I was born in the Los Angeles area. I have two brothers and five sisters. Even though neither my Mom nor Dad graduated from high school, all eight of us have college degrees. My parents knew the value of a college education in a competitive world that was before us. My first job was as a janitor for Snappy Taco. I worked at Mattel Toys while putting myself through college, earning a finance degree. My major work experience also includes Beckman Instruments, Hunt-Wesson Foods, ConAgra Foods, Boeing, and finally a small company in Cottonwood, Nutra-Health, as Finance Director when Carol and I moved to Sedona.
We purchased our property in 1991 and moved to Sedona in 2005. We have seen the town change in many ways, fortunately, mostly for good. We knew back then that Sedona would become a tourist destination. We understood that this location was exceptionally beautiful, and its beauty was to be shared with others. After all, we were all tourists at one time. I have an article from Sedona Red Rock News that quotes Earl Van Deren, when he moved to Montana in 1940 from Sedona, because of too many people. Everything is relative, I guess.
When I retired, I volunteered to become part of the Sedona Budget Oversight Commission started by Rob Adams. This was my introduction to governmental accounting. This change from the private sector was a shift in understanding the bottom line. You cannot run city government like a private business, but you can run it in a business-like manner.
Barbara Litrell and Mike Ward suggested I run for City Council in 2012. Their confidence in me provided me with leadership skills that I was able to apply in my eight years on council. At this time, we were still recovering from the Great Recession and the city had to reduce their budget by over 30%. A major accomplishment was convincing the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and the hoteliers to increase bed tax 0.5%, that would be invested in promoting Sedona to cities across the United States. This partnership increased revenue and gave the city an ROI of almost 400%.
When I left council in 2020, our debt was slightly more than $7 million. We now have a debt of over $50 million. We have the funds to pay for projects without the need for increased debt. One of the major contributors to this debt was the purchase of the Cultural Park. The city already owns over 200 acres to implement projects to meet Workforce Housing and other amenities for
its residents.
Accepting the divorce from the chamber, I believe, was a bad idea. Despite that arrangement, I am hoping that the city’s DMO program is successful as it is critical that our businesses continue to thrive because our guests generate over 70% of our sales and bed tax revenue.
Since leaving council I am proud to be a member of several nonprofit organizations that contribute many benefits to the community.
Editor’s Note:
This is an essay written by the candidate with only minimal edits to punctuation and capitalization. John Martinez, a former Sedona vice mayor and councilman, is challenging incumbent Mayor Scott Jablow. Election day is Tuesday, July 30.
