The 2024 county supervisors election got underway in Cottonwood on Thursday, Feb. 1, as about 50 voters turned out for a meet-and greet hosted by the Verde Valley Yavapai Democrats with incumbent District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels and her Democratic primary challenger Nikki Check, the former mayor of Jerome who ran for the Arizona State Senate in 2016.

• This is the first part of a two-part story on the Feb. 1 Democratic mixer with candidates Nikki Check and Donna Michaels. Check is challenging the incumbent Michaels for the Democratic nomination. They will likely face Steve Gesell, the former police chief of Cottonwood, who is currently running unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Campaign Finance 

During her first campaign in 2020, Michaels raised $69,127.71 and spent $67,846 to earn 12,982 votes to defeat the then-incumbent Republican Randy Garrison by 179 votes. Her first campaign finance report for this election cycle showed that she began the election cycle with $1,281 in her coffers and raised $59,200 in November and December, including $6,650 in personal funds.

Check’s first filing reported $925 in donations, including $70 in personal funds, against $343 in expenses. She said that her first campaign finance report was not very reflective of the state of her campaign’s finances because of how early it was in the process.

“Donations are starting to come in for me now,” Check said. “I think it’s highly possible I won’t be the candidate that raises the most money, although I was in 2016, by quite a lot. When I ran against [Sen.] Sylvia Allen, she won … It’s one of the beautiful things about elections is that dollars don’t always translate into votes.… The former mayor of Sedona, Sandy Moriarty, is my treasurer; Al Comello has been working to get people elected in the Verde Valley for a long time.”

Verde Valley Yavapai Democrats

The hour-long event started with formal comments from the candidates and was followed by a 30-minute question-andanswer session.

“My name was once Nikki Bagley,” Check said in her opening. “In 2016, I made a run for the state senate, and I nearly won that race. It’s one of the inspirations to know that in 2016, in District [6], we had people vote for a very interesting group. They voted for Donald Trump, John McCain and Nicky Bagley, [who lost] by [about] 1,500 votes … I’m a viable candidate, both in a primary and in a general election, and although it’s been several years, it’s exciting to be back in the saddle because public policy is something that [I] love.”

Check said she was most proud of Jerome becoming one of the first municipalities in Arizona to recognize civil unions between same-sex partners in 2013.

“That did something. Then it was Cottonwood, Sedona,” Check said. ”It built energy that the state and federal level started to see this was an unstoppable thing, that people wanted equality in their communities and in rural Arizona … That’s why I’m choosing to run for county supervisor. I realize we have a Republican, possibly, to face in the general election, so I am going to do everything I can to stay on a positive note and run a strong campaign.

“But there is something missing right now in our current representation,” Check continued. “The Verde Valley only has one and a half county supervisors out of five representing it. If you don’t have a strong voice in District 3, we become an afterthought. I’ve talked with a lot of mayors and council members and vice mayors to understand, is there something missing and has our current supervisor really showed up? Not a single one has come to me and said, ‘We’re really happy [with the incumbent].’ That’s important, because we have to speak with a cohesive voice.”

“I’ve been here [in the Verde Valley] for over 30 years,” Michaels said in her opening statement. “I came from not only an academic, policy and community engagement background. When I was a student at the University of Nebraska, I founded the first domestic violence program in the state … My community service has been almost genetically in me all my life.”

“I’m well over 94% at all of our board meetings. Despite the fact that I had major leg surgery,” Michaels added.

During 2023, Michaels was absent from two Board of Supervisors meetings. Michaels attend meetings virtually more often than any other board member in 2023.

“I had a great role model [in my godmother, who] said, ‘Whatever it is you do in your life, wherever you go, and how successful you are, you must contribute,’” Michaels continued. “That’s been my life’s mission, whether it’s been in sales, as I was the top national sales — first woman with, of all things, a chemical company. That taught me a great deal about what was good and what wasn’t in fertilizing. That’s why I’m so on fire today about the regenerative [agriculture] opportunity that we have. It’s important … It is a project that I’m developing, with ranchers, farmers, with the developers actually, with educators.”

Michaels offered no specifics on the proposal apart from saying that she is working with the University of Arizona to apply for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

With the Verde Valley School Board of Trustees’ approval, “we will forge a strategic agreement that unlocks access to 90 acres of land for pioneering regenerative agriculture demonstrations and will provide the seed money for an endowment for the Verde Valley School,” Michaels’ office said in a Jan. 11 letter to the nonprofit Big Park Regional Coordinating Council.

Michaels’ proposal for the county to enter into a lease-to-purchase agreement with the Sedona-Oak Creek School District to take over the property of the former Big Park Community School is also on hold pending completion of a county study on building needs.

“My passion for that has not changed one iota despite the bubbles in the newspaper cartoons,” Michaels later said. “It’s not hot air, it’s a potential, but everybody’s going to have to get through the process, the procedures and then the diligence of structuring what that might look like. I want to make sure that the [school] district is made whole financially to the extent that the county could afford it now, as well as structure something that will allow the county to be able to buy it and I think that’s doable. It’s just standing there fallow [and] breaks my heart.”

In addition, Michaels stressed her efforts in lobbying the state legislature on labeling requirements for meat products.

“We all need to know what we’re eating,” Michaels said. “Do you want to eat pretend meat? That’s great. I’ve been a vegetarian for 25 years. I have changed my ways.”

Republican Race

Former Cottonwood Police Chief Steve Gesell, who formally announced his candidacy for District 3 on Sunday, Jan. 28, is currently running unopposed for the Republican nomination. The filing deadline was Monday, April 8, but on Feb. 12, the Arizona State Legislature moved the date up to Monday, April 1.

“I’m excited at the potential opportunity to continue serving the public in this new capacity,” Gesell said in the press release. “My passion for public service has never wavered despite the turbulence I’ve experienced throughout my career to include 2023. It comes with the territory of principled leadership. The last year has only amplified my belief that we must elect representatives that unwaveringly place the public’s interests above their own.”

Gesell stated he “has extensive experience in working in high-performing local government teams and organizations. Conversely, he also has experience in working inside dysfunctional public-sector environments as well. This gives him an invaluable perspective on what works and what does not. His experience will aid him in representing the residents of District 3 as well as Yavapai County as a whole.”

Gesell served as police chief for nearly eight years until he was fired in September after being placed on four months of administrative leave following an independent investigation that concluded there was reasonable cause that the Cottonwood Police Department discriminated against a female police officer based on her sex and disability, among other allegations.

The city agreed to pay the officer $67,142.92 in back pay and reassign her as a detective for no less than two years, unless she voluntarily agrees to transfer to a different position or assignment. Cottonwood also agreed to modify its existing nondiscrimination policies to prohibit discrimination harassment based upon sex, race, national origin, color, religion, genetic testing, disability or age and to prohibit retaliation against any employee who filed harassment complaints.

The city was also required to conduct an interactive training for employees, supervisors, managers and staff about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how to recognize and appropriately respond to sexual harassment in the workplace.

After a meeting to discuss the settlement in May, Gesell allegedly threatened the interim city manager and was placed on leave until his firing.

Gesell has filed a notice of claim against the city for alleged wrongful termination and is seeking $625,000 for lost salary and benefits from the city of Cottonwood. He was previously a police officer in Scottsdale for 20 years, then he served as the police chief of San Luis Obispo for three-and-a-half years before resigning in May 2015 after being placed on administrative leave by city management.