Quarter Mania Auction
Friday Night at Buckeye Recreation Center

The Town of Buckeye Community Services Department is hosting a Quarter Auction on Friday at the Dr. Robert A. Saide Recreation Center, 1003 E. Eason Ave.  Doors open at 5 p.m. and the auction starts at 6 p.m.

More than 100 items up for bid in the auction will be displayed and come from great vendors like Mary Kay, Celebrating Home, Avon, Creative Memories, Arbonne International, Scentsy, Gift Baskets with Flair and The Natural Way.

You must bring your own quarters to the event.  Quarter Craze offers an evening of entertainment and fun.  Refreshments will be served.

For more information or to RSVP please e-mail csedig@buckeyeaz.gov or call 623-349-6302.  Those who RSVP before the event will receive a free ticket for a special door prize drawing.

Voters to Decide on Extension of Home Rule
(Alternative Expenditure Limitation)

Voters will decide in the March 13 election whether Buckeye should continue the Home Rule option of setting its budget, allowing the town to control local spending rather than using a state-mandated formula.

Buckeye voters have approved the Home Rule option seven times since 1982.

Town Finance Director Larry Price said that like most municipalities in the Valley, Buckeye has grown significantly since 1980 when the base expenditure limitation for Arizona’s cities and towns was last adopted.

As the town’s population has grown, so too has its revenues and the cost of providing services to the town’s residents. The Town’s incorporated area in Fiscal Year 1979-1980 was 1.87 square miles. Today’s incorporated area is more than 378 square miles.

Price said that passage of the Home Rule option does not raise taxes. If Home Rule passes, Buckeye will continue to control its budgeting process through its public hearings and allow the council and residents to control Buckeye’s financial destiny.

The mayor and town council, after receiving input from residents, will have the ability to spend already available funds for Buckeye’s various services such as police, fire, parks and recreation, libraries, community action programs, senior center, solid waste, street maintenance, building safety, airport, a sewer system, and water supply -- services that are deemed important by the local community.

If the measure fails, Buckeye's spending limit would be dictated by a formula based on 1979-80 spending levels adjusted for population growth and inflation. That would force the town to cut $81 million in services and programs from its $174 million Fiscal Year 2011-2012 budget, which might have a devastating impact on the services provided to Buckeye’s residents, Price added.


 Mayor’s race highlights March 13 primary election;
Voter registration deadline Feb. 13

Incumbent Town of Buckeye Mayor Jackie Meck will be challenged in his bid for a second four-year term in the town’s primary election March 13.

Thomas Campanella, Jr., 21755 W. Mohave St., will face off with Meck in the at-large election, with all registered voters in the Town casting votes for their choice for mayor for the next four years.

This will be an all-mail election. Voters have until Feb. 13 to register to receive a ballot in the mail.

There are no challengers for the three residents seeking election to the District 1, 2 and 3 seats on the Town Council. Brian McAchran, who has served as the District 1 representative for the past four years, is the only candidate on that ballot.

Appointed vice mayor by the Council in June 2010, McAchran currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) and is a certified GPEC Ambassador. He also serves as a board member for the Southwest Lending Closet, a member of the Way out West Coalition, is the Council Liaison for the Buckeye Airport Advisory Board, and is a member of the Southwest Valley Business/Education Advisory Council.

Robert Garza, who has represented District 2 on the council since 2004, is the only candidate for that seat on the council. He is a fifth-generation Buckeye native and a 1988 graduate of Buckeye Union High School.

Garza attended Glendale Community College and is employed as a firefighter/paramedic with the Buckeye Valley Fire District.

Michelle Hess, a resident in the Westpark neighborhood for the past five years, is the lone candidate on the ballot to represent District 3 on the council. She would replace the late Elaine May.

Hess worked for five years as Payroll Technician and Human Resources for Diversified Human Resources and Synergy Resources. She has also served for seven years in church ministries in Surprise, Phoenix and Buckeye. Hess has also been involved in many community volunteer projects.

Meck was elected to a four-year term as Buckeye mayor in May 2008. A Buckeye native, Meck has served previously as town mayor from 1973 to 1975 and as a member of the town council from 1968 to 1975 and from 2002 to 2006.

Meck is the retired general manager of the Buckeye Water Conservation and Drainage District. He currently serves on the board of directors for Maricopa Association of Government (MAG), on the Maricopa Association of Government (MAG) Transportation Policy Committee and is on the board of trustees for West Valley Hospital.

Meck has also served on the board of directors of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, WESTMARC, the Valley Metro RPTA, is a past president of the Buckeye Valley Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Gila River’s El Rio Restoration Project Executive Committee.

Campanella, who has lived in Buckeye for the past five years, is Community Manager for Associated Asset Management, which includes the Sundance neighborhood in Buckeye.

He previously served as the executive director of the Dysart Community Center in El Mirage, and prior to that was Borough Manager / Treasurer in Pen Argyl, Pa. Campanella holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from DeSales University, Center Valley, Pa.

Campanella served two four-year terms as an Elected Councilman for the Borough of Hellertown (Pa.), serving as Council president for the second term.

He was also Vice President, Liaison to the Planning Commission and Zoning Board, served on several secondary and college level boards and commissions in Pennsylvania, and for six years was treasurer for the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

Since moving to Buckeye, Campanella has served as Vice Chairman of the Community Services Commission, has been a member of the Master Trails Development Committee and Board President for the Sundance Homeowner’s Association.

In 1999 Campanella was appointed by Lt. Governor Mark Schweiker to the Pennsylvania State Weed and Seed Commission for the City of Easton, Pa. for law enforcement funding.