Mayor Gallego speaks on recent developments in the City of Phoenix

Mayor Kate Gallego joined us to discuss the recent resignation of a director of the Police Oversight Office as well as new developments intended to help the city.

During Mayor Gallego’s time in office, the City of Phoenix Council created the Police Oversight Office. The Arizona legislature then restricted the powers the office held.

In a recent letter sent to the council, a director announced his resignation due to the restriction of power from the state legislature along with an issue he found with the hiring process.

Mayor Gallego began by explaining the hiring issue was due to the council’s intentional yet “hotly debated” rule that anyone who worked for law enforcement or was closely related to someone in law enforcement was unable to be hired by the council.

She went on to explain that the former director had hired someone who had previously worked in the police department.

“We take transparency very seriously,” said Mayor Gallego. “We wanted to tell our side of the story and again commit to the fact that we do want a very strong office in place within the parameters of state law.”

Also this week, Mayor Gallego made an announcement regarding improvements to the city. She announced the council made a unanimous agreement to invest $300 million in “the most advanced water treatment technology.” Operations will begin in 2026.

She also announced a new microplastic factory that will repurpose plastic waste.

“This is the first-of-its-kind partnership anywhere in the world,” said Mayor Gallego.