Jan. 5—Charles Crismon is credited as one of the four Mormon founders of Mesa so it’s fitting that his descendant will now lead Arizona’s third largest city as its 41st mayor.Mark Freeman will take his oath of office Jan. 7 and arrives with a list of priorities. He previously represented the District 1 council seat in Northwest Mesa for the past eight years.And he’s starting his new job with some pretty firm ideas of where he wants to help lead the city.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”I’m going to still continue with the Mesa College Promise,” said Freeman in his signature look — wearing a cowboy hat. He owns eight. “That is a great program and the reason is I believe education is the foundation of every community.”The program, which financially helps low-income, qualifying high school graduates and adults living in Mesa by paying for two years of community college, was launched by his predecessor John Giles, who left office due to term limits.Freeman said he’s had conversations with Dr. Chad Wilson, superintendent of East Valley Institute of Technology, about increasing internship opportunities in the community for students.”One of the things I’m going to continue to work with is our education leaders in creating those internships and pipelines and career- building programs,” he said.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”We’ve got tech companies, we’ve got transport companies, we have aerospace companies and we have constructions companies within Mesa. They’re all looking for employees.”More affordable housing — or what Freeman likes to call “attainable housing” for the city’s workforce — is also on his agenda as well as building “resiliency in our neighborhoods,” public safety and water.”We have great pu …
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