Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow resigns – Sedona Red Rock News
Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow announced his resignation “effective today at 5 p.m.,” on Tuesday, Sept. 30, in a 7:51 a.m. email to City Attorney Kurt Christianson.
Vice Mayor Holli Ploog will step in as the acting mayor until the council meets on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at which point the council will vote on the interim mayor who will serve until November 2026 when Jablow’s term was to end.
The resignation comes after Jablow lost the support of city staff, his colleagues on the City Council and several online petitions calling for his resignation.
Jablow did not respond to a request from the NEWS to comment about his resignation by the time of this publication.
“I’m pleased that with the resignation to start the healing process with the community, and the fact that he recognized that his continuous as mayor was a distraction from the work in front of us,” Ploog said.
“I’m disappointed in how things turned out, but Scott did the right thing by resigning,” Councilman Derek Pfaff wrote. “He put the best interests of Sedona and its residents ahead of his own. He should be thanked for that.”
“I’m glad [Jablow’s] changed his mind,” Furman said. “I think it’s good for the community, and it’s time for all of us to move forward.”
“I appreciate [Jablow] coming to the conclusion that his resignation is in the best interest of the community and that we can now move forward productively addressing the matters affecting Sedona,” Councilman Brian Fultz wrote.
“I hope that [Jablow’s] legacy won’t simply be the last few months of his term, and that people will look back at some of the positive things that have occurred and his dedication to the community as we get past this difficult time,” Ploog said.
“This episode has been an unfortunate distraction from the important issues facing out community,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella wrote. “I hope we can now move on and work to restore public trust in local government.
Councilwoman Melissa Dunn has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Complaints
On Aug. 13, City Council held a public discussion about 11 Flock Safety automatic license plate readers that had been installed in June without council approval. Council members learned that the cameras had been installed without public or council discussion but pushed by Jablow since spring 2024.
Council, through a 6-1 majority consensus, decided to shut off its Automatic License Plate Reader program and have city staff provide a timeline of the installation of the surveillance network that was installed this spring without a vote by council on Wednesday, Aug. 13. Jablow opposed the shutdown.
When Spickard wanted to have the project discussed before council, Jablow emailed Spickard on Wednesday, Nov. 13, that “I would rather not make it public because it’s police related.”
Council voted unanimously Sept. 9 to remove the 11 installed ALPRs and to terminate its contract with Flock Safety, citing issues with Flock’s data security.
“As of Friday, [Sept. 26] a couple of poles still need to be removed but all cameras have been removed,” Deputy City Manager Lauren Browne wrote on Sept. 27.
Censure
Council proceeded to take the “unprecedented action,” according to Councilman Pete Furman of publicly and formally censuring Jablow and calling for his resignation on Wednesday, Sept. 10, for engaging in conduct in violation of Sedona City Council’s Rules and Procedures for:
“1. Interference with city staff/departments, 2. Creating/fostering a hostile work environment, 3. Breaking the confidentiality of attorney/client privilege, 4. Circumvention of city council process, 5. Acting beyond the authority of the office of mayor, 6. Acting unilaterally, 7. Violating principles of ethical conduct for elected officials,” according to the meeting’s action item list.
The censure vote was 5-2, Jablow and Pfaff opposed.
Pfaff’s statement was that it should have been up to the voters in 2026 to decide if Jablow should have remained as mayor.
Prior to the censure, two private reprimands were already given to Jablow about his behavior of the same nature.
Penalties for Censure
On Tuesday, Sept. 23, during his final regular council meeting, Jablow attempted to read a prepared statement regarding his censure during the council’s Summary of Current Events.
He was cut off by Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella and Christianson for going off topic. Jablow later told the NEWS he would forward his full statement to the press but never followed through. The following day, Wednesday, Sept. 24, a Facebook group based in Cornville briefly posted the full statement before deleting it in about 30 minutes.
Jablow confirmed the writing was his but claimed he did not know how it had appeared online.
Later in the meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23, council decided to have a work session to have a discussion on a comprehensive review of council’s rules and procedures. The topic was raised by Furman who wants to modify Sedona City Code and the council’s rules to punish council members who have been censured by removing the censured member’s use of city property or suspending their salary for their service. Furman said he sees the punishments being in place until voters decide if they wish to reelect the censured person.
The council work session on rules and procedures has been scheduled for Monday, Oct. 27, at 8 a.m.
“I urge the council to continue to press forward with the disciplinary changes that we will talk about,” Furman said Sept. 30. “It’s important. It applies equally to all of us, and I think we need to get those in place [to] prevent future aberrations.”
On Monday, Sept. 29, council had an executive session to discuss Danielle Dulaney and Richard Speer applications for appointment of Presiding Magistrate Judge — Jablow was not in attendance.
Opening on Council
The mayor’s resignation creates a vacancy on council that residents are encouraged to apply for. The appointee will serve until November 2026, and will have to run in next year’s election if they wish to serve beyond. Within the next few days City Clerk JoAnne Cook will release a press release announcing the vacancy with a three-week application window due back by Monday, Oct. 27. Council will then interview the applicants and appoint a council member.