Donna Michaels has never run for office before, but she has a long history in civic engagement.
The Village of Oak Creek resident was born in Alexandria, Va., and has a doctorate in public policy from Barry University in Miami, Fla. She first moved to Arizona while she was working for Kids Voting USA, a national nonprofit that works to teach children about the country’s government and encourage them to get registered and vote when they come of age.
Since moving to the Verde Valley, she has been on the boards of Yavapai College, the Arizona Rural Health Organization, the National Rural Education Association and other nonprofit groups.
She is running Tuesday, Nov. 3, against Yavapai County Supervisor Randy Garrison, a Republican, to represent District 3 on Yavapai County’s Board of Supervisors.
“I’ve always worked behind the scenes to get the right policies implemented by getting the right person elected,” Michaels said. “This time, I felt like I was the right person. Everything that I have done professionally and in community has prepared me to take this office.”
Michaels says that she is running because “people were feeling a disconnect from public processes.” She said that the county government has become disconnected from the people it represents and believes that her candidacy is an effort to make the voices of local groups more represented in county government.
Part of that comes in Michaels’ opposition to some of the road projects that are proposed in the Verde Valley. While she argues that Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek need better transportation options to alleviate traffic and allow for better emergency management in the case of fire, she is opposed to the possibility of building a direct connection between the two communities near Red Rock Crossing, arguing instead for increased mass transit in the Sedona area. She opposes the proposed road in Supervisor District 2, dubbed Verde Connect, to connect State Route 260 between Cottonwood and Camp Verde with Beaverhead Flat Roads, which Garrison secured $25 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to build. The road has been opposed by some Camp Verde residents living close to where the road would be built.
“I don’t know that there needs to be another road to connect us. What we need to do is manage the transit,” Michaels said. “Building another road only increases the traffic. We need to manage the damage to [the] landscape.”
Likewise, Michaels advocates for more local input in decisions about new housing developments, such as the proposals in District 2 for the Primrose Peak Estates development in Rimrock or the Spring Creek Ranch development north of Cornville off of State Route 89A, which will likely be annexed into Cottonwood rather than going through the county approval process.
Michaels says that she supports growth but feels that current residents must be listened to in the planning process in order to ensure that growth does not damage the natural environment or change the rural character of the area.
“What’s important is not to automatically assume that because someone doesn’t like it we don’t do it,” Michaels said. “People feel that they’re not being listened to. What matters to them is not being included in the decision-making process. I know we’ve been discovered and that we’re going to see growth. But [the question is] what way we manage it to maintain all the intrinsic value of the Verde Valley …. We can have development, but it needs to be thoughtful, in a way that engages with the community.”
Michaels has also come out in opposition to the construction of a $63 million criminal justice center near Prescott, which the Board of Supervisors voted to fund with a 3% increase in property taxeslast summer. She argues that rather than spend all that money on a new jail, the county should work to lower incarceration rates, as the county has begun to do through a new program run through the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
“Why double down on spending to incarcerate more people when evidence shows that at least half of them should be diverted from jails?” Michaels wrote in an op-ed she published on her website. “With recidivism in Sheriff [Scott] Mascher’s system already down by 16%, according to a recent NAU study, the question becomes even more concerning and profound.”
Michaels demurred when asked about incorporation for the areas in District 3 that have significant populations but are not incorporated, saying that the residents of Cornville, the VOC and the Verde Villages need to make their own decisions on whether they want to change from the status quo of being governed at the county level and did not want to influence their decisions.
Michaels is also committed to working to keep Northern Arizona Healthcare in Sedona.
Hospital administrators have indicated that they are thinking about downgrading the Sedona Emergency Department to urgent care but have not determined how or when.
“The demographics of an aging and elderly population in Sedona support the need for life saving services to be offered in close proximity to its residents,” Michaels said. “As Supervisor, I will work to advocate for Emergency Department [ED] services to continue as promised by NAH in Sedona in the present facility or in other equivalent facilities.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting areas throughout the country, Michaels argued that the county — which has seen low case spread in recent weeks despite a spike in cases over the summer — should implement a mask ordinance similar to what Sedona and Cottonwood put in place, requiring masks in public spaces.
With the Verde Valley facing economic difficulties after the drop in tourism caused by the pandemic, Michaels argues that more should be done to diversify industries in the area, focusing on agriculture and viticulture as potential sources of growth, along with partnerships from the college. She argued that the wine industry could be up to ten times as big. and that by increasing agricultural product, residents would be keeping more of their dollars in the Verde Valley.
Michaels argued that with these opportunities for change, electing her would be a part of that change.
“I think that we’re in a difficult, challenging time,” Michaels said. “[But] we’re living in an extraordinary time of opportunity. We live in an extraordinary place.”
