1st City Council looks back on Maricopa's incorporation story

They were about to help a small, non-designated community known as Maricopa transform into a city.  

Maricopa incorporated on that day with a resolution declared by the board. It became Arizona's 88th municipality and was also — at the time — the first community to be incorporated in Pinal in 25 years. 

It was during that October meeting that the board also appointed the first City Council. Serving on that first council were Edward Farrell, William Dunn, Brent Murphree, Bobbie Arp, Kelly Anderson, Kelly Haddad and J.W. Salazar.

It's been nearly 20 years since the city's incorporation, and many of those who were on the first council remember those exciting first moments in the community's history as a city. They've each shared their perspectives on what it was like serving on the city's first council with us as well as their hopes for Maricopa's future. 

Bobbie Arp

Bobbie Arp's family has lived in Maricopa since the 1940s; Arp still lives in the city to this day.

Her family is known for having been very active on committees and other organizations, and it was Arp's father who got her involved with the council. 

"I really accepted it out of necessity 'cause we needed an older voice on it and we needed a woman," Arp said.

At the time, the main focus for local residents was to gain control of the community's "crazy" growth, she said — something that has continued to this day. 

"We had so much to do in such a short time, but it just took off and I don't think anybody fathomed how fast it would take off," she said.

Maricopa's almost exponential growth took everyone by surprise, even Arp, who served as a councilwoman for two years. Twenty years later, she's not always felt that much growth has served the Maricopa she knew well. 

Arp said that she considers herself to be "real old fashioned" and loves living in the country. Other pleasures include farming, ranching and agriculture, and she doesn't believe in the saying "bigger is better."

"I'm saddened by the way it's (Maricopa) grown," she said. "I know everyone tells me it's progress, but that just pushes the things I love the most out."

When someone tells Arp where they live, she'll often recall the farmer's land that used to be there. It's nostalgic for her.

Even though she doesn't like how much the city has grown, Arp said she is still proud of Maricopa and its development, noting that the most significant issue the first council addressed was roads.

Transportation was a big hurdle for the city, already growing by leaps and bounds in the mid-2000s, to figure out. 

As it was a bedroom community, especially in its early days, commuters were often late to work because of how trains stopped in the city, stalling traffic. The problem persisted even after Amtrak spoke with the council and agreed to change some of the train times. 

And there were other challenges as well. 

Because Maricopa was still a growing city, it was difficult to provide the resources newcomers were accustomed to — whether it was grocery stores, clothing stores or housing. With only one high school in the community at the time as well, the school "imploded" and became "overrun," said Arp. 

"It was just a brand new everything," she said. "There was so many needs that it was almost overwhelming."

She hopes within the next 20 years that Maricopa is able to keep some of its farmland, noting that she would like for area communities to realize how important farms are. She also hopes the community remains a safe and friendly city.

Brent Murphree 

Brent Murphree grew up in Maricopa but moved from the city about five years ago.

He stayed on the council for seven years, even serving as vice mayor. His first term was shortened since a council election was held about a year after setting the first council "in motion," he said. 

"I think it was appropriate for the people who worked so hard to get a chance to serve Maricopa like that," he said. "It was a good group of people."

According to Murphree, incorporation efforts required a tremendous amount of work on the part of everyone involved. Enough signatures had to be gathered by the incorporation committee in a short amount of time and taken to the county and state. But it was important that the community was incorporated in order for residents to have a say in how it progressed, he said.

Up until that point, the county approved a number of developments in Maricopa, but there wasn't very much interconnectivity between them, noted Murphree.  

"We knew for a long time that we needed to make sure that... the people living in Maricopa were the ones that were controlling their destiny," Murphree said.

He said it's very exciting to be around to know Maricopa is entering its 20th year of incorporation, recalling that while there were many issues the city faced post-incorporation, there were also some memorable wins. 

The one he remembers most was the start of the city's parks and recreation department. In those early days, the department partnered up with schools to create practice fields.

"That was very important, to build that sense of community," Murphree said.

Another idea the first council brought to life was a complete police force and public safety system. According to Murphree, the community's public safety departments were created in a "very short period of time" and among the things they saw develop "so fast" the council even surprised themselves.

Murphree served as chair of the public safety committee, overseeing the development of the city's police department and other public safety features.

"I'm an idea person and I liked what we were doing in terms of that ground-up building of our town, everything from city code to the police department to recreation activities for the community and some of it is a lot of busy work, but I enjoyed figuring out how to make it work," Murphree said.

J.W. Salazar

J.W. Salazar lived in Maricopa for five years before moving to Tempe. He served on the council for only the inaugural term.

He believes the first council were pioneers for the city and remembers the newness of it all.

"It was fantastic; it was a great honor," he said. "I really appreciated — more than anything — the process of getting the city incorporated.... It was a lot of fun; it was exciting; it was new and I enjoyed all of it."

Salazar is someone who has always been interested in public service; in his freshman year of high school, he told his fellow classmates that he planned to run for president in 2016. 

"It was just something I thought was cool and then, as I grew older I didn't really think about it too much later in high school and into college, and then the opportunity just came about," Salazar said. "It kind of rekindled that old spark that I had for it."

Even though he lives in Tempe, Salazar still checks in every so often to see how Maricopa is growing.

Salazar hopes over the next 20 years Maricopa continues to work on ingress and egress, focuses on bringing businesses in, so people can live and work there, and hopes new generations can continue the city's progress.

Kelly Anderson 

Kelly Anderson has lived in Maricopa his whole life on his grandfather's farm, which was purchased in 1949. Anderson served as mayor for four years shortly after being appointed to the council.

He recalls that local residents had wanted to incorporate decades before 2003, but the community simply didn't have enough people at the time as the state required a population of 1,500 people to incorporate. Rancho El Dorado and other developments helped to bring in enough people to move forward with the incorporation process. 

Once the incorporation committee collected enough signatures and received approval, the city incorporated. The move, said Anderson, has "really paid off."

But there was a lot of groundwork that went into developing Maricopa in those early stages. The incorporation committee had to create city codes and ordinances before the county turned everything over to the new council, recalled Anderson. 

"There (was) a lot of people out there betting that we couldn't get it done, but with a council full of farmers, we never say never," Anderson said.

While on the council, he enjoyed meeting new people that moved to Maricopa and learning their stories along with answering their questions about the city.

Within the next 20 years, he hopes for good, smart growth and a unified voice with the mayor and council, representing Maricopa in that "favorable light" to future developers and residents.

"I still tell people it's history, they're going to be part of history," Anderson said. "There's a lot of room to grow, a lot of things to do."

Will Dunn

Will Dunn's father moved to Maricopa at 4 years old but left the city when Dunn was in fourth grade. Dunn made the decision to move back to Maricopa in 2000 and lives in the house his mother grew up in.

He became interested in, and slowly got involved with, the first council after he was invited to meetings about the incorporation efforts by his cousin, Ed Farrell. 

Following his appointment, Dunn served on the council for six years, something he said was lots of work but also lots of fun, as it gave him the opportunity to be part of "something cool."

He recalls that the early council fought like "cats and dogs" in light of their differing opinions but said it's good to have various opinions. 

"I'm super proud of what we started," he said. "We built a good foundation." 

Dunn believes Maricopa still manages to keep the "home- and small-town feel," even with the rapid growth over the years.

"It kind of gives me chills actually... because I spent my whole life here in Maricopa... my family's been here forever," he said. "We did it (incorporation) right and we did it at the right time."

It makes him proud to see how far Maricopa's come, noting that he is as proud of the first city council as he is the current one.

Kelly Haddad

Kelly Haddad lived in Maricopa for eight years, serving on the council for five years.

"It's a great honor to know that I was actually on the first council," he said.

Even though he now lives in Chandler, he visits Maricopa frequently to see clients. He finds it neat to witness the growth over the years.

Haddad was approached by Farrell, who founded the incorporation committee, to join. When they knew their efforts would be successful, Haddad was then asked to volunteer to be on the first council chosen by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. 

Years later, Haddad said he really enjoyed taking part in helping the city grow while also ensuring the community had control of how it grew. Haddad was among those who played a large role in helping the city establish its first police department. 

Haddad believes that in the next 20 years Maricopa will see continued growth. He hopes it sees more economic development, more transportation issues resolved and an emphasis on responsible growth.

Edward Farrell

Edward Farrell has lived in Maricopa his whole life. He became the first mayor of the city and also served as vice mayor and a member for three terms. 

He created the incorporation committee with 23 community members in August 2002 to pursue incorporation. The committee understood that the bustling growth couldn't be stopped but also knew it could be controlled.

Around that same time, Farrell participated in a two-year rural leadership training program called Project CENTRL with a class of about 30 people who traveled throughout Arizona. The group learned about economic development issues, how jobs were created, how towns were run and other issues.

In order to graduate from Project CENTRL, he had to complete an internship, so he chose to do it on incorporating Maricopa.

"It was real special looking back on it now, (being on council is) a lot more special than it was at the time," Farrell said. "At the time, we were in the trenches. We were trying to figure out what it took to make a (municipality)... Being the founding mayor was cool, something special and (it) will remain special to me for the rest of my life."

He recalls that after all their hard work to get Maricopa incorporated, they didn't really know what to do during their first council meeting.

"It was special almost like taking a blank piece of paper and just drawing out a city and that was cool," Farrell said.

While on the council, he enjoyed seeing new people coming into town and getting to know them as they got involved in the community. New faces were a regular occurrence in Maricopa, even back then. Between 2005 and 2007, the city averaged around 800 new home building permits a month.

"I think the coolest thing about Maricopa now compared to then is there's all kinds of services," he said. "What I miss is the sleepy little town and none of the traffic. I miss those days a lot."