The Sedona City Council last week looked into changing the process for distribution of event funds for next year.

This discussion came immediately after council voted to not fund organizations in round two of its event funding program.

Mark Gorchesky, treasurer of the Scorpion booster club, implored the council to help fund an event he claimed would bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars to the local economy.

However, council, faced with the task of trying to find ways to save the city money due to the budget shortfall, decided to save the $10,000.

Council looked into numerous options on how to decide what to fund in the future if money becomes available.

Assistant City Manager Alison Zelms asked council where it put the value system and requested feedback so the city could move forward with a plan.

One such option is enlisting the Sedona Chamber of Commerce’s help to decide what projects the city should fund.

Zelms said the difficult part is putting one event above another in terms of importance when deciding what gets funding.

“I am not comfortable saying this event is more important than another,” she said, and asked if the goal was to fund community events.

Events the city could help fund include those bringing revenue into the city, helping celebrate Sedona’s heritage and social events to help residents in need.

Vice Mayor Cliff Hamilton said the projects the city should help are those that make cash, celebrate the community and community service organizations.

“We are trying to create accountability,” he said. “I would like to see the City Council, chamber and stakeholders work together on grants.”

Sedona Chamber of Com-merce President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff said communities like Lake Havasu let their chambers have a more important role.

Councilman Mark DiNunzio wanted to know what role the chamber would play.

Wesselhoff said the role would be defined by council, adding its part can be extremely large or very small.

“We are comfortable enough in taking the entire process over,” she said, and added a more consistent brand of marketing could be done under its direction.

Councilwoman Pud Colquitt said events council supports must be clear and concise, and added she will not support fundraisers for applicants’

own gain.

“What I want to do is give the organizations a heads-up on what to expect for the next five years,” she said.

Wesselhoff will work on coming up with a plan for the city to determine who gets what before it comes back to council.

Michael Maresh can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 125, or e-mail mmaresh@larsonnewspapers.com