Pima County Courthouse Fountain Named For Retiring Recorder

TUCSON, AZ — Outgoing Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez will have a fountain at Tucson's historic courthouse named in her honor when she retires.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in a 5-0 decision at its Tuesday meeting to name the fountain in the courtyard of the county courthouse for Rodriguez, according to a news release.

She spent 28 years serving as Pima County Recorder and kept an office at the courthouse from 1993 to 2015, before it moved to its current location in the County Public Service Center.

“You’ve been a fixture in this community and you have managed it well,” Board Chairman Ramón Valadez told Rodriguez during the meeting. “You have conducted yourself with honor and respect and always upheld the integrity of our elections.”

During her long tenure in public office, Rodriguez helped to modernize the recorder's office with digital files, and broadened local education on mail-in and early voting. In 2008, her office implemented the Permanent Early Voting List provision, which allowed any registered voter in Pima County to sign up to automatically receive vote-by-mail ballots for all elections in which they are eligible to vote.

Through an aggressive media campaign called Vote Safe, the county saw nearly 100,000 more registered voters and ballots cast in 2020 over the 2016 General Election, even during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rodriguez, a Tucson native, recalled admiring the courthouse as a child and told the board that having a fountain at the historic building “really touches my heart.”

Rodriguez will be replaced by political newcomer Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, who won the race for Pima County Recorder on Nov. 3. She is the first Native American woman to hold a countywide office in Pima County.