My name is Melissa Dunn and my husband, George Goley and I have owned a home in this special place for over 13 years. We spent the previous six years working in the United Kingdom and came home to Sedona in April 2021, when COVID-19 lockdown allowed.

We were shocked and dismayed at the changes we saw had happened and were continuing to happen to this beautiful place where we live.

After having read the last community plan “Imagine Sedona 2020 and Beyond,” published in 2014, I do not believe we are currently living up to the vision of “Sedona is a community that nurtures connections between people, encourages healthy and active lifestyles and supports a diverse and prosperous economy, with priority given to the protection of the environment.”

The Sedona City Council has not taken a “proactive planning role to implement the community’s vision.”

Further, they have not held to the vision of Sedona being “known as a clean, green and sustainable community,” “a serene and beautiful place to live and visit” nor Sedona keeping “its small town character.”

We do not need a new community plan. We need to have a council willing to say “enough” and find ways to proactively implement the vision of the existing community plan.

The Arizona State Legislature may have hampered our vision, but I believe with enough creativity, commitment, energy and will to foment change, we can start moving towards the community we asked for in the vision we crafted together years ago. We can restart our vision quest through a focus on community health and sustainable tourism and development.

Why do I think I am worth considering for one of the council seats? First, I care deeply for Sedona and want to do everything I can to help. I have spent my career working as a technical product architect and director at places like Microsoft, Amazon, Sears Digital and a company in the United Kingdom called Sainsbury’s Argos, not working in city governments.

I have spent decades working within business bureaucracies learning to say “no” when something is not in the best interest of the people being served while still finding ways to support both the business and the people. I understand taking the long view — vision — and creating a road map with specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely outcomes. I believe in holding myself and others to being both transparent and accountable.

I have advanced degrees in sociology and human-centered design and engineering. I am a behaviorist and I look for human connections and intentions. I am well-traveled having been in all 50 states and 20 countries around the world and have seen successful relationships between communities, visitors and the natural world.

I believe I can help us find a balance between those of us who live in and love Sedona and those who want to visit. I am problem-solver who believes we must be people led and data-driven.

Our issues are complex, often requiring changes at the state and federal level, but I believe we can have the future we want.

We can pull tourism into our sustainability program since tourism impacts the economic, social and environmental sustainability of our community.

We can change direction from adventure to eco-tourism bringing focus to the sustainability of our community and surrounding environment.

We can have visitors pay for the services provided to them through a CityPass.

We can set up our major roadways and residential streets to be tow-away zones.

We can strictly enforce all our traffic laws and ordinances.

We can supply resident-only parking permits and parking places.

We can ensure residents have the same access to transportation.

We can rebuild our neighborhoods and our sense of community.

We can refocus our attention on the sustainability and growth of a diverse, healthy community.

In summation, I believe we must find ways to support and rebuild our community, help tourists be more responsible, make festival organizers accountable for their attendees’ actions and use whatever legal and social means we can to limit the unsustainable growth of unaffordable housing for critical workforce — police, health care workers, teachers — and reverse the destruction caused by ATVs and other tourism activities slowly destroying the serenity, spirituality and artistic quirkiness that drew many of us to live here.

Residents and the rocks need to matter. It’s time to elect a council focused on the where people “live” part of our vision of Sedona as the best place to live, stay and play.

For more details see: melissawdunn.com.

Melissa Dunn is one of six candidates for three seats on the Sedona City Council. Election day is Tuesday, Aug. 2.