The Arizona Mayors of Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and San Luis along with the Sonoran Mayors of Puerto Penasco, Nogales and San Luis Rio Colorado met in Phoenix last week to discuss their concerns and issues for their mutual border communities.

Submitted photo The Border Mayors met last week and came up with a six-point action plan to better meet the needs of their communities, At the meeting, from left, were Mayor Arturo Garino of Nogales, AZ, Mayor Albert Krieger of Yuma, Mayor Manuel de Jesus Baldenebro Arredondo of San Luis Rio Colorado, Mayor Dr. Michael Gomez of Douglas, Mayor Alejandro Zepeda Munro of Puerto Penasco, Mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla of San Luis, AZ and Mayor Jose Angel Hernandez Barajas of Nogales, Sonora.

From this meeting the Mayors decided that having common interests related to the long term growth and sustainability of their communities they derived with a list of principals that would meet their needs and formed a coalition to ensure that their action items would be pursued and met.

The Border Mayors selected six actions items to be presented to the Arizona Mexico Commission and the Governors of Arizona and Sonora they were;

√ Economic Development – Establish a standard 25 minutes as the average wait time for vehicles crossing the border, to establish a special development zone in the six border states of Mexico to increase the east-west connectivity and that enough personnel are provided at port of entries during long weekends and holidays.

√ Security - To work with the State Department to designate for travelers Sonora as a low security risk compared to other high risk states in Mexico and to increase staffing by 350 personnel along the Arizona Port of Entries.

√ Health – The need for additional resources to prevent the spread of communicable diseases and drug dependency including new treatment centers for border communities.

√ Infrastructure – The need for funds to improve and modernize ports of entry, water, waste water, sewage, floods and modes of transportation and that projects such as a new Douglas/Agua Prieta Port of Entry need to be funded.

√ Immigration – Repatriation programs need to be extended from five months to all year.

√ Local Representation – to facilitate communication along the border with federal agencies, to hold monthly meetings of the new coalition of Border Mayors and for the Arizona Mexico Commission to establish an Arizona – Sonora Border Mayors web page that would provide links to the border communities, share information and a calendar of events to help the Border Mayors stay in touch and informed.

In August, all Border Mayors of Mexico and the United States will meet in El Paso for two days to enhance communication among the communities. Border communities can no longer survive isolated, only through collaboration can common issues be addressed and resolved.