Mayor Linda Kavanagh ended her tenure in the Fountain Hills political spotlight overseeing her final Town Council session as mayor on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

She took office six and a half years ago in June 2012, and was re-elected to the seat two more times. She chose not to run for re-election this year.

Prior to her run for mayor Kavanagh served on the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and was chairman. She said she became quite frustrated in trying to work with the town on issues in support of small business. At the urging of her husband, State Representative John Kavanagh, she decided to run for Town Council in an attempt to implement change from within. She said former Mayor Jerry Miles went further and encouraged her to run for mayor.

In her first race she faced off against Dwight Johnson, who dropped out before the election. In 2016 she was challenged by now Mayor-elect Ginny Dickey as a write-in candidate.

While Kavanagh stresses she is unwilling to take any credit for positive accomplishments during her time in office, the past six years might be generally viewed as productive at Town Hall.

Her small business initiatives led to a re-vamping of the town’s sign regulations within the Zoning Ordinance to allow greater flexibility in the use of A-frame signs, and she worked to make it easy for restaurants to set up outdoor seating, as well allow for pet-friendly access if the restaurant owner wished to do so.

Another of her objectives was to see development in the downtown, which is being realized with the Park Place multi-use complex.

Kavanagh said one of the first calls she received after taking office was from Jeremy Hall, then president of MCO Properties, and he wanted to get together to discuss the development of the Adero Canyon property in the foothills of the McDowells in western Fountain Hills.

Hall was looking to the town for changes to original platting to allow for construction of other than the custom homes, which had been the mainstay for MCO, but market changes had greatly reduced the demand for custom home lots.

Working with MCO and now Toll Brothers Homes, which has taken over the development, the town was able to move forward with the development of the Adero Canyon Trailhead, giving hikers and bikers access to the Fountain Hills McDowell Mountain Preserve. Plans for the trailhead lay dormant for more than a decade until the public access could be worked out.

That trailhead was just dedicated.

Another project Kavanagh supported has moved slowly through the process in the relocation of the town’s Fire Station #2 to a new site. The objective is to improve emergency response times to the western part of Fountain Hills as well as better balance the call load between the two fire stations.

“This [relocation] has been needed for a long time,” Kavanagh said. “The renovation of Fire Station #1 was also a significant need.

“To me, public safety is a priority for government.”

A few things still on Kavanagh’s list as she leaves office, which were inaugurated during her time, are continued upgrades that improve the water quality in Fountain Lake and enhance operations of the Fountain.

The town is also moving forward with long-needed improvements at Four Peaks Park where the first phase of getting new playground equipment will happen this fiscal year.

“We want people to really enjoy whatever activities they want, so these upgrades are really needed,” Kavanagh said. “Staff has done an awesome job finding the funding to get it done.”

Kavanagh continues to defer to staff and fellow council members in helping with accomplishments.

“I don’t take credit for any of this,” she said. “The last two years have been one of the best councils we have worked with.

“Nothing happens without a team to work with. There are things the mayor can’t do on their own.”

Kavanagh has no set plans moving forward, but don’t expect her to sit around too much. Her husband has retired from teaching, so they will spend more time together with grandkids, now mostly in the Valley and volunteering.

“I’m not the type to sit back and do nothing,” Kavanagh said. “But I don’t see public office again anytime soon.”