The Marana Town Council deadlocked on proposed changes to graffiti-abatement procedures in the town code.
The council considered changes and other minor revisions to the graffiti abatement provisions in the town code at its Dec. 6 regular meeting.
The changes failed after the council voted 3-3 on the issue.
Council members Jon Post and Roxanne Ziegler and Vice Mayor Patti Comerford voted against the proposed changes.
Mayor Ed Honea and council members Herb Kai and Carol McGorray voted to approve the changes.
Councilman David Bowen was absent.
The proposed ordinance would have required property owners to remove graffiti from their property within 48 hours of receiving notice from the town.
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Property owners also could have been fined $250 if they did not remove graffiti within the 48-hour window.
Councilwoman Ziegler adamantly opposed the proposed changes, which were submitted to the council by a Graffiti Task Force.
"I can't approve this. You're going after the wrong people," she said.
The task force formed in June 2011 to discuss Marana's graffiti problems.
Participants representing several town departments, including planning, parks and recreation, community development and legal, served on the task force.
The police department also was part of the task force, which met four times.
Ziegler said she would rather see the $250 go to the police department to help find the person or people responsible for damaging a property owner's home with graffiti.
The task force told the council the proposed changes were meant to discourage graffiti because the faster it's removed the less likely it is to reappear.
Council members are open to the task force returning to the council with more recommendations.
The council took no other action at the Dec. 6 meeting, but did hear a presentation from Northwest Fire/Rescue District on annexation efforts within Marana.
Fire Chief Jeff Piechura told the council the fire district, which now serves more than 80 percent of the town, has pursued three petition annexations within town boundaries recently.
"We're trying to make sure everyone pays their fair share in," he told the council of the annexations.
Two annexations have since expired without garnering enough support from property owners. The third, which covers about 25 homes east of Camino de Oeste and north of Tangerine Road, expires Jan. 12.
Northwest Fire is required by state law to receive signatures supporting an annexation from more than 50 percent of the property owners, who also have to represent more than 50 percent of the area's property value.
Piechura said other areas within town boundaries have yet to be annexed.
Those areas include the Ritz Carlton, Dove Mountain; Trico Electric Cooperative; Marana Estates and Butterfly Mountain Ranch.
The fire district provides fire and rescue services to those areas. Piechura said the fire district attempts to receive reimbursement from Marana residents who require assistance but don't currently pay for fire services.
The district only collects about 30 percent of the time, he said.
"We're all subsidizing these guys," Ziegler said. "I'm really surprised this is going on. I don't see how this is fair."
Property owners who live in the fire district pay for fire district services through secondary assessed property taxes.
Contact reporter Andrea Rivera at arivera@azstarnet.com or 807-8430.
