(orchestral music) - [Lorraine] The push to get more Arizona's vaccinated against COVID-19.

- Our goal is to have all Arizona's who want the vaccine to have it.

- [Lorraine] Plus the state schools chief on concerns stemming from the pandemic.

- It's very easy here for students and families to drop off.

- [Lorraine] and Pima County's long-time administrator gets a contract extension.

A new supervisor explains his vote.

- If you get to a compromise, that usually means that everybody's given a little bit.

(orchestral music) - Hello, would welcome to Arizona 360.

I'm Lorraine Rivera, thanks so much for joining us.

Since the first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Arizona last month, more than 300,000 shots have gone into the arms of residents.

Counties are gradually making the vaccine available to more groups.

With demand high, Tony Banjara reports on efforts to increase access in Pima County.

- [Tony] A growing number of locations around Arizona are offering the coveted COVID-19 vaccine including Tucson Medical Center where eager residents are getting their first dose.

- Really been looking forward to getting the vaccination.

So I've volunteered to be the one to come out here today, and I just took it probably about seven minutes ago and pain-free.

- We're making history.

- [Tony] Sergeant Michael Mosley has been with the Pima County Sheriff's department since 1997.

He says the vaccine is vital for professional and personal reasons.

- I got a wife.

Me and her are a small business owners which have been very much effected by this virus.

My son's a corrections officer with this agency who starts the deputy Academy this month, and then my daughter plays volleyball at Pima Community College.

All of those things weigh heavily on me and then being out on the streets every day having multiple contacts with citizens who could or could not have COVID.

I never know what I'm bringing home.

- [Tony] Moseley got his shot as part of the 1B group currently eligible at different sites across the County which also comprises this new location at the University of Arizona.

Group 1B applies to people over 75, protective service occupation, such as law enforcement and teachers among others.

However, vaccinations require registrations ahead of time.

You can't just show up.

Online, some people say they have not been able to register on the Pima County Health Department website nor get through on the telephone.

Here are some comments on Facebook.

Quote, I spent three hours on hold, no luck getting through.

What about seniors over 75 in Tucson?

We can't even get an appointment.

I am past 80 and can't get an appointment.

Come on guys, hurry up.

You have made it so difficult.

Dr. Francisco Garcia is the county's chief medical officer.

He says the number of requests has been intense.

- Honestly, the demand Is outstripping our ability to process all of these calls.

- [Tony] The County has only received a fraction of the doses it would like to have due to supply, demand and distribution issues.

- I really do believe that as the stock starts to loosen up at the national level, it will be less and less of a problem.

But right now, it is a bottleneck - [Tony] Anne and Fred Boice consider themselves lucky.

They've been married for 68 years and with five children and 15 grandchildren, this vaccination is boosting their peace of mind.

- Because we've really held up at home because of the COVID, yes.

And I've lost many friends now because of it, because of our age.

- I'm a reasonably healthy guy.

I haven't been mad afraid of the disease but I would hate to have contracted it somewhere somehow and given it to my wife, that would be, that would be bad.

- The Arizona Department of Health Services is also administering vaccines.

It opened its second vaccine site this week at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

This is in addition to a 24/7 site at Glendale State Farm Stadium.

We discuss the state's role in getting Arizona's vaccinated with ADHS director Dr. Cara Christ beginning with an update on new cases and current trends.

- So we continue to see elevated cases throughout Arizona.

One of the things that we are starting to see that's a little bit of a glimmer of hope is we had significant increases after Thanksgiving, after Christmas and after new year.

What we are starting to see as a plateau.

Now, we hope that this plateau will translate into decreased cases, but we continue to monitor the data.

- Now the state recently opened another vaccine site and that was also in Maricopa County.

For those of us outside of Maricopa, you know, it would be reasonable to ask why is Maricopa County getting the bulk of the vaccines at this point?

- So as we look on where the vaccine is and where it's getting allocated and on a per you know, a pro-rata population basis, Maricopa County, we had sites that were, they had five mass vaccination sites.

However, those sites were, they would have been operating for three weeks.

They were run by the health systems.

We knew that Maricopa needed some assistance with getting mass vaccination off the ground.

When we work with our County health departments in like Pima County, they have plans to scale up additional max vaccine pods, and so they're looking at adding three additional sites.

Some of those will have extended hours, just like we're offering out at state farm.

Our preference would be the County health departments take charge and administer the vaccine in their counties.

They know their counties, they know their partners the best, but we are always happy to look at expanding as we get additional vaccine supply to other counties in the state - There are vulnerable people who have health conditions, but they don't meet the criteria yet to receive the vaccine.

This week, there are reports of the tagalong vaccine where if you're driving a vulnerable adult, you may be able to get the vaccine just because you're with them.

So what do you say to people who would like it because their health is compromised, but they don't meet that criteria just yet?

- So we are looking at expanding the phases as rapidly as we can to get all groups eligible for vaccine because our goal is to have all Arizona's who want that vaccine to have it.

As supplies are limited, we are very carefully looking at what, you know, how much of that population has been vaccinated, so can we move into the next group?

I know at state farm, we wanna make sure that we are using that vaccine effectively and efficiently.

So we're using the Pfizer vaccine which has, is very, very finicky and has a very, very short life once it's put into the syringe to put into an arm.

So we are making on a case by case basis, clinical decisions on whether a potential rider who doesn't have an appointment in the car could be eligible to receive that vaccine.

For example, I know that I was personally out vaccinating and there were two elderly individuals who were in their 80s in the car.

Their caretaker was in the car who drives them, does all of their translating into English.

We did have a dose available at that time.

We did offer it to her so that she could keep them safe because she is going to be a high risk potential entry point for COVID into their lives.

- Earlier you mentioned those who want the vaccine can get the vaccine, or that's your hope.

There will be people, teachers, law enforcement who say I don't want the vaccine.

What would be your message to them during this time?

- So our message would be that the vaccine has been studied.

It is safe and it is effective.

It has a very high effective rate of 95%.

But I would encourage, especially those that are in high risk occupations that interact with people they don't know, that interact with people outside of their household just as part of their job.

So firefighters, teachers, police officers, it's really important, not only to protect the community, but to protect you and your family and your loved ones.

- At this point, there are so hundreds of thousands of Arizona's who are waiting.

There are glitches with the website and I understand there are also success stories, but at what point will you feel like the state is getting a handle on it, given the population, the numbers and the vaccines available?

- We know that the website which we have partnered with Google to develop our registration website, it does have, you know, a couple of glitches, but overall we were able to register 150,000 Arizona's into an appointment yesterday.

So we were, it is successful, it's just that the demand is so high.

- Last week I spoke with Governor Ducey and he indicated that you two are in lock step with making some of the decisions that have been cast all over the state.

Looking toward the next few weeks and months ahead, what would you like to see in this state as we move forward?

I mean, you know teachers would like to get back to the classroom, so would families.

- I would like to see more vaccine being given out more efficiently.

We do know that we could speed up that process.

So really trying to get more vaccine out into the community, but also in places where people normally get it.

So pharmacies and doctor's offices.

As a mom, I would love to see kids back in school.

I think that that is one of the things that has been most devastating about this pandemic.

I have three school aged children and I know that this year has been very difficult because school offers so much more than just the education, but I also want to make sure that our teachers are safe.

- Okay, Dr. Cara Christ, thank you.

- Thank you.

- Getting students back in class as a priority for state leaders, and that includes Governor Ducey and state superintendent, Kathy Hoffman but the two disagree about timing.

This week we spoke to Superintendent Hoffman about her concerns beginning with the alarming drop off in students that schools can't account for.

- We have roughly 65,000 students in Arizona who we would expect to be enrolled in a public sphere and do not know where they are.

Again, they could have moved out of state.

They may be engaged in homeschooling.

So there's a lot of questions around that, but I think, you know I personally want to express a call to action to all of our community members and to our families, the importance of being part of our children, being connected with their local schools.

Our schools provide a wide range of supports, traditional, social, emotional development, of course, academics for college and career readiness, and it's deeply alarming to me when we do not know where these children are and if their basic needs are being met.

- How does that happen, that they drop off the radar and districts or families can't make contact?

- That's a really good question and that's why we need to make it a priority.

And work we're doing.

Again, we're working with school counselors and with school leaders and principals, and they are doing that outreach.

And if the family does not pick up the phone or if they moved to a different address, it does become very challenging.

And I think part of the challenge is the digital divide.

I would attribute a part of that to the fact that families who do not have connectivity at home.

if they do not have internet or they do not have the skills to use computers to get connected or they say this is not the best way for my child to learn, it's very easy for students and families to drop off.

And I'm very worried about what that looks like and there's just too many questions at this time, but that's why we need to make it a priority and bring this up.

- Are you working with law enforcement?

Because according to state law, children have to be registered somewhere, whether or not they're homeschooled or in a parochial school, they have to file paperwork.

So wouldn't somebody be responsible for those missing children?

- We are not working with police, but we are working with the Department of Child Safety and the governor's office.

There is good state agency collaboration of working to make this a priority and working to problem solve together.

But I think the challenge is at the state level.

Trying to identify and locate 65,000 students is really large a task, which I think we could have more success supporting the local efforts and we're in the process of reaching out to school counselors to ask clarifying what trends are you seeing, where are these children going or how are they being served at home?

And actually there's very low accountability for students who are being homeschooled.

So there is aa statewide trends of students who are participating in homeschooling.

- Superintendent last week the governor said that he would like children back in school as quickly as possible.

How feasible is that at this point?

- Well, first of all, I'd like to say that I share that goal.

I want more than anything for our children to be back in the classroom.

Right now community spread of COVID-19 is very high in Arizona.

I've read reports from researchers that it's as high as one in 10 Arizona's that currently are COVID-19.

When we look across the metrics that the Arizona department of health services set for our schools, that measure community spread, we are in the red for all three metrics for every single County in the state and our teachers are very aware of this.

They're aware that our hospital capacity or even have already implemented their surge plans.

They worry about will they even have the ability to get the care they need if they get sick.

- Here we are late January, I mean it's very possible that students may not return to the traditional classroom since then for the entire remainder of the school year.

Is that what you're preparing for?

- There are parts of the state where COVID-19 cases are extremely high and having community spread directly impacts our schools because if you have teachers or staff sick, we don't have adequate subs or other people who can step in to fill those positions, and we're talking about the supervision of children.

We can't just have somebody step in and fill that position.

We wanna have our teachers there, and so it is a staffing issue when people are sick or if they're exposed and they need to be in quarantine, it does become graphing issue.

And so I, again I am completely devastated and heartbroken at the idea of having so many schools in distance learnings through the end of this school year.

I know our educators and school leaders are going above and beyond to reach them virtually and just serve them, to make sure that their nutritional needs and social emotional needs are met from a distance.

And I know that's extremely challenging, but I'm just, I know how hard everyone is working to continue those supports for our students and families - State superintendent, Kathy Hoffman, thank you.

- Thank you.

(piano music) - This week marked the beginning of the Biden administration.

President Biden took his oath of office at the US Capitol where only weeks earlier, Trump supporters led an insurrection that put the nation on edge.

With increased security, events on Wednesday remained peaceful.

Shortly after his swearing in, the president called on Americans to unite and acknowledged the partisan divides that still exist.

For analysis on just how the message resonates with the political landscape in Arizona, we spoke to University of Arizona, political scientist Samara Klar a day after the inauguration.

Thankfully there was not the chaos at the Capitol that many had anticipated, but Arizona is in the spotlight yet again here, of course as we prepare for a Senate race in the next two years what is your read on the political landscape?

- Well, I mean, it's like from one thing to the next.

We don't really get any downtime, do we?

And I think yesterday, the inauguration in terms of sort of calming partisan tensions, I think it really went as well as it possibly could have.

And that's a good thing I think for state elections around the country because we saw yesterday, you know, Republicans and Democrats largely, you know, interacting warmly.

Mike Pence, showing up to support Joe Biden.

Roy Blunt and Amy Klobuchar are the two senators in charge of the whole event working together.

So, you know that's all good, that's all good stuff, and I think we're seeing a little more unity than we have seen in recent months.

Hopefully it'll ease a lot of political tensions here in Arizona and around the country - It remains to be seen though, there are a couple federal law makers from Arizona who are already expressing dismay with President Biden's policies.

Will that cast a shadow here as we approached the 100 days of the presidency?

- Well, Biden has already showed that he is really hitting the ground running, signing 17 executive orders yesterday, I believe it was.

And of course we've already seen vocal opposition from some high prominent Republicans including some here in Arizona.

Now we're gonna have to see what happens over the next two years.

I think that people are exhausted.

Voters are pretty exhausted from all of the really intense campaigning.

We got it here in Arizona, as bad as anybody.

We were a swing state in 2020, we've had two very (mumbles) profile Senate races over the last, you know two years.

So I think people are ready to just kinda calm down a little, take a break and then we'll see how candidates decide to approach the election as the next few years approach.

- I'm so glad you brought that up.

I mean the Senate race is not that far off.

So will Arizona get the same attention that it did given that it has become a battleground state?

- Well, I mean, given how close things are in the Senate, the Senate is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.

We saw how much attention was given to the state of Georgia, given that the winners of that Senate race really determined who holds the balance of power in the Senate.

Arizona is gonna be in that position in two years.

So I think we're going to see huge get out to vote efforts from both sides just as we saw recently, and I don't, you know I don't think we can expect that to calm down at all, just given how close things are in the Senate.

Both parties really, really want this win.

- But what is your read on how closely aligned Republicans in Arizona will be and Democrats because it would be fair to say there was a bit of a shuffle this year.

- Well, you know we did a lot of pulling among Arizona's to the Arizona policy lab at the University of Arizona.

One thing we found is that Republicans in Arizona are largely equate ideologically moderate and they view themselves a little bit out of step with Republican nationally.

So what I mean by that is we found that a large percentage of Republicans in Arizona say they're moderate, and they say that national liberal Republicans are actually quite conservative.

Now I think that's actually why Mark Kelly did so well in 2020, why he won because he was seen as much more moderate than Martha McSally, and I think it's actually really gonna benefit the Republicans to appeal to that moderate, you know the moderate ideology that's so many Arizona voters here say they have.

Now reasonably, that's not what we've seen.

We've seen, you know censorship of Cindy McCain.

Actions like that really don't appeal to most moderate Republicans and Arizona voters, not only Republicans, Democrats also really view themselves as pretty centrist when it comes to politics.

- Okay, that'll pave the way for an interesting Senate race ahead.

- All right, Professor Klar - Absolutely.

- Thank you for your time.

- Thank you, Lorraine.

(piano music) - Pima county's long-time County administrator will have another four years on the job.

This week, the board of supervisors voted to extend the contract of County administrator, Chuck huckleberry.

It's what he asked for at the board's first meeting of the year, along with a pay raise.

Instead, the board opted to give a pay cut from over $300,000 to $292,000 a year.

The vote came down on party lines with a lone Republican, Steve Christie casting the sole no vote.

Three of the five supervisors are new to the board, elected to their seats in November, including district two's Matt Heinz whose yes vote came with some reservations which we discuss with a new supervisor.

- Whenever there's a negotiation like this, if you get to a compromise, that usually means that everybody's given a little bit, right?

So I was, had some concerns about the length of the contract but the reason I thought it made sense to move ahead was I believe that we were hearing the County employees and the public and doing what they asked us to and acknowledging that right now is not a really good time, for example to give the highest paid County employee a raise.

And so we made sure that we did not do that and I felt very good about that part of the contract.

- Have you at all heard from any constituents who are disappointed with your recent vote.

- I've heard, I've heard some that are, you know not not pleased with the length of that term, as I mentioned, but the several emails I've seen specifically pointed out that decreasing some of those contract benefits, the severance period as I mentioned and also decreasing his pay by $10,000 instead of increasing it by $14,000 really was that acknowledgement that I think members of the community and especially County employees were looking for from the board.

- Your experience is unique because you are a physician and because you are a supervisor, this week a judge ruled that Pima county's curfew with regard to COVID-19 should be on hold temporarily.

As we know, the vaccine is rolling out this week.

What insight are you offering the board as this moves forward?

That is actually one of the main reasons that I ran for this position.

I was looking forward to bringing my healthcare expertise, that medical background that I have and to share that with the other board members, especially regarding pandemic response.

I'm very proud of actually how the County has set up infrastructure for vaccine administration.

Frustrating is of course the speed of the rollout due to the lack of adequate supply.

And that's something that we don't have direct control over, but it still is frustrating.

With regard to the court's ruling, I'm very concerned because I am on the front line in meeting patients with COVID and we as the County have the responsibility of implementing whatever public health measures we can to help mitigate the spread of this virus until that vaccine is adequately distributed and also until we can hopefully get better in more curative therapies.

So that is to me, very disturbing.

- There is some concern amongst people in Pima County that the County has pushed a little too far with shutting things down, like the curfew for example.

What do you say to them?

- If you would like to join me in the hospital and watch people suffocate and when there's nothing, unfortunately ultimately that we can do to help these folks, watching people die alone, or with strangers or talking to their clergy on FaceTime again and again and again to the point that nurses are quitting you know, that healthcare providers are leaving healthcare forever because of the amount of emotional stress and you know, seeing these patients go through what they go through every day.

It's, I mean I would invite anybody who wants to come with me if I can get the permission actually from my hospital to come and see this firsthand, especially other elected officials because it's not a hoax.

It's happening every day and every night.

And if people, if everyone saw what this disease does to sometimes 20 year olds.

I've had several pregnant women who luckily they survived, but it was very much touch and go for a while.

What this does to the body that we really can't stop.

I don't think anybody would argue with even a stay at home order, much less a curfew.

- Okay, Matt Heinz, Pima County supervisor, thank you.

- Thank you very much.

- Getting back to the County administrator for a deeper understanding of the authority the role possesses, we turn to Tom Volgy, former mayor of Tucson and current professor at the University of Arizona School of Government and Public Policy.

All right, describe to us what a County manager does.

- Well, virtually everything, but there are three major responsibilities that the County manager has.

One is to implement the decisions that are being made by the board of supervisors.

Secondly, to provide advice and information to the board of supervisors so that they can make decent decisions, and then thirdly, to make sure that that manager has complete oversight into all of the administration of the County.

- Longevity can be a good thing but it can also present challenges as communities evolve.

What is your take on some of the pros and cons?

- Well, the most important pro is the extent to which a County manager is committed to the community or committed to his or her professional career advancement.

And there are a lot of managers who last no longer than a couple of years in any community and they go on to bigger and higher positions of authority.

On the other hand, the longevity also means that the board of supervisors become more and more dependent on the manager for information, for expertise, for implementation issues.

So it's a double-edged sword either way.

- Your experience is unique because you served in public office and now you're a professor of political science in government, but in a community of this size, as leadership evolves, as a community evolves, what's usually best for the taxpayers?

- Well, this is my bias, but I think what's best for the taxpayers is not to have an appointed manager, whether it's County or city.

Typically responsibility should go directly to the public and the only way that can happen is if the County manager or the city manager is directly elected by the public.

You don't elect the County manager, but what you do elect is a mayor for example, who could have full responsibility for administration or a County board of supervisor that has full responsibility for administration.

That way the public can directly kick that person out of office if they don't like the person's performance.

Isolating probably the most powerful person in local government from the public by not electing them, I've never thought it was a really good idea in democracies.

All right, Tom Volgy, professor of political science and a former mayor of Tucson.

Thank you for your insight.

- Thank you.

- That's all for now.

Thanks for joining us.

To get in touch, visit us on social media or send an email to Arizona 360@azpm.org and let us know what you think.

We'll see you next week.

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