Ribbon-cutting ceremonies were recently held for new Pinal County buildings in San Tan Valley and the city of Maricopa.

District 2 and 4 were added in 2013, when Pinal County increased from three to five supervisor districts, but have until now lacked the ability to offer local county services such as assessor, treasurer, recorder and developmental services offices, according to a release.

San Tan Valley

The $16 million San Tan Valley Complex alongside the Arizona Central College facility on Bella Vista Road has a North and South Building.

The North Building includes new satellite offices for the assessor, recorder, treasurer and development services, as well as the clerk of the court. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office and District 2 Supervisor Mike Goodman move across from existing rented facilities in San Tan Valley. The building also includes a large conference room that will be used to hold community meetings. These facilities began opening to the public in May.

Work is continuing on the South Building, which includes a public library and the Family Advocacy Center. The South Building was expected to be completed in May, with the library opening at some point in June.

“This is probably one of the most exciting things for San Tan Valley,” District 2 Supervisor Mike Goodman said in the release. “It has a sense of community and it brings the government closer to the people. It provides the opportunity for the citizens to come and get their services on a more local basis as opposed to going to Florence. We were also able to put in a public library for all citizens to use, which is a big plus,” he said.

“This is a community effort; these are staff members, other elected officials coming together to make this reality. I get emotional when I see what’s been accomplished in a short period of time,” Supervisor Goodman said.

Maricopa facility

A month after District 2 opened its new Pinal County complex in San Tan Valley, District 4 hosted a ribbon-cutting to open its new $12 million facility in the city of Maricopa.

The two new buildings, approximately 42,000 square feet in size, will house the assessor, treasurer, recorder and developmental services offices. They will also have the offices for District 4 Supervisor Jeffrey McClure, services from the clerk of the superior court, adult and juvenile probation facilities, and a Pinal County Sheriff’s Office substation — including holding cells.

The facility is at 19955 N Wilson Ave. in Maricopa, where the Justice Court and City Court were previously located. These courts remain, incorporated into the new building No. 200.

Departments will begin moving in immediately, with some services beginning to be offered from the first week of June.

“The biggest thing for the county is to get out to the constituents and that’s difficult to do when you’re 45 minutes away. So here, we’re close to the people; they want to come and talk to you, here we are, we’re right here. Being able to get closer to our constituents is a great thing,” Supervisor McClure said in the release.

“The foresight of the prior board and this board bringing in a lot of great new businesses that can increase our tax base — because most of our money comes from the commercial side — and by having commercial businesses, now we have the funds available to go out to the market, borrow some money at very low cost and build these magnificent buildings. And this gives the people who say, ‘I pay property taxes, I want to be able to access my services,’ it makes it very easy for them,” County Assessor Douglas Wolf said in the release.

“When I was a young man growing up in Casa Grande and Chandler, Maricopa was just a Dairy Queen and Headquarters Cafe. Now we’re a community within the city itself of 50,000 (80,000 within the wider community), and the projections are that it’s going to double very quickly,” Lyle Riggs, justice of the peace for the Western Pinal Justice Court, said in the release. “And so the need to have local government be local has become paramount; otherwise, that’s a lot of people having to move across the county. And so it’ll be of great benefit to the community.”