The late Steve Jobs once said, “It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”

John Martinez agrees.

For the past eight-and-a-half years Martinez has served as a member of the Sedona City Council — four of them as vice mayor. But when election season came around this year, he decided his time on the dais was over.

“It came down to, when [my wife] Carol and I wanted to do something or go somewhere, we always had to check the schedule,” he said, refer­ring to council meetings and responsibilities. “Sometimes we just want to wake up and say, ‘let’s do this or let’s go there.’ I decided it was time to take a break.

“When I first ran for council there was fire in the belly. I still have the embers and they’re glowing brightly, but it’s not that fire in the belly anymore.”

Martinez came to Sedona 15 years ago with a corporate background in finance but had never held public office. After moving here, Carol continued to work and often commuted for her job but as a recent retiree, Martinez said he found himself bored. So in 2010 he applied for and was appointed to the city’s citizen budget oversight commission. He suggested at the time that the Sedona Chamber of Commerce increase its bed tax by 2%, which would bring in additional funds for the city.

“That didn’t go over well with the Sedona Lodging Council and I remember Jennifer [Wesselhoff, former CEO and president of the Sedona Chamber of Commerce] saying ‘this guy will never get elected,’” he said, laughing.

Having gotten a taste for city government, Martinez thought about running for city council and was encouraged by several others, including those he had served with on the budget committee.

“After I decided to run I went home and told Carol and her reaction was, ‘What? You’re going to do what?’ I told her it wasn’t my decision and that people wanted me to run and I felt good about that. I knew I wasn’t going to win but people wanted me to run,” Martinez said.

In 2012 there were five candidates for three seats on council. For his first candidate forum, Martinez said he prepared what he wanted to say and when the time came, he forgot everything.

“I went blank,” he said. “I crashed and burned that night.”

But it wasn’t all bad. Several attendees came up and said instead of sounding like a politician, he sounded human and relatable.

Martinez said one of the misconceptions some have is that members of council simply show up for four meetings a month and that’s about it. He admitted that the amount of time put in by members of council was a real eye-opener. Aside from the meetings, there are subcommittees they sit on and act as liai­sons to other groups. That doesn’t include the count­less hours of homework needed before meetings and special events.

“It’s like a part-time job,” Martinez said. “In addition to that, Citizen A wants this and Citizen B wants that and the city only has a certain amount of money. So you have to make some difficult deci­sions. That was a real eye opener as well — estab­lishing priorities for the benefit of the whole community.”

Martinez said the thing he’s most proud of during his tenure is the city’s creation of the Sedona In Motion master transporta­tion plan and its imple­mentation. He also said being part of the council that selected Justin Clifton as city manager five-and-a-half years ago is some­thing he’s also very proud of.

That feeling of respect and admiration goes both ways.

“It takes a special person to do an often thankless job for virtually no pay just to serve their commu­nity,” Clifton said. “Even more rare is someone like John Martinez who was willing to do it twice. And during his two terms he was nothing less than fully dedicated to the better­ment of Sedona. His lead­ership and experience will be missed.”

Mayor Sandy Moriarty echoed Clifton’s thoughts, having served with Martinez the past six years.

“He has been an excel­lent council member, and I especially appreciate his service as vice mayor,” she said. “He has always been a great support to me, willing to help whenever I ask or am unable to attend various functions.

“John and his wife, Carol, are wonderful community members and volunteers. His strong background in finance has been invaluable. He is collegial and reliable, thoughtful, and his goal is always to do what is best for the whole community. I will miss him on the dais and look forward to his continued participa­tion in council and other community discussions and activities.”

Martinez said July 28, 2016, was his proudest moment as a member of council. That night he was named vice mayor, replacing Mark DiNunzio, who had resigned.

“I’m from a poor Mexican family and am one of eight kids,” he said, noting that all eight siblings graduated from college. “When my mom found out I was running for council she said, ‘No Johnny, I don’t want you doing that. All politicians are corrupt. We didn’t bring you up that way.’ She came around and was fine with me running.

“When I became vice mayor, that was the pinnacle. This poor Mexican kid from a family of 10 becomes vice mayor of Sedona. When I told her she said, ‘Johnny, I’m so proud of you.’ There was a picture in the Sedona Red Rock News of me after I was selected. I cut it out and sent it to them. I go and look at it from time to time and you can still see her tear stains.”