When the clock struck 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, Sedona City Councilwoman Nancy Scagnelli was free from threats of recall, while another councilor, Cliff Hamilton, now faces the same fate.

Cole Greenberg, who led a petition to recall the councilwoman, admitted Friday afternoon that he hadn’t received anywhere near the 760 signatures required for the recall, although he had 20 people circulating petitions.

By Alison Ecklund

When the clock struck 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, Sedona City Councilwoman Nancy Scagnelli was free from threats of recall, while another councilor, Cliff Hamilton, now faces the same fate.

Cole Greenberg, who led a petition to recall the councilwoman, admitted Friday afternoon that he hadn’t received anywhere near the 760 signatures required for the recall, although he had 20 people circulating petitions.

“It’s in the best interest of the community to move on,” Scagnelli said. “People are aware of the fact that we need to focus on the economic well-being of Sedona and put our energy toward that.”

Greenberg admitted 760 signatures were a lot to acquire. The number of signatures required is based on a calculation of the total votes cast at the last preceding general election for the office subject to recall.

The number is then divided by the number of offices filled in that election and then multiplied by 25 percent.

Greenberg’s attempted recall came after Scagnelli initiated a motion Aug. 13 for continuous roadway lighting along Highway 89A at a meeting with the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The motion passed, 4-2, allowing ADOT to go ahead with lighting the highway after the city addressed the state agency two years ago about making the highway safer.

Mayor Rob Adams and Hamilton opposed the motion.

“This isn’t the first time she’s ignored the vocal perspective of the electorate,”

Greenberg said.

On Jan. 13, he used the public forum session at a City Council meeting to publicly thank “all the people who have put their names on petitions to recall Nancy Scagnelli.”

“The purpose for this isn’t against Nancy but against the river of lights on [Hwy.] 89A,” Greenberg told the crowd.

The fact that enough signatures weren’t received for the recall is indicative of the fact that there’s not the level of angst against streetlights that Greenberg thought there was, Scagnelli said.

Although Scagnelli is free from recall, Sedona business owner Jeff Negilski pulled a packet to recall Hamilton on Jan. 16, two days after Hamilton suggested the city help business owners “learn to fish” and not just give them a fish to ride out the economic downturn.