Ribbon Cutting for District 4 Public Safety Building

April 17, 2026

GRIN Staff

Gila River Indian Community held a ceremonial opening for the new public safety building in District 4 on April 7. The event began with the posting of colors by the Public Safety color guard, followed by a blessing from Pastor Lee Miguel, District 4.

Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis addressed the crowd and recognized tribal leadership visiting with a group of attendees from the Tribal Self-Governance Conference. Gila River Community Council Reps. Ann Lucas, Jeanette Blasingim, Nada Celaya, Lalena Jackson, and Leah Williams were also in attendance along with special guests from the U.S. Department of Interior and Congressman Greg Stanton.

The construction for the building has been in the works for the past two years in partnership with CORE Construction, DWL Architects & Planners Inc., and the Titan Group.

“These partners have been with us from the very first project and have brought together our request for cultural incorporation, state of the art features, LED designation and space efficiency,” said Community Council Rep. Ann Lucas (District 2), vice-chair of the Owner’s Team.

“On behalf of the Council and the Owner’s Team, I want to thank our partners for bringing our vision to life and creating this space for emergency responders. As with all of our accomplishments, it takes all of us to work together; but first and foremost, the idea came from the Community. And through our use of the self-determination act, our government is now able to listen to our members,” Lucas said.

The building was funded by utilizing section 105(l) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and will house personnel from the Gila River Police Department, Fire Department, and Emergency Management Services.

Gov. Lewis stated, “By combining our emergency responders in this location, we will cut down on emergency response times for members of our Community who need immediate assistance; sometimes life and death calls.”

He added that the facility is critical to ensuring that emergency responders can be available throughout the Community, which is 372,000 acres, in the event of an emergency.

“It’s not an overstatement to say that this facility can save lives,” Gov. Lewis said. “What has made the self-determination act so successful is that it isn’t stagnant; the act allowed for growth and innovation in meeting our tribal programmatic needs and infrastructure needs.”

It was through the section 105(l) that the Community piloted the very first construction project with the department of interior – the Gila Crossing Community School which was opened in 2019, replacing and old school campus that was over 100 years old. Since then, the Community continued to utilize the section 105(l) with the construction of the Casa Blanca Community School in 2021 and the Gila River Police Department in 2024.

“They’re designed by the Community for the Community’s needs,” said Gov. Lewis. “Taking into account our culture and history, and they’re designed to meet the needs of our tribal government today.”

In some cases, the federal government can take seven years from approval to design to construction to open a facility, but as a sovereign nation the Gila River Indian Community has been able to construct four building in seven years.