It’s hard to get an interview with Sedona’s new Councilwoman Pud Colquitt.
It’s not because she’s unwilling to talk or because of her hectic schedule tending to horses. It’s because once Colquitt came back to City Hall, city staff were so eager to see her, anyone passing by stopped to hug her, greet her and welcome her back.
Colquitt worked with city staff from 2006 to 2008 as the city’s first elected mayor, and as coun-cil-appointed mayor for two years, following three years on Planning & Zoning Commission and four years on council.
By Alison Ecklund
It’s hard to get an interview with Sedona’s new Councilwoman Pud Colquitt.
It’s not because she’s unwilling to talk or because of her hectic schedule tending to horses. It’s because once Colquitt came back to City Hall, city staff were so eager to see her, anyone passing by stopped to hug her, greet her and welcome her back.
Colquitt worked with city staff from 2006 to 2008 as the city’s first elected mayor, and as coun-cil-appointed mayor for two years, following three years on Planning & Zoning Commission and four years on council.
One person at City Hall who may be less enthusiastic about her return is Mayor Rob Adams, who beat out Colquitt in a close mayoral election in May.
Since neither candidate received a majority in the March election, a runoff election was held May 20, which Adams won by two votes.
Since the votes were within four, a recount was held June 5, which determined a ballot had mistakenly been given to Colquitt, which really belonged to Adams, bringing his lead to four.
In an election that witnessed a historically high number of voters, Adams received 1,970 votes to Colquitt’s 1,966, out of 3,947 voters.
Since then, Colquitt has been off the radar, tending to her horses and, quite honestly, enjoying her free time.
But there are things she remains passionate about — like the Redevelopment Plan, the five-year financial plan and seniors and youth — so when residents urged her to apply for the vacant seat, she obliged.
Council cited Colquitt’s experience as the No. 1 reason for getting her back on board, but some councilors wondered about the relationship between the ex-mayor and the mayor.
At interviews to fill the council seat Sept. 16, Vice Mayor John Bradshaw asked Colquitt how she saw herself dealing with Adams, considering she ran against him for mayor.
“Rob [Adams] is an individual and so am I,” she said. “Rob [Adams] and I disagree on some things, we agree on some. My life has gone on.”
Colquitt said she’ll vote on what she agrees on and vote against what she doesn’t, regardless of how Adams is voting.
She’s never had a problem working with people, she said, and although she believes in treating everyone with respect, that doesn’t mean they can’t disagree.
At the same interview, Adams questioned Colquitt about their ability to work together.
He asked her why his phone calls before the election were never returned, and why she wasn’t at the City Council meeting when he was seated to hand the gavel over to him.
Colquitt responded that she was suffering from bronchitis the night Adams was seated, something City Manager Eric Levitt was informed of.
“I am not going to get into in this interview a personal thing about you and myself. I said I’m very willing to work with everyone on our council,” she told Adams during the interview.
Adams said he voted for Colquitt to indicate his willingness to work as a team — something the entire council will be working on at the council retreat Friday, Sept. 26.
He’d also like to sit down with the new councilwoman to “iron out any differences that may be there.”
“My attitude is this job, more than anything else I’ve ever done, is about taking what’s put on your plate every day and dealing with it,” Adams said.
Since City Council is public service, serving the public comes first, he said.
“In a perfect world, principles of doing best for the city need to take priority over personalities,” Adams said.
Alison Ecklund can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 125, or e-mail aecklund@larsonnewspapers.com.
