By MARK COWLING | Casa Grande Dispatch
FLORENCE — Arizona legislators ended the 2016 session without voting on HB 2384, the measure designed to give San Tan Valley residents an easier path toward a vote on whether or not to form a city.
House Speaker David Gowan refused to let the bill go to the floor for a final vote in the session’s final hours Saturday morning, according to a post on the Facebook page “San Tan Valley’s Right to Vote.”
Jess Knudson, Florence’s assistant town manager, said the end of HB 2384 was “good news for the town of Florence.” He said town officials believe the current law is a good one, and the town extends an open invitation to San Tan Valley residents who want to discuss incorporation.
Tisha Castillo, a local businessperson who says she advocates for San Tan Valley’s right to vote, was out of the area and not available to comment this week. But she thanked supporters in her Facebook post. “While this is heartbreaking news for all of us, I want to first thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your support again this session. Next I want you to hear me and know that we are NOT done! We may have lost this battle, but we will win the war.”
She said earlier this year the bill “in no way, shape or form equates to incorporation,” but simply allows San Tan Valley voters to have their say. She said there was no active effort to incorporate, and if the bill passed the work would only just begin.
But a Johnson Utilities official called that “smoke and mirrors” and said the bill “is undeniably about incorporation” in a column outlining the costs residents would pay to form a city. Brad Cole, Johnson Utilities’ chief operating officer, did not return a call Monday.
