It’s rare when the Sedona Fire District Governing Board has a split vote on an item. In fact, the last time came in 2017 when the board was voting on a proposed bond.
Now, jump ahead to the meeting of Tuesday, Nov. 17, in which the board split 3-2 in favor of accepting a 10-year lease with the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority for a cell tower owned by SFD but sitting at the airport. Board Chairman Dave Soto and board member Joy Moore were the dissenting votes.
Up until now, the airport has charged SFD $1 per year to lease the land under the tower. In March, negotiations between the two parties began with both sides going back and forth on a dollar amount.
The most recent 10-year lease expired on Sept. 10. That has since been extended through Monday, Dec. 14, a week after the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority is expected to meet and possibly sign the contract. It will then need to be approved by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors.
The land is owned by Yavapai County and managed by the airport authority, but in the jurisdiction of SFD and city of Sedona for fire and police services, respectively.
Following the meeting, Soto addressed why a dollar figure was not mentioned once the board came out of executive session. While SOCAA in the past stated its desire to get around $1,500 to $1,750 a month, Soto said SFD is refraining from confirming any amount until the airport also signs the contract.
As noted, the fire district owns the tower on the north side of the airport. On it are six entities that lease space and pay SFD. They include Sedona Internet Services, TPT SpeedConnect, Taurus Technology Investment Partners, Commspeed, the Sedona Police Department and the city of Sedona IT department. Each has to meet regulations set forth by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission.
SFD also leases a tower on the south side of the airport, which serves the Chapel area and Village of Oak Creek.
A concern expressed by some of the board members during the meeting is that while SFD provides emergency services as well as regular inspections at the airport, the SOCAA is not a taxpaying entity in regard to the fire district.
“There appears to be some inequities in this contract,” Board Clerk Corrie Cooperman said, adding that there are good features within the document. “I do have concerns for the fact that there’s no evenness of the services we provide. We’re paying money for the tower besides providing services and that the airport authority does help us out in any way.”
A day after the meeting, Cooperman said she wanted to better explain her vote despite her concerns.
“It felt necessary to vote ‘yes’ for the contract — in spite of its inequities — because it is essential for our community to have the emergency communications system the tower provides,” she said.
Neither the board nor SFD Chief Jon Trautwein have received any information as to how the airport came up with the dollar figure its board is seeking. The SFD board questioned whether it’s based on square footage, industry standards or a comparable dollar amount charged to other tower leases at the airport.
“So this very well could be perceived that this [figure] came out of thin air rather than some sort of factual, numerical equation that we could really hang our hat on?” Soto asked.
