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Safford mayor sued over $100M office project

SAFFORD — The mayor intentionally interfered with a $100 million development project to protect his own real estate interests in downtown Safford, a recent lawsuit claims.

The 15-page complaint in Graham County Superior Court is the hot-button issue in Safford, a mining community at the foot of the towering Pinaleno Mountains southeast of Tucson.

Here, in this tiny community of 9,000 residents, the lawsuit from one mayor to another over what could arguably be the city’s most modern projects is the talk of the town – unless you’re one of the people involved.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Van Talley, a former Safford mayor who is now a consultant for developers. Officials from Phoenix-based Exeter Development had hired him to help shepherd their 325,000-square-foot office park project through City Hall processes and garner community approval.

The proposed project, called Safford Commerce Park, has an estimated value of $100 million and
an area of 27 acres, according to the complaint.

Exeter president John Wilmot hired Talley in March 2007 as a consultant. He agreed to pay him more than $360,000 over a two-year period to build rapport with City Hall officials and residents that would favor the project, the complaint states.

Over the next several months, Talley went to work. Ideas he tossed out included offering City Hall, the main post office, the police department and international mining outfit Freeport-McMoRan (formerly Phelps Dodge) a chance to lease and/or purchase office space in the park, according to the complaint.

That’s when Safford’s current mayor, Ronald M. Green, went on the attack, the complaint states. Green, who owns large swaths of property in Downtown Safford, spent the next several months lobbying against the project before declaring publicly that he had a conflict-of-interest.

The complaint alleges that he met with all of the same parties that Talley did. During those talks, it says, Green allegedly accused Talley of brokering an illegal deal. The complaint claims he went so far as to threaten city officials and publish damaging statements in his occasional column in the Eastern Arizona Courier newspaper.

He also urged the newspaper to fire its editor, Aimee Staton, the complaint says. His brother, Tom Green, allegedly visited the offices and threatened physical harm – even going so far as to reference Don Bolles, a reporter for The Arizona Republic who was killed in a 1976 car-bombing incident in retaliation for his investigations into real estate developments.

The lawsuit from Van Talley comes almost four months after Exeter terminated his consulting contract over the controversy, and three months after $4.3 million in claims were filed against Green, who declined comment at the Courier’s request.

Tucson lawyer James Stuehringer is representing Talley and is seeking an punitive and compensatory damages.