“Captain” Jack Ross has retired as a community services aide with the city of Sedona and the Sedona Police Department as of Dec. 3, after having started in the role in April 2022.

“The entire council will know Jack Ross. He’s normally in a very bright yellow shirt working for the city, doing a lot of hard work,” Mayor Scott Jablow said while presenting Ross with an award during the Dec. 10 City Council meeting. “See that smile. He has that smile every time we see Jack around the city. In his role, Jack assisted parking management in Uptown and trail areas of Sedona and performed a variety [of] other duties, including community engagement, initiatives and traffic control.”

“Thanks for accepting me into the police department,” Ross said in reply, thanking council and Sedona Police Chief Stephanie Foley. “It was a great opportunity for me. It [was] like a tour of duty for almost three years. [The] open door policy was very helpful when a low-level guy like me could go and air some concerns and thoughts.”

Ross plans to remain active in the community and will continue to serve as the president of local nonprofit Sedona Area Veteran and Community Outreach.

“I enjoyed my whole time there and the duties ever associated with being a community services aide … it was just time to move on and do something else,” Ross subsequently said. “But I had a great time there and I enjoyed meeting with people.”

The CSAs are assigned to the Sedona Police Department and employed in directing traffic, primarily during high-traffic periods, enforcing parking ordinances , conducting parking patrols and writing tickets. The part-time CSAs are paid $20 per hour.

Ross subsequently said “the camaraderie within the police department” was his favorite aspect of the job.

“I was accepted in there by all,” Ross said. “It kind of reminded me of life in the Navy. Parallel to that was meeting people from all around the world that visit Sedona at the trailheads, Back O’ Beyond and Dry Creek trailheads, where we’d go to check parking. But I had a lot of interactions with those visitors and I really enjoyed those experiences.”

Ross enlisted in the Navy in 1977 as an aviation candidate, flew as a carrier pilot and retired with the rank of commander 20 years later. He then worked for Delta Air Lines as an international captain until his second retirement in 2019.

After meeting at a baseball game 24 years ago, Jack and his wife Camilla have lived in the Village of Oak Creek since 2015. They have three kids, Joseph, Mike and Jessica.

“I call [the CSA] the  bookend position where older folks like me who are retired and are looking for a part-time position [can have a job],” Ross said. “Or there’s a young lady there now, she’s in college in Flagstaff, thinking she wants to be in criminal law. So it’s a good part-time job for her to have exposure to the field of law enforcement.”

“CSA Jack Ross was an asset to the police department and will be missed. He had a strong work ethic along with a kind and fun personality,” Police Chief Stephanie Foley said in a recent email.

To apply to be a community services aid visit the city of Sedona’s website at sedonaaz.gov