Scott Anderson, whose 30-plus years in service for the town of Gilbert could rightly give him the title Mr. Gilbert, will cap his career by being the town’s next mayor.
Anderson easily won election as mayor, unofficially receiving 24,659 votes or 56.75% to challenger Natalie DiBernardo’s 18,791 votes or 43.25%, according to the Maricopa County Elections Department. Results become official when the Gilbert Town Council accepts the canvass at a special meeting Aug. 13.
“I am glad to keep serving,” he said. “I want to emphasize listening and serving. Those are two things that are really top of my mind — listen to what people have to say and then serve as much as possible to meet the needs of the community so that we maintain our quality of life.”
Anderson, a Colorado native, worked for 25 years for Gilbert, including as planning and zoning director and then later as parks and recreation director until his retirement in 2013.
It was Anderson’s idea to turn a wastewater recharge station into the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch, a 110-acre wetland and wildlife sanctuary made up of seven ponds that still serve as a recharge station.
The area hosts urban fishing, multiuse trails and even a night sky observatory among its amenities and has become one of Gilbert’s most popular attractions.
After retiring in 2013, Anderson was elected to Gilbert Town Council in 2016 and twice served as vice mayor, first in 2020 and then again this year.
In August 2020, however, he was chosen interim mayor when former Mayor Jenn Daniels stepped down to pursue other opportunities. His term lasted until Brigette Peterson took office after her election in 2021.
Anderson campaigned on a platform of preserving excellence while DiBernardo, who has not held elected office, emphasized bringing a new voice into town. But the two never went negative with their campaigns despite the turbulence of Gilbert town politics in the past three years.
Anderson said Tuesday he had a good chat with DiBernardo.
For her part, DiBernardo also expressed respect for Anderson’s service to the town.
“I think that Scott’s tagline is going to be accurate for what we're going to see going forward from him,” she said. “I think he's going to put an emphasis on preserving the heritage that Gilbert has given us. And I anticipate that, now that he understands how many residents want change in Gilbert, I'm hoping that he will take that into consideration as he makes decisions going forward.”
DiBernardo said entering the campaign late — she did not announce her candidacy until the end of February — made for a challenging campaign that she called “exhausting” as she does not like to talk about herself.
“But meeting the residents and the citizens of Gilbert has been life-giving to me because I've been able to reconnect with what I believe makes Gilbert so great, and that's all of our residents,” she said. “I feel extremely humbled that so many people have come out and supported me. And it has been an honor to get to know all of them, and I am looking forward to continue in that momentum.”
Anderson said he wants to put the turbulence of the past couple of years on council in the past.
“You'll probably hear that from me the night of my inauguration (in January),” he said. “I talked (during the campaign) about we need to move forward. It's time to move forward. We need to quit bickering with one another and do the business of the town.”
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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