Douglas, AZ Mayoral Election: candidates & overview of recent events

Listen to the podcast version of this here

Douglas is currently gearing up for a primary election on March 10 which will be all by mail and a general election on May 15. The incumbent mayor, Robert Uribe, is running against 3 candidates: Donald Huish, Roberto Moreno, and David Studer.

City Council candidates are also running for seats in Wards 1, 3, and 5

Here are some highlights from the recent article about the candidates in the Douglas Dispatch and a summary of recent events in Douglas.

You may be asking yourself who I am and why I am doing this…

I no longer vote or live in Douglas city limits, but I grew up there and I still care about it, so I put this information together hoping it might shed some light on the situation or at least guide people to helpful information. So…

First, let’s get acquainted with the candidates.

Uribe

Robert Uribe is the current mayor of Douglas running for reelection. Uribe worked as a youth educator in Manhattan before moving to Arizona in 2005 and marrying Douglas native Janea Sanchez in 2010. He and his family moved to Douglas in 2012.

Before becoming mayor, Uribe and Sanchez were local business owners of Galiano’s Café. The establishment was popular in Douglas and stayed open for 4 years, closing in 2016 after Uribe was elected.

Uribe has coined the campaign slogan “Let’s Keep up the Momentum,” by which he means the impetus for several ongoing projects, including the Commercial Port, revitalization of downtown, and extending the wastewater management plant.

According to his responses to questions in the Douglas Dispatch, Uribe is focused on these projects along with jobs, education, and fixing Douglas streets. He also talked about renovating Douglas Municipal Airport and plans for a community center. He did say as well that he would like to hear from the community about which projects residents feel should be prioritized.

You can find a link to the Dispatch article with responses from all the candidates below along with a list of all my resources and additional helpful information.

Uribe said he declined his invitation to the debate in December due to a lack of diverse groups supporting the event and said he would attend the next debate if it involves groups with more diverse backgrounds.

Huish

Donald Huish currently serves on the city council representing Ward 3 and is challenging the mayor for his seat in this election. Huish has an extensive background as a lifelong public servant. He was born and raised in Douglas and earned a degree in public administration from U of A, going on to earn a master’s from NAU. He worked as a budget analyst for the City of Prescott during his time at NAU. Then he came back to Douglas and became the Community Development Director for the city. He then worked as a business manager for the local school district.

In the Dispatch interview, Huish indicated that he is interested in strengthening and utilizing existing assets in Douglas, including Cochise College. He emphasized the need for a hospital in Douglas, attracting new investors, and improving government transparency with regular Town Halls. He also underscored the importance of including an agricultural designation at the port of entry. He is especially adamant, though, about community involvement in a variety of areas. He said he would propose creating special project committees to assist with things like beautification, street improvements, community activities, and events.

When asked about capital improvements, Huish heavily emphasized projects aimed at economic growth, including street improvements, water system upgrades, wastewater treatment plant expansion, improved high-speed-internet, enhancements to parks and cemeteries, and better recreation programs for all ages.

Moreno

Roberto Moreno’s family owns and operates a local trucking company out of Douglas. He grew up there and returned to raise his family in Douglas for the past 17 years. In the Dispatch interview, Moreno said he would aim its focus on transparency and accountability by implementing open-door policies. He also said his background in business and proven ability to attract outside investors can offer a unique perspective on the local economy and international trade.

Moreno stated he would seek involvement from local business owners and entrepreneurs in future decisions and establish services to educate and assist with expansion into new markets through the use of the internet.

Moreno emphasized the need for employment, more youth programs, and improved interaction between the community and local government. He underscored the importance of consuming locally and said he would use natural resources to attract companies in renewable energy and refocus vital ranching and agriculture industries. Moreno expressed the need for improving streets in Douglas and explained how the inadequate streets have a negative contribution to the economy. He also said he’d encourage youth programs by dedicating public spaces to art, music, theater, youth clubs, sports leagues, and associations.

Studer

For the most part, Studer gave short, straight, and to the point responses to the Dispatch. He owns and operates B&D Lumber, a local business that has been around for a long time. He took it over in 2001 after retiring, telling the paper he has worked in the family business for 26 years. Studer started out working his way up, as an underground miner in WY and NM, as a worker for the Lime plant, as a welder for the Silver City police department, and finally as journeyman boilermaker and as a shop coordinator.

Studer stated that his goals include ensuring financial stability for the city, improving government transparency, and increasing interaction between the city and the community so that the citizenry may be better informed of local government decisions. He said he would focus capital improvements on repairing streets in Douglas and expressed skepticism about the commercial port, telling the Dispatch that he expects the project to stagnate until the city can secure Congressional support

Studer expressed the need to promote jobs and business and stressed the importance of ensuring city employees have proper training and equipment as well as having a city manager that can understand this border community’s daily challenges…

A bit more about Douglas…

Douglas has a population of about 16 thousand and sits nestled in the Southeastern corner of Arizona. Its main attraction is its history, including the picturesque historic haunted Hotel Gadsden, where Pancho Villa allegedly rode up the lobby staircase with his horse and left a chip in one stair.

Douglas is sprinkled with similar fun bits of history, but its defining characteristic would have to be its location on the border of Mexico, next to the city of Agua Prieta, Sonora. AP has a population nearly 5 times the size of Douglas and the community has always been pretty strongly interconnected with its neighbor to the south when it comes to commerce, trade, jobs, etcetera.

A bit more about the current situation there…

Uribe won the mayoral election in 2016 by 24 votes, becoming the city’s first Afro-Latino mayor and the youngest mayor ever to serve Douglas. On August 2, Uribe announced that he would be seeking reelection. During his time in office, Uribe has remained steadfast when it comes to securing funding for the commercial port of entry project, taking the opportunity to meet and speak with both state and national leaders. He has also introduced other projects including a new trash system, new playground equipment, and downtown revitalization efforts, as well as a pretty unpopular tax increase.

So, Mr. Uribe is the first mayor in 16 years to run for reelection in Douglas. But he is also doing so after going through a recall effort launched back in January of 2019. The recall was over a violation of the city charter related to procedures for putting an item on the agenda, as well as allegations by recall organizers of sowing mistrust and divisiveness.

About a year ago, at a city council meeting on February 13 of 2019, Douglas residents criticized the mayor and called for his resignation, citing poor treatment of city workers, lack of transparency, financial instability, and questionable social media interactions.

In April of 2019, the wife of mayor Uribe, Jenea Sanchez filed a legal challenge against the recall petition. And by May, Cochise County Superior Court Judge David Thorn blocked the petition from moving forward because the page with the serial number was not stapled to each circulated petition, so it failed to meet any legal definition of the word “attach,” which is apparently not defined in the statutes.

So, the recall against Mayor Uribe did not go to a vote because of a legal technicality.

About the city manager stuff… briefly

The thing that ultimately seemed to trigger the recall effort was the city’s nonrenewal of city manager Jim Russell’s contract. City managers do serve at the pleasure of the council and can be removed by a simple majority, but there is some public suspicion that the action was retaliatory in connection with a Title 7 complaint of a hostile work environment filed by the city clerk against city manager Russell.

According to a statement issued by Russell and information gathered from social media posts and local news, the allegation was that the city clerk, city attorney, and mayor declined to put Russell’s contract on the agenda after repeated requests and even though all necessary procedures were followed.

In Uribe’s statement regarding the issue, he said the decision was made by the majority of the council to allow Russell’s contract to conclude. He went on to say that the Title 7 complaint was not related to the decision, and that, in his opinion, the city manager’s contract wasn’t renewed because “he did not meet performance expectations.”

Since then, the city brought in an interim city manager who does not live in city limits and has since hired her full-time. The city clerk who initially filed the Title 7 complaint has retired.

Other than that…

I will leave links to as much information as I can reasonably fit below, and I will organize it so that you can find what you’re looking for if you need it. I also wrote a blog post that goes into more detail about the city manager controversy and the recall effort.

City Council candidates are also running for seats in Wards 1, 3, and 5

Incumbent City Council member Margaret Morales’s Ward 1 challenger is Mario Ramos and incumbent Ceasar Soto’s Ward 5 challenger is Michael Baldenegro. Voters in Ward 3 will choose between Ben La Forge and Danya Acosta to fill the seat currently occupied by Huish.

I will be sending out emails to each of the city council candidates with questions similar to the ones in the Dispatch and once I hear back from them, I will put their answers in a blog post and a future podcast.

Links to info referenced:

1.) Douglas Dispatch article: mayoral candidates respond to questions (Bruce Whetten)
https://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/election-mayoral-candidates-prepare-for-upcoming-election/article_6c16974c-51b1-11ea-a771-67e48a34f20b.html

2.) Full debate at Douglas YMCA, supported by Douglas Conservatives Club, Step Up with Douglas, and Just Change (Voice of Douglas):
https://www.facebook.com/voiceofdouglas/videos/619714745439620/

3.) Douglas Dispatch Article about the debate (Bruce Whetten):
https://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/tough-questions-asked-at-debate/article_a09de31e-28c9-11ea-b0ad-f737310b7f7e.html

4.) Mayoral election results 2016:
https://www.cochise.az.gov/sites/default/files/elections_special_districts/DouglasUpdate.pdf

5.) Mayor Uribe’s reelection bid announcement:
https://www.facebook.com/robertyurib/posts/2567963486601167

6.) Douglas Dispatch article about the recall effort when it was launched in January of last year (Whetten):
https://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/recall-effort-underway/article_bc776228-1f2d-11e9-9cc9-2b60f605669d.html

7.) Video of City Council meeting from February 13, 2019:
https://youtu.be/4iIUlqqabzA

8.) Statement from former City Manager Jim Russell regarding his removal:
https://www.douglasdispatch.com/russell-s-statement/pdf_681f6086-5fa6-11e9-9a83-ebf8c1bcc7ec.html

9.) Mayor Uribe’s statement regarding City Manager Russell’s removal:
https://www.douglasdispatch.com/opinion/editorials/mayor-issues-statement-regarding-russell-s-departure/article_94473718-2a4c-11e9-b3cb-3fec14b9640d.html

10.) Douglas Dispatch article about the city hiring an interim city manager (Talya Ervin):
https://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/council-hires-interim-city-manager/article_ddb46b08-24a4-11e9-824a-4b732ae26536.html

11.) Douglas Dispatch article about the interim city manager being hired full-time (and council passing the tax increase) (Whetten):
https://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/watson-hired-as-city-manager-council-passes-tax-increase/article_df6469fe-b32d-11e9-8b98-efce845a5b8b.html

Links to candidate info and other useful stuff:

Uribe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertyuribe/
Studer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.studer.9461
Huish Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huish2020/
Moreno Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobertoMorenoforMayor2020/

Douglas Dispatch article: “Important voter information for upcoming city election (Amanda Baillie):
https://www.douglasdispatch.com/news/important-voter-information-for-upcoming-city-election/article_5e753920-51a9-11ea-9117-9789a8700ef6.html