Community mourning loss of former GS Mayor Maier
Granite Shoals City Secretary Elaine Simpson (center) joined in the celebration with Donna and her husband former Granite Shoals Mayor Dennis Maier at a past reception for the late elected leader, who died on Aug. 8. Contributed
UPDATE: A Celebration of Life gathering for Maier is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday Aug. 15 at Grace United Methodist Church, 4007 Valley View Ln., in Granite Shoals.
By Glynis Crawford Smith
The Highlander
A modern mainstay of the City of Granite Shoals and mayor from 2011-2015, Dennis A. Maier died Tuesday night, Aug. 8.
“City council members, city staff and residents owe a debt of gratitude to Dennis A. Maier who gave generously of his energy, skill, knowledge, insight, spirit, muscle, time and any other resource he had in order to improve our community here in Granite Shoals,” said a formal notice from the city.
When Maier was elected mayor, he came to the task from five years on the city council and from service on the Planning & Zoning Commission, the Comprehensive Plan Committee and as a founding member and six years’ chairmanship of the Street and Water Advisory Group (SWAG).
Maier patiently weathered storms over infrastructure that ranged from financial struggles, a limited budget for roads, a proposal for a wastewater treatment system and the divisive questions of an Emergency Service District to share fire service costs, short-term rentals and urban deer. He proudly turned the first soil with the city’s Olympic medalist for the Leo Manzano Hike, Bike & Run Trail and went on later to serve on the Granite Shoals 50th Year Bash and Road Bond Research committees.
For all that, Maier had a professional career before the couple came to Granite Shoals as retirees in 1999. That was before their property was even annexed into the city but they were immediately involved.
Maier’s predecessor as mayor was Frank Reilly.
“I first got to know him when we were both on the Planning & Zoning Commission in about 2004, before either of us were thinking about running for anything,” said Reilly.
“Dennis was the model public servant,” he continued. “His only agenda was to make things better for our community, and he excelled in that. He led the city with calm, steady, and forward-thinking leadership.
“When he served on the city council while I was mayor, I could always count on Dennis to have thought through every combination and permutation of every issue, and to always offer positive solutions”
“He and his wife Donna have both been outstanding volunteers, whether it be stringing lights for Christmas by the Highway, pulling weeds from city hall flower beds, or serving on various city committees,” said Reilly. “He was a cherished friend, and he will be missed.”
In May 2015, when he handed the gavel over to current mayor Carl Brugger, friends gathered to wish him farewell and share their pride in his work for the city. Brugger’s first act was to present the Granite Shoals Mayor’s Award to Maier, an award Maier himself had established to recognize service to the city.
Then council member Shirley King recalled how, before Maier’s property was even annexed into the city, he attended a meeting in which the sitting mayor was reluctant to assign $250 for playground equipment.
“Dennis said he would give $20 and find others to give $20, and he wasn’t even in the city,” she said. “When he joined the Street and Water Advisory Group, he drove every 76 miles of streets several times and assembled a spreadsheet and today we have this wonderful document.”
A retired U.S. Air Force officer, Maier and his wife Donna, long-time chairwoman of the Beautification Advisory Group, are the parents of two adult children.
