Former state senator to challenge Glendale mayor in 2024

A former Arizona state senator plans to challenge incumbent Jerry Weiers, who has served as Glendale’s mayor for the last 10 years, for the seat in 2024.

Paul Boyer served in the Arizona Senate for four years. He did not seek reelection in 2022. Boyer announced in February that he would run for the mayor’s seat, listing several issues with Glendale’s leadership.

Boyer, who has also worked as a teacher in Phoenix, said he had no plans to run for anything after deciding not to seek reelection, but said people had been asking him to run for mayor.

Firefighter compensation claims

One of Boyer’s main concerns with Glendale came up with legislation he worked on while in the Senate. In 2017, Boyer sponsored a measure that added a host of diseases to those presumed to be occupational-related diseases and cancers for firefighters that would be covered in a workers' compensation claim. However, the claims filed by afflicted firefighters were required to be reviewed by a third party, leading to denial of claims from firefighters around the Valley, including notable cases in Glendale.

Kevin Thompson, a captain in the Glendale Fire Department, was denied his claim for coverage of multiple myeloma, one of the presumed occupational-related cancers in 2019 when it was reviewed by the third-party administrator at the Industrial Commission of Arizona. After pressure from Boyer and other groups, Glendale reversed the decision and opted to cover Thompson’s treatment, overriding the decision of the third-party administrator.

Mark Fowl, a firefighter with the Glendale Fire Department, died of brain cancer in 2022, and had also had his claims denied by the city, Boyer said.

“I saw the way Glendale was treating their own employees and I thought it was egregious,” Boyer said.

Weiers said in those instances Glendale was doing the best it could while still following the law, which he said required that the cities get a third-party opinion on the claims.

“It had to get dealt with, but there were procedures that we had to follow, and we did that very thing,” Weiers said of Thompson’s case, which he said was “very sad.”

Weiers said Boyer wasn’t responsive to issues that the city brought to him when he was a legislator, but said Boyer expected the city to stop everything they were doing when an issue was important to him.

“We’ve addressed every issue Mr. Boyer has ever brought up,” Weiers said. “That’s not to say it can’t get better, but we have addressed them.”

Glendale has worked to get extra sets of gear, called turnouts, for firefighters, Weiers said, which was something the department had requested. However, research has also shown that synthetic materials in the gear could also be carcinogenic.

“When a scientist comes up with a better idea for how to protect our firefighters, we will do it,” he said.

Transparency and public input

Boyer said the city also needs to take residents’ opinions and input into account. He pointed at the shuttered Glen Lakes Golf Course, which the city chose to sell and demolish, despite the city’s planning commission recommending against it, and massive public input asking the city to keep it.

Boyer said the city failed to look at other solutions for the course that could have been more palatable for the public, but instead chose to have it demolished and redeveloped into housing.

“Not a single resident said to get rid of Glen Lakes,” he said.

Other Glendale land sales, and the lack of transparency in the process, even for councilmembers, have also drawn concern. Boyer said often those deals are handled by the city manager up until they need council approval, so the negotiation and early decision-making are done out of the public view.

Boyer said his reputation in the Legislature as someone who challenges members of his own party will serve him well in the nonpartisan role of mayor.

“I’ve established a reputation for bucking my own party and being independent,” he said. “Supporting good policy regardless of whose name is on it.”

Leaning into a reputation

For Weiers, who also served in the Arizona Legislature before becoming mayor, homelessness, public safety and transportation remain the top issues he hears about from Glendale residents.

He pointed at a program he pitched, Glendale Works, as a successful step in helping those experiencing homelessness find work doing beautification and other projects for the city in exchange for meals and daily payment. The program has been replicated in other cities, including Phoenix and Scottsdale.

“This is an obligation that should also be borne by the federal government, the state, the county, but we recognize that we have to do our part as a city,” Weiers said.

Glendale will likely have to consider going out for a bond election soon, Weiers said, as transportation projects have used much of the available funding. Weiers pointed at street maintenance as a point of success for his administration because streets needed upkeep when he took office, he said.

Other successes, he said, were navigating the city, which fared worse than any other Arizona city in the Great Recession, back to financial stability. He said the city had a major budget deficit when he took over and 35% employee turnover, both of which have been addressed and turned around.

“It’s all about what’s most important to the city, I have to do what I believe in my heart is in the best interest of the city, and that’s something I don’t see Mr. Boyer as capable of,” Weiers said.

Glendale City Clerk Julie Bower said those interested in running for mayor or council in 2024 can form a candidate committee, file a candidate statement of interest and gather signatures at any time. Candidates must file their nomination paperwork with the clerk’s office March 9, 2024, through April 8, 2024, to become an official candidate and have their name appear on the ballot.

Reach the reporter at cvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @CorinaVanek.