The role of the Sedona City Council:
Rulers or Representatives?

What is the role for our City Council? To rule us, or to represent us?

By Paul Chevalier

This issue should have been settled by the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence established a new form of government for us, where citizens’ rights were placed before the governmentís rights.

Almost 150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln, at Gettysburg, Penn., rewrote in his own words the promise made to the people in the Declaration of Independence. All of us memorized those words when we were children. Our government is to be a government “of the people, for the people, and by the people.”

What has happened to that social contract between local government and citizens in Sedona? What has happened to the promise government made to represent us?

In so far as possible, it has been extinguished in Sedona. Our council has taken on the role of ruler, ignoring, whenever possible, citizen rights that our founding fathers insisted were inalienable.

This harsh judgment of our council is not made lightly. It is supported by numerous undemocratic decisions made by the majority of our existing City Council members. Here are three examples of those appalling decisions:

1). The majority of the members of this council borrowed $18 million – without voter approval – through a bond, mainly to build an unwanted and unnecessary sewer connection.

The city government does not know how to pay this $18 million back without raising our taxes. This council has (unnecessarily) financially damaged the people of Sedona, especially citizens on fixed income. If these council members had more respect for us, and were less narcissistic, they would have wanted the electorate to vote on this bond issue. The benefit of any public vote is that more vital information would surface, and, therefore, it is likely that sounder decisions would be made.

2). The majority of this council is pursuing having ADOT place 76 (or more) 30-foot-high light poles along 89A, in West Sedonaís business district. Why? Because years ago, three people in the proximity of a neighborhood bar were run over at night; one was lying in the road when it happened.

The bar across from Circle K is long gone, and there have been no more accidents at night anywhere near that area. It does not take a brain surgeon to figure out the real cause of those night accidents.

The majority of the people of Sedona vehemently oppose these lights. Seven hundred people signed petitions in protest. A study, prepared by a citizen committee hand-picked by the city government, also said ìNOì to the street lights. Residents have filled the council chambers at numerous council meetings and dozens of residents have spoken or tried to speak in opposition to these street lights.

Public support for the these lights has been low, and so the majority of the council talks about its supporters as being a silent majority. That is a ridiculous statement.

Center medians are the best safety improvement we could make in the West Sedona area if we really want to address safety. Center medians inhibit accidents, both during the day (when almost all occur), as well as at night.

Understandably, our council recognizes that it does not have the money to build center medians now.

We accept that. That does not mean – just to do something – that street lights should be put up.

There is pitiful, little evidence to support the safety value of street lights. The additional fact that the majority of the residents of Sedona vehemently oppose these street lights is also irrelevant to most of this council.

Any council member who believes that his job is to represent the people, would have listened to the majority of the people and voted against the street lights. Only two council members did show us that respect: Mayor Rob Adams and Councilman Cliff Hamilton.

But John Bradshaw, Nancy Scagnelli, Pud Colquitt, and Dan Surber did not accept the overwhelming evidence of the peopleís opinion. Instead, they invented a silent majority as a justification for their votes.

These were two bad decisions that took away our rights, but the worst decision was still to come.

3). The most egregious of all the council decisions was made just two months ago, when council members Bradshaw, Colquitt, Scagnelli, and Surber refused to allow the people of Sedona to choose the replacement for the remaining two years of retiring council member Marc Sterlingís term, in 2010.

Instead, these four council members will pick a kindred spirit to fill this seat (without a vote by local citizens). You can be sure they will pick a person who will agree with these four council members, who will support their views on the issues, and who will support their governing philosophy for the next three years.

It is rumored that Bradshaw will give up his council seat in December 2009, to run for mayor in 2010. If this happens, then, no doubt, the council, once again, will deny us the right to vote for the replacement of his council seat in 2010.

They will pick the person who will agree with them.

At that point, the present majority in the council will only have to win two seats in 2010, in order to continue controlling the council until mid-2012. As a result, only two of the four people in control of our government will have been elected by the people. 

The most sacred democratic principle of our government is the right of the people to choose their own representatives. This council is taking that right away. This to me is the last straw. They have to be stopped. We have a chance to stop them in 2010.

In 2010, we need to elect at least three people to the council who believe in democracy. We need candidates who will support a code of conduct that acknowledges the rights of the residents of Sedona.

The code of conduct must include a commitment from council candidates to seek out and follow the will of the majority of our residents on all important community issues.

Our important community issues include support for the National Scenic Area, an alternative route, and the issue of street lights on Hwy. 89A. Such important community issues should rightfully be decided by the majority of the people of Sedona and then, once decided by the citizens, the councilís job should, rightfully be, to implement the majorityís decision.

The council members who oppose letting the majority of their constituents make the important community decisions, argue that the council has better information on which to make decisions than the rest of us. 

This is a weak argument. In reality, when an important issue is presented to this community, citizens with expertise or keen interest in the issue do research and present facts and studies to the council and local citizens that go far beyond any research the city government has done.

In addition, we must remember that council gets its information almost exclusively from our city staff. While staff may try to present the facts objectively, we need to also remember that the council, not the people, is the boss of the city staff. Our last city manager reversed his opposition to borrowing money for the Chapel sewer project after it became apparent that the council wanted to go forward with the project.

Some issues are so important to our community that no handful of council members should make the final decisions for us. This is our city – we have equal rights. Any candidate that does not agree to this principle is too self-involved and narcissistic to represent us. We should not trust any council member who distrusts us.

In our next election, letís carefully question the candidates and accept only straight and clear answers. Letís only vote for those who believe in the rights of the people to make the decisions on important community issues. 

We have been disappointed too often in the past by pleasant-sounding candidates who make vague promises. This time, letís only vote for people who clearly commit that on important issues, they will follow what our majority decides.

Articles of interest:

Red Rock Village rezoning:
Another out-of-town developer asks for way too much, offers way too little in return
By Marlene Rayner

Thinking About Sedona
Losing our right to vote
By Paul Chevalier