Kate Brophy McGee introduces priorities as new Maricopa County District 3 supervisor

Kate Brophy McGee, the newly introduced supervisor for Maricopa County District 3, opened her remarks by describing her local roots and long public-service record and said public safety would be her primary obligation in office.

"The most important obligation of government is public safety," McGee said as she summarized a career she described as spanning 26 years in public service. She told listeners she is a third-generation Arizonan, a wife, a mother and a grandmother who raised three children in Sunnyslope and sent them to local public schools.

McGee outlined her prior elected and appointed service: she said she began as a neighborhood leader addressing a trash-dumping problem on Central Avenue, served 10 years on a school board, spent six years on the Arizona School Facilities Board, and served a decade in the Arizona Legislature (six years in the House and four in the Senate). She also said she most recently served on the Valley Wise board, which she described as the county hospital and health system serving safety-net populations in Maricopa County.

On priorities, McGee said growth in the region ‘‘brings enormous challenges’’ and pointed to two specific areas of concern: strain on infrastructure and unanswered questions about the adequacy of water supplies. She framed county government as the appropriate level to address such regional challenges because it is both close to residents and capable of coordinating across the region.

McGee closed by saying she loves the Arizona and Maricopa County lifestyles and described her primary focus as "building and maintaining, in this case, a county that my children and my grandchildren will call home." Her remarks were introductory in nature; no formal motions, votes or policy actions were recorded in the transcript.