Former Chandler mayor to be honored with plaza ceremony

Chandler native and former mayor, councilmember and state senator Jay Tibshraeny is set to be inducted into a sort of hall of fame.

Tibshraeny will be inducted Saturday, Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. as the 2025 Celebration Plaza honoree. Celebration Plaza is located at the center of Tumbleweed Park, 745 E. Germann Road, according to a news release.

Tibshraeny served Chandler for almost 40 years and has been instrumental in shaping Chandler's financial stability, economic prosperity and quality of life, the release states.

His leadership helped guide the community’s high growth periods in the 1980s and 1990s through investments in parks, recreation and transportation, it states.

The release states Tibshraeny helped preserve the Price Corridor as the city’s largest employment area and helped usher in thousands of jobs that fortified Chandler’s status as an innovation and technology hub.

Tibshraeny was appointed to Chandler’s planning and zoning commission in 1980 and served six years in that capacity. He was first elected to the City Council in 1986 as a council member and he served as vice mayor from 1990 to 1994.

He was then elected for the first time as mayor in 1994 and ended up serving seven terms, ranging from 1994 to 2002 and again from 2011 to 2019. Tibshraeny represented Chandler as an Arizona State Senator from 2003 – 2010.

Celebration Plaza, a permanent water feature and monument wall near the center of Tumbleweed Park, is a place where the Chandler City Council recognizes organizations or individuals for their civic leadership, public outreach and what it considers outstanding personal service and commitment to the community.

Nominations are open to members of the public each year. After nominations are made, the Chandler Museum Foundation forwards recommendations to the Chandler City Council for final selection.

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.   Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org.