CDBG funds have improved Tintown for the past three years. In 2018, a drainage basin was installed north of the neighborhood. In 2019 another CDBG grant funded street improvements, channeling stormwater from the new basin along paved streets with curb and gutter. The Colonias grant award announced October 1^st will complete the system, paving streets along the Highway 92 frontage and the remaining unimproved streets in Tintown.

Construction is expected to begin this fall. 

The City of Nogales completed waterline and street improvements along MacNab Drive and Perkins Avenue this year using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds in partnership with Southeastern Arizona Governments Organization (SEAGO). And more improvements are on the way.

Work on the MacNab line began in 2017, replacing 1,500 feet of the 100 year old waterline. Phase II replaced an additional 2,100 feet. Both projects included higher capacity lines, new water service hookups, new road surfacing and hydrants. This project, completed in February, used City-leveraged CDBG funds administered by SEAGO totaling just over $1 million.

In 2018, Nogales worked with SEAGO to secure $1.2 million in Colonias Set-Aside CDBG funds to replace approximately 3,000 feet of the 120 year old waterline along Perkins Avenue in Nogalitos. The Perkins project also included new hydrants, water service lines, and streets with curb and gutter. The new streets tie into newly-rebuilt Edwards, Vera Cruz and Durango Streets, which channel stormwater from the new detention basin on the East side of Nogalitos. Those improvements, completed in 2018, were also funded through a $1.3 million Colonias award, with the Santa Cruz County Flood Control District as the applicant. These projects have brought significant improvements to the Nogalitos neighborhood.

This year, the City of Nogales secured an additional $840,000 in Colonias CDBG funds for another waterline and pavement project along Noon Street. This project, which will begin construction this fall, will replace 2,800 feet of waterline and pavement in the West Quadrant neighborhood. In addition, the City will use its regular CDBG funds for a waterline and pavement project along Camino del Sol, Ellis Street and Sonoita Avenue. That project, which will begin construction next year, will replace approximately 1,500 feet of waterline and streets.

When the Noon Street and Camino del Sol projects are complete, the City of Nogales will have replaced approximately two miles of water line and pavement using regular and competitive CDBG grants combined with City leverage funds over the last five years. In partnership with SEAGO which administers the rural CDBG program for the region, Nogales has become one of the top recipients of Colonias Set-Aside CDBG funds, a biannual competitive grant cycle averaging $2 million each round. Nogalitos, the West Quadrant and East Quadrants are Colonias recognized by the Arizona Department of Housing as eligible to compete for Colonias funds. Since the program began in 2010, ADOH has awarded $11.5 million in Colonias funds. About 30 percent of that total, $3.4 million, has been invested into the City.  

I was one of many who attended the September 21^st meeting of the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission’s (IBWC) Southeast Arizona Citizens Forum.  I left the meeting feeling a bit disappointed as I had hoped the focus of the meeting would be the rehabilitation and improvements to the International Outfall Interceptor (IOI) and emergency repairs to Manhole 89, which was breached during monsoon flooding on July 25^th.  Instead, an inordinate amount of the meeting was devoted to a presentation from an IBWC attorney attempting to justify the agency’s plans to appeal a recent ruling by a federal judge that established that the IBWC – not the City of Nogales – is responsible for discharges  of untreated sewage and industrial contaminants stemming from deferred maintenance and stormwater surcharge to the IOI during periods of heavy rainfall. 

For those unfamiliar with this topic, the IBWC, is a federal agency whose mission is – and I quote directly from the IBWC website  – “to provide binational solutions to issues that arise during the application of United States - Mexico treaties regarding boundary demarcation, national ownership of waters, sanitation, water quality, and flood control in the border region.”  The IOI is a massive pipeline that carries 10 - 14 million gallons of sewage per day across the international border from Mexico to the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant co-owned and operated by the IBWC.  

While the IBWC attorney did a fine job presenting the agency’s position at the meeting, to Santa Cruz County stakeholders, not to mention those downstream in Pima County, the issue of who is responsible for maintenance and repairs to the IOI, or who owns the line, is completely irrelevant.  What’s relevant is neither the City of Nogales nor Santa Cruz County possesses the capacity to repair, replace or maintain the IOI, and a minimum of $30 - $40 million will ultimately be needed to rehabilitate the IOI and defuse the threat to public health and safety this critical piece of infrastructure currently represents. 

Literally dozens of studies have been done to demonstrate the high cost of doing nothing.  Maintenance consultants tell their clients if they repair things before they are forced to do so, their returns are typically 3 - 10 times their original investment.  The IBWC has some excellent staff, and most of us truly appreciate the efforts they have put forth to address the issues with the IOI to date, especially considering the funding constraints faced by all federal agencies.  But it’s now time to stop pouring precious taxpayer dollars down the drain in federal court, accept the federal judge’s decision, and proceed with the emergency repairs and rehabilitation of the IOI – with or without a commitment of funding from the City or County – before it’s too late and we are all stuck with the exponentially higher cost of doing nothing to prevent what could be a major environmental disaster. 

By Randy Heiss, SEAGO Executive Director

Bilateral trade between Arizona and Mexico recently surpassed $15.7 billion annually, and is an extremely important issue to the economic growth of both the State of Arizona and the SEAGO Region.  As a result, the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has the potential to significantly impact the economy of Arizona and the SEAGO Region for better or worse.

It has been 23 years since the implementation of NAFTA, and during that time trade between Arizona and Mexico has grown, and industries on both sides of the border have expanded and prospered.  Currently, Arizona imports approximately $7.4 billion in goods from Mexico, and exports $8.3 billion in goods to Mexico.  Indeed, Mexico is Arizona’s largest export market and trading partner.  While the U.S. imports more goods and services from Mexico annually than it is exporting to Mexico (commonly referred to as a “trade deficit”), Arizona experiences a $900 million economic benefit from the Arizona/Mexico trade equation.

Mr. Kenneth Smith Ramos, Director of the Trade and NAFTA office at the Embassy of Mexico in Washington D.C. recently made a presentation to the Nogales/Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, in which he expressed his optimism about the NAFTA trade renegotiations.  Mexico’s position, as expressed by Mr. Smith, is that Mexico welcomes the process as an opportunity to update NAFTA and modernize the document to reflect the economic changes that both the U.S. and Mexico have experienced over the past 23 years. 

Mr. Smith indicated that economic conditions for both the U.S. and Mexico have changed substantially since the implementation of NAFTA, and the while each country is expected to look after its own interests in the modernization process, the renegotiations can and should result in a “win/win” for both countries.  The Mexico approach to renegotiating NAFTA seems to be from a healthy perspective of making mutually agreeable adjustments to the agreement that will protect each country’s economic interest while maintaining the robust trade relationship between the two countries. 

Whether you call it NAFTA renegotiations or NAFTA modernization, the State of Arizona, and the SEAGO region of Cochise, Santa Cruz, Graham and Greenlee Counties has a great deal at stake in the results of the process.  SEAGO is hopeful that the negotiations will proceed and conclude swiftly, and that the process will result in a structure that will continue to foster and grow business with Arizona’s number one trading partner – Mexico. 

Well known playwright Tennessee Williams once said “You can be young without money, but you can't be old without it."  So true at the time those words were spoken, and even more so today.  Yet many older adults continue to waste their finite resources by paying more than they need to for health insurance and prescription drug plans.  

The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period runs from October 15^th through December 7^th each year.  During this period, individuals can review their current health insurance and prescription drug coverage and make sure theirs is the best possible plan for their particular circumstances, and last year, the SEAGO Area Agency on Aging’s State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) counselors helped individuals across our four-county region save an impressive amount of money.

During the last Annual Enrollment Period, dedicated staff and volunteers with SEAGO’s SHIP program helped over 1,000 individuals with their Medicare coverage options.  By reviewing individuals’ income, prescriptions and health needs, we were able to advise each one on the best plan for them, review their eligibility for financial assistance and helped them save a total of approximately $200,000 collectively.  This averages out to over $200 annually per individual. 

Even if an individual missed the Annual Enrollment Period, they may still save money on their Medicare coverage by letting SEAGO screen them for eligibility in the Low Income Subsidy program or the Medicare Savings Programs.  The Medicare Part D Extra Help or Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) program helps people with limited financial resources pay for their Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage. If a person receives Medicare Part D Extra Help, they may pay a lower or no monthly premium, a lower or no initial deductible, have coverage in the Donut Hole or Coverage Gap, and pay very little for prescription drugs that are covered by their Medicare Part D plan.

 To get answers to Medicare questions, or to see if you qualify for extra help paying for Medicare coverage, please feel free to give us a call.  In Cochise, Graham, Greenlee and Santa Cruz counties you can call the SEAGO SHIP program at 520-432-2528 ext. 222 or email us at shiphelp@seago.org.

The City of Sierra Vista was a primary sponsor of the annual Site Selector’s Guild Conference that was recently held in Tucson, and for a nominal fee, the SEAGO Economic Development Program was honored to have had the opportunity to piggy-back on the City’s sponsorship and participate in the conference.  The Site Selector’s Guild is an organization comprised of national and international professionals assisting companies in analyzing favorable communities for relocation or expansion opportunities. 

Attending the conference was an enlightening and positive experience in terms of understanding the key elements that site selectors are looking for in determining optimum locations and business opportunities, as well as the opportunity to network with professionals who are instrumental in helping businesses making site selection decisions.  While every sector has industry-specific relocation or expansion requirements, according to site selectors, the following core criteria are among the most important considerations for all businesses:

Workforce  -  The emphasis on workforce availability focuses on three primary issues: The immediate availability of a trained workforce; the ease with which a trained workforce can be attracted to an area; and a community’s “readiness” to provide workforce training to meet a company’s workforce needs.  One site selector made an interesting observation that “companies are chasing millennials” to meet their current and future workforce needs.

Shovel Ready Sites -  Whether or not a community has an available inventory of existing building space, or has sites that are immediately available for development, is often an important site selection criteria.

Sufficient Infrastructure -  The availability of sufficient infrastructure is also an important site selection consideration.  Such things as adequate water resources, access to good transportation infrastructure, and high quality internet bandwidth are some of these important site selection criteria.

Quality Education -  The quality of a community’s education system is an essential criteria to attract qualified employees from another location to work for a company.  This important site selection criterion includes both a community’s K-12 school system, and the availability of quality higher education.  Businesses are looking at this issue from these key perspectives: The quality of a community’s educational system as it relates to the Workforce criterion above; and the quality of education as it relates to the children of a company’s current executives and other key professionals the company will need to attract to the community to be successful. 

Community Livability  -  A community’s livability is, like beauty, in the “eye of the beholder” and is largely a subjective determination.  However, several site selectors indicated that it is, indeed, an important consideration as companies look at the community attributes that will attract qualified employees and retain them once they have arrived.  Site selectors look at a community and its surrounding area for attributes such as things to do, things to see, housing availability and diversity, community appearance, and social, art, and cultural amenities.

Viable Incentives  -  While many communities focus on incentives to attract a business to the community, several site selectors indicated that incentives can be a tie breaking factor when comparing one community against another, but become important considerations only after some of the threshold criteria above and other company-specific criteria are met.

SEAGO looks forward to developing solid working relationships with site selectors that attended the conference, and working with our economic development partners to ensure the essential site selection criteria that were expressed in the conference are present in the communities within our region.