Residents and public-safety staff back first-draft safety goals; ask for clearer wording on insurance, enforcement and evacuation guidance

Malini Sims, principal planner with the Town of Oro Valley, opened the working-group meeting and asked members to review draft goals, policies and actions that will feed a 10‑year safety plan. Sims framed the documents as preliminary and said the staff’s aim was "to achieve consensus on the first drafts."

Participants broadly agreed the drafts captured community input but recommended clarifications on several points. Resident Hal urged the group to consider the connection between local protection levels and insurance costs, saying he had seen posts "where people are saying they've lost their homeowners insurance, the company is moving out because of fire issues, or their rates are going up." Deputy Fire Marshal Jen Akins cautioned that fire‑district rating forms and insurers’ proprietary rating scales do not always align: "our rating scales ... do not match theirs and will show a low hazard where the insurance company is showing a high hazard." Staff agreed to refine wording so the plan does not inadvertently create homeowner concerns while still addressing risk.

On policing and staffing, Commander Mike Grama described regional pay pressures and the department’s mix of lateral and academy hires. Grama said OVPD is "slotted for 107 sworn officer positions" on paper and noted some hires spend several months in academy and field training before being patrol-ready. He said compensation comparisons, bargaining units and council-level decisions factor into recruitment strategies.

Residents flagged traffic safety and school-zone concerns. Sergeant Marshall Morris described enforcement activity and engineering at intersections, saying there is usually "at least a 2 second delay between when it goes red one way and when it goes green the other way" and that officers had been writing red-light citations to address risky driving. Participants also urged clearer language on protected bike lanes and pedestrian crossings so designs do not increase hazards for cyclists.

On emergency preparedness, the group discussed wildfire and flood risks and whether the town should identify pre-designated evacuation roads. Eric Perry of the fire district said evacuation routes depend on the hazard and that many responses emphasize protecting residents in place and coordinating with county and state partners. The fire district noted it posts a community risk assessment on its website and offered to expand outreach and in-person education, particularly for older residents.

Staff closed the session by listing next working-group topics (community character, parks and recreation) and by announcing OV Trails Connect (ovtrailsconnect.com) as a separate trail-planning effort; staff said the safety drafts will be revised and recirculated for further review.

The meeting produced no formal votes; staff recorded broad agreement that the drafts were "headed in the right direction" and will update language on insurance, evacuation-route wording and bike-lane design before the next circulation.