Lori Hunt, Prescott Valley Town Council member and Vice Mayor, is running for reelection. She wants to keep working for Prescott Valley. In an interview with Alianza Spanish News she said that her experience, commitment and engagement make her a good candidate. The Primary Elections will be held on July 30^th.

A: Why have you chosen to get involved in local government?

LH: Thank you. My background is in urban regional planning studies and economics. I retired as a city manager and community development director. Never did I think that I would get involved with local government again, but it’s so important to me to be a servant of the community. 

A: How much time do you think you spend on your different actions?

LH: It varies between 15 and 20 hours a week between emails, phone calls, agenda prep and meetings, but I love every minute of it.

A: What generally can local government do for residents and what are some of the things beyond the reach of local government?

LH: We got a lot of questions about Highway 69 and potholes, striping and all of that. We don’t have any control locally over Hwy 69 because it’s a state highway.

Basically, we just want to have a safe, healthy and clean community. We want to make sure that when somebody calls 911 the police respond. We want to continue to make public improvements to the roads, public works, trails and interconnectivity, sidewalks, and open space, we want to make sure when you turn on the water that the water comes out and that when you flush the toilet, well, you know what happens. 

A: What is your opinion on three current issues that local government can address.

LH: So my first one is safety. We are the third safest jurisdiction in Arizona and the other two are quite small. When I get appointed in 2019,  we were the 11th safest city and now in 2024 we are the third safest city. It is important. I volunteer a lot with Matt Force,  which is our drug coalition here.  We have to keep the streets safe from  drugs and so safety is  really  important to me.

We are funded at 1.74 officers per thousand and the national average is 1,0 per thousand. We are almost twice the national average in the number of officers.

We want to make sure that we’re a healthy community, The council has championed parks, trails and crosswalks. Our capital improvement plan includes ongoing funding in the amount of $500,000 a year for shared use paths. That means trail connectivity with other jurisdictions and over $100,000 a year to pay for crosswalks. Previously this town didn’t have any crosswalks. Now, we’re also working on 25. We’re also working on a 24 mile loop where you can start at Granville. go to Stoneridge, on to Quailwood and go back to Granville.

My final thing, of course, is water conservation and recycling, Arizona has always been a state that has been water conscious with it’s limited amounts. We are always looking for more water. Our council has taken some unique steps. We have a   water smart portal now where people can go and  see if they have leaks so   then we can remediate   that right  away.

A: Tell us about the Home Rule?

LH: It’s Proposition number 474, and I’m voting yes because it’s so important to our community. You know, the state back in 1980 decided to allow the public to vote on the amount their jurisdiction could spend. I don’t have a problem with that, but can you go back     to 1979 and live on that budget? Our budget for 2425 is $151 million. If home rule does not pass, we go back to $61 million for two years until we can get it passed. And so it’s important that we don’t have a 60% cut in our budget for two years, which could be locking the library or not mowing grass at parks. Maybe even laying off police officers. So yes, voting is very important, and it doesn’t cost you anything to vote yes. For the last 11 times the Prescott Valley residents were asked and they voted yes every time.

A: What has been your most difficult decision on the council? What were the emotional/moral/political factors tugging you two directions at the same time?

LH:  So my most difficult decision was very recently when the YMCA came before the Town Council. I ended up voting no on that project and you know how much I love kids. It was a really hard decision. My concern was fiscal because we are having to commit $2,000,000 a year for the YMCA to be built. I was disappointed that in Phase One we’re funding it and it didn’t have a pool, A lot of people asked for the indoor pool.

A: OK. Could you tell us kind of in the same line of explaining yourself other decisions that were difficult for you?

LH: Every time we survey our residents, the need for medical comes up. We need to help our partners because we don’t have immediate control over it. Our partners being YRMC Dignity to create more medical services. They purchased 30 acres next to the existing hospital in Prescott Valley and they are going to build all kinds of medical specialties: oncology and physical therapy for example. Yavapai College is building a 38,000 square foot medical facility in Prescott Valley where they’re going to have dentistry, dental hygiene, phlebotomy and a laboratory.

Number two would be attainable housing. We can’t control interest rates; we can’t control the price of land or the price of materials. And so, we have to find other ways to help create attainable housing and we’re working on that right now. We’re looking at down payment assistance. You’re going to see a lot about attainable housing coming up and I am a supporter of that. I was the Council representative on the committee, the task force that wrote the Attainable Housing report that was released last May, and it had 36 action items in it. We’re already starting to implement them,

A: Give us your sales pitch for voting for Lori Hunt?

LH:  I’m so excited about the future of Prescott Valley, Your council is working on attainable housing. We can’t control interest rates or the price of land or property, but we are working in other ways to provide attainable housing.  We are working very hard to make sure that roads are improved, so keep a lookout for the improvements coming your way in Prescott Valley. You can reach out to me anytime. My slogan is: experience, commitment and engagement.