Queen Creek’s teen council receives $5K donation

A communications infrastructure company has donated $5,000 to the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Committee.

The Queen Creek Town Council accepted the donation from Crown Castle at its Wednesday meeting.

The proposed donation was on the council’s consent agenda in which all items are dealt with under one motion and vote. Queen Creek Mayor Julia Wheatley asked that the item be voted on separately to give a representative of Crown Castle an opportunity to speak.

“We work in several thousand cities across the country building wireless infrastructure. Crown Castle considers Queen Creek one of the model cities to do business in and invest in,” Crown Castle Vice President Doug Patterson said. “We are honored to be considered and grateful to provide a donation to the Mayor’s Teen Advisory (Committee).”

The donation will be used to fund upcoming service projects by members of the teen committee.

“As part of its commitment to supporting the community, Crown Castle donates $5,000 annually to a youth organization. As a long-standing partner and sponsor of the town, Crown Castle has identified the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Committee as the youth organization they would like to support due to (its) direct engagement with youth, alignment with community development goals, and proven track record of implementing meaningful teen-focused initiatives,” according to a staff report.

Projects currently under discussion by that teen committee that may benefit from the funding include:

• Activation of parks and recreational spaces for high school students.
• Mental health initiatives using art and positive messaging.
• Community events focused on volunteerism and giving back.

“These project concepts are the result of MTAC’s work study sessions held during the committee’s monthly meetings,” the report stated.

The donation will go into the general fund and then be transferred to a commission and committee support account.

Members of the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Committee will develop a detailed plan on how they will use the funds and present it to the town council.

Under the direction of Mayor Julia Wheatley, the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Committee was officially created by the council in 2024.

“We appreciate your investment in Queen Creek and your generous donation to the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Committee,” Wheatley said. “You can see the great work that they do as a committee and so these funds will be put to good use within all of the youth within our community.”

Crown Castle had no requirements attached to the donation. In March 2024, the town and Crown Castle entered into an agreement to install fiber optic infrastructure within the town’s right-of-way.

In October, the town approved a conduit occupancy agreement that will allow for town-owned conduit to be leased to Crown Castle. The town receives in-kind and/or monetary compensation under the deal.

Crown Castle plans to build 13 small-cell wireless facilities throughout the town, Patterson said.

“These small cells will significantly improve the wireless coverage and as of last week we have turned over six of those 13 sites,” Patterson said. “The remaining seven sites will be turned up over the next few months. It’s been an incredible project — very large-scale project.”

Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.