After exhaustive research, the Sedona Red Rock News has determined that two unattributed signs urging a “yes” vote on Proposition 483 were placed by car camp supporter Steve Segner.

While a recent NEWS nonscientific poll indicated that 91% of readers either ignore or are provoked by seeing political signs by the roadside, and research published in the journal Electoral Studies has shown that campaign signs affect vote totals “by just over one percentage point,” that hasn’t stopped Proposition 483 proponent Segner from investing in a couple of large “Yes on 483” signs that may fall short of state requirements for election disclosure.

Proposition 483 was filed by the Save the Cultural Park Committee to challenge the Sedona City Council’s March 12 decision to rezone part of the Sedona Cultural Park for use as a car camp for homeless workers. A “yes” vote on the proposition will approve the council’s zone change and allow the construction of the car camp to continue after staff began work on it prior to council authorization, while a “no” vote will overturn the zone change and preserve the park’s existing planned development zoning. The referendum proposition will be on the Tuesday, Nov. 5, general election ballot.

Arguments for and against the proposition will be covered in an upcoming story.

In September, Segner erected two large campaign signs soliciting approval of the zone change, one on Cooks Hill in the Arizona Department of Transportation right-of-way along State Route 89A, and one at the intersection of Brewer and Ranger roads in the city of Sedona’s right-of-way. The Cooks Hill sign reads “Yes on Prop 483: Save Sedona: Vote Yes,” while the Ranger sign reads, “Yes on Prop 483: Less Traffic: Vote Yes.”

Both signs are located within Coconino County. Neither sign includes a statement of who paid for the political advertisement.

Arizona Revised Statutes §16-1019(B) and (C) provide that signs are protected against removal by municipal or county officials when they meet five criteria, including being placed in a public right-of-way and displaying “the name and telephone number or website address of the candidate or campaign committee contact person.” ARS §16-925(A) and (D)(4) provide that a person publishing a political advertisement “other than an individual” must display a disclosure “in a height that is at least 4% of the vertical height of the sign or billboard.”

Political action committees are required to display their names in a font at least 10% of a sign’s height.

“I went to the city attorney and asked him, and he said, no, if I’m not a PAC, all I have to do is have my name on the back in case they’re picked up,” Segner said. “I checked it out and that’s what I was told, and that’s what we did.”

There was no name on the signs as of press time on Sept. 30.

“I also have a mailing coming out to every home in Sedona later this week,” Segner added. Political mailers also require disclosure of who paid for them.

“City staff does not take action based on what the signs do or do not say,” City Attorney Kurt Christianson said. “City code enforcement is responsible for ensuring the appropriate physical placement of signs within city right-of-way … ADOT is responsible for the placement of signs on ADOT right-of-way including SR 89A and SR 179.”

Christianson did not reply by press time to a request to clarify whether ADOT would be responsible for sign placement issues along the section of SR 89A owned by the city or whether code enforcement would be responsible for enforcing ARS §16-1019 violations in city rights-of-way.

Prop 483 Updates

The city originally planned to fund the proposed car camp using state grant money, and interim Sedona Housing Manager Jeanne Frieder stated on Sept. 5 that “ADOH has communicated that if the program moves forward, the date to begin the program would be extended so that we could still have access to the funding, with the deadline to spend the funds by June 30, 2026 remaining the same.”

Following allegations by Save the Cultural Park Committee organizer William Noonan that city of Sedona staff had violated their statutory obligation to maintain neutrality in discussing the referendum, Yavapai County Deputy County Attorney Michael Gordon opened an inquiry into city staff in August.

“We are in the process of gathering information, and I am not able to provide a time frame for when the inquiry will be completed,” Gordon said on Sept. 26 when asked if the results of the inquiry would be available before the general election on Nov. 5.