Marana 2.0: Policing Includes Lots of Paperwork

By Rebekah Clauer, Police Intern
Senior, Marana High School

Who would’ve thought, after pulling someone over for a traffic stop would include so much paperwork and records keeping? I sure didn’t.. I get to intern for the Marana Police Department, which is perfect and also a great opportunity for me because I am very interested in pursuing a career in the law enforcement field, this month I will be in the Records Unit. Right as I walked into the room I saw stacks and stacks of paperwork on the desks.

The Records Unit is filled with civilian workers in charge of keeping track of all records/asking what happened after the incident. The process just turned electronic which made things easier yet harder for everyone in records. Instead of having to hand-write everything on an incident report (if you’ve seen one before you know they’re very long and detailed) they can now just pull it up on their computers and review it. Records is also involved with the public. They hand out incident reports to the public (obviously only to those who are allowed) but I learned that they also have to black out confidential information. For example, any name of a juvenile said in a report will be blacked out as well as addresses and phone numbers. This is just the beginning of my internship and I’m already learning lots of interesting and new things.

Marana 2.0 is a joint program offered by the Town of Marana and Marana High Schools where students spend a year interning in programs across the Town. Keep checking back with the Marana Newsroom for more updates.

Snake Safety 101

Rattlesnake encounters are always a hazard of desert living, but this year has seen a slight increase in rattlesnake activity, with the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center already recording 146 bites at the end of July.  Baby rattlers are notoriously the most dangerous, since they are difficult to see and haven’t yet developed a rattle to warn potential victims.  With birth season peaking in July and August, now is the time to exercise heightened caution. 

The Western Diamondback, easily recognized by its distinct geometric pattern, is by far the most common Arizona creeper.  While it can be thrilling to see these critters in the wild, or even in our own backyards, it is also important to keep in mind some snake safety tips. 

Prevention and Precaution

• Always hike with a buddy.
• Avoid wearing open-toed shoes, especially when walking in parks and open spaces.
• Carefully examine anywhere you are about to step, sit, or reach.
• If you see a snake, but are not within striking range, slowly and carefully go in the other direction.
• If you’re within striking range, it is best to freeze and wait for the snake to move away.  At all costs, avoid sudden movements.
• Arizona snakes are most active from April through October.  During the hottest months, they are most commonly seen at night.

Treatment

• Immediately seek medical attention at the nearest hospital or call 911.
• Do NOT apply ice, tourniquets, or make incisions around the bite. 
• You should NOT try to catch the snake. It is a myth that doctors need the snake in order to provide the antivenom, since all rattlesnake bites receive the same treatment.

For more information on snake safety, visit the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center online or call them at (800) 222-1222.

Tangerine Road Traffic Alert

Photo from the Tangerine Farms road dedication, June 25, 2008.

On August 28th 2015, the Town of Marana began salvaging native plants and storing in a nursery on Tangerine Road near Camino de Manana. Throughout the month of September, the Town of Marana will be stockpiling import fill materials in the same area.  

This activity will take place in the evening from 8 P.M. to 4 A.M. and is scheduled to occur intermittently through September. Motorists should anticipate:

• Increased truck traffic
• Large equipment along the shoulders of the roadway

Neighborhood and business access will be maintained during these activities. If you have any further questions please email genna@kaneenpr.com or call (520) 885-9009. 

Stay Connected

The project team will be sending regular updates. Please share this information with your neighbors and friends in the area and encourage them to visit our project website tangerineroad.info for up-to-date information and to sign up for email updates. 

High school students make their mark

Marana High School students and internship coordinator Alex Ruff are excited to begin the Marana 2.0 program.

While most high school students typically learn about the federal government in a classroom setting, Town of Marana is giving students the chance to learn more about local government issues in a real world setting.

Town of Marana and Marana High School are excited to kick-off “Marana 2.0”, a new program that provides opportunities for students at Marana High School to learn more about local government by providing internship opportunities in various departments within the Town. Ten seniors will work on projects in marketing and communication, special events, public safety, technology, administrative services, and town management. 

“I signed up for Marana 2.0 because I wanted to be more involved in my community,” says Jenica Franks, senior at Marana High School. Her internship will focus on events like the Marana Cotton and Holiday Festivals.  “Planning these events was my first choice when I saw the list because I’ve planned events before, and I want to share that experience with others.” 

“One of the main goals of Marana 2.0 is to engage high school kids in local government,” says Internship Coordinator Alex Ruff, teacher at Marana High School.  Ruff has played a major role in shaping the program from an education perspective and creating an outlet for his internship class to connect with the Town of Marana.

As part of the Strategic Plan, the Town seeks to deepen its relationship with Marana Unified School District, and this program represents a clear step in that direction. 

Marana Town Clerk Jocelyn Bronson also has high hopes for Marana 2.0.  “The intent of the program is to bring the youth voice into Town government in a more meaningful way than we ever have before.” 

Over the next ten months, these students will be blogging about their experiences.  To keep up with their adventures, be sure to check out the Marana Newsroom.  

Dos and don'ts of parking

The Town permits parking on the roadway within the community as long as the vehicle is properly parked and poses no safety hazard. It is illegal to park on a sidewalk, within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, in a manner that blocks a private/public driveway, in a manner that blocks traffic or any place where official signs prohibit parking. Please also remember that vehicles parked on the street must have their right-hand side wheels parallel and within 18 inches of the curb.

Vehicles parked on the sidewalk are of particular concern since they force pedestrians either into the roadway or onto potentially uneven ground. Additionally, these vehicles impede the ability of pedestrians with disabilities to navigate safely through the neighborhood.

Town code prohibits the parking of commercial vehicles on the street within a residential area unless that vehicle is actively engaged in official business. For example, the loading of a moving truck, delivery of furniture/parcels and similar activity. There is one exception: Town Code allows the temporary parking of recreational vehicles on the street as long as traffic is not obstructed. This parking may not extend beyond 72 hours and is designed to allow our residents to load/unload their recreational vehicles or provide temporary parking for visitors.

Anyone with questions about parking should contact the Town of Marana Code Enforcement Division at 520-382-2520 or codeenforcement@maranaaz.gov

Explorer program educates students in law enforcement

Originally published in Tucson Local Media. Written by Brad Alis. Photography by J.D. Fitzgerald

A lot of children say they want to be police officers when they are young, but many set the dream aside as new interests and passions enter their lives. For those in Marana who really believe they want to enter law enforcement, there is a Marana Police Explorers, which gives high-school-age students the chance to get a hands-on feel for what it is like to be in law enforcement. 

“What we do is give them the real world, realistic training to make sure this is a career field they really want,” said Marana Police Officer Kevin Litten, who handles community outreach for the department, including all the volunteer programs. “To help give them that education so they don’t have to waste time as they are older if this is something they don’t really want to do.”

The program is open to Marana area teens ages 14 to 20 who have a clean background and a sincere interest in a career in law enforcement. Being able to represent the Marana Police Department is an important part of the selection process.  

“When we select these Explorers, we want a person who is going to be community oriented,” said Litten. “These Explorers represent this department just as much as I do, so we are looking for that right person.”

Litten admits he spends a lot of time with the program. As someone who went through the program, he calls it a “passion,” and tries to get the students out in the community as much as possible. 

“It’s been an amazing experience,” said Explorer Kyra Schraeder. 

They handled both security and traffic detail at the Star Spangled Spectacular, and will help with traffic duty as much as possible. They have been active in getting area children fingerprinted and as of June had fingerprinted over 300 students. 

They get internship credit with Marana and Mountain View High School for being in the Explorers program. They have to complete a form each week and write a short paragraph about what they learned at each weekly meeting. There is also one monthly weekend training experience. 

The program provides the students with hands-on, real-world law enforcement experiences through training taught by police officers and by participating in ride-alongs. Litten tries to provide a variety of different experiences for the Explorers. At the regular meetings, he has had all aspects of the Marana Police Department, as well as other agencies come out, and do different types of demonstrations.  

“They actually get hands on work with our officer and learn to investigate crimes,” said Litten.  There have also been a number of special events Litten has staged. 

 July was a busy month for the group. Late in the month, the Marana Explorers, along with Explorers from several other agencies, went through the first Explorer Night Moves, a patrol simulation, which had Explorers handling simulated calls during a five-hour shift. They worked in teams of two, with an officer on hand to actually drive the vehicle. 

 “These kids learned what it is truly like to be a police officer hands on,” said Litten. “Anything I would do in a day, they were responsible for on that five-hour shift.” 

Earlier in the month, Litten staged an active shooter situation. They got hands-on experience learning how to deal with a tense, dangerous situation.  

“That is a good thing because it gets them ready for competition, it also lets these kids know who are actively interested in law enforcement, what we do from a law enforcement stand point what we do during one of these situations,” said Litten. “These kids are in high school, so if there is an active shooter in a school they know what to do.”

In April, they went to a competition in California. Thanks to a donation by ASARCO and one of their employees, Ron Knight, they were able to take seven Explorers as well as advisors.

 “If it wasn’t for him (Knight) there is no way we would have been able to do this,” Litten explained. 

 They placed in three team and five individual events. The team events were simulations including high-risk traffic stop, domestic violence and tubular assault. Tubular assault is an active shooter scenario on a plane, or in the case of the competition, on a bus. The team was not prepared for tubular assault, but another event was full and they decided to give the simulation a try. The night before, the advisors watched a handful of online training videos and then 20 minutes before the event, they briefed the team. 

“We had less than 20 minutes of practice,” said Schraeder. “We just went into it like our advisors told us to.”  It worked because they took second place. 

 The Explorers were part of Marana’s bid in the All-American City competition and Litten was on hand to help with the presentation. For his efforts, Litten was recently recognized by the Marana-Foothills Optimist Club at a council meeting. 

 The program not only prepares students for careers in law enforcement, it helps the department find quality officers. The department has a number of former Explorers in their ranks and one of Litten’s charges has been hired, with two more likely to join him after they graduate from Grand Canyon. 

 “Why give that up and let you go somewhere else, when we have already trained you on how we do things in Marana?” asked Litten. 

Read the original article here.

No Mo' Mosquitoes

As summer storms continue to enliven Marana’s desert landscape with precious rain, it is critical for those spending time outdoors to take proper precautions against mosquito-borne diseases.  Every year, West Nile Virus presents a potential risk, and this year, in particular, Southern Arizona has seen a rise in reported cases of St. Louis Encephalitis.   These two diseases share similar symptoms, including fever, headache, body aches, and muscle weakness.  In very rare cases, they can cause severe illness involving the brain and nervous system.  These people, typically over 50 years old, experience severe headache, neck stiffness, and/or encephalitis or inflammation of brain, which can lead to paralysis or death.

Despite the risks surrounding these diseases, a few simple safeguards can dramatically reduce the risk of infection. 

• Wear lightweight clothing that covers your arms and legs and use an insect repellent when outdoors when mosquitoes are active.  Always follow the directions on the label.
• Make sure doors and windows have tight fitting screens and remain closed.
• Eliminate mosquito-breeding sites around the home by removing standing water in potted plants, tires, bird baths and other containers where water may collect.
• Ensure that swimming pools and decorative water features are properly maintained.
• Change water in flowerpots, birdbaths and pet watering bowls located outdoors at least twice per week.

If you are concerned that you or a member of your family may be infected, please contact your primary healthcare provider.  For more information, you can visit Pima County’s Fight the Bite campaign page. 

Marana News - Marana pleased with economic progress

Written by Brad Alis, originally published August 7, 2015 in the Marana News. View the original story.

The Town of Marana has prided itself on being a pro-business community, and town officials like to think they have positioned themselves well to survive the economic downturn. While things are not entirely back, Marana has seen economic successes and those trends continue. 

Curt Woody, Marana’s director of economic development and tourism, took time last month to brief the Marana Chamber of Commerce on just how things were going and his message was mostly positive. 

Marana is ahead of where it thought it would be when it comes to new housing. As of June, the town had issued 359 single-family permits....

Road Improvements Update

The Town is working to improve roads and sidewalks across the community. Scheduled upcoming projects include:

Silverbell Road, from Goret to Ina Rd.
Pavement overlay project

Lon Adams
Crews from the water department are repairing sunken areas

Intersections of Sandra/Moore Rd and Sandra/Dove Mountain
Road grading

Camino de Mañana; Tangerine Rd, between I-10 and Thornydale
Debris removal

Dove Mountain/Blue Sage Dr. and Dove Mountain/Dove of Peace
Asphalt crews working on pavement

Kick-off Meeting for the Marana Regional Airport Master Plan and Strategic Business Plan

Town of Marana, Arizona – The much anticipated kick-off meetings for the Marana Regional Airport Master Plan and Strategic Business Plan took place on Monday, August 17, 2015 at the Town of Marana headquarters. The kick-off meetings mark the beginning of the comprehensive study of the airport led by a team of consultants from Armstrong Consultants, Inc., The Genesis Consulting Group, LLC, and Woolpert Engineers. The intent of the Airport Master and Strategic Business Plans is to ensure future airport development is designed to enhance air and ground operations and improve safety and airport services for the Town, as well as the public users of the airport.  An Airport Master Plan describes and depicts the overall concept for the long-term development of an airport and the Business Plan provides a financial and objective-based plan to reach the business goals of the airport and support its development.   

The Master Plan and Business Plan studies include three advisory committees. The Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) will provide guidance and advice on development plans for the future of the airport; the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) consists of members representing various technical interests in and around the airport; the Strategic Business Plan Committee (SBPC) consists of Town of Marana government officials, regional interests, and the business community involved in the development of long-term financial planning for the airport. Their involvement throughout this Airport Master Plan and Strategic Business Plan process will help to keep interested parties informed and foster consensus for future development actions.

The Marana Regional Airport will post all meeting minutes and planning documents as the programs progress on their web-site (www.flymarana.com).  Please follow the progress as we plan the future of the Marana Regional Airport.

Marana News: Council learns more about Marana Airport

Published August 19, 2015 in the Marana News. Written by Brad Allis.

The Marana Town Council conducted a study session last week, and the majority of the meeting focused on Marana Regional Airport. Earlier in the summer, Airport Manager Steve Miller explained that the airport had been awarded grants to update its master plan and develop a business plan for the airport, and Miller went before the council to give them an update on the projects...

View the original story.

Notes from an Internship: Part VI

At one point in life, I could speak proficient German. Since college, unfortunately, that skill has diminished significantly, but one word still sticks in my memory: fingerspitzengefühl. The Germans use it to describe that feeling you get at the tips of your fingers when you anticipate that something major is about to happen. Well, the League of Arizona Cities and Towns Conference is a week away, and my fingerspitzen are gefühling.

Every year, the Town’s management intern (that’s me!) is given the honor of designing the Town’s booth for the showcase of cities and towns. This is what makes or breaks careers. OK, that might be hyperbolic, but you get the picture. The goal is to create an entertaining and memorable experience for conference attendees, who, by the way, are elected officials from across the state, including mayors, state legislators and the governor. No pressure!

After weeks of planning, dozens of phone calls, and hours of pouring pasta into cellophane (long story), I think we’re ready to go. Our theme this year is “Growing Marana,” and we’ll be highlighting many of the successful agricultural and industrial enterprises in our community. We have White Sonoran Wheat from BKW Farms, cans of Coke with “Marana” on the side, and even beer made from wheat grown in Marana.

But with such great prizes, won’t everyone realize that our swag is the highlight of the event and rush to scoop it all up? Good question. Did I mention that I used to be a teacher? I’m a pro at writing multiple-choice tests, so I thought it would be fun to create a quiz of Marana history, culture, and current events. And thus was born The Marana Trivia Challenge.

The task of creating this booth has fallen on my shoulders, but when I look back on this experience after it’s over, my first thought won’t be of a fun iPad app or a bag of pasta. Rather, what will stick with me is the tremendous support I’ve received from across our organization. When I broached the idea of making an iPad-based quiz game with tech services, they were happy to help. When I needed to make 200 bags out of cellophane and ribbon and fill them with pasta, my coworkers in the manager’s office were happy to fill in the assembly line. And when I cold-called BKW Farms and asked for 1,000 bags of White Sonoran Wheat, they didn’t hesitate to make that donation.

Teamwork is one of our core values, and with this project, every giveaway we’ll have at the booth represents that principle. I’m deeply grateful for the support I’ve received from across our community. I’ve still got that fingerspitzengefühl for next week, but it’s nice to know that I’m not in it alone.

Chris Saunders is a Marvin Andrews Scholar who is interning with the Town this summer. He is writing weekly entries for Marana 365 through the end of August.

Town will distribute sandbags during emergencies

In the event of a flooding emergency, the Town of Marana will distribute sandbags to Marana residents and businesses. Residents can be notified of flooding emergencies through MaranaAZ.gov, facebook, twitter, and the appropriate emergency communication channels. 

Notes from an Internship: Part V

It’s everyone’s favorite quadrennial pastime: election season! Seriously, we’re more than a year away from the 2016 Presidential Election, but practically every major news outlet is following these candidates as if it were tomorrow. This year, as in many others, I’ve been hearing a recurring theme: every candidate is an outsider. I remain skeptical as to whether most of these candidates have actually managed to maintain that perspective, but nevertheless, there is substance behind why they’re saying it.

Leaders in government should understand the challenges faced by their constituents, and that’s no less true for presidents as it is for Town of Marana staff. This week, I’ve spent some time learning more about those perspectives and discovering how to solicit them more frequently.

Two weeks ago, I mentioned that I’m working to create a mentorship program for Marana business owners to share their expertise with other local entrepreneurs. This week, I’ve had several meetings with many of them to ask: How should we set up this program? Rather than designing a program and asking people to sign up, we want to make sure that whatever we implement is user-friendly and meets a clear need.

When I started sketching how this would look, I imagined the Town acting as middle man between the mentors and protégés, but the people I spoke with pointed out that our office might become a bottleneck, preventing a seamless connection between the two sides. Perhaps, they suggested, it makes more sense to allow information to flow directly from requester to mentor, with the Town acting as an overseer to ensure smooth operation and troubleshoot issues as they arise. We’re not yet ready to roll out this initiative, but hearing the feedback of potential users will surely better inform the final result.

Seeking citizen feedback on one specific program is great, but it is a far cry from acquiring a broad understanding of community needs. In the past, Marana has mailed out lengthy (and costly) citizen surveys to take the pulse of the Town. It’s great to have that information, but inevitably, such a large project can only happen occasionally, meaning the Town is not receiving the timely feedback it needs.

An on-going web survey, on the other hand, has the potential to provide a constant barometer of public opinion. What could be the downside of that? Well, not everyone fills out web surveys. If we rely on those responses alone, we’ll leave many groups in our community voiceless. Clearly there must be a balance between frequent responses and more in-depth, Town-wide feedback. In many ways, it’s a trade-off between quantity and quality, and I hope by engaging in this process we can derive valuable information from both ends of the spectrum.

In my first public policy class in college, almost 10 years ago, we read a case study about a government initiative in London. The city faced a problem with traffic, and wanted to resolve it by creating variable rate tolls that would change based on the severity of congestion. During the proposal and early implementation stages, the public hated the idea. After all, no one wants to pay extra money just to drive to work. A year later, though, public sentiment had entirely shifted. As drivers encountered fewer traffic jams and experienced much shorter commutes, they began to appreciate the now obvious benefits of the program. The lesson? Sometimes, public opinion doesn’t know best. Government employees have, after all, studied government extensively, and usually know how it works. Public opinion is simultaneously both critically important and potentially deceiving, and I’m glad for the chance now to feel my way through this process.

Chris Saunders is a Marvin Andrews Scholar who is interning with the Town this summer. He is writing weekly entries for Marana 365 through the end of August.

MPD aims for safe start to school year

The Marana Police Department reminds motorists that school begins this Monday. The department will have motorcycle and other patrol officers monitoring school zones and enforcing traffic violations. The zones include Marana High School, Marana Middle School, the elementary schools in the Continental Ranch area and Hendricks Elementary. Officers will be assigned to the school zones both in the morning and afternoon.

With the increase in traffic, it's important to pay attention to school zones, crosswalks and school bus stops.

The Town encourages motorists to pay attention to:

• School zones and occupied crosswalks when signs are present;
• Stop for school buses when lights and signs are displayed;
• Speed limits, especially in school zones.

The goal is to make sure everyone has a safe 2015-2016 school year.

Marana officer earns Optimist Club award

For Town of Marana Police Officer Kevin Litten, service to his community, especially youth, does not end with his on-duty work shifts.  His passion and leadership for the Marana Police Explorer Program will be recognized by the Marana-Foothills Optimist Club during the Town Council meeting on Aug. 4.

The Marana-Foothills Optimist Club will honor Officer Litten by presenting him with its first “Bringing Out the Best in Kids” award. Marana Mayor Ed Honea, a member of the Marana-Foothills Optimist Club, will present the award. The Optimist club plans to continue choosing a recipient in future years, President Wally Smith said.

The recognition focuses on Officer Litten’s outstanding work with young people in the Marana area and for his leadership and mentoring of members of the Marana Police Explorer Program as the group's advisor.

Officer Litten describes the Explorer program as a hands-on, real-world law enforcement experiences through training taught by police officers and by participating in ride-alongs with the officers, other training opportunities, and competitions with other police Explorer programs. The Explorers often assist the police and community by volunteering at community events.

The program helps develop self-discipline, self-confidence, self-respect, leadership skills, teamwork and the desire to help others.

Explorers can range in age from 14 to 20 and must be enrolled in high school or home schooled and maintain a 2.0 grade point average. They can have no arrest or convictions that would prohibit later employment as a police officer. Like police officers they must be in good physical health and able to participate in physical activities. They attend weekly meetings and one weekend training a month.

Notes from an Internship: Part IV

A few months ago, I read a book that dealt with the tension between evidence-based decision making and the subjectivity inherent to human judgment. Throughout it, the author illustrates the sharp contrast between the widely felt pressure to let data and statistics drive action and the moral imperative to view people as nuanced individuals who cannot be described by a set of numbers.

What struck me most about the book, though, was that it wasn’t written by an admired leader of the Information Age. It was penned more than 150 years ago by Charles Dickens, and titled, appropriately, Hard Times. It would appear that times haven’t gotten any easier, and that delicate balance between facts and intuition is no easier to find. This week, I attended the Arizona City/County Management Association’s summer conference in Marana, and, surprisingly, found myself again thinking about Dickens, statistics and what the Victorians called “the Human Condition.”

Thursday afternoon, I settled in for a session on everyone’s favorite buzzphrase, big data. As I learned of creative ways to share analytics about water use and methods for implementing a performance management system, I started thinking about how best to employ concrete measures, and how their usage will affect behaviors. Metrics exert a powerful influence on how people act, since if we know we’ll be evaluated with certain parameters, very quickly we’ll gravitate toward maximizing our performance in those areas, often to the exclusion of other activities.

Sometimes, using a few measurements can be incredibly effective, especially in highly technical fields where outcomes are discrete and highly evident. At the Town of Marana, though, in rotating through every department, I haven’t met a single person whose job could be quantified by a rigid set of metrics. How can you objectively capture whether someone works collaboratively? What statistic accurately reflects employees’ respect for each other? The most effective users of our wealth of information recognize its limitations, and strive to reconcile the facts we know with the impressions we believe.

Great thoughts for a philosophy class, but what does all this have to do with my intern responsibilities? I’m glad you asked! Since my first week with the Town, I’ve been working on a project to connect local business owners with mentors who can provide guidance in their areas of expertise. I could conduct a literature review to learn the different ways these programs work elsewhere, and design a program reflecting that data.

While that information should certainly factor into what we set up, I also need to consider the local context. The relationships in Marana will figure tremendously into the success of this initiative, but I can’t plug them into a spreadsheet. Big data doesn’t convey trust, kindness or generosity, all critical ingredients in this project. Effective decision making relies on analytics and intuition, and learning that balance will come only with experience.

This internship is helping me accrue those experiences, in a sense providing me with bigger data, and therefore preparing me to navigate these issues in the future.

Chris Saunders is a Marvin Andrews Scholar who is interning with the Town this summer. He is writing weekly entries for Marana 365 through the end of August.

Citizens Police Academy sign-ups under way

The Marana Police Department is accepting applications for its Citizens Police Academy. The program runs Sept. 2 through Nov. 18 and offers Marana residents the opportunity to gain hands-on experience as they get an overview of the duties performed by police officers.

Classes are held Wednesday nights from 6:30-9:30 and registration is free.

More information can be found in the police section of the website.