Business leaders in Greater Tucson are showing some encouraging signs of bridging the gap between griping about local government and actually making some of its decisions.

Our Phoenix counterparts learned that lesson 50 years ago when they formed a charter government committee to modernize the capital city’s procedures and encourage some of their colleagues to serve on its city council.

One of the first recruits was Barry Goldwater, a young department store heir who was elected to the council and went on to do pretty well as a Republican senator, presidential candidate and author.

More recently, Democrat Terry Goddard, a Phoenix attorney, served several terms as mayor of Phoenix before moving on to become Arizona’s attorney general.

Business involvement in non-partisan city governments has produced some fine results for Phoenix and its neighboring cities, it could benefit Tucson as well.

So it was a milestone when the heads of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, Tucson Association of Realtors, Alliance of Construction Trades, Tucson Utilities Contractors Association, and Safe and Sensible Water Committee wrote a joint letter about water on Feb. 7.

They told officials of Tucson, Pima County, Oro Valley, Marana, Sahuarita, South Tucson, the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe that business wants some seats at the table when talks on regional water planning begin, not at the end of the process.

Smaller water providers have also told the city and county they want a seat in any water discussions for eastern Pima County.

That’s a good sign, not only for the business community but for all area residents. Water decisions to shape our future shouldn’t be made in a vacuum by a few Tucson and Pima County officials and then shown to the rest of us.

Another encouraging sign came Feb. 12 when a local business delegation, led by Jack Camper, president of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, urged the Tucson City Council to step up efforts to keep the Colorado Rockies as spring training tenants for the city’s Hi Corbett Field.

If the Rockies remain here, the Arizona Diamondbacks will continue as tenants for the county’s Tucson Electric Park. That will make it easier to find a team to replace the Chicago White Sox, who also use TEP but will move to Glendale, perhaps as early as next year.

Since Goodyear officials began trying to woo the Rockies to a new stadium in Maricopa County, it has been obvious that Tucson officials, business people and all other citizens must reassure the Colorado team it is loved and wanted in the Old Pueblo.

It’s also obvious that Pima County could use some help in finding a second tenant for TEP.

The business coalition is working to help find a way Tucson can improve baseball’s most inadequate Cactus League spring training facilities for the Rockies and their farm teams.

The general concept got unanimous but unofficial approval from the mayor and council.

However, don’t be lulled into thinking everything will be fine because the Arizona Daily Star’s publisher, John Humenik, has suggested asking a cash-strapped University of Arizona to take over Hi Corbett while some legislators are trying to slash university budgets.

It won’t work to move the UA baseball team to Hi Corbett during the same months the Rockies and their minor leaguers are trying to use it.

And neither the Legislature, the UA nor the city can afford it.

Let’s hope this idea doesn’t stop any city official from focusing on the real task at hand, which is finding money to begin improving training facilities for the Rockies.

And to return to our first topic, let’s also hope involving all local governments, plus the Native American leaders, will produce an outstanding solution to our future water problems.

 E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Steve Emerine, a Tucson resident since 1960, has run Steve Emerine Strategic Public Relations since 1994. He is a former local newspaper reporter, editor and columnist and served as Pima County Assessor from 1973 to 1980. He is a regular Monday guest on the John C. Scott radio talk show, which airs from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. weekdays on The Voice KVOI 690-AM. This column appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.