a recent Tucson Roadrunners game. This game was dedicated to our public safety professionals, and it was great to see the Roadrunners and the community show them love. My family and I were honored to be there to support them as well…and the Roadrunners won!
|
|
Tim Thomure as Next City Manager
In March, the Mayor & Council unanimously voted to appoint Tim Thomure as our next City Manager. Tim will assume the role of City Manager on July 2, after Michael Ortega’s last day on July 1. On July 1, Mr. Ortega will hit a milestone of 9 years with the City of Tucson. We are so grateful for his steadfast leadership and 9 years of amazing service to our organization and community. I’m looking forward to supporting Tim and helping him be successful in his upcoming role.
|
|
Employee Budget Town Hall
As we continue on our budget journey, I was excited to attend the City Manager’s Employee Budget Town Hall to get a sense of what our employees are thinking and feeling about the direction of the budget this year. I’m so grateful for all of the work of the City Manager and his team to put together such a great event with a thoughtful format for our teammates to engage in this process and have their voices heard.
|
|
|
I touched on some of these already, but we have some big conversations and decisions on the horizon in April. We’ll be selecting a new Ward 6 Council Member, continuing our budget conversations, discussing fare free transit (and hopefully taking steps to address the financial implications of continuing to absorb ~$13M in uncollected fares from the general fund), the conflict in Gaza (as brought forward by Council Member Santa Cruz), and much more. Stay tuned!
As always, please let my team and I know how we can support you by reaching out to us at ward4@tucsonaz.gov and/or 520-791-3199.
|
|
|
|
|
