In June, after the Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Commission approved a zone change request for a proposed hotel slated to be built at the corner of Jacks Canyon Road and State Route 179 on June 21, we received a rather nasty email from Camille Cox, the board secretary of the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council, apparently speaking on behalf of the board as a whole. 

Cox claimed the story was full of errors while Cox’s ally, Mary Anne Wilcox, demanded we issue a retraction. Nothing in the news story was in error. Cox spoke against the hotel, apparently on behalf of the BPRCC, at the county P&Z meeting and appeared to dislike that we published that both the county and BPRCC P&Z commissions approved rezoning while the board Cox and Wilcox served on rejected it *. 

The fact that a member of the BPRCC would go to the county and advocate against a private business project is inexplicable. Imagine if a member of the Sedona City Council went to another public body like the county to argue against a private project after a split council vote. We and other council members would call for their resignation. 

Cox then mislead Big Park Regional Coordinating Council President Marc Fuller about the nature of our email correspondence. After he contacted us, we sent him the full email thread. In the BPRCC newsletter on July 5, Fuller wrote a long piece titled, “Have you had one of those times when you thought something, based on what a colleague told you, was true … but then felt totally duped when provided the full facts of the matter?” which began, “I had that experience just this week and it is the reason for this email. And please note it was Christopher Fox Graham who took the time to set things straight with the truth ….” 

We sincerely thank Fuller for clarifying what happened with his readers, but after three months of waiting for a point of clarification, we have more questions. 

In regards to the BPRCC’s failure to post meeting minutes as required for public bodies under Arizona’s open records law, Fuller clarified that “The Big Park Council has no governmental or public authority, no public policy development or enforcement powers, and receives no governmental or tax based funding.” 

“The Big Park Council is not a public, govern¬mental or regulatory body,” and thus exempt from open records laws. 

Fuller included a finding from 2008 that the BPRCC fails the definition of a “public body,” a “quasi-judicial body,” an “advisory committee” or a “subcommittee,” and was actually told this by Yavapai County back in 2002. While the BPRCC apparently does not have to keep records for the public, it also has no power nor authority whatsoever. Yet the board has operated as though it has some sort of authority in the Village of Oak Creek and residents have been misled, we hope unintentionally, that the BPRCC means something. 

It does not. 

No business or homeowner should waste their time with BPRCC. Go directly to Yavapai County for approval of permits or zone changes and leave the local headache behind. 

The members of the BPRCC are not bound to be fair, nor follow open meeting laws, nor listen objec¬tively to proposals and weigh the costs and benefits and then vote. 

The fact that the county P&Z unanimously voted in favor of the hotel, rejecting the BPRCC’s vote in opposition, seems to prove the county doesn’t care how it votes. 

The BPRCC merely gives false hope to residents who think a positive or negative vote there means something. 

If the Village of Oak Creek really wants to have a say in local matters, incorporate as a town and replace this “ghost council” with a real one that matters. 

Christopher Fox Graham 

Managing Editor

* The editorial was updated to reflect a clarification that Wilcox did not speak at the Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

Big Park Regional Coordinating Council President Marc Fuller publicly rebukes Secretary Camille Cox*

* The letter was sent to recipients on the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council email list. It was also posted by on the BPRCC webite by President Marc Fuller. After Fuller’s term ended and Camille Cox became the BPRCC president, this material was deleted from the website.

Big Park Regional Coordinating Council President Marc Fuller addresses the misleading statemennts by Camille Cox, Council Secretary in an email to members titled: Red Rock News Editor Reveals BPRCC Exec Board Member’s Questionable Ethics”

Have you had one of those times when you thought something, based on what a colleague told you, was true … but then felt totally duped when provided the full facts of the matter? I had that experience just this week and it is the reason for this email. And please note it was Christopher Fox Graham who took the time to set things straight with the truth. Below are the major points of what transpired, and I have also attached the full historical email thread provided by Christopher Fox Graham as proof of the matter. It seems exceptional that a newspaper editor would respond with this level of detail, but you will see that the claims about him, and the nature of communication with him, are demonstrably false. The full email thread (in pdf format) provided by Christopher Fox Graham can be read and downloaded from this link – https://bigparkcouncil.org/downloads/redrocknews-response-regarding-camille-cox.pdf On July 1st I reached out to Christopher Fox Graham, editor of Larson newspapers which includes our Red Rock News. The reason I did was an email sent to the Executive Board of the Council by Camille Cox, Council Secretary. In that email Camille Cox stated that – “In a nutshell, CFG [Christopher Fox Graham] sent me a series of messages in sequence, minutes apart, and the first one with his Q’s was collapsed under the others – so I didn’t see it. He basically came unglued because we were not posting our DRAFT minutes to Council meetings and P&Z as per Open Meeting Laws for govt orgs.” Below is the total text of my note to Christopher Fox Graham – Hello Christopher Fox Graham, I just wanted to followup advising that there is no reason to give Camille Cox a difficult time. If you are seeking anything, I will be glad to provide whatever BPRCC has. You are welcome to reach me directly via my email [redacted] or my phone [redacted]. Kind regard,   -Marc Fuller Here is just the beginning of Christopher Fox Graham’s very lengthy email reply “Marc Fuller, It appears Camille Cox has misled you about the nature of what prompted her mention in our editorial. Cox wrote “I’ll summarize situ and send to all of you tomorrow. I’m too overwhelmed with work to do tonight.” but apparently did not send you the entire, unsolicited email we received from her first (note the time stamps). She emailed us accusations, we replied in full, and she never responded, hence the inclusion of her failure to respond in our editorial. This too, is in misleading, “In a nutshell, CFG sent me a series of messages in sequence, minutes apart …” as it makes it seem as though we emailed her first, out of the blue, which is false. Our email to her was not unsolicited, but a response to her email that was sent to us first. You can see from the tone that the email was accusatory, even going so far as to suggest that the Editorial Department is somehow influenced by advertising. I repeat, again, “The Advertising Department and Editorial Department are separate. Our Advertising Department has absolutely zero influence on what the Editorial Department covers or how we cover it and the Editorial Department does not discuss who may be advertising in our newspaper. We [the journalists, editors and photographers] don’t know who buys ads until we see them printed in the paper.” It is offensive to suggest that journalists are in any way influenced by what ads appear in our publication. We never have been, never are, and never will be. Here is Cox’s email to us in our entirety. It is disheartening that your own secretary is not providing you with the full context of what she sent us and speaking apparently on the behalf of the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council without informing the president about she’s writing. Note that she signs off with “Camille Cox / BPRCC board member and secretary” apparently representing the BPRCC as a whole:”  To me it is notable that Christopher Fox Graham choose to use the phrases and words such as:  “misled” “She emailed us accusations” ” she never responded” “misleading” “Our email to her was not unsolicited, but a response to her email that was sent to us first.” “offensive” “disheartening “, all relating to his communication with Camille Cox, presenting herself as representing the Big Park Council. (in violation of Big Park policy)  In truth it saddens me to realize that I agree with Christopher Fox Graham, it is at best very disheartening. I think it reflects very poorly on our Council and even a little on many residents of our community. I have shared all the above with you because next week there are Council meetings that may again have a great deal of contention, possibly in part due to Camille Cox, and I hope you will look beyond accusatory, inflammatory and even misleading claims … toward learning the truth and determining how you want the Big Park Council to operate. Thank you and kind regard,   -Marc Please read through the whole email series between Christopher Fox Graham and Camille Cox –  https://bigparkcouncil.org/downloads/redrocknews-response-regarding-camille-cox.pdf