The city of Sedona began discussing a car camp for homeless workers at the Sedona Cultural Park in January.

On Jan. 9, council directed staff to begin planning for the camp by a voice vote, but did not legally or officially vote to approve said camp.

Keeping Sedona residents informed, we notified resi­dents that the council would be discussing construction of the encampment on Jan. 5 and urged residents, regardless of their views, to come out and speak. The online debate before the meeting was one of our most robust ones, with more than 1,700 interactions, 37 comments and seven shares to other public boards before the meeting began, but the actual number of speakers during the session was relatively light, considering.

While most residents want our workforce to have safe places to sleep, the chief objection among Sedona’s working class is that for a city with a budget topping $80 million, and thousands of multi-million-dollar homes, including those owned by many of our current council members, the best our wealthy city can do is a parking lot? The city can spend up to $23 million on undeveloped land, but can’t build an apartment complex or offer rental vouchers.

City leaders claim that affordable housing is coming, in like, months, perhaps a few years, but “soon.”

Yet that is literal cold comfort to the restaurant server or retail worker who will read this editorial today and try to find a place to sleep in a few hours before serving a new batch of wealthy Sedona residents in gated neighborhoods tomorrow, or a group of tourists spending over $1,000 in a weekend for the “full Sedona experience” and getting some chakras aligned or auras salved.

We had four guest perspectives on the issue, from a longtime real estate expert and former municipal housing manager, a school official and member of the city’s tourism board, a former board member of a homeless nonprofit and the mayor. We also got a dozen letters on the issue, most of which were not in favor of the camp, or called for a delay for more public input.

Council was originally scheduled to discuss the matter publicly on Feb. 27, but that agenda item got pushed into March. At least residents and council got some breathing room before deciding the issue definitively.

Except the city of Sedona went ahead and started work on the camp anyway as if council had already voted “yes.”

Without a council decision, without a public vote putting council members on the record, without final resident input, city workers put in parking spots, graded the road and prepared the area for its first guests. Although the proposed bathrooms haven’t been installed, the site could open to the public tomorrow.

Who knows? Maybe it will, because council certainly can’t and won’t pump the brakes.

Who needs a public vote? Why bother with a meeting on Tuesday, March 12, anyway? The city has already built the site and didn’t need that pesky elected council getting in the way. The democratic process and the rule of law? Pshaw, this is Sedona; the inmates run this asylum.

Even if the vote comes down in favor of the car camp, building the site before City Council says, “Yes, let’s go ahead,” is horrendous optics: It appears as though city staff will do what they want when they want and only need an emasculated council to rubber-stamp what has already been built, planned, paid for or is just seen as a good idea by staffers. City Council?

They’re clearly not the ones running the show.

This is no longer a city where the council votes to set policy for staff to carry out, but one where staff hears gripes on social media, starts projects, then waits for council to OK what’s already been done.

City staff does this not because they have any personal agendas or stake, but because this toothless, rudderless council lacks leadership individually and collectively to say, “We call the shots; you do what we say and you don’t pick up a shovel or a pen without our say-so.”

This council lacks the spine to tell staff who’s supposed to be in charge, and that’s not going to change.

Even if the vote comes down in favor of the car camp, council is likely doing it not because it’s the best thing for residents, or taxpayers, or workers, but because of the sunk cost fallacy.

“Can’t claw that back now, can we, fellow council members?” is the argument. “We can’t un-grade the road, remove the parking spots or pick up all that gravel, so let’s just go ahead with what staff already did. Tens of thousands of dollars in materials and salaries have been already paid.”

So why bother with any community forums, or round­tables, or citizen engagement committees, which the city touts as “vital” to the democratic process?

Last week, I got a mailer, as I’m sure most of you did, about a Sedona Community Plan process.

Don’t bother going; your opinions don’t matter. The city doesn’t care, won’t listen and clearly will do whatever city staff wants. Our leaderless leaders will just say, “OK, you already did what you wanted.”

That night, instead of voicing my views to a powerless council, I’ll be celebrating my 20 years in Sedona by taking my family to dinner. At least we five can choose where to go and what to order, because when it comes to the lead­ership and management of this city, we no longer have a choice in what happens in Sedona.

Christopher Fox Graham

Managing Editor