We commend the Sedona City Council for voting unanimously to grant service contracts to six Sedona-area nonprofits. Sedona City Manager Karen Osburn recommended that council fund the full amount requested by five of the organizations, including:
- Humane Society of Sedona: $93,090
- Sedona Community Center: $236,000
- Sedona Historical Society: $150,000
- Sedona Recycles: $250,000
- Verde Valley Caregivers Coalition: $80,000
The sixth, the Sedona Public Library, had requested $879,906, in part to offset funding cuts approved by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors. The city’s grant committee had only recommended $633,000 for the library, but Osburn upped her recommendaÂtion to $865,200, which council approved.
These organizations do a lot of social work and service work for the Sedona community that local governments are legally incapable of doing, or at least would be extremely inefficient at doing should they try, providing services to residents and clients to ease suffering, improve lives and better our community.
These organizations should get every dime they ask for because they are beloved institutions benefiting thousands of residents every year.
Several speakers made excellent arguments as to why the council should support these organizations, especially the recycling center and the library.
In the interest of full disclosure, my wife was among those speakers supporting funding for the Sedona Public Library, which our newspaper and the Larson family have overtly and vociferously supported over the years.
To paraphrase former Vice Mayor John Martinez, bad libraries create collections, good libraries create community. The Sedona Public Library is one of the latter, hosting events inside and out the facility, benefiting young and old and contributing to our civil discourse.
During the discussion, council rightly questioned the county’s decision to short-change Sedona-area taxpayers by cutting its spending on the library and stealing our money to use for Prescott-area projects in much the same way that the Yavapai College Governing Board steals our taxes year after year.
Council members were also angry after learning that Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels, a Village of Oak Creek resident who claims to support community projects, voted in favor of gutting the Sedona Public Library’s funding. Council was rightly incensed that the city of Sedona has to pick up the costs of funding the library because Michaels refused to fight for her community library and the appropriate use of our tax dollars.
When it was the turn of Sedona Recycles, council members then spent time asking questions that seemed somewhat irrelevant to a service contract request and would have been better asked in a separate meeting about the nonprofit’s services and offerings, funding shortfalls and the recycling industry as a whole.
While most of us want recycling, the mechanics of the industry don’t make the practice profitable, so government subsidies are required if nonprofits want to remain solvent.
Several council members also suggested the possiÂbility of moving to a single trash hauler and recycling program for the city. Unfortunately, many of our newly-arrived council members did not live here from 2013 to 2016 and have no institutional memory of the divisiveness and vitriol of the last time that council suggested contracting with a single trash hauler.
Fortunately, Mayor Scott Jablow and Councilwoman Jessica Williamson informed the rest of the council about that period of public nastiness, when more than 100 residents would attend council meetings to speak against the measure. Brand loyalty is a real thing, even when it comes down to who takes your garbage.
As a public service to these newer council members, we will be more than happy to provide the archive of our stories covering those months of debates, as well as the public comments from residents who whipped themselves into a frenzy, eviscerated council and city officials and brazenly attacked each other on social media. If council wants to go down that road again, buckle up.
Regarding the service contracts as a whole, we and taxpaying residents thanks council for voting unanimously to use our vast financial resources and community largesse to benefit our nonprofits so they can provide the services we equate with living in Sedona.
