Primary field set / P. 8
Decision time / P. 4
City officials gird for major budget hit
INSIDE
This Week
BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
Crisis echoes Great Recession See story on page 11
NEWS ..................... 16 The virus dealt a major blow to the Cactus League.
COMMUNITY ........ 18 Mesa gym’s online workouts help nonprofit.
SPORTS ................... 20 Skyline teacher’s t-shirt shop helps relief drive.
COMMUNITY .............................. 18 BUSINESS .................................... 20 OPINION .................................... 23 SPORTS ....................................... 25 PUZZLES .................................... 27 CLASSIFIED ............................... 32 Zone
Sunday, April 12, 2020
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
1
M
esa anticipates losing millions of dollars in revenue from the recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing potential layoffs and delaying several major projects in East Mesa. City Manager Chris Brady said he is trying to minimize layoffs of full-time employees
Business rent relief mired in uncertainty
by reassigning them to other positions or to Mesa Cares, the city’s COVID-19 response program, where their salaries might be picked up through federal funds. “While these positions will be eliminated from departments, we are trying to do everything possible to find a place for them,’’ he said during a Council briefing last week, noting the layoffs would stem entirely from COVID-19’s fallout and are unrelated to the performance of employees. The delayed projects would include the planned new southeast Mesa library and the
new northeast Mesa public safety facility. Brady said planning for these facilities would move ahead, but construction would be delayed. “We believe virtually all of these projects will be completed. We are trying to buy time right now,’’ Brady said. “We are very optimistic we are going to get through this. It’s going to be rough times in the near future, but we are going to pull out of this.’’ Budget director Candace Cannistraro de-
Quarantine done!
see FINANCES page 10
BY PAUL MARYNIAK Tribune Executive Editor And HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services
S
aying some landlords are weighing evictions, Gov. Doug Ducey last week ordered judges around the state to immediately suspend such legal actions against commercial tenants affected by the pandemic. But a major Valley strip mall owner and others fear that may not offer much of a lifeline to many struggling small businesses. Chandler Chamber CEO/President Terri Kimbel says that while Ducey’s order “is an-
see RENT page 6
Alex Arnett, 13, of Mesa, spent more than a week in her family’s RV because her symptoms resembled the coronavirus and her parents, Justice of the Peace Fred Arnett and his wife Sandi, needed to protect their other nine kids. She finally got her COVID-19 test and was cleared to rejoin the family. Details, page 3. (Pablo Robles/Tribune Staff Photographer)
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