One of the nation’s leading publications for the public sector has named Mayor Greg Stanton one of its public officials of the year. Stanton is the only mayor among the officials from across the country GOVERNING honored as the most outstanding leaders in state and local government. 

Greg Stanton is the first Arizona mayor to receive this recognition. GOVERNING cited Stanton’s success in strengthening Phoenix’s economy after the Great Recession, as well as his steady leadership on making the City more sustainable and investing in transportation infrastructure. 

“Not only has the city unemployment rate steadily declined,” GOVERNING noted, “but in the past year the Phoenix metro area saw the highest year-over-year wage growth in the nation. Tech jobs increased more than 18 percent and the number of tech companies downtown has quadrupled.”

GOVERNING recognized Stanton’s push to make Phoenix more sustainable after critics labeled it “the world’s least sustainable city” just before he took office. Under Stanton, Phoenix has cut its greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent, is replacing its 90,000 energy-wasting streetlights with LED bulbs, and is “making municipal buildings more energy efficient and converting more of the methane released from city landfills into electricity.” 

“Earlier this year, when President Trump announced that the federal government would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, Stanton was one of the first mayors in the country to announce that his city would keep its commitments to cutting back on energy use and air pollution,” GOVERNING wrote.

GOVERNING is a national publication that provides independent, nonpartisan coverage of state and local government. Each year since 1994, the Public Officials of the Year program has recognized leaders from state, city and county government who exemplify the ideals of public service.

The other honorees for this year are Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe; Kansas Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning and House Minority Leader Jim Ward; Broward County, Fla., Administrator Bertha Henry; California Government Operations Secretary Marybel Batjer; Oakland County, Mich., Chief Information Officer Phil Bertolini; Cook County, Ill., Sheriff Tom Dart; and Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana Wen.

Past mayors to receive the honor include Michael Hancock of Denver, Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans and Michael Nutter of Philadelphia.

Stanton and the other honorees will be recognized at a dinner in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 30.

Stanton’s full profile is available at http://www.governing.com/poy.

 

Learn more about Phoenix’s progress during Stanton’s time in office: https://www.phoenix.gov/mayorsite/Pages/accomplishments.aspx