A two hour Sedona City Council Election Forum was held at the Sedona Public Library on the evening of July 19, 2016, and sponsored by the League of Women Voters Greater Verde Valley and the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau.
Sedona AZ (July 21, 2016) – On this past Tuesday evening of July 19, 2016, the League of Women Voters Greater Verde Valley (LWVGVV) and the Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau hosted a live feed Sedona City Council Election Forum on Facebook (you can use the hash tag #LWVGVVFORUMS to search Google, Facebook & Twitter for posts related to the forum, or by clicking the Facebook icon on the bottom of Chamber’s website) with thanks to PR Manager Kegn Moorcroft for filming. The video will remain on the Facebook page until the day of the election.
Mary Chicoine was the evenings moderator and she opened with what the LWVGVV is all about; “The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization. Our mission is to encourage informed and active participation in government, work to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influence public policy through education and advocacy.” The organization neither support nor oppose any candidate or political party. This forum was for City of Sedona City Council Candidates up for election, but the Mayor didn’t participate, as she is unopposed.
Our current mayor Sandy Moriarty was in attendance, as well as sitting Councilors Jon Thompson and Scott Jablow, but merely as spectators to the forum. All six of the candidates were arranged at the table from left to right in this order: Tom Lamkin, Joe Vernier, Jessica Williamson, John Currivan, John Martinez, and Gerhard Mayer. The purpose of the Election Forum was to freely inform and to educate ourselves on who is running to manage our local government.
Once again Gerhard Mayer and Tom Lamkin are vying for the two-year council seat, and John Currivan, Joe Vernier, Jessica Williamson, and John Martinez are all campaigning for the three available four-year council seats. Mayor Sandy Moriarty is running uncontested which means she will assume another two-year mayoral seat automatically.
LWVGVV Sedona Election Forum candidates L to R: Tom Lamkin, Joe Vernier, Jessica Williamson, John Currivan, John Martinez and Gerhard Mayer
Each candidate was provided the opportunity to introduce themselves with a two-minute opening statement, where they were asked to address their reason for running, their qualifications, and what they see as the biggest challenge facing Sedona and how they would resolve it.
Tom Lamkin: “Hello, my name is Tom Lamkin, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight. My goal is to hear what you have to say, and not what I have to say so much, but I want to know what your concerns are regarding Sedona, and I’ll do the best I can to address those. Just over four months ago I stepped forward to serve Sedona by asking Council for a chance to interview for the seat vacated by Angela LeFevre. There were others who also stepped forward to be considered, Mike Ward former Sedona City Councilor, Gerhard Mayer from Planning & Zoning also volunteered to be considered. After each of us had interviewed, the council debated whom to appoint to the position. My preparation must have impressed council, who after some discussion decided to appoint me as the interim councilor. I’d like to thank Mayor Moriarty, Councilor Thompson and Councilor Williamson for their votes that put me, Tom Lamkin, on the city council over the last four months. I’ve learned a great deal from the other councilors as well including Councilor Jablow and Councilor Martinez who welcomed me and provided guidance. My greatest challenge I found though in assuming the position wasn’t getting up to speed on the issues but rather developing my own personal philosophy of government. I had to decide how I would govern, and which principles I would follow. I’d like to thank past Vice Mayor Mark DiNunzio for that advice. I don’t mean to imply that our philosophies are the same, but I thankfully only learned that it’s better to question and to understand than it is to assume. My own philosophy is one based upon gathering information and input from all sources, including the citizen’s of Sedona. I support the principles that provide for fiscal responsibility and governing without becoming overly intrusive. I want to focus on the most important issues that have the most impact on citizens while keeping within their will. I ask that you consider me, Tom Lamkin, as your candidate of choice and vote for me to be your Councilor for the next two years, thank you.”
Joe Vernier: “Hello everybody, and I’d like to echo Councilor Lamkin’s appreciation for the League of Women Voters and The Chamber of Commerce for putting this forum together, and I’d also like to say thank you to all who are interested enough to come out here and hear from the candidates and our desire to serve you as the citizens here in Sedona. My name is Joe Vernier, I originally came here in 1999 and served as the Police Chief and retired from my job as a Police Chief in 2010. I wasn’t very successful at it at the time because Allen Everett the Mayor who hired me, initially, asked me to be his Deputy at the state liquor department, so I went and worked down in Phoenix for about five years. But I love this community, the people here, everything about Sedona, so much, that I couldn’t keep myself away from here, so I cam back up here, and I have lived, worked, and played here through all those years, and the one thing I want to do is be able to come back and give back all of the blessings that Sedona and the community and the citizens here have provided for me, my family, and my life, and to me serving on council is one great way to do that. And so again I thank all of you for your time being here and I would look forward to hopefully winning your vote, and I will do everything in my power not to win your vote but to earn your vote as a Councilor to keep your support serving as a Councilor for all of the people here in Sedona. Thank you.”
Jessica Williamson: “Hi, I’m Jessica Williamson and I’m running for reelection this year for the Sedona City Council. I’ve served on there for four years and I believe I’ve made a real and positive impact on the decisions that the council has made. The council tackled a lot of items this year, and during the time I served four years, some of them are; Council lead the fight to prevent Yavapai College from selling the Sedona campus and we’ve been working with the college to establish a culinary and hospitality program, and the college has put 3.5 million aside to do that, and OLLI remains. In order to accommodate the festivals and events held at Posse Grounds and other city venues, we passed an ordinance that allows beer and wine with those events with a permit from the city. We created a citizens engagement program that allows the city manager to establish working groups of citizens to research issues and come back to us with recommendations. We use time-share in lue funds to purchase the Historic Brewer Road Ranger Station Property and begin planning for a community park. Proof the design and construction of Barbara Antonsen Park and it’s under construction. We continue to accelerate drainage projects and we approved funding for our popular splash park for kids and a bike skills park. The coming years are gonna bring additional challenges that are going to require decisive and thoughtful action by the council. The council cannot put off making important decisions about traffic. It won’t be easy and it won’t be cheap to implement the recommendations from the study that’s currently under way. I am prepared to make those decisions, the decisions that need to be made for our community to improve traffic management. I’m dedicated, practical, and effective. I love Sedona and want to continue being be a part of ensuring its bright future.”
John Currivan: “Thank you and thank you all for being here. I’m John Currivan, my wife Pat and I were married here in Sedona 20 years ago and we love Sedona. We want to protect Sedona and in order to protect Sedona I believe we need a city council that does a better job listening to the people. And we need a city council that adheres to certain core principles that I believe in and those include limited government, they include protecting our freedom of choice, they also include fiscal responsibility. Let me tell you just a little bit about my own background because it’s a bit unusual, I started out studying engineering at Cornell University on a Navy ROTC scholarship and I went on and got a couple masters degrees after that. I went into the Navy and served as a Navy Jet Pilot, which means I got to do a lot of really fun things like landing on aircraft carriers, but then the navy sent me back to Cornell for law school to get a law degree and then I served in the JAG core as a Navy JAG lawyer and also as a judge. In private practice I had 28 years of experience as a tax lawyer with a global law firm, Jones Day, doing business planning for small businesses. And here in Sedona I was three years on the Sedona planning and zoning commission. I believe that our biggest problem that we face is probably the traffic problem, and we’ve all talked about it. I believe we can actually do something about it, there’s not a simple solution but it’s going to take some leadership. We’re gonna have to think about solutions outside the city limits, we’re gonna have to get the right people together, people from the county, from the village, from the forest service, but if we do that I believe we can actually come together and solve this very difficult problem. Thank you.”
John Martinez: “Good evening everybody, I want to thank the league of women voters, I want to thank Mary, Barbara for inviting everybody, and the Chamber. This is a unique set up that we got, I actually kind of like that. Obviously I want to make this very quick because I know we all want to go home and watch the National Republican Convention going on. So I’ll see if I can get through this very quickly. Four years ago I was blessed and humbled when the City of Sedona voted me to be on the Sedona City Council, which represents the city which is the greatest and most beautiful city, in my opinion and I think a lot of other people’s opinion, in the world. When I was elected I had no prior governmental experience but I did have many many years in accounting, forty years to be exact. I worked primarily in the private sector and I knew that I could bring that work ethic and experience to Sedona to make this thing run as smoothly as possible. I believe my biggest contribution in the four years that I’ve been here is to bring to life the whole budget process that we go through. Right now we are spending more than we are bringing in revenue. So we need to figure out how to address the needs of the community versus the wants of the community. And I believe that we need to partner even greater with the Sedona Chamber of Commerce, because to quote Jennifer, in the sense that “Sedona’s primary industry is tourism, and Sedona’s economic generator is tourism, therefore Sedona’s future is directly tied to tourism”. Yes, we have traffic problems, but I come from California, and if you’ve ever been there, those are traffic problems, but we’ve got a traffic study going on and the recommendations that they’re coming up with, we have the courage to implement them. Thank you very much.”
Gerhard Mayer: “Good evening, thank you very much to the hosts who gave us the opportunity to present ourselves. And I would like to start with me coming to this country, I was born on the Fourth of July in an American Army hospital in Germany after the Second World War. I was destined to come to this country. Parents moved to the southern Austria border of Italy and now Slovenia. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment shared with two other ladies. Occasionally a Cadbury chocolate was given to us kids by the British occupation forces. Mother lost her three brothers in the war and then lost the estate as well. Nothing left but our lives. I learned very early on to save when we had more than we needed for the not so good times. I learned also that we have met very hard times after the war being occupied for ten years. I met the love of my life here in Sedona, raised my children, and made a decent living for 33 years here in Sedona. So I’m passionate about the place I call my family’s home. But it takes more than passion; it also takes ability to serve the public well. Listening, government should not control the people, people should control the government. Values, character, honesty, leadership, and integrity, I definitely meet those criteria’s. Why I’m running, I’m very concerned about the present and future of Sedona. Tourism will be always our economic engine, it’s our lifeline. The destination-marketing plan of the Chamber of Commerce for 2017 might lead us to a more sustainable tourism. I understand and listen to all sides, having served for almost 8 years as a public servant on various Committees, Commissions, and currently Planning & Zoning Commission there is no lack of experience to serve as a councilor for the benefit of the entire community. Thank you.”
Next the candidates were asked to, again in two minutes, publicly answer a question that was given to them ahead of time, which was:
“In 2014 the lodging industry increased their bed tax in order to invest more in tourism, Sedona’s primary economic generator, do you support the 55% formula funding to the Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau? Why or Why Not? And what do you think or feel are Sedona’s top three opportunities for economic diversity?”
Joe Vernier
Joe Vernier: “That’s a difficult question to answer whether I personally support it or not because that was a decision that was made between the Chamber and the lodging industry and their desire, and I think I understand the purpose behind that, because the fact that we had come out of a significant recession and we were trying to get Sedona operating again and one of the things I experienced after the year after I left, as a police chief, is there were actual layoffs in the city because the economy had declined so much, and just a personal aside on that, one of the people that was laid off was a police officer, subsequently got a brain tumor, and passed away. So he gets laid off, his income is reduced, his medical coverage is reduced, and so those kinds of things are devastating when they happen to individuals, so from that standpoint I can see the importance as to why we would want to have a vital economy here in Sedona. Three diversifications of economy, and this is not my area of expertise by a long shot, but I’m hoping that I will learn more and more from the experts in this particular field. Things I would consider to take a look at is what are the trends that are going out there. Yesterday I was talking to an insurance agent and the insurance agent was telling me that basically Millennials, the younger generations, are moving away form cars, and you have autonomous vehicles, and so as a result are there trends that we can consider for the future. I don’t know the exact answer, but I think that’s what we have to take a look at. So most of those are in fact technology, I know that we have a pretty significant robust medical economy around here and are there ways that we can bring more of that in Sedona, I think that’s something we should take a serious look at. We have a major shift in education and education as you know they’re combining and consolidating schools and so again I think there’s another opportunity for us to look at that as potential point of diversification.
Jessica Williamson
Jessica Williamson: “Thank you, Mary, well I was on the Council and I voted for the additional bed tax and I was totally impressed that the industry that benefits from destination marketing and the chamber the most taxed themselves to pay for that, and I think that’s like a first in lot of ways. I think it provides a source of income, an additional source of income to the Chamber and to the City; the City shares the upside of the additional half tax. I think it was a good initiative and I think it will prove to be very useful in the future as well. Well I think that one of the big things is going to be home-based technology businesses. I think there is a big space, a big push for technological home businesses and I think when we get our broadband robust enough that will be able to take off. I also agree that the medical research and development is an area in which there is likely to be a lot of opportunity. I also think conferences and training here, for art, for a lot of different conference opportunity and training opportunities. Sedona has a draw that would make that a very lucrative proposition I think in the future. I also want to add at this point that one of the things that the chamber has done, this is a little off the topic, one of the things the chamber has done with some of the money that it had is it actually funded opportunities for managing tourism better. It’s doing brochures to get people to different parts of the trails that aren’t currently used as much, to get people off the main trails, they’ve put money aside for implementing some of traffic management.”
John Currivan
John Currivan: “First of all I want to say that I am in favor of development in Sedona. And I know a lot of people complain about the amount that is going to the chamber, it’s about $2 million in the budget this year, but first of all that figure of $2,000,000 includes about $275,000 that’s a carry over from last year, just to be fair, and also that money comes from the bed tax as I’m sure most of you understand that 55% of that goes to the chamber and it’s paid really by the visitors and the lodging industry and not by the Sedona tax payers. So if we were to cut out that 55% and eliminate the amount that goes to the chamber the city budget wouldn’t be any better off. It would just even out more or less. So, I’ve taken a look at the chambers latest marketing plan, actually I’ve read through it, and I think they are trying to address the problems that we are having. You know people say how much is enough, aren’t we bringing enough tourists into Sedona? I think that we recognize that we have peaks and valleys, and the chamber is really doing a good job trying to target the valleys and not the peaks. I hope they are successful in that regard but at least that’s what they are trying to do. They are also trying to target the day-trippers, you know day-trippers come in and they don’t spend very much money and they don’t spend the night, and therefore they don’t pay a bed tax but they certainly contribute to our traffic problem. So they are trying very hard to do that and they are trying also bring in small conference groups. There is one shadow over all of this though and that is our traffic problem. If we don’t solve our traffic problem we are going to actually harm our tourist industry. We hear anecdotal stories about people who say I am never coming back because of the traffic I encountered and all of that. So I don’t want to see that. I do support what we are doing but I want to solve the traffic problem. As far as expansion goes I would just quickly mention medical and aging in place.”
John Martinez
John Martinez: “Well, I can tell you right now two minutes isn’t enough, maybe three. But yes I was part of the council that voted to approve the 55% increase and in fact it goes back even further when I talk with Jennifer. They said I think we need to increase the bed tax because at that point, in my opinion, is that we are talking about the visitors coming here and it was mentioned before it would not affect the citizens directly with regard to a tax, and that’s what a lot of people don’t want. But I said they are the economic drivers, the chamber and the hotel lodging industry, so I said we can partner, that would be a perfect private public partnership to generate additional revenue for this city. It was a case of they increase the tax upon themselves which then was passed on to the visitors. What they are planning to do now and it was mentioned earlier, they have got an almost $400,000 product development budget to help the city in a number of ways, trails, and parking, and projects such as that. With regards to additional economic areas that we can advance here in the City of Sedona, the culinary, it was talked earlier, we got the school, we’re gonna have culinary and hospitality courses, that will definitely help the city with regards to it. We are gonna build, if we are gonna manage, the growth in the hotel industry here in Sedona we are going to need qualified people that are going to staff that. The City has just hired an economic development director, that will help start entrepreneurialship with regard to making new businesses in Sedona. It was also talked about, technology, in home technology; we are working on that with regards to the Internet, cell towers, and so on. So I think the future is bright for Sedona, yes we do think we have things to address, but I think it’s a good partnership between the Chamber and the City.
Gerhard Mayer
Gerhard Mayer: “I want to show you something. I have been here for 33 years and I have seen Sedona grow. I like the growth. I like sustainable growth. And I talked to the previous director of tourism for Arizona and he gave me an article to read, “In Search of the Tourist Egg, Developers Killed the Goose.” When I talked to Jennifer about the issue of over development and where are we gonna go, and I wrote several articles in several papers in regards of the quality vs. quantity and when we talk about quality, L’Auberge was at the time, I was associated with the people who developed L’Auberge, L’Auberge put Sedona on the map, on the global map I would say. Alright, and I am also a very creative person, I think and come up with ideas and come up with solutions as well. And I have talked about the improvement projects of our economy, and this is a paper I wrote in 2011, I said, “More resorts like the Enchantment within the city limits brand Sedona as a spa, wellness, resort destination.” Culinary institute, I wrote that 1999, and presented it to the Yavapai College, so I am way ahead of the curve. I would like to see a hotel academy by any tourism school, international art academy, with diplomas, office clusters, shared conference rooms, sustainability campus, all ADU facilities, everything else I can explain to you at the table if you’re interested. Thank you.”
Tom Lamkin
Tom Lamkin: “Thank you. I will tell you two years ago when I ran for city council I was for the bed tax and the 55% number. I don’t know what the right number is, but I pledge to you tonight, that when the revenues exceed $100,000,000 and they get $55,000,000 I will look into it further. Sedona is a vital tourist economy, we all benefit from the beauty of the red rocks, and it draws millions of visitors to our city every year, but along with those benefits also come the downside of our success. The consequences of that follow; traffic that’s been mentioned, over crowding of our amenities, and stressing of our infrastructure. We take steps to preserve our trails and neighborhoods and we wonder what can be done better to balance the city and the impact that is happening. There must be some way to balance the wants of the tourists with the needs of the citizens. I believe that the efforts of our destination marketing partner, The Chamber of Commerce division of Tourism, is already working to address this by readjusting its target markets. Renewed emphasis on targeting smaller groups, like the recent biking event is a good example of how Sedona can enjoy more events spread throughout the year with smooth revenue streams that help businesses remain more sustainable and have less impact on the community. We also looked at other resources, it’s been mentioned about Yavapai College, and with businesses we talked about culinary, we talked about maybe we can expand and include wine segments in the wine industry, maybe we should look at high tech and incubators, for cybersecurity, that’s an area that really is growing, can be protecting and can offer jobs. Yavapai College recently announced that the unmanned aerial system known as drones can be certified through their organization. Who knows where drones will lead in Sedona, not saying we want any of them flying around but its something to look into. We have also have to involve businesses as well, I’m excited the city is soon to have a new Director of Economic Development that can work in ways to forge partnerships between the city and private enterprises in Sedona. The recent artists and residents program taking place in the Village of Oak Creek may be considered that we might be able to do the same thing for business. Hosting small businesses for entering or training opportunities might be willing to bring new services to Sedona.”
After opening introductions and answer the question regarding the 55% funding formula and top three opportunities for economic diversity, the candidates speed networked where they had ten minutes to spend at each of the six tables in the room. The discussion would move around providing the ability to interact with each of the candidates for some time where individuals were.
By 8:10 p.m., the candidates were back in the front of the room and were asked to share in one minute’s time “something they had learned in going around the tables, or was there something that you heard that you haven’t heard before”:
Jessica Williamson: “I want to start by saying, I am so weird, I must be a geek, because this is the most fun I’ve had in quite a long time, and I thank everybody for being so interesting and so interactive and so polite and listening to my answers and I really appreciate all that. I didn’t really hear things I hadn’t heard before, I did hear an agreed emphasis on sustainability from a number of people which I really understood and I appreciated hearing that as an emphasis going forward. People are very interested, as everybody here I know is, in traffic. People seem to understand the limitations in what could and couldn’t be done. I’ve just appreciated everybody’s asking intelligent and reasonable questions, and listening to what I had to say. I think you guys are all great.”
John Currivan: “Well I certainly enjoyed it, I thought I got a lot of really good questions. Everybody was engaged, they were all paying attention, they all had things on their minds. I found an awful lot of people wanted to hear about the trash issue, which I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk about before and so I did get a chance to share my thoughts on that with everybody. For the most part things that I heard are things that I had come across before. There was once point that one of the gentleman made about the level of recycling in Sedona, which is a little bit different than I thought, so he’s going to send me a study on that, and I’ll be looking forward to reading it. Other than that it was just a great experience, thank you.”
John Martinez: “This whole thing was just an experience and I really enjoyed it, and at some point Jessica said “I didn’t know how the thing was supposed to be”; Speed Dating! One thing I think everybody should applaud themselves for a good turnout and great questions. But, I, the really thing that I, I mean I knew we have a very educated and studious and engaged citizenship here in the city of Sedona, and this proved it. I mean you had great questions, and I got put on the spot sometimes, and sometimes I just said I don’t know, I’ll have to come back and respond to that. But one of the things that was something that I don’t know is that the homeless problem. Someone said we got a homeless problem, issue, here in Sedona so I got to find out if we do. Thank you.”
Gerhard Mayer: “Well, this was a format I really liked. I didn’t like the first part because two minutes is not enough; I get three minutes at city council to talk. So one thing. The questions I was facing were all legit, all well thought through, and I have to apologize that my passion sometimes runs a little while, everybody said I’m crazy to run for this, and maybe I am. I admit that the topics I was facing from the audience were a little bit out of specialty, the sustainability part, where I was plastered with if I was for trash hauling or not, so I think I did my best I could, and I tell you problem solving skills, creativity, and thinking outside of the box are my strengths. Thank you very very much. Vote for me please, thank you.”
Tom Lamkin: “Well we talked about a lot so I appreciate your time. I can’t say that I hadn’t heard about the issues before because a lot of the same ones come up, you’re all concerned about some of the same issues. The ones that I had in my groups pretty much were small town feel (how to prepare it, keep it), budget balance (what would you do to increase it, decrease it), posse grounds events (don’t mess with them, have that campout, keep the pumpkin fest), traffic, economic development, property tax came up I know I hear that one pretty often, but trash, Tlaquepaque North and possible traffic issues there. The thing that struck me most though was affordable housing and it was pointed out that there may be some restrictions or ordinances on how we can implement something like that here and I think that’s key for us in the future, so I’ll be looking into that. Thank you.”
Joe Vernier: “I believe the most significant thing that I learned while I was out there doing this, I guess you can call it speed dating, I never dated like this. But the most significant thing I learned is everyone that’s here really cares about Sedona, and the community, and are very passionate about the things that they care about. In my meetings with the groups out here pretty much the same things, issues pertaining to budget, probably one of the biggest ones was the challenge to sustainability of our economy, yet at the same time for the people who live here what are the quality of life challenges that go with it. Part of that involves traffic. The trash thing, was very interesting, because still a lot of opposition but apparently I was offered some information to take another look at that so I’ll see what that information is and I guess I’m done. Thank you.”
The last section, which ended the evening, was the two-minute closing statement each candidate was allowed:
Gerhard Mayer: “Again, I am a person who is very passionate about this community and I’d like future generations to have the same quality of life here as I have currently and to aim for this goal we’re going have to be a little bit more concerned of which way we are going to grow. And if we’re going to grow smart or if we’re going to go with anything goes, and I would say if we are smart we are going to be providing for future generations and that’s very important in every way you can think of. Economically, environmentally, and the beauty of Sedona and the surrounding area will maintain its current state. So that’s what I’d like to see, is we maintain, improve, and that it’s important for it be improved. And quality like I said before at the tables supersedes quantity and that’s what I think our emphasis should be all about. Thank you very much. Vote for me if you want to have an honest, straight talking, very passionate, and loving, Sedona loving person, on the city council. You will be delighted to have me on there. Thank you.”
John Martinez: “I think all of us love this city. That’s why we moved here and that’s why we still live here. And I’ve tried to represent the whole city when I ran for council, and I know that everyone’s not going to agree with my beliefs for the city of Sedona, but I don’t represent the loudest groups in the city, I have to think of all of Sedona. And I believe my decisions in my heart and in my mind are what I’m doing for the best of the city based on best practices that I’ve learned from people like you that have spoken to me in other areas. They do work, and a lot of people say well just because something is broken we shouldn’t do it. I know there’s a lot of business owners in here that says even if it’s not broke, if it can’t be improved, it should be addressed. When I ran for council four years ago I never promised that I would fix every issue that would be presented, but I did say I would address it. So, there might be some candidates here that’ll say, “I will fix it, I will fix it”, well, as they say, be aware of strangers bearing gifts. We, all of us, all of us want your vote, but if you don’t agree with what I believe in, then don’t vote for me, but vote for somebody. We’ve got a lot of talented people on here and I’m gonna say is that for the last two elections that I’ve been interested in, we’ve got basically like 6,000 registered voters in the City of Sedona and only about 2,500 people vote. That’s horrible. So if you don’t believe what I’m in get off the couch and vote for somebody. As I’ve always said, if you’re not a part of the solution, then maybe you’re a part of the problem. Once again to the league of women voters, and thank you to the chamber. Thank you.”
John Currivan: “Everything that we do has to be for the best interest of the City of Sedona. It’s for us, and it’s for future generations. And every decision we make has to be done in that spirit. So when an issue comes up, the people that you elect have to look at it in that way and when you elect somebody you have to know what they stand for. We know what the issues are today. We know about traffic, and trash, you could name a dozen others I suppose. But what we don’t know is what is going to be next years hot issue, what’s gonna be a hot issue in the year after that. You are electing people to four-year terms, you need to know what they stand for, and I told you some of my core beliefs when I was speaking earlier. I believe in limited government, that is if we don’t need to get the government involved in something, like for example trash hauling, I think we should not get the government involved. We need to respect the people’s freedom of choice. If people have a, I’ll use trash hauling again just as an example, if people have a choice when it comes to something like that, why should the government take it away from them. And we need to be fiscally responsible; we need to look not only at what our current budget looks like, but what the trends are and where we are heading in order to make sure that tax dollars are spent responsibly. So with that in mind I ask that you just take into account not only how people stand on today’s issues, but also what their core values are so you’ll know how they approach tomorrow’s issues. Thank you.”
Jessica Williamson: “This process tonight really made me realize how much I like being involved in actively considering and talking and thinking about the issues that all of you raised tonight and all of the issues that I have faced over the past four years. It is really exciting for me and I just would like to do this every week but I think you know what I stand for because I’ve been on council four years and I have four years of voting record. It’s not a mystery. I’m practical, I’m decisive, and I can see what the issues really are. I try not to get distracted by all the stuff that floats around every issue that we talk about. Council made a lot of decisions over the past four years and I am really proud of the contribution I have made toward those decisions. But I know people don’t agree with me 100% of the time, some people don’t agree with me ever, and some people agree with me most of the time and some of the stuff they don’t agree with. That’s to be expected. I am not a one-issue voter and I don’t think most people are but I have approached every issue purposefully, and very consciously, to act in a way I believe is in the best interest of all of Sedona. Even the people who don’t vote. Even the people who don’t participate. I am elected to represent everybody and that is what I try to do. I do have a website and I’ve written a bunch of articles and posted issue papers on it. So if anybody wants to know more about how I think and what I think you can go there, and pick and choose. I’ve been effective and I’ve been responsible on city council, I understand the issues, and I think we need a council that’s decisive. That would be me. Vote for me.”
Joe Vernier: “I guess the best I can offer is my intent on council, is to be a representative who uses good judgment and common sense to get the job done that is required on council. And also a significant part of that is hearing your thoughts and feelings and concerns out there and one of the groups I shared with this and that when I was a police chief here, and kind of half joking but there’s also some seriousness on this, during my eleven years as police chief I said there’s a lot of great people, a lot of talent here, in Sedona, and I said I have more unpaid consultants than any police chief in the United States. But I think tapping that talent that we have out here, I think a lot of the representation of that talent is sitting right out here in this room, is a critical piece for me to be able to successfully serve as councilperson. I would ask for your involvement, I have an individual flier in the back with email and a website, that I’d welcome any contact from anybody out there. Please, I’ve been in this community for a long time and a lot of you know me for a long time, please feel free to contact me and ask any question that you want. I’ll do my best to give you an honest answer. I think the one thing ill say is that I was in law enforcement for forty-one years. I had success in everything I did, I maintained my integrity, I ran a good organization, I’m proud of all that we have accomplished, and it wasn’t me, it was the people that I worked with and I have to look at it from the same point serving as a councilor, it’s not going to be about me, it’s going to be about serving you. I believe the servant is government and it’s my job to serve you, and I hope that I can serve you effectively, and always do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons.”
Tom Lamkin: “Thank you, again I’d like to thank you for your time this evening. I felt that the meetings at each table was a great way to get a variety of information that is important to you. We’ve already talked about several of the issues, I won’t go through those again, but I will be looking into them. I appreciate your willingness to be open and honest, what you think is being done right and what you think needs a little bit of improvement. Help us work on council, I ask you to help get me back on council and retain me there. I’m gonna be your councilor for another four months before the election kicks in with the new people, I hope I’m one of them. I still have a lot to learn and understand, I feel that things are getting better, and with your continued help can stay focused. I encourage you to take advantage of the Citizens Engagement Program, little picture of Lauren Browne here who is the coordinator for that at the city. Get on the website, continue to provide your information, we need your input. I’d love to see all of you at the next council meeting. I think it’d be great but watch on the internet if nothing else. I think it’s a great way for you to provide input, especially if you don’t attend one of the sessions, if you’re working, or unable to meet with us. You can find it, great city website by the way, second only to Los Angeles according to what I read recently, but for a small city it’s an unbelievable website. I encourage you to stay involved, and contact any of the city councilors through email, phone, we do read your notes and I’m willing to meet with you to discuss anything further. Call me, I like to talk as you can imagine and my wife was grateful she got a break this evening from me talking to her. Thank you very much for helping with that. So when you think, give me a call or send me an email, you got my card, and I want to thank you. I’ll be glad to talk with any group that you want to assemble or individual meeting, because Lamkin listens. I want to hear what you have to say and represent it on council. Please vote for Tom Lamkin. You’ll notice on the ballot on the very bottom I’m running for the two-year term not the four-year term and vote for that first name, Tom Lamkin, thank you.”
This SedonaEye.com article written by Harry Danilevics.
Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!
The Beat Goes On, Said
“Once again the town crier, Steve Segner, received accolades at Tuesdays council meeting.”
Nice, did not know, this is a project I did this for the trail fund.
They asked for some money to fix our hiking trails. I said WE have no money, but I will set you up in a small business that will support your project for years to come.
I designed and paid for the books and I made the stands, no city money or chamber money was used and I am asking the hotels to sell the book to there customers.
I also bought the first 1000 copies so all the proceeds will go to the trail fund. The Chamber is doing the bookkeeping.
The beat goes on. I attend at least 4 to 6 meetings a week with civic organizations, I give as much money as my wife Connie will let me. Most of all I try to help local not profits raise money.
So one question to the” The Beat Goes On”, what have you done for Sedona lately? Are you writing checks to candidates you like?
ss
@steve Segner and his ghost writer,
Who did you hire to write your last comment here? Since the old -William Faulkner “He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary” applies to you most succinctly, I will surmise that you are not the author.
Now then, you’re always pointing to what you’ve done for Sedona and ask others what they’ve done for Sedona, including this writer. Your intent is to impugn those who don’t spend all their time trying to curry favors from City Hall that benefit only themselves. Sedona is a tiny little often mismanaged town of 9.000 people. Meanwhile, everything you mentioned above that you believe you did for the benefit of Sedona was clearly SELF-SERVING…and nothing less. The more poignant question to you, Steve Segner, is what have you done for your state and country…ever? I will state to you here and now, you have done little compared to the members of Arizona Liberty, namely, Mike Schroeder, Dwight Kadar and me. For instance, today we, along with AZ State Representative Bob Thorpe, spent two hours in Cottonwood as working group members of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy to stop the legal (Colorado) marijuana cartel from getting its ballot initiative approved in AZ to bring legal recreational marijuana to Arizona. At risk would be our kids and traffic safety, but I didn’t see you there Mr. Segner. I guess you were too busy since you were probably down at City Hall currying favors for your Sedona Lodging Council. And, btw, most all of Arizona’s municipal Chambers of Commerce support the ARDP efforts EXCEPT the Sedona Chamber of Commerce who is nowhere to be found in this battle. Meanwhile, virtually all AZ city police chiefs and Sheriffs are with us. And, since none of us at AZL have any young kids or get paid for our time, our efforts can’t be said to be self-serving. We do it for Arizona and its kids! Furthermore, my AZL partners and I worked with the State legislature on the approval of Senate Bill 1457 which was signed into law by our Governor. That law reigns in local governments who think they’re above the Arizona Constitution and its body of laws. My AZL partners and I didn’t get paid and we didn’t write checks to candidates either, if you know what I mean. We did it to preserve the sanctity of the Arizona Constitution. Furthermore, we worked with U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar to promote his successful effort to enforce the U.S. Constitution’s, Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 to curtail federal funding of Barack Obama’s pending use of a fiat Executive Order to implement a Sedona Verde Valley Red Rock National Monument proclamation which would have had deleterious effects on our Verde Valley’s economy and freedom from Federal city governance interdiction. Where were you Mr Segner? You never showed up to help in any way. Arizona Liberty has done more for the Verde Valley in the last two years than you will do in a lifetime. What you do, you do for your own benefit and that of the Sedona Lodging Council. What we do, we do for the good of the State of Arizona and it’s Constitution which you really do need to study. We’ve grown rather tired of your self-proclaimed accolades when compared to the amount of time we spend working for the entire state.
JRN
Wow! Everyone should be relieved to know that J. Rick, Mike Schroeder, Dwight Kadar and Bob Thorpe know what’s best for everyone else to put in their bodies.
What sick hypocrites these moral busybody prohibitionists are to seek to control others in the name of “liberty.”
“Meanwhile, virtually all AZ city police chiefs and Sheriffs are with us.” — Of course they are you nitwit! The War on Drugs is a cash cow for them.
Woooooow I’m so impressed. Why don’t you also say to us here that you’re just the Front Man or Shill for the real brains and financial backers behind AZL; Mike Schroeder, Dwight Kadar. You can learn a lot from the likes of Schroeder and Kadar as they aren’t ones to pound their chests and berate people to get their job done unlike you.
Thank you, JRN, for interesting information.
About the following comment from “MYOB” isn’t it amazing no complaints were included about Sedona City Council and their own determination to do what they think is best for Sedona residents? Most recently, for instance, managing our garbage collection and, in fact, practically every other aspect of our lives if given the chance. And is there ever a decision made at City Hall that the Chamber of Commerce/Sedona Lodging isn’t consulted for their input and opinion, when most of the time it is “none of their business?” (NOTB)
@All Readers at The Eye:
Typo correction to last JRN comment to @steve Segner and his ghost writer;
Line 19, Senate Bill 1457 should read Senate Bill 1487.
JRN
It will be interesting to find out how Jennifer Wesselhoff and Steve Segner plan to manage vacation/short term rentals when that new state law takes effect the first of the year since Jon Thompson already mentioned at a council meeting he had approached them about doing so.
Another example of just how much power has been delegated to those two. What’s the deal? They better not come snooping around my place is all I have to say.
Marge….
The city would have every reason to snoop around your home, what do you think if you were doing something against the law?
You may be exited about the new law, but you will have to pay to play…..
There is no doubt if you were on AirB&B the Chamber will still get there monies?
I see no reason why both cant and will work harmoniously!
Why do so many people here need a big bad boogie man?
Im sure it will take a few years for things to work better than they start?
What power does SS have?….Just read in the RRN about the Chamber and trails……SS name wasn’t even mentioned.
Whats with you people…..Get off your duffs and be the difference!
I truly would like to see the Sedona Chamber of Commerce take a stand against the legalization of retail/recreational marijuana. Other organizations “against” are Arizona Lodging and Tourism, Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, our Arizona Governor and Attorney General, many of our Arizona legislators, Yavapai Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees, and the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association. There are so many more; too numerous to list here.
These organizations are aware of the disastrous Colorado experience: more hospitalizations, more traffic accidents and fatalities, and more child and pet endangerment due to high levels of THC exposure via accidental ingestion of edibles (candy, cookies, brownies). Co. businesses are complaining that they must recruit outside of Co. or move their headquarters as too many job applicants and/or employees are high. We want Arizona to be business friendly.
The proponents of the initiative say that it will “fund education and healthcare” but Colorado’s own Director of Marijuana Coordination, Andrew Freeman, was quoted as saying, “You do not legalize for taxation. It is a myth. You are not going to pave streets or pay teachers”.
All AZ voters must study this issue in depth; especially the Colorado and Washington experience.
@J. Ricky
I am told that J. Rick was not an original partner in Arizona Liberty. Are you so dense that you can’t figure out why J. Rick was asked my Mr. Schroeder and Mr. Kadar to join them in AZL? Your comments are a pathetic effort to stir up trouble between the AZL partners. T’aint gonna work fool. Those guys are tight, as any half-wit could see when they do joint public presentations. You lose again troll.
Thanks Rick, you last rambling confirms what we all ready knew, you only work on T party issues.
Rick what ever happened to the will of the people, look at this comment you made.
Rick said:
For instance, today we, along with AZ State Representative Bob Thorpe, spent two hours in Cottonwood as working group members of Arizona for Responsible Drug Policy to stop the legal (Colorado) marijuana cartel from getting its ballot initiative approved in AZ to bring legal recreational marijuana to Arizona.
So, Rick, you and your gang are trying to stop a LEGAL ballot initiative and stop the voters of Arizona for making a decision,
Rick and his friend in state government are all Guns, God and states rights.
.
Arizona Liberty is not out to help anyone, just your crazy T party.
Rick what to make the decision on marijuana and not the citizens of Arizona.
Thank God Arizona will be Blue soon.
ss
@marge
Pretty sure they are not at all interested in your shack or you…..get over yourself
@jrn
Hey Ricky
You don’t have any kids nor job….
You are one self serving idiot
Hey Rick. What does Mike schroeder (deleted by editor)?
You know your going against your AZ Liberty (tea party) platform of keeping government out of our lives….you and Mickey are hypocrites …
No I don’t smoke pot
Is this what you when you don’t need a job cause you live off daddy’s trust or Mike Schroeders (deleted by editor)?
What phoneys….. You must be in it for something…..your too SELF SERVING…
@ Andrea, Peddle your Reefer Madness nonsense and lies somewhere else.
Re Colorado:
“The consensus among several top state officials — who emphasize that their job is to carry out the will of the voters rather than mull whether their constituents made the right choice — is that there have been no widely felt negative effects on the state since marijuana became legal, and a crop of retail stores, cultivation facilities, and manufacturers sprung up from Aurora to Telluride.”
“Legalization has ushered in thousands of new jobs in the burgeoning industry, brought $135 million into state coffers last year, and ended the prohibition of a widely used substance.”
““There are a certain number of folks, like myself, who were pretty reticent about it to begin with,” said House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, a Democrat. But “the sky didn’t fall. Everything seems to be working pretty well.””
“That’s in line with the view of Colorado voters, according to a November 2015 survey. The poll found 53 percent believe legalizing marijuana has been good for the state, while 39 percent believe it has been bad.”
“The state saw $135 million in tax and fee revenue last year from the recreational and medical marijuana industry, money that has gone to, among other efforts, education for youth and law enforcement on the drug.”
Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/02/21/from-colorado-glimpse-life-after-marijuana-legalization/rcccuzhMDWV74UC4IxXIYJ/story.html
I am in favor of legalization. I am not in favor of private enterprise growing dope.
It should be state controlled. It should have limited access points; there is no justification for 30 miles to provide access. If a person has a card for marijuana, let them pick it up at their local CVS or Walgreens or Safeway pharmacy. There is no need for a separate entity; after all, it is supposedly a MEDICAL card. Treat it accordingly.
Thank you Sedona for the most informative of news. It was horrible to read about the baby in the road but uplifting to learn of the good person doing the right thing to help. It would be nice if the town of Cottonwood or its police department or county sheriff’s department gave that person a commendation and promoted the value of his/her civic duty.
I feel for those parents. What terror they must have experienced and practically every parent who I know has a similar OH DEAR GOD moment. Mine came when I realized my 3 year old had opened a 4 foot tall pool gate and was floundering in the pool; that terrifying moment has stayed with me since, the what ifs, the how did he, the why didn’t I realize. DHS should move on to cases where parents aren’t good parents; I found that sickening in the article that the government can manage to monitor parents who didn’t make a mistake but whose child was intelligent (if this had been the house dog, it would have been a sense of humor response like watch the dog open the door…), but can’t keep Arizona child rapists, abusers and hateful and neglectful parents on their radar.
Steve Segner comment August 10th: “. . . .this is a project I did this for the trail fund.” Followed by: “I designed and paid for the books and I made the stands, no city money or chamber money was used and I am asking the hotels to sell the book to there customers.”
Then it gets better with: “I also bought the first 1000 copies so all the proceeds will go to the trail fund. The Chamber is doing the bookkeeping.”
And why would that be? Why would this generous philanthropist ask the Chamber, the biggest city funded cash cow, to keep the books for his fabulous project?
Could it be because he knows no one will ever audit it?
“To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.”
– Teddy Roosevelt
@All Readers at The Eye:
Steve Segner’s ghost writer has just published a comment to my December 16, 2015 article entitled “The Farce and Fallacy of Gun Control” and below is my reply to that post (first sentence modified from that mentioned above). Since it does directly reveal evidence of the Election policy of certain sitting Sedona Council members, I thought it should be posted here:
@steve segner
First of all, the newest comment posted at JRN’s article entitled “The Farce and Fallacy of Gun Control” wasn’t written by Steve Segner. He asked his ghost/surrogate writer to write it. I think it is about time to start exposing vicious hecklers. I think most readers at The Eye can figure out who Steve Segner’s surrogate writers are. Notice below that tagging me (JRN) with the “T” Party label, as part of a gorilla marketing program in the Mayor’s behalf, which is a group I have nothing to do with, is a political smear tactic concocted by the some of the people whose names appear in the email. It is time to confront these people publicly. Also, Eye readers, please recall I have asked Steve Segner, WSR and Wsr three times to define what the Tea Party stands for and who is involved locally…but, still, no answer has been posted here. That’s because there are no Tea Party activists in this town.
The following evidentiary email, written in Steve Segner’s typically illiterate style, was sent to me from a whistleblower yesterday (and I have whistleblowers everywhere) :
Attached Message
From: Steve Segner
To: Al Comello
Cc: SANDY MORIARTY
Subject: lets meet please do not pass around
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 10:39:26 -0700
Al
We need to do something that puts Sand on the map, the hill top people are Hamilton’s they hang together butt they are few…. we need the flatlanders….
I see (former local politician-name edited out by JRN) as a life long autocrat… we need to tell that story “Sandy gets her hands dirty…. (former local politician-name edited out by JRN) talks and talks down.
Can you get me his background? I am thinking about a large rental truck parked around town with sides with Sands posters… remember all Sedona residents go to two locations each week, Bash’s and Safeway,
Lets be smart, lets run a gorilla marketing campaign
I think (former local politician-name edited out by JRN) will try to paint the chamber in a bad light so he can come in and fix things ,lets keep the chamber out of this, and talk about and (former local politician-name edited out by JRN) and his imperil management stile.
I think using the “T” party as a comment would be good.
Steve
* * * * * * * * * *
Come on, children. Let’s lighten up, show a bit of class, and refrain from such utter indignation, if not for your own self-image, for the benefit of the City of Sedona.
Al
Son of A Gun the exact same two names that paid for the expensive mailer promoting John Martinez, Jessica Williamson and Tom Lamkin for re-election. They had a break since their Sand was unchallenged for the mayor’s seat. I’ll be DANGED. . . .
For those of you who claim residents of Sedona do not pay taxes, I recently received a mailer from APS.
It states in part ” The franchise fee is 2% of our revenue from customers located within city limits. In 2015 the fee amounted to $366,236 for the city.”
Of course those that take from the residents always ask for more. You already pay many city taxes, this being a hidden one, but it alone amounts to $366,236 in just one year.
Vote no on the APS Franchise agreement. Stop having government pick your pocket.
@Mary –
You are 1000% correct that we pay taxes here only some of our taxes are called by a different name…yet are required amount because we buy a product is a tax is a tax is a tax…..as we also have the pleasure of being dumbed down and told the additional fees are “just a Franchise fee” to the city for both APS and a couple other utilities in Sedona………on the voter ballot there are 2 Franchise fee issues to vote on. My vote is a NO on both franchise fee items!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heads up, Sedona residents. Read the operative words in the message from the APS mailer referenced by Mary C: ” The franchise fee is 2% of our revenue from customers located within city limits. In 2015 the fee amounted to $366,236 for the city.”
Repeated again “. . . . 2% of our revenue FROM CUSTOMERS LOCATED WITHIN CITY LIMITS.” How is it that APS understands that incorporated Sedona lies within City Limits when this city council and staff considers their jurisdiction to be the entire Verde Valley. That is made very clear by their misappropriation of funding to every alleged non-profit in the constant lineup at City Hall not to mention the ongoing trend of supporting the regional Chamber of Commerce by promoting all members, even out of state, not to mention promoting them and ignoring tax contributing but non-chamber member city businesses.through the city financed Visitors Center bearing the Chamber of Commerce identity.
Vote ‘NO’ on the franchise fees. And do not vote for any city council candidate that supports this great Sedona/Chamber rip-off. (Translated- Don’t vote for ANY of them.)
I just looked at my internet and phone bill. Enough with all the FEES 25% of my bill is going to government. VOTE NO on any more franchise fees.
They are nickle and diming us. All to gift the special interest groups like the Chamber. Come up folks don’t vote for any of those councilors that voted for that. A No vote for those that pay for SS and the chambers advertising bill. leave it blank.
Tea party people hate taxes or entitlements of any kind ….unless of course they get something….
I’m sure the complainers here collect Social Security and Medicare…..those are okay because they receive them
And anyone foolish enough to think there won’t be some sort of scam to tax us when the city controls our garbage hauling service is living in the Twilight Zone. They may not be able to label it as a franchise fee, but try handling fee, service charge, management assessment, blah, blah, blah — all identifying names will add up to tax increase, more money for them to give to the regional non-profits over and above the lousy, stinking rip-off Chamber of Commerce. And don’t forget, there will be NO WAY to prevent periodic and ongoing increases.
And since when did Social Security become an entitlement? The many years the millions of people that paid into it – will repeat – PAID INTO IT – for the purpose of a forced retirement plan, only to subsequently have it pilfered for unjustified purposes hardly qualify for the same category as the erroneous accusations being made by the uneducated likes of lepers like WSR.
We know who is on the take in this country and it isn’t those of us that paid through the nose and now our most reason reward is maybe a $2.50 monthly increase next year? (last year we got ZERO) It would be more profitable to sneak into the country as an illegal. And that is the truth!
Residential Trash & Recycle Collection Services
The City of Flagstaff automated system makes trash and recycle collection more efficient and safe while also keeping our neighborhoods cleaner.
Homes are assigned a brown (90 gallon) trash container and a green (90 gallon) recycle container
Just roll the container out to the curb on collection days
Trucks outfitted with hydraulic arms do the rest of the work
For detailed information:
View a list of acceptable waste for collection
Check out how to proper / safely dispose of sharps / needles
Get more information about trash containers
Collection Schedule
View a map of the Collection Neighborhood Sections.
All containers must be curbside by 6:00 am on the scheduled day.
Click Here to view the Routes
Missed Pick-ups
If your trash or recycle container is not picked up on your regular collection day, please call Customer Service at (928) 213-2110 on the same day your container was to be serviced and we will send the truck back to service the container.
Disability Assistance
Collection Services provides assistance with automated containers for disabled or elderly residents. On your service days the driver will roll out your container, service it, and roll it back in. Here are the steps for obtaining service:
Contact Customer Service at (928) 213-2110 to request a form for Roll-Out Service.
Get the form completed by your physician.
Mail or fax the completed form to our office; fax (928) 556-1236; the form is pre-addressed for mailing.
Maintenance will place yellow tape around the containers. Please do not remove the tape as this will help identify your containers as being eligible for the Roll-Out Service.
Dam Flagstaff is also picking up Garbage….. what up?
So wait
So, are you saying that this is what Flag does??? I heard that there is a good chance that we can save a good amount of money as well.
I’m handicapped and on a fixed income so I head that we will be able to save a bunch of money on the proposed service AND now you’re saying that I can get Disabled Assistance, please tell me what the down side is. Oh yeah, I loose my choice to pick the company that picks up the trash. I don’t really care! I wasn’t told that by some neighbor lady that called me a few months ago.
SEDONA ISN’T FLAGSTAFF!
What is it you don’t understand about that? And besides many of us don’t even have enough garbage weekly to fill up a container even half the size of a 90 gallon.
Why don’t you mind your own business. You live half way up the canyon to Flagstaff so tell them how to run that town.
BUTT OUT OF SEDONA GOVERNMENT!!
What a bizarre comp of cities SS. Why didn’t u usethem for cityfinanced maarketing of businesses? It is because the city of flagstaff doesn’t fund any chamber or regional marketing. They have their own. T
@Social Security
That’s the tea party mind set is anytime you get something from the government it’s an entitlement….they want to government out of their lives unless of course it’s serves there are hypocritical interests
Mind your own business, SS. You don’t live in Sedona. And who is writing your crapola? You are illiterate.
This is not Flagstaff. Their sewer bills are half ours. The City of Sedona will scam us on the single-hauler trash matter also.
The point is the city of Sedona is looking at something thousand of city do.
EVEVN Flagstaff and Prescott…. That is there job to look.
Trash Pickup & Recycling
Download the new MyWaste app to get information about what can and cannot be disposed of and receive text messages for important garbage dates. Never forget to take the trash out again.
CONTACT US
Solid Waste Division Email
2800 Sundog Ranch Road
Prescott, AZ, 86301
Phone 928-777-1116
The City of Prescott provides weekly curbside refuse collection and recycling. In addition, we offer several other programs to help reduce the waste stream:
Annual Cleanup to help you with disposal of oversize items and yard waste
Christmas tree collection to pick up Christmas trees and recycle them as mulch
Green trash bin and blue recycling bin
Drop off of appliances and used residential motor oil.
Residential Service
The City provides residential customers with a 68-gallon container that has a serial number, which is assigned to the property owner’s water meter. Containers are picked up once per week and must be placed at the curbside or alley on collection day by 6:00 a.m., and removed by the end of the day:
Oh one more
You stupid ding-bat numskull. You neglected to mention the monthly rates in Flagstaff. And just what is the population there compared to Sedona?
The poor old lady buying into this crap will be music to the ears of city staff and council. And what about the part-time residents? Karin Daines Osburn said at the public meetings they will need 5,000 patrons to make this work. I can hardly wait to advise the 15 neighbors in my subdivision alone that only subscribe to garbage collection maybe 6 to 4 months out of the year. So what will be expected of us who call Sedona our full-time home? We will be required to absorb the amount needed from 5,000 subscribers? Seems like that might be the time for a class action law suit.
Keep in mind voters (if you haven’t already done so) Joe Vernier, Gerhard Mayer and John Currivan have made their basic platform “Our city government should NOT be managing trash!” It won’t much matter however since the good old boys (Martinez, Thompson, Jablow and Lamkin) in addition to the good old girls (Moriarty and Williamson) will remain steadfast in order for this city to get their hooks into us by way of sending another monthly bill, amounts UNKNOWN.
In addition to a potential class action law suit brace yourself for a Referendum to overturn this imposition about to take more control of our lives. If this council or the high paid city manager(s) had a lick of sense they would have recommended that $75,000 allocated for the garbage study be spent on a ballot measure since there was so much controversy from the get-go. Oh yea, Sandy Moriarty neglected to even mention the garbage crusade in her two write ups in the local Red Rock News. Must have slipped her mind? Ha.
And as for you, Mr. Segner, and your fondness for Flagstaff and how they do things, and in Scottsdale, and wherever, wherever – all seem to be better than what Sedona does – how about packing your bags and moving your tush out of here for yonder pastures which obviously you find far more appealing. And by all means, tell the folks in Flagstaff how they are missing the boat by not investing millions in their own Chamber of Commerce. You will be laughed right back out of town and Sedona will be stuck with you again. Oh, barf.
@ Steve Segner, WSR Neither of you live in the city, only feed off it.
The downside, is your trash bill will probably be double or triple what is currently is. That’s just to start. Look at your sewer bill that has almost doubled in under 10 years.
Our association has negotiated a 25% lower trash bill over the past 10 years. That will NEVER happen with city controlled service.
When have you ever know a government service to be low cost or efficient?
Everyone! Shut up Steve you don’t live in the city.
Duh the City of flagstaff is only 7x larger than sedona . Oh and btw the City OWNS their own Trash department. Meaning they OWN their own haulers, city employees.
Flagstaff also doesn’t FUND the region drag queen and pay for lodging advertising OUTSIDE the city limits.
Your big mouth and continuous greed to have the city pay you advertising bills as you have your hand in the cookie jar is the reason we ALL want to see you go bye-bye. You’re a real jack —.
This is Deanna Troi aka I See Through You,
@Wsr
OK, Wsr and Readers at They Eye,
I have decided to reveal my true identity. I am Deanna Troi who came here a few months ago from Beverly Hills. I now live in a gated West Sedona community that Wsr envies. Now let’s see if the emotionally dangerous psychopathic Marxist who calls herseft Wsr will do the same. ‘And, btw, Marxists, like George Soros, WSR and Wsr, always tag honest Americans as Tea Partiers whether they are or not. This is a smear tactic used to draw attention away from the communistic attributes of the Globalists who sling around the Tea Party label. Anyone like Wsr who throws around the term Tea Party should immediately be recognized as a dangerous bolshevik. Furthermore, Tea Partiers do NOT believe that Social Security is an entitlement…its payback from a working citizen self-funded contribution to a trust account, whereas a hard-core communist agitator believes its an entitlement. Wsr, I’ve correctly analyzed you as a psychopath and a bolshevik and you are tormented by by correct analysis. Admit it.
May the love of Harley embrace you. The biggest gift you gave was to care, love and unconditionally love this little puppy. Love you more for the compassion and love you gave Harley McGuire.
Don’t worry Steve S……
Most of the people posting are the same person…
Hey Deanna….good for you
Unfourtanetly for you….name or no name….your still a moron…
Congrats to you
@i see through you
@Deanne Troi
You really sicker than we thought that’s not your real name that’s a character from Star Trek moron…
You are really really really delusional and dangerous please take your meds…
In addition to being delusional I guess you can classify yourself as a freaking liar now also… Congrats
Why would Steve Segner look at Flagstaff and Prescott for their trash?
Why would Steve use those two cities for how those cities market themselves?
Why does Steve always have his nose in city items when he lives outside the city?
BECAUSE (deleted by editor) is STEALING money from the city. He trying to figure out how the city can burden the residents with more fees so that he can spend YOUR money. PS Flagstaff and Prescott DO NOT Advertise any businesses outside their district. GO back to Cali deadbeat old man.
The only trash that should removed is that in city hall. Those like (names deleted by editor). Dirty trash IMO
Welcome to the dark side of Sedona (Deanna Troi aka I See Through You).
Now you know the cowards you are dealing with here in Sedona. Actually the number(s) are few but as you are aware nothing will bring them out of the darkness unless they are in fact vampires. And that could very well be true since it looks more and more like Sedona’s fate is being decided at private gatherings where these in’s plan their evil strategy for the next plot of guerrilla (gorilla as they prefer) strategy to take over and maintain control of unaware folks who just simply prefer to live quiet lives the reason most of us moved to Sedona.
However, the day will come when they are stripped of their self-imposed importance and the steamroller will go over the edge and Sedona will be exposed for the corrupt, manipulative city these money grabbing manipulators have created. It’s bound to happen and let us just hope it will be sooner rather than later.
Quote from Social Security:
“And since when did Social Security become an entitlement? The many years the millions of people that paid into it – will repeat – PAID INTO IT ”
============================================================
Yet another silly uninformed Sedona citizen?
You due know it was the GOP that calls it an entitlement don’t you? bet not!
Due you also know that on average you will take more from SS and from Medicare that you put in?….So basically your steeling from all of us…….But I will bet you wont see it that way will you?
———————————————————————————————————–
The answer largely depends on when you retire and how much you’ve earned over your lifetime. Consider a single man who earns the average wage throughout his career ($43,100 in 2010 dollars), works every year from age 22 to 64, and then retires at age 65 in 2010. Over his lifetime he has paid $345,000 into the system. But he is likely to get back $72,000 more than that, or $417,000 in Social Security and Medicare payouts, according to recent Urban Institute calculations. A single women with the same work and tax history will come out even further ahead due to her longer life expectancy, likely netting $464,000 in lifetime benefits, which is $192,000 more than she paid into the system. These amounts are in constant 2010 dollars and assume a 2 percent real interest rate.
Medicare benefits are the main reason most workers are coming out ahead. A male earning the average wage throughout his working life who retires in 2010 paid $55,000 into the Medicare trust fund, but is likely to receive $161,000 worth of Medicare benefits, the Urban Institute found. In contrast, he pays $290,000 in Social Security taxes throughout his career and collects $256,000 in retirement payments.
Married couples generally benefit the most from Social Security and Medicare payments, especially when one spouse earns significantly more than the other. A two-earner couple with one spouse earning the average wage each year ($43,100 in 2010) and the other spouse earning 45 percent of the average wage annually ($19,400 in 2010) who both retire in 2010 will get back $300,000 more in retirement benefits than they paid into the system. A couple with this earnings history would pay $500,000 in taxes over their lifetime, but get back $800,000 in benefits.
When both members of the couple earn the same average wage over their working life, they get back $192,000 more than their tax contributions. In this case the spouses paid $690,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes and are likely to get $882,000 worth of benefits in retirement.
———————————————————————————————————–
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2011/01/06/will-you-get-back-your-social-security-taxes-in-retirement
@West sedona resident aka Steve Segner,
Steve Segner, anyone can recognize your simple minded ploy here since it’s so obvious that you’re angry that you got kicked out of the Tea Party (because you embarrassed them). You’re not West Sedona Resident, WSR or Wsr. You’re not smart enough to be one of them. You say “Most of the people posting are the same person.” What kind of a moronic sentence is that? It’s so entertaining that an illiterate like you, who can’t even write an intelligible sentence or spell grade school words correctly, would call someone else with an education a moron. What you need to know is that, in my association with you, I am not only a degreed psychologist but I am YOUR “thought Proctologist” (quick, run get a dictionary).
@i see thru you
Hey SE readers
FYI
The above poster said she gave her REAL as Deanne TRIO…. But this is a made up name as well…..Its a Star Trek. Character……Anyway not that anyone really cares ……just shows how deranged and possibly dangerous with head case is…
Sounds a lot like a crazy head case that use to post on SE named Sharlett…..Hi Sharlett aka I see thru you aka Deanne
@steve Segner, MYOB, Alarmed, @ Steve Segner, Who hate’s Steve, and all concerned citizens,
Re: My comment above, on Aug 14 @ 8:04am
Attn: STEVE SEGNER and AL COMELLO;
Apparently you’re using the HRC approach to the law: IT APPLIES EVERYONE ELSE, JUST NOT US!
After researching the Arizona Revised Statues (“A.R..S”), it appears you both are in violation at this moment. You may want to talk to the City Attorney. See below.
If two or more persons get together to influence an election, and they spend more than $500, they are treated as a “political committee.” ARS 16-901(20)(f).
A political committee of the type described above must file a statement of organization within five business days after spending more than $500. ARS 16-902.01(A).
Furthermore,
If an expenditure for campaign literature occurs within 60 days before an election, the political committee must send a copy of the literature to each candidate by certified mail within 24 hours after mailing the literature. There is a civil penalty of triple the cost of the literature. ARS 16-917(A)&(D).
*****
Should you send out another mailer, Arizona Liberty (Mike Schroeder, Dwight Kadar and J. Rick Normand) will have no choice but to report your continuing violation of the Arizona State Statue, referenced above, to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office. Your actions may affect the outcome of the city election and, therefore, your egregious flaunting of the law is going to stop right here and now! You may consider this as a courtesy notice since you should be well aware, by now, that AZL does not hesitate to take legal action when and where necessary.
JRN
@West Sedona Dave
If you have any financial knowledge, you would think about the money ,you gave the government under penalty of prison, should have earned interest. If you figure interest on the $345,000 from your example compounded at 2%, you are getting less back from the government than you would have gotten in a bank. Far less than the average stock market return over 40 years.
If you don’t believe me, you can loan my daughter $345,000 for 40 years and at the end of the 40 years she will give you $345,000 back. That’s fair right?
I did not do a complex annual calculation, It would require knowing an annual balance, but if you took $345,000 and earned 2% interest compounded over 40 years you would have $767,300.48. The interest rate over the last 40 years was much higher than 2%.
We are getting less than a fair return, not more.
http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/simple-savings-calculator.aspx?ic_id=calc-lead_retirement_bank-rates_globalnav
@Wsr (hey, I’ve finally learned to use the @ sign)
I’m coming after you Wsr, and your other half, WSR, and, as your Thought Proctologist, I intend to have you absorbed by the Borg. Resistance is futile. Of course, once they absorb you they’ll probably gag and spit you back out just like the legitimate readers here at The Eye have done. Btw, why is it all you ever have to fall back upon is sleazy name calling instead of something more intellectually stimulating? Oh well, too bad for you that I’m a shrink who loves to play your game. Let me tell you, though, if you ever dream of beating me, you’d better apologize before you wake up.
And why, J. Rick, would they not be penalized for the mailer they already sent out? To my recollection a similar thing occurred when two individuals ran an ad during a previous public vote on a ballot issue and sure enough, again to my recollection, after the fact they did, indeed, have to form a belated PAC and follow the rules after being called out by the then City Attorney Mike Goimarac.
RN said: your egregious flaunting of the law say JRN.
I paid for last mailing in full and another one this week.
Al, just agreed with my choices, I also check with an attorney first he said so go for it \ ss
Remember free speech ..
P.S JRN said: “You said you may want to talk to the City Attorney” I did last month and he said go for it. Freedom of speech.
ss