Cochise County convenes town hall as residents press to add, pave and repair rural roads

Cochise County held a public town hall on Nov. 6, 2025, to gather resident input on a staff review of roads the county maintains and a proposed list of roads to add, drop or upgrade. County Public Works Director Jason Fazio opened the meeting, saying the session’s purpose was “to review our current road maintenance program, consider proposals for adding or removing certain roads from the county maintenance system, and to begin exploring the potential cost and funding implications of these changes.”

Why it matters: County staff say Cochise must prioritize where to spend a shrinking pool of highway user revenue (HEERF) while residents say multiple neighborhoods face safety and access problems during monsoons. The town hall produced dozens of detailed, road‑level requests and local data the county will use to rank candidates for grading, chip seal or paving.

Staff presentation and funding context

Jason Fazio and county engineer Jackie Watkins reviewed the county’s road inventory and maintenance categories. Staff told attendees that the county maintains about 1,433 miles of road and that roughly 3,681 miles are non‑county maintained, for more than 5,000 total miles within Cochise County. Fazio described maintenance classes — from regularly graded dirt roads to primitive roads — and said the county aims to do about 100 miles of fog seal a year to preserve chip‑sealed pavement.

Watkins summarized how state highway user revenue is distributed and how inflation has affected purchasing power. “HEERF funds are the taxes that you pay at the gas pump,” she said, noting the statutory gas‑tax rate used for HEERF is 18¢ per gallon and that, in aggregate, inflation and rising material costs have reduced what the county can do with the same nominal revenue. She told the room that staff will produce project‑level cost estimates to inform any future board action.

Residents press for fixes, cite safety and access

The bulk of the session was public comment. Residents from many neighborhoods asked the board to add specific roads to the county maintenance list or to upgrade them to chip seal or pavement. Repeated requests focused on Hargis Ranch Road, Chippewa Street, Calle Encina, portions of South Kino Road, Dakota Road and streets in Miracle Valley and Hereford. Speakers described repeated flooding, washouts, boulder fields and dust that makes travel hazardous for residents, school children and emergency vehicles.

Several speakers documented neighborhood efforts to maintain roads themselves. Carol Welsh said her neighborhood has “collected over $20,000” to pay for private grading. Other comments raised countervailing concerns: some residents opposed paving because they said it would accelerate development and increase vehicle speeds.

Process and next steps explained

Board members and staff did not take votes at the meeting. Instead the chair and staff said they will review the recorded comments, apply the county’s add/drop criteria (Resolution 19‑01 and related standards such as average daily traffic and address counts), and perform cost analyses on candidate roads. The chair described a “rack and stack” prioritization the staff will present at a public work session and later at a public hearing prior to any formal board vote. Staff also noted potential outreach to state legislators about raising HEERF allocations or changing the state gas tax by voter action; the board said any such change would occur at the state level.

What the board asked residents to provide

County staff and supervisors encouraged residents to provide written information (addresses, photographs, and neighborhood petitions) so staff can confirm counts and drainage maps. The board said staff will return with cost estimates for roads that move forward in the preliminary ranking, then hold a follow‑up work session and a public hearing before any formal adoption or deletion of roads.

Ending

The board closed the meeting by thanking attendees for turnout and saying a 9 a.m. work session is scheduled the week following the town hall; no final actions were taken at the Nov. 6 meeting.