Jamie Ramsey has thrown her hat in the ring for Kearny’s Mayor.

  Hello fellow Town of Kearny resident. I want to take a moment of your time to introduce myself and announce my candidacy for Mayor. 

  I was born at the Kennecott hospital in Kearny, as Jamie McGuire. I grew up in Kearny, riding the bike trails, playing basketball at the park, attending Sunday school, riding my horses, swimming at the pool, playing saxophone in band, and learning leadership in R.O.T.C. I graduated with honors as a Bearcat from Ray High. 

  Following graduation, I moved to Los Angeles, California where I worked for 20th Century Fox. I also worked in Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd. for a talent management company. It was fun, but I really missed home and my family here.

  I returned to Arizona and lived in the N. Phoenix/Paradise Valley area for 15 years continuing work in  feature animation – FernGully, The Last Rainforest and Anastasia to name a couple. I have experience in video game studio management and credits on Star Wars Pod Racer, ATV Offroad Fury, Splashdown and others. 

  For seven years, I had my own successful business working for a producer/venture capital investor, an architect, and a real estate attorney in Scottsdale. I established companies from the ground up, did book-keeping and public relations work. 

  In 2010, I returned to Kearny. I am married and have 2 sons, Clay and Roger. Every day I enjoy coffee with my parents before I go to work. That is one of the things I treasure about living in the town. My family and my in-laws reside here in Kearny. My children spent a lot of time here with their grandmas. Children have freedom here to do things many children in the city do not have the opportunity to do. I have found that we 

have a little bit of paradise here.  

  I am a Certified Public Manager through ASU. The program builds effective public managers and prepares you for public service. It required 300 hours of structured learning in a classroom setting. I am continuing working on my BA in mass communications and media through ASU. 

  For my day job, I am a budget manager for the state’s second largest “rehabilitation and re-entry” facilities in Florence. I am responsible for 15 million dollars and how it is spent. The facilities are like small enclosed cities, housing 11,000 men with 2,600 employees. I have been responsible for managing all cost centers ensuring we have funding for infrastructure, emergencies and daily operations.

  Since returning, I have gotten involved in the community. I am a Commissioner on the town’s planning and zoning, approving upgrades to town properties. I am the treasure for the Copper Basin Chamber of Commerce. I was on the entertainment committee for the 60th Pioneer Days and revived the Art Show with the help of our members. It was a great Pioneer Days. 

  This October, I will be a certified grant writer through ASU. I hope to be able to acquire funding for our Chamber of Commerce and our town through grants. The Town of Kearny currently hires a grant writer. 

  My interests are in building up our town. This place needs to be sustainable for future generations. I would like to bring back a sense of community by improving our parks so we can enjoy activities like Movies After Dark, Music in the Park and Holiday Events. I want a sense of family in our town. We are all one big family and we have our reasons why we love it here. Things have become run down. For too long, too little has been done. The same people are elected, over and over, and nothing changes. We have lost the small town community feeling that existed during our childhoods. Together, we can bring that feeling back. We need solid leadership and direction. As your Mayor, I will represent you and will fight to make the improvements we all want. 

  The lake improvement is high on my list and I will give it my best concentrated effort. We need to fix it. We have a beautiful golf course that needs some TLC. I will look for ways to keep it and fund it. We have trails for Jeep tours and hiking in our amazing mountains. Just look at our views! We have so much here.

  We not only need funding to make improvements to our water lines, our waste water treatment plant, keep our sewer lines clean, pave our streets, repair and maintain town vehicles, support our emergency services and improve community blight, but we need someone that will make sure it gets done. As your Mayor, I can assure you it will get done. 

  As a published writer, I can promote our community and events. Through my experience writing, public relations and utilizing social media, I will be able to help build and develop our town’s economy. We need people to come here and to bring business with them. It is important for the survival of our community. I will make upgrades to our town’s website. I will promote through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You will get regular updates on town business from me. 

  This town has a lot to offer. I see all the possibilities. There is a lot to do here. I love it here and want to make it a place that everyone else loves just as much as I do. This is home and it is *Time for Change*.

  I know that on Aug. 4, the good people of this town will make the best choice for our community. I have faith in you and am asking for you to put faith in me. I won’t let us down. 

  Please visit my Facebook page, Jamie Ramsey for Mayor, my LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamieramsey/, and my website www.jamieramseyformayor.com for more information.