Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star 2008

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You couldn't go a day last year — and you still can't — without hearing about the ever-worsening economy. The effects of that turmoil hit home, but there was more than bad news locally.

The long-awaited Oro Valley Marketplace opened, and no doubt even people who'd protested its main tenant, a Wal-Mart Supercenter, welcomed its arrival.

Over in Marana, the new Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain, is coming right along, just in time to host this spring's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

There were some personnel shakeups, too, in Marana government and in Pinal County. And the Joint Technological Education District, which aims to give students marketable skills, saw its first graduates.

Read on for more details of these stories and other major Northwest Side news.

>> MARANA

Turmoil at the top

In Marana, the town lost its magistrate, police chief, assistant police chief and town manager in the span of a few months.

In early 2008 the Marana Police Officers Association called for the resignations of Police Chief Richard Vidaurri and Assistant Police Chief Barbara Harris because of what the officers said was poor management.

Vidaurri announced his retirement in April, though he said the retirement was not related to the officers' criticism. Terry Tometich was appointed interim chief and was confirmed as a permanent replacement in September.

Harris went on paid administrative leave in March and was eventually fired June 20. She continued fighting for her old job and was reinstated last month.

The Marana Police Officers Association remains opposed to her leadership and has filed complaints with County Attorney Barbara LaWall and Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard objecting to the secrecy of the hearing that determined Harris should get her job back. That case is ongoing.

Town magistrate Jim West was fired in April just three weeks after being reappointed to a new term. West allegedly engaged in retaliatory conduct against an employee he suspected of cooperating in an ethics investigation that resulted in his being reprimanded in February. He was replaced by Chuck Davies, former Tucson chief public defender. Davies began his new job in September, taking a $30,000 pay cut — to $100,000 a year — in the process.

Topping off the exodus, Town Manager Mike Reuwsaat served his last day with the town in July. The previous month, four council members — Vice Mayor Herb Kai and first-term members Russell Clanagan, Jon Post and Roxanne Ziegler — had requested a future agenda item to discuss removing Reuwsaat from his job. Instead, Reuwsaat negotiated a separation agreement with the town. Last month, the YMCA of Southern Arizona named Reuwsaat executive director of the Northwest YMCA.

Budget gets tighter

The Marana Town Council approved a budget for this fiscal year that at the time was considered conservative in the face of a sagging economy. That budget projected 425 new residences would be built this fiscal year, which began July 1 — averaging about 35 homes a month.

Through the end of November, 136 permits had been pulled, an average of about 27 per month. But October and November saw more drastic declines. Just seven permits were pulled in October, and five in November.

On the commercial side, the development group behind the Barrios de Marana town core project filed for bankruptcy at the end of November.

To counter the downturn, Town Manager Gilbert Davidson asked town departments to make spending cuts that would average 15 percent for the town as a whole. Council members tout the council's work on a strategic plan they say will set a roadmap for town development.

The town is heralding the impending opening of the Dove Mountain Ritz-Carlton's golf club, which will host this year's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in February.

Flood plain issue solved

Maranans began 2008 in the shadow of an impending Federal Emergency Management Agency designation that said much of the town — 10 square miles encompassing about 2,000 existing structures and 10,000 lots — was in a "Special Flood Hazard Area."

It effectively meant hundreds of property owners each would have had to purchase thousands of dollars' worth of extra flood insurance.

By the beginning of 2008, the agency had agreed to give the town time to conduct a drainage study to prove the designated areas were not a high flood risk. Town officials credit District 8 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords with intervening on the town's behalf.

The seven-month study was finished in August and had pared the high-risk area to 250 existing structures and 600 currently-platted lots. FEMA was to complete a review of the study by Oct. 1.

The review is ongoing, said town spokesman Rodney Campbell.

>> ORO VALLEY

A new place to shop

Dick's Sporting Goods was the first store to open at the Oro Valley Marketplace Oct. 17. Other businesses soon followed.

The shopping center still is a sore point for some residents who wanted an upscale store, not the Wal-Mart Supercenter that was built there, as an anchor. Wal-Mart opened Oct. 29; employees that day gave $17,500 in grants to area nonprofit groups.

The shopping center is at the corner of North Oracle and East Tangerine roads. Voters in 2006 approved an economic development agreement between the town and Vestar Development Co. Under the agreement, which irked plenty of residents, the Phoenix developer will receive 45 percent of retail sales-tax revenue collected, up to a maximum of 10 years or $23.2 million.

Naranja Town Site project fizzles

The much-discussed 213-acre park development known for years as the Naranja Town Site was put to a vote and failed to pass Nov. 4.

Passing the $48.6 million bond issue to pay for the project would have meant a secondary tax for residents. That voters rejected it is not a surprise, considering that Oro Valley was founded in 1974 on a premise that the town would levy no property taxes.

The election showed 58 percent of the votes, or 10,669, were against the measure. Forty-two percent of the votes, or 7,584, were in favor.

Town eyes state land

Oro Valley initiated a general plan amendment process to accommodate Arroyo Grande, a massive proposed development on state land that the town is working to annex.

Residents from Oro Valley and surrounding communities aired various concerns about how the area's development would affect water, wildlife corridors and infrastructure.

The town later revised its annexation plan of the 14-square mile area, with one of the most notable changes being the preservation of wildlife linkages between the Santa Catalina Mountains and the Tortolita Mountains.

>> SCHOOLS

A new superintendent

Marana Unified School District's Governing Board selected a new superintendent at a meeting in June after Dennis Dearden announced his resignation in April due to personal reasons.

New superintendent Doug Wilson, pictured at far left, who has more than 25 years of experience in public education, joined the district July 1.

Wilson, whose base salary is $125,000, oversees a district with more than 13,000 students, 1,900 employees and 17 schools.

He had previously worked as assistant superintendent of human resources for the Pueblo City Schools district in Pueblo, Colo.

Fifteen people applied for the position and three finalists were selected. One finalist withdrew before interviews with the district's governing board.

The other finalist for the position was Patti Lopez, who had resigned as a deputy superintendent of Tucson Unified School District while seeking the Marana job.

Board members ousted

Three Oracle Elementary School District governing board members lost their seats in a recall election.

Susan Beaman, Boyd Bosma and Jack Walden were replaced by Alicia Bristow, Dave Bowersock and Kurt Steffens in a special election, held May 20.

Residents of Oracle, SaddleBrooke and Eagle Crest Ranch formed the Committee for a Community Responsive School Board in September 2007 to remove the three board members, they believed were ineffectual

JTED's first graduates

Thirty-seven students from Amphitheater, Flowing Wells and Marana school districts earned caregiver certification in May after completing a program through the Joint Technological Education District.

A graduation ceremony was held in May for the 37 students.

Tuition and supplies for the program cost about $1,100 per student and were paid through JTED, which is its own school district in Pima County offering career- and technical-education courses.

Students received 24 weeks of caregiver and nursing-assistant instruction on the Mountain View High School campus.

Clinical training also was a requirement and students spent eight Saturdays caring for residents at assisted-living centers and other health-care facilities.

Because they received their caregiver certification, students also were eligible to take the Arizona State Board of Nursing's certified- nursing- assistant test.

Pima County

Fire districts merge

Three Northwest Side fire districts — La Cañada, Heritage Hills and North Ranch/Linda Vista — made good on plans to merge in 2008.

The new Mountain Vista Fire Department was formed to keep taxes low for residents. The Phoenix-based Arizona Tax Research Association opposed the merger, saying the move was an abuse of the system.

Pinal County

County on EPA radar

Despite Pinal County's attempts to head off federal oversight of its particulate pollution by hosting a Nov. 7 air quality summit, the Environmental Protection Agency announced — at the summit — that it was planning to designate Pinal County as a federally listed area for dust pollution.

"In one morning, this went from a theoretical 'someday' problem to today, here and now in this room everyone has a role in creating the solutions," county spokeswoman Heather Murphy said at the time.

The next step is for the EPA to notify the governor of its intentions, but Colleen McKaughan, an associate director for the EPA in our region, said that hasn't happened yet.

"We still have to brief our headquarters and make sure they're on board with what we're doing before we notify the governor. So we haven't started the official process yet," she said.

Once notified, the governor will have 120 days to submit a plan for how the state and county will work together to mitigate the problem.

Supervisor retires

District 2 Supervisor Sandie Smith, the first woman elected to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors and the second woman ever to serve — retired after 16 years on the job.

That opened the door for a hotly contested race that resulted in the seating of the board's first elected Republican, Bryan Martyn.

Scandal plagues sheriff

Democratic sheriff Chris Vazquez lost his bid for re-election in November after a scandal last spring revealed he had been plagiarizing quotes in his monthly newsletter.

He was replaced by Republican Paul Babeu, who was sworn in Jan. 1, becoming the county's first Republican sheriff, said Vanessa White, a spokeswoman for the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

Soon after the election, Babeu announced that seven at-will employees would be asked to resign and reapply for their jobs once he took office.