It’s been a long time coming, but the Town and Fountain Hills Unified School District had their first joint meeting in many years last week, bringing together two of the biggest entities in Fountain Hills for a joining of the minds.

In an hour and a half session, the district’s Governing Board and the Town Council went over everything from the use of unoccupied district-owned land to competition in education, enrollment, the evolving EVIT campus, State Land development and more.

While sharing information about these ongoing projects, concerns and opportunities, the two entities offered ideas and support back and forth across the table. It became clear that both entities have blind spots concerning the operations and procedures of the other, and meetings like this help fill in those gaps while building a stronger sense of community between the two.

The big takeaway from this meeting was that both entities are working toward a common goal: drawing more residents, families and businesses to Fountain Hills so that the community may continue to thrive. Since town government and the local school system are two of the top factors folks look at when deciding to move to (or remain in) a new town, we appreciate this renewed interest in those very local groups keeping each other informed and involved.

Even better is the fact that both groups appear genuinely interest in strengthening that relationship, with talks already in the works for the next joint meeting and potential additional reports/updates being presented at their respective regular meetings.

Both FHUSD and the Town have talked for years about creating a stronger community that moves forward in unison. Meetings like this help make that nice sentiment a reality.