Pima County, Deputy County Administrator Carmine DeBonis Jr, will provide an update on the Pima County Road Repair Program. The presentation provides a status of the current road conditions; an overview of existing funding sources; a recap of Fiscal Year 2020 repairs completed to date; a summary of Fiscal Year 2021 planned repairs; and a description of future steps.

 

 

Carmine DeBonis, Jr., advanced the majority of his professional life working with Pima County, Arizona, one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. After graduating from the University of Arizona in 1991 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Regional Development, Carmine worked with the Pima County Board of Supervisors through 1996. 

 

During this time with the Board, Carmine quickly advanced to positions of greater responsibility. His exposure to nearly every aspect of government service including land use, public infrastructure, law enforcement, health care and community services, allowed Carmine to foster effective relationships. He effectively reached consensus on complex community issues and bridged differing viewpoints from varied constituencies.

 

In 1997, Carmine accepted a position with the Pima County Development Services Department. After serving in increasingly responsible roles supporting the development, building and planning divisions, Carmine advanced to department Director in 2001. With continued emphasis on partnering and team building, the department was transformed into a customer-friendly, agile organization. 

 

The agency was skillfully managed through an economic downturn resulting in increased service delivery levels despite suffering a reduction of 60 percent of operating expenses and associated staff reductions. Carmine aptly directed policy and process changes to achieve a 75 percent reduction of review timeframes for building permits and development approvals. As a result, County leadership relied on Carmine to lead activities outside his department to streamline land entitlement and development approval processes.

 

Carmine DeBonis, Jr., is now one of three Deputy County Administrators for Pima County. As of mid-December 2016 he oversees approximately 1,200 employees comprising the functions of seven Pima County Public Works Departments: Development Services; Environmental Quality; Transportation; Stadium District and Kino Sports Complex; Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation; Regional Flood Control District; Regional Wastewater Reclamation; and the Office of Sustainability and Conservation. Other organizational support units in Carmine’s area of responsibility include the Public Works Administration office, the Project Management office and the Real Property Services office.

 

In this leadership capacity, Carmine continues to rely on his numerous successful experiences to guide the Public Works departments toward increasing customer satisfaction, improving processes, enhancing financial efficiency and promoting employee development. Using progressive techniques and business strategies, Carmine leads the public sector agencies under his direction to not only meet, but exceed, service delivery expectations for the greater benefit of Pima County. 

 

Carmine completed his Master’s Degree in Business Administration at the University of Arizona in 2006. He is blessed with a beautiful family: his wife Norma and two adult children, Mia and Nicholas. In his spare time, Carmine enjoys restoring his 1965 Ford Mustang.

The meeting was called to order promptly by President JENNIFER HOFFMAN with a full 48 Rotarians present.     The Pledge of Allegiance was led by MELANIE HOFFMAN and a beautiful, inspirational video “God bless the USA” was presented and well received by all.

 

The Inspiration video was shown and acknowledged the achievement of one young man who went from “Mechanic to Doctor”. 

 

President JEN introduced our guest speaker Julius Holt, the Commissioner of Tucson Youth Football and Spirit Federation.   Mr. Holt, a true inspiration led us through his life growing up in Washington DC in an inner-city environment.    He was never called by his name but was known as “Big Ray”.

 

His childhood was that of a typical inner-city child, surrounded by poverty, but always in his mind was the dream to succeed.  He recalled as each child was born into the family, his mom would wrap a drawer with blankets and that was their bassinet.  As he grew up, he had his fair share of problems of all types, but he prevailed.  He played all sports, except wrestling which was just too close for him!  He was accepted to the University of Arizona as a student and arrived in Tucson 30+ years ago.    His first experience in Tucson, was believe this or not, taking a shower.  You see Julius never took a shower, only a bath.  After he accidentally found how the “shower” worked, he just stayed and stayed to the point that the coaches had to come retrieve him from the shower.   At that point in his life, he discovered he was never clean, but thought he always was, so the shower was his blessing in life at that time.  He graduated from the University and stayed on as an employee for the University.  Julius retired at 56 and became active with youth sports in Tucson leading him to the Commissioner position in his retirement and continues to move his life forward.  As Commissioner, his job is not to teach the sport but to train youth in the areas of responsibility and accountability.  Julius believes that perseverance is key to a successful life, he stated, “we are all responsible for ourselves”.  Julius has amazing faith and a true belief in loving one another.   “Always tell those how much you love them” as life has no guarantees.    Julius Holt is truly an inspiration, a real person whose actions profoundly highlights his beliefs. 

    

The book “Little Football” was presented for signature to Julius by President JEN and will go into the Make Way for Books Library.  

 

Wow, we had a great birthday celebration for all July Birthdays, however only JIM RONSTADT showed to the party.  JIM revisited his history with Rotary and how thankful he is for the group.  August Birthday Rotarians don’t miss your celebration next month!

 

President JEN presented a blue badge to MELANIE HOFFMAN.  Congratulations MELANIE!

 

JON DANISZEWSKI gave an update on selling car show tickets and the upcoming car show.   

 

President JEN thanked everyone for attending the meeting and announced the next meeting date of July 22.   A special thank you to Hacienda Del Sol and President JEN and staff for maintaining a safe environment for all ROTARIANS. 

 

The meeting ended with a toast by President JEN.

Hello my Fellow Rotarians!

 

I have to say how wonderful it has been to see some of your faces at the past two meetings. I am also glad that some of you have been tuning in virtually. I know we have had some technical challenges but we are working through them and soon they will go off without a hitch!

 

Since March we have been trying to connect with ZOOM happy hours, breakfasts, burgers and the like. It is not the same as getting together in person but I feel we all need to do all we can to stay connected until we are able to meet like we have in the past. With that in mind, I am working with our fantastic board of directors to come up with a plan to have more ZOOM or virtual events that we can enjoy. These events may be hosted by me, one of the board of directors or perhaps it would be in one of the many fellowships we have where you can have a German Beer Night, or perhaps a Pinot Grigio tasting, Gary Olson may even host a RCOT ZOOM talent show! Some of you may be reluctant to ZOOM, but I encourage you to try it, you will enjoy connecting with your fellow Rotarians. Just ask Drew and Kandie Vactor. I think they have attended every virtual event or meeting that has been organized, and we have been fortunate enough to hear wonderful stories of their adventures around the world. So, give it a try, I know you will be glad you did!

 

Tom Scott

Keith Wiegand