In the News

Amphitheater seeks partner – Sedona Red Rock News

Council OKs SCP 2.0’s letter asking for plans to revive 5,500-seat outdoor venue

The Sedona amphitheater is seeking a partner for a serious long-term commitment, music is a must.

The Sedona City Council unanimously approved a non-binding letter of intent with Sedona Cultural Park 2.0 nonprofit — and issued a request for information open to any interested organization — during its Tuesday, May 26, meeting. Councilman Derek Pfaff was absent.

The public request allows other potential groups to develop business plans exploring options to bring live music back to the 5,500-seat Georgia Frontiere Performing Arts Pavilion that has been shuttered since 2003.

“SCP 2.0 is not requesting construction funding, operational funding, subsidies or taxpayer dollars from the city of Sedona,” SCP 2.0 board member Jennifer May said during public comment. “Our intention is to explore whether a revitalized amphitheater could be supported through private philanthropy, sponsorships, strategic partnerships and professional venue operators.”

Both of the documents are open to any individual or group. The letter of intent is a template City Manager Anette Spickard can sign with any qualified party, and signing it is not required to respond to the Request for Information, City Attorney Kurt Christianson said.

Under the letter, which runs through the end of 2026, SCP 2.0 will research whether renovating and operating the amphitheater is financially viable and how it could be structured on up to 25 acres of the 41-acre Cultural Park that the city purchased in November 2022 for $20 million.

The remaining acreage on the 41-acre site breaks down as follows:

■ 5.88 acres of slope protection and open space in the southwest corner.

■ 5.358 acres designated as a “Public Benefit Area” in the northeast corner.

■ Roughly five acres along State Route 89A, west of Yavapai College’s Sedona Center campus, where the Sedona International Film Festival could potentially construct a new theatre complex, a use the council gave initial direction to in December, pending completion of a land survey and appraisal.

“We’re kind of in the RFI phase with SIFF, so there’s nothing set in stone yet,” Christianson said. “No promises have been made on either side.

“They have proposed some plans with Community Development, but it hasn’t made it outside of” that department yet for review.

Council gave direction to Community Development Director Tony Allender to investigate three community uses that ranked above the amphitheater from an April resident survey: A festival space, a smaller gathering space and a recreation center.

Council members indicated a potential recreation center in particular would not necessarily be located at the Western Gateway.

“When I think about a unique, attractive, daily use thing like a rec center, you don’t put it at the edge of your town, you try to put it more in central parts of your town,” Councilman Pete Furman said. “I can think of a couple in West Sedona that could be a better location for it, and so that’s got to be part of the conversation going forward.”

The RFI expires on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Staff would likely spend October preparing information, aim to present it to the council in November, and could return around January for a possible second discussion on whether to issue a Request for Proposal, according to Christianson.

Request for Information for Cultural Park Amphitheater:

The city of Sedona issued a Request for Information on Monday, June 1, inviting private entities to share their interest and ideas for the restoration and operations of the Sedona Cultural Park Amphitheater, a 5,500-seat outdoor performance venue located on city-owned land in West Sedona called the Western Gateway.

The outdoor amphitheater was in operation primarily as a music venue from 2001-2003 and hosted nationally recognized artists. The city purchased the property in 2022 and is now exploring options to bring the venue back as a cultural and economic asset for residents and visitors.

The city is seeking responses from private organizations and businesses with expertise in developing, operating and managing outdoor amphitheaters, performing arts venues or comparable entertainment facilities. The RFI is an information-gathering step that may lead to a formal Request for Proposals process for a ground lease of up to approximately 25 acres of the city property. The city intends to lease the property at fair market value, with renovation and operating costs the responsibility of the private party.

Respondents are encouraged to share creative ideas for programming, business models, community benefit components and approaches to comply with Sedona’s sound attenuation requirements. The city is particularly interested in how a restored venue could serve residents and complement Sedona’s arts and tourism economy.

Organizations interested in scheduling a site visit may contact the city to arrange access during regular business hours with 48 hours advance notice.

The RFI package contains additional information, including a structural condition assessment, a site diagram, site photographs, zoning documents and a non-exclusive Letter of Intent available to respondents upon request. To learn more and to respond to the RFI, visit https://sedonaaz.bonfirehub.com/opportunities/238073.

Applications are due by Wednesday, Sept. 30.

As required by State Law, every four years the Sedona City Council has put Home Rule on the ballot as the best option for our community. It’s that time again. Here’s the ballot argument I submitted.

Vote YES on Home Rule (Alternative Expenditure Limitation)

Home Rule has been approved by voters since 1996. Financially, Sedona is in great shape. Most tax revenues are paid by tourism, the budget is balanced, there is little debt.

Under Home Rule, the City can spend only what it receives, and it funds locally set priorities. Without Home Rule, Sedona must comply with a state-imposed spending formula that ignores actual needs or revenues.

Here’s what’s at stake: Sedona’s budget is $103 million; the state limit would allow only $23.6 million, a 70% cut. Spending on police, roads, and parks would be reduced. Revenues would still be collected but could not be spent. Important needs would go unmet.

Some argue to let Home Rule fail; a one-time override vote is possible. But it’s a complex, uncertain, and expensive process. And if the override fails, the consequences would be bad.

Another future option is called permanent base adjustment. It’s a worthy alternative, but it’s not on this ballot. This option should be considered before the next Home Rule vote in four years.

Home Rule keeps spending decisions under local control. Home Rule works for our community.

Vote YES on Home Rule.

Submitted by Pete Furman

Don’t let candidates for Sedona City Council get away with just saying ‘they’ll do whatever the voters decide on Home Rule’. Insist that they state their preference and defend it with cogent arguments. Being on Council is not easy – decisions must be made in the best interest of the entire community.

Council OKs Cultural Park 2.0 to draft amphitheater plan – Sedona Red Rock News

Unanimously authorizes SCP 2.0 to discuss plans with venue operators

Sedona City Council voted unanimously 6-0 — with Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella absent — to pursue a non-binding letter of intent Tuesday, April 28, with ad hoc group Sedona Cultural Park 2.0 to develop a business plan exploring the potential reopening of the 5,550-seat Georgia Frontiere Performing Arts Pavilion as a concert venue.

“There’s so many things that this cultural park can bring to the community that are not obvious. It’s jobs, it’s money, it’s tax revenue, but it’s also the sense of community,” said SCP 2.0 President John Bradshaw — a former Sedona vice mayor — following the vote. “We’ve got probably the greatest venue anywhere in the United States, and it’s just sitting there, getting rotted away. There were so many speakers tonight all over the world saying the same thing — it’s going to be a world-renowned venue.”

The action is non-committal, merely authorizing SCP 2.0 to begin conversations with potential venue operators to signal that the city has some level of interest, and does not commit any municipal funding or serve as a final approval of a project.

The council chambers were filled to capacity, with about 80 attendees spilling over into the foyer. The meeting also featured findings from a city survey, run by HighGround Inc., on what voters want to see in the development of the Western Gateway.

“I want to take my hat off to all of the organizers of this community effort that we’ve seen over these last several weeks, it has been the most successful community outreach organizing that I’ve seen,” Councilman Pete Furman said.

Council’s priorities are that no city funds would be used if the performance venue eventually reopens, similar to its December direction to the Sedona International Film Festival that is considering moving its theaters to the Western Gateway.

The amphitheater “deserves to be evaluated in today’s context, not on what you thought was true a few years ago today, based on true facts and on data,” SCP 2.0 Secretary Chris Ford said during public comment. “All we are asking for is … a letter of intent or commitment from this city that brings in experienced professionals to conduct a proper feasibility study. We have partners who want to do this, but they also want to know that their time is valued and that the city is serious.”

Some 35 people spoke during the call to the public; Mayor Holli Ploog reduced public comment from three to two minutes during the meeting without prior notice. An overwhelming majority of the public speakers spoke in favor of reopening the site as a music venue and/or expressed support for SCP 2.0.

Community Survey

“We hope that polling gives 50% plus one way or the other,” HighGround Senior Vice President Paul Bentz said. “Unfortunately, when we look at this data, it’s pretty even split within the community. I’m sure that’s something that you’ve probably felt in talking with folks.”

The poll had an “incredibly high response,” Bentz said, with 1,620 registered voters or current residents within city limits responding and a margin of error of +/- 2.4%.

Question one asked residents if they supported the city’s current plan for the Western Gateway. The results showed 48.5% in opposition and 43.7% in support — with 36% saying they definitely oppose the city’s current proposal, 12.5% saying they probably oppose it, 21.9% saying they probably support it and 21.8% saying they definitely support it.

The sharpest divide on question one was along partisan lines — Democrats comprise 37.7% of respondents, Republicans 28.0%. Of those, 54.8% of registered Democrats were in support, 38.6% opposed. Conversely 51.3% of Republicans are opposed and 30.5% in support. By age: 54.8% of residents 40 to 49 are in support, and 50% of residents age 30 to 39, 51.2% of people over 65 were against and those 29 and younger were split 44.2% both ways.

Question two asked residents to rank on a scale of a low of 1 to high of 5 about nine different uses for the Western Gateway. The uses ranked by mean score are: Community gathering space 3.82, Community recreation center 3.58, event lawn 3.5, an amphitheater 3.05, housing 2.51, apartments and townhomes 2.5, restaurants 2.39, retail 2.11 and commercial space 2.0.

The final question asked voters if they support a proposal — SCP 2.0’s, though not stated explicitly — to reopen the amphitheater which drew: 35.3% definitely oppose, 7.2% probably oppose, 14.5% probably support, 32.4% definitely support, with “other” at 8.4% and 2.3% responding “don’t know.” The sharpest divide was along age, with 69.7% of people under 29 in support, with support decreasing by age: 64% for ages 30 to 39, 59.4% for ages 40 to 49, 54.5% for ages 50 to 64 to 42% for people older than 65.

However, younger age groups also were less likely to have filled out the survey, and older voters were more likely to participate in the survey and were the “driving force” of the results Bentz said. The majority, or 68.6%, of survey respondents were 65 and older, 20.6% were ages 50 to 64, 5.2% were ages 40 to 49, 3% were ages 30 to 39 and 2.6% were 29 and younger. That trend of participation was also reflected with the speakers during the public comment section of the meeting.

Question three along partisan lines showed: 54.7% of Republicans in favor, and 33.1% in opposition. Democrats broke 48.5% in opposition with 41.6% in support. Other registered third parties such as Libertarian, Green and No Bels parties split with 46.5% in support and 41.8% in opposition while independents were 49.2% opposed, 41.7% in support.

Council Response

“I do not support putting city money into this endeavor,” Councilman Derek Pfaff said. “If there was overwhelming public support, then maybe I would. … I think that [the SCP 2.0] plan needs to be completely self-sustaining. I could see us doing the same thing we talked about for SIFF, maybe some extension of utilities … But I have no interest in seeing the city spend tax dollars on either renovating this or subsidizing it.”

Furman added a fiscal warning to attendees who earlier in the meeting raised concerns about the $981,319 price tag for a contract with EDGE Construction LLC for interior restoration work of the historic buildings at Ranger Station Park.

“Anything we do here is going to be subject to the same bonding and insurance and reporting requirements as the Ranger Station project we voted on earlier today,” Furman said. “If you thought that was expensive, wait till you get the number for what’s going to happen out of the Cultural Park.”

The letter of intent is needed by SCP 2.0 because “to engage with the operators of various entertainment venues requires them to know that the community in which it will be housed is serious about it,” Ploog said. “The letter of intent gives them that assurance that we are serious about pursuing this, not that we have made a decision about it.”

A work session is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, on how many housing units could be recommended at the Western Gateway. Community Development will host a Housing Think Tank on Monday, May 18, and Tuesday, May 19, which requires signup on the department’s website. A discussion of the letter of intent is slated for the Tuesday, May 26, City Council meeting.

Sedona receives clean audit – Sedona Red Rock News

City has $29K in assets per resident

The city of Sedona received a clean audit during the March 10 Sedona City Council meeting, at which council heard a presentation about the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2024–25.

The presentation was delivered by Deputy City Manager Barbara Whitehorn; Jean Marie Dietrich, signing director at Clifton Larson Allen LLP; and Renée Stanley, the city’s accounting manager.

“I look at it as large reserves, annual surpluses, a clean audit, low finan­cial risk, all these things you found in audit,” Councilman Pete Furman said. “It’s amazing fiscal performance that I think reflects the culture of folks that work here in City Hall, stemming from the city manager on down through the Finance Department and going into every department this people take these fiscal performance of our city seriously, and it’s a very it’s a pleasure to sit here on City Council and accept reports like this.”

In performing the audit, Dietrich said her firm conducts a risk-based approach, obtaining management’s financials, details and supporting schedules, then examining and verifying management’s assertions on those sched­ules and financials before providing an opinion.

“I do not opine on the health of an organization,” she said.

The city’s total net posi­tion is $284,167,327, calculated as the difference between everything Sedona owns, such as infrastructure and cash, minus everything it owes such as debt. At the end of Fiscal Year 2025 the city’s total net position increased $18.7 million and in Fiscal Year 2024 it increased $27.3 million according to the audit.

“The assets and deferred outflows of resources of the city exceeded its liabili­ties and deferred inflows of resources at the close of the fiscal years 2025 and 2024 by $284.2 million and $261.0 million — net position — respectively,” the audit reads. “Of these amounts, $86.5 million and $59.5 million — unrestricted net position — respectively, may be used to meet the government’s ongoing obligations to citizens and creditors.”

The city approved its $103,291,695 budget on June 24, 2025.

“I tried to explore a new math analysis of the ACFR this year, and I stumbled across looking at net posi­tion per population, and I see that we have $29,000 in assets per resident,” Furman said. “Which I believe is just an extraordinarily high number for a small city like Sedona, and so everybody in this town should just be absolutely happy and proud of the financial position of our city.”

Additionally, “at the close of fiscal year 2025, unas­signed fund balance for the General Fund was $21.8 million, or 68.6% of actual expenditures,” the audit reads. “City policy requires a minimum unassigned balance of 30%.”

In the next three to five years, Dietrich said the city should pay attention to cyber security and grant manage­ment as two financial risks.

“The one thing is, with the city of Sedona, [you] are not highly reliant on federal grants,” Dietrich said. “In fact, we’re completing the second single audit that you’ve had. From a finan­cial reporting risk. It’s your controls over your infor­mation systems that are at highest risk. And warned that employee turnover in grants management could potentially put the city at risk because newer employees could be less familiar with reporting and documenta­tion requirements.”

One such risk is that Yavapai County announced on Feb. 2 that it had fallen for a business email compromise scam and nearly lost $868,982.14, but it recovered nearly 98% of the funds.

Whitehorn said the city has not currently purchased software for grants manage­ment but she sees it as a need.

Vice Mayor Brian Fultz asked how artificial intel­ligence could “be a tool to address some of these risks going forward?”

“AI is assisting with grants management in that it is putting workflows in place that is increasing segregation of duties, AI is assisting with reading and interpreting documents,” Dietrich said. “We always have to read what AI reads, because we trust but verify.”

Furman asked whether the audit identified any financial vulnerability related to the city’s reliance on sales tax revenues. Dietrich said that falls outside the scope of an audit, which focuses on whether financial sched­ules contain any material misstatements.

“We have to really consider that our revenues that drive most of our collec­tions are sales and bed tax, which can be more volatile in challenging economic times,” Whitehorn said. “Because of that, we maintain policy reserves that are higher than the standard kind of minimum of two months or 16% for the general fund. And our policy is 30% and we are well above that 30%.”

“Overall, sales and bed tax revenues comprise approximately 76% of the more than $51 million in General Fund revenues,” the audit reads. ­

6 work on Sedona City Council pay – Sedona Red Rock News

Six residents will help decide whether future Sedona City Council members get a pay raise.

Council members unanimously approved the appointment of six people to the newly formed City Council Compensation Review Work Group, tasked with researching and recom­mending to council, by the end of the year, whether the current monthly sala­ries of $550 for city council members and $800 for the mayor should be increased, by how much or not at all.

The work group is tasked with reviewing and recommending compen­sation including salary, benefits and expense allowances for mayor and council members, ensuring the compen­sation aligns with the size of the city, the workload and similar cities.

During its meeting Tuesday, Feb. 24, council selected Brock Delinski, Kali Galewski, C.J. Tronnier Gershon, Diane Phelps, Laura Rumann and Sean Smith. Human Resources Manager Russ Martin is also assigned to the group. City Councilman Pete Furman, who is leaving office in November, will serve as the chairman and will be a voting member.

Sarah Wiehl, chairwoman of the Planning & Zoning Commission, had applied to the committee as well, but was not recommended because Galewski also serves on P&Z. Henry Silbiger, who is running for mayor of Sedona, also applied, but staff recom­mended no 2026 candidates for council should be selected.

The initiative was proposed by Furman during the December priority retreat “to broaden the opportu­nity to be a council member to more people than what seems to be the pattern of retired Sedona resi­dents,” he said.

Council approved the group’s charter during its Jan. 27 meeting and called for volunteers from Feb. 2 through 16.

Furman has cited the process used by the city of Flagstaff, which in November 2022 approved a phased 250% increase of its mayoral salary from $38,500 to $70,180 and increasing a council member’s salary from $25,000 to $63,800, as well as increasing a travel and meals stipends.

“I have not made up my mind,” Furman said about what he would like council compensation raised to.

“I want to actually learn about what they did in Flagstaff and think about what we could do here,” he said. “But I do know that there’s a significant opportunity cost that’s lost for working people being on the council, and I want to try to address that.”

The work group’s meetings will be open to the public. The specifics for how the work group will operate has not yet been determined —the details will be left up to the work group to decide, though Furman said he is aiming for 90-minute meetings across three to four sessions.

“The future of the city was still, can be still, should be a community of all people that live here, retired here, work here,” Furman said. “That’s what I want to see continue — that Sedona remains a community of people that live here.”

The Work Group should conclude its work no later than September, the council agenda reads.

If approved, any salary increases would not take effect until after the Tuesday, Nov. 3, General Election, and would require final approval by City Council.