Pete Furman

Yavapai County hopes water talks flow – Sedona Red Rock News

Yavapai County Supervisors Nikki Check [D-District 3] and Chris Kuknyo [R-District 4] were tapped by their fellow supervisors to join the newly formed Water Resources and Open Space Committee during the board’s Dec. 3 meeting in Prescott.

In “January, myself and our county manager at the time, and several Yavapai County directors attended a Growing Water Smart conference, where we brainstormed amongst ourselves: What could the county do to make progress on water?” Check later said. “We coalesced around the idea that we’d like to see a more regional conversation, and that Yavapai County would be the most appropriate and best facilitator for [that] conversation.”

“Topics and reasons for convening this conversation would be to find areas of agreement where we could have some mutual coopera­tion to get some projects together, both in understanding our regional hydrology but also doing proj­ects like stormwater capture, and additionally looking at what tools are already in our toolbox that we can implement for being water conscious, but also identifying areas — specifics that we would like to see added to our toolbox as far as decision-making on regional groundwater.”

The Yavapai County Water Advisory Committee was first approved by the board on Jan. 25, 1999. Check served as appointed member through the Jerome Town Council when she was Jerome’s mayor, before the committee was disbanded in 2014. Check expressed support for reforming a committee at several points on the 2024 campaign trail.

“Here’s what’s different about the way things used to be,” Check later said. “We had a Water Advisory Committee. So yes, Yavapai County has kind of been in this position of facilitating a regional conversation before, but that was at a time when the state was not very active. Since then, the governor [Katie Hobbs] has really activated the [Arizona] Department of Water Resources.

“They’re analyzing basins. They are making progress and forming ideas about how our groundwater is going to be managed. So what I would like to see is our regional stakeholders be able to have a cohesive voice in that conversation with the state.”

Check said the new effort must focus on areas of agreement rather than disagreement if it hopes to be productive. She described the prior committee as prone to get “mired around misunder­standings and disagree­ments around the inter­pretation of the data that’s available.”

“I think that there is a regional desire,” Check later said. “Prescott … the Verde Valley communi­ties, they’ve all said they are committed to ensuring that the Upper Verde River continues to flow. But how to get there is an important topic. So that’s the area that I’d like to focus on — finding those areas of agreement. I don’t know why there wouldn’t be an area of agreement around doing some smart stormwater capture to help bolster that watershed. There’s so much around it, or preserving some open space to protect the hydrology there.”

The main focus of the committee’s conversation will be how to keep the upper Verde River flowing, Check said.

Calls for stronger regional coordination on water issues have been growing across the county. In May, Citizens Water Advocacy Group Executive Committee member Gary Beverly warned that cities within the Prescott Active Management Area continue to pursue new development while relying on a shared groundwater supply that is already in decline.

“The numbers are sobering,” Arizona Water Sentinels Program Manager for the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club Jennifer Martin wrote in a March blog. “Groundwater pumping and climate change have reduced the Verde River’s base flow by more than half compared to pre-development levels, “Del Rio Springs, once the historical headwaters, has been reduced to a trickle — just 5% of its original flow. Six miles of the upper Verde have already dried up, and projections suggest that the base flow at critical points could reach zero within a few decades. These declines threaten not only the river itself but the intricate web of life it supports.”

Sedona’s water supply is stable but declining, according to Arizona Water Company represen­tatives during their Oct. 29 update to City Council.

Assistant Yavapai County Manager Tyler Goodman told the super­visors that Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Dewey-Humboldt, Clarkdale, Cottonwood and Jerome have confirmed participa­tion, with Sedona expected to finalize its representa­tive by Friday, Dec. 19.

Sedona City Councilman Pete Furman told the NEWS he has an interest in being on the county’s new committee in addi­tion to his current roles on the Northern Arizona Municipal Water Users Association and the Coconino Plateau Water Partnership.

“The watershed in our particular area is in rela­tively good shape relative to the rest of the Verde Valley and the rest of the county,” Furman said. “So, it’s going to be very interesting to see what this county group wants to take on, but it’s really important for Sedona to participate as well.”

The Water Resources and Open Space Committee is expected to begin meeting in January. The committee will be supported by a two-year, $25,000 grant from the Growing Water Smart for professional facilitation services, with the goals of creating web-based mapping tools for water data by February and a county-wide open space plan by June.

Sedona City Council picks 4 for vacancy – Sedona Red Rock News

A Sedona City Council vacancy created by the resignation of former Mayor Scott Jablow and the eleva­tion of council members Holli Ploog and Brian Fultz to interim mayor and vice mayor, respectively, is slated to be filled by one of four finalists: Jean-Christophe Buillet, Charlotte Hosseini, Ernie Strauch or Allan Affeldt.

Interviews of the applicants is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 13, at 1 p.m.

The four were advanced to a round of public interviews during the City Council’s meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 28, with all of the selected appli­cants except Affeldt receiving unani­mous votes. Affeldt advanced on a 4-2 vote, with Ploog and Councilwoman Melissa Dunn not advancing him.

“My criteria [was] thinking about this is a year position [so] coming up to speed quickly is important,” Councilman Pete Furman said, explaining his vote. “So I was really interested in folks who have demon­strated recent engagement with the city and the city council through commis­sions or work groups or [are] active. … I felt strongly about engaging in commissions or work groups … because I like to see how they think and how they act and how they treat staff or members of whatever body is that they [are] on, so it was an active demonstration.”

Andrea Christelle, Chase Norlin, Henry Silbiger, Gary Whitehil and Scott Ross were the remaining applicants that council chose to not consider further.

Finalists

▪ Affeldt is a former two-term mayor of Winslow and has served on the New Mexico Economic Recovery Council that represents the hospitality industry and the Arizona Humanities Council.

“I restored and own La Posada Hotel and the Turquoise Room restau­rant in Winslow, so I know the hotel and restaurant industry. … I have restored many historic properties in Arizona and New Mexico,” he wrote in his application. “I have served on many non-profit boards, from Lowell Observatory to [the] Museum of Northern Arizona. I created my own nonprofit — the Winslow Arts Trust — to promote art and artists along Route 66. I built a museum — the Affeldt Mion Museum — in Winslow, so I know how to design, fund, build and operate cultural institutions.”

▪ Buillet was a member of the Citizen Budget Work Group, a 28-year resident and father of four and his family have built and oper­ated A Sunset Chaetau over the last 20 years, his appli­cation reads. Along with his businesses, Buillet Tax & Consulting and Devstar Realty & Buillet Real Estate, he studied computer and electrical engineering at Northern Arizona University “before completing two years at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, which shaped his heart for service and integrity.”

▪ Hosseini is the current vice chairwoman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, where she has served since 2018 after relocating to Sedona in 2015. She also served on the Citizens Healthcare Work Group in 2022, the Fiscal Sustainability Work Group in 2017, the Citizens Budget Work Group from fiscal years 2017 to 2020. Her professional career centered on 24 years of service starting in 1989 to the state of Arizona where she held various roles from the special projects admin­istrator for the Attorney General’s Office and deputy director of finance for the Arizona Department of Administration.

▪ Strauch was Sedona vice mayor in 2006 and served on council from 2002 to 2006. He is a 27-year resident who has also served on the Sedona Sustainability Commission from 2010 to 2013, the Sedona Community Plan Advisory Group in 2014 and the Sedona Community Plan Working Group in 2022.

“Unfortunately, I believe the most important imme­diate issue is the … re-establishment of trust in city government,” Strauch wrote in his application. “I do not have specific ideas to propose here, other than desiring to participate in a significant collabora­tive effort to effectuate an obvious public distin­guishing event/activity that promotes the concept that the city is truly listening and cares.”

2026 Election

The applicants that were not chosen for interviews can also make their case to voters along with any other qualified elector for the 2026 Sedona City Council election on Tuesday, Aug. 4, in which the mayoral seat will be determined along with three seats on council. A runoff, if necessary, takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.

Candidate packets will be available at the Sedona city clerk’s office at 102 Roadrunner Drive on Monday, Nov. 3.

“It is highly recom­mended that those inter­ested in running schedule an appointment to pick up and review a candidate packet,” a city press release reads. Candidates must be a quali­fied elector, at least 18 on or before the election and have lived within the city limits for at least one year.

Fultz announced his intention to run for mayor while Ploog is not seeking to run for mayor and will continue to serve on council until 2028. Furman will not be seeking reelection while Dunn will be asking voters for another term.

Contact City Clerk JoAnne Cook at (928) 282- 3113 or by email jcook@sedonaaz.gov for more information on how to run for City Council.