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CitizenPortal.ai – Sedona City Council approves $350,000 Small Grants Program funding recommendations

This article was created by AI using a video recording of the meeting. It summarizes the key points discussed, but for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Link to Full Meeting

The Sedona City Council convened on July 8, 2025, to discuss the approval of the Small Grants Program for the upcoming fiscal year, allocating $350,000 to various community initiatives. This marks the thirteenth year of the program, which designates 40% of its funding to the arts, another 40% to social services, and the remaining 20% at the discretion of the Small Grants Review Committee.

Christy Turk, the city liaison for the program, and Stephanie Geesbrecht, chair of the committee, presented the recommendations after reviewing 34 grant applications submitted by local organizations. The committee, composed of seven volunteers, expressed gratitude for the council’s trust in their recommendations.

One notable discussion centered on the eligibility of the Sister City Program for funding. Councilor Kathy Kinsella raised concerns about previous council directives limiting the use of city resources for the program. Legal counsel clarified that the grant funding is separate from the internal resource restrictions, allowing the Sister City Program to receive support as a nonprofit organization.

Councilor Pete Furman echoed Kinsella’s concerns, questioning whether the grant could be considered a city resource. The council agreed to amend the language in the grant documentation to clarify that the funding does not imply a city obligation, addressing Furman’s apprehensions about setting a precedent.

Another significant topic was the funding request from the Rotary Club of Sedona for an extended day program. The council discussed the implications of providing city funds for a position that had already been filled. The committee emphasized the importance of this program for workforce stability in Sedona, as it allows parents to work knowing their children are in a safe environment. The council acknowledged the need for clarity regarding the funding’s purpose and its potential impact on future federal funding opportunities.

Public comments included concerns about the city’s funding practices and the implications of contracts for grant recipients. Residents expressed a desire for transparency and caution regarding future restrictions that could accompany grant funding.

The council’s discussions reflect a commitment to supporting local initiatives while navigating the complexities of funding eligibility and resource allocation. As the Small Grants Program moves forward, the council aims to ensure that language and policies are clear, fostering a supportive environment for community organizations.

Sedona City Council OKs $103M budget, new staff – Sedona Red Rock News

The Sedona City Council unanimously passed its $103,291,695 budget on Tuesday, June 24, for Fiscal Year 2025-26, which went into effect on Tuesday, July 1. The vote was 6-0 with Councilman Brian Fultz absent.

The approved budget represents a 2.8% decrease from the previous year’s $106 million. The reduction is driven by a $6.8 million decrease in capital expenses, which dropped from $48 million to $42 million because of the competition of such projects as the Forest Road Extension.

Meanwhile, operating expenses increased year-over-year from $57.891 million to $61.2 million.

Operational changes include the addition of 12.8 full-time equivalent employees across the city, a majority of which will be Sedona Police Department staff.

SPD will have five new patrol officers with a one-time cost of $692,535 and ongoing annual costs of $535,467; three new motor officers with a one-time cost of $373,337 with an annual cost of $444,279; and a community outreach officer — who will focus on homeless residents and visitors — with a one-time cost of $161,474 and an ongoing annual cost of $102,064. Additionally SPD will receive a full-time Emergency Management coordinator and a part-time evidence technician.

The City Clerk’s Office will add a short-term rental code enforcement officer. The Municipal Court will extend a part-time security officer to full time and the Public Works Department will upgrade part-time hours to create two full-time positions.

The final budget was $706,292 less than the adopted tentative budget, approved on May 27, which was driven in large part because a salary staff study cost $400,000 less than anticipated.

Facilities maintenance costs will rise $133,000 for utilities, equipment and city parking lot repairs. Public transit costs will grow $32,000 for micro-transit, shuttle costs and a parking study. Street maintenance will increase $21,000 due to higher material and labor costs.

Revenues

The “March, sales and bed tax were disappointing this year,” Director of Financial Services Barbara Whitehorn said. “They were still higher than budget, but they were lower than [the] prior year … which was surprising for the same time period. So we kind of anticipated that April would show the same kind of trend given what we’re seeing nationally. Surprisingly, it did not. We had the best April for sales and bed tax that we’ve ever had.”

The estimated bed tax revenue for FY 25 was $9.2 million, with the actual revenue coming in at $9.7 million, and the estimated FY 26 bed tax revenue remains at $9.2 million, according to the budget packet. However, the final report for FY 25 including the revenue from June won’t be available for another 45 days, according to city Communication Director Lauren Browne.

“So next steps, for the budget in FY 26 … we will continue to monitor economic conditions, particularly sales and bed tax,” Whitehorn said. “We look at consumer confidence indices, market performance and where the Fed[eral Reserve] is headed. It looked like the Fed was going to reduce rates … and they’ve decided they’re not going to do that right now. I would, however, be surprised if they didn’t reduce rates by 25 basis points by the end of the calendar year. But I’m not a professional economist, so I’m basing my opinion on that of actual economists and what their expectations are.”

City budget analyst Sterling West said he anticipates a budget surplus of $7.3 million and staff were directed by council to provide an update on the results of FY 25 in January prior to the final vote.

One person spoke in opposition to the budget during the call the public.

Navajo Lofts

With a 5-1 vote, council approved the Final Plat for Navajo Lofts, a 60-unit subdivision located near the intersection of Southwest Drive and State Route 89A, with Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella voting against.

“Kinsella expressed a desire that the units remain for rent rather than available for ownership,” the meeting packet reads in reference to the Jan. 28 meeting where Kinsella also was the lone dissenting vote. “While the city cannot prohibit a subdivision on the property, the developer/current property owner has entered into a Development Agreement with the city that prohibits the use of the units as short-term rentals.”

Animal Ordinance

Council moved the possible approval of an ordinance banning the display or performance of “exotic” animals unless an exhibitor has permission of a property owner and has a permit as a wildlife exhibitor from Arizona Department of Game and Fish or U.S. Department of Agriculture to the Tuesday, Aug. 12, meeting.

Lew Hoyt

Philanthropist and Sedona Red Rock High School assistant track and field coach Lew Hoyt was honored by council for his contributions to the community, with about half of the near-capacity council chambers on hand for the presentation.

“[Hoyt] walks our hallways and our lunch room. I have two daughters that go to school [here],” Sedona-Oak Creek School District Superintendent Tom Swaninger Ph.D., said. “[Hoyt] sits with them, asks them, looks them in the eye and shares the wisdom that he has. He’s not only made my life better, but hundreds of children over the years and you may never know the true impact that you’ve had.”

Dry Creek Shared-Use Path

The council approved a $1.9 million construction contract with Doege Development LLC for Phase III of the Dry Creek Road Shared-Use Path. Construction will begin in July and continue through March, covering the segment from Gringo Road to White Bear Road, including a path alignment change between White Bear Road and Kachina Drive. However, even after this phase, the path still does not reach State Route 89A. Public comment was split, with one resident speaking in support and one opposed.

Phase One of the Dry Creek Road SUP was completed in 2021 and runs from Two Fence Trail to Forest Road 152. Phase Two, finished early this year, extended the path from Two Fence Trail to north of Gringo Road.

Council unanimously approved the Doege contract, however, members expressed concerns about the piecemeal approach to construction and the project approval, emphasizing the need for a more comprehensive plan when city staff drafts projects. Some council members, particularly Councilman Pete Furman, voiced reservations about the project’s approach.

“I’m frustrated because I think this council and our public could have benefited from a more holistic discussion of the entire plan before we segmented it out and in parts that we did,” Furman said.

Furman added that outreach to residents could have been better, that the complete streets element from the community plan was not fully implemented, that the city should have first started addressing traffic and bicycle issues near the intersection of Dry Creek Road and State Route 89A and that he thinks a future council will have to spend more money to redo portions of the project.

“I’m disappointed about the process that we used … we’re going to produce a project that’s going to be good and it could have been great,” Furman said.

“I would like to see in the future, complete paths done instead of starting-stopping and have them incomplete for a while,” Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow said. “I think it gives the wrong message to our community that for whatever reason [the city] can’t finish a project.”

At several points, council members stated that they want to see how all phases of a construction project fit together.

“I need to visualize the whole [project], even if we build it in sections,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said. “I find it difficult to actually know whether what we’re doing is the right thing or not. ‘I just have to nod my head and say, I trust our public works department.’ It’s not that I don’t trust public works, I’d like to see it myself and to be able to explain it when people ask us questions, which right now I cannot do.”

Deputy City Manager Andy Dickey said the city would consider the request but noted that creating renderings is time-intensive and typically reserved for larger projects, making it difficult to produce them for every smaller one.

“I hear you Andy, but $3 million here, $3 million there,” Ploog said. “It’s a big project eventually. I mean, this is not going to be an insubstantial amount of money.”

“We’ll look into it and see what we can do,” Dickey said.

Council approves service agreements with out-of-area firms – Sedona Red Rock News

On May 27, the Sedona City Council approved a set of master service agreements for on-call professional engineering services that will allow city staff to enter into certain consulting contracts with firms without having to seek council approval for each contract.

Contracts will be limited to $300,000 per contract and a maximum of $1 million over three years in each of six categories — wastewater, architecture, general engineering, mechanical and electric engineering, structural engineering and quality assurance services.

Wastewater Director Roxanne Holland explained that her department intended to use the MSAs for “smaller design” work on projects, including pipeline design and replacement and drain bed replacement.

Director of Public Works Kurt Harris said the agreements would be used for “smaller projects … things that we need to be on call and more nimble.”

Out-of-Region Firms

City procurement officer Ian Coubrough said that city staff had received 34 submissions in response to a request for proposals issued on Dec. 30, 2024, and selected 23 of those firms with which to enter into MSAs. The agreements will run through fiscal year 2028, which Coubrough said would “allow for a more efficient contracting process.”

“These are our business partners. We need to work with them and work towards each other’s best interests,” Coubrough said.

“How many of these would you consider local?” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella asked.

“We’re not necessarily recording that information,” Coubrough said, but added that a few of the firms were operating locally. “We didn’t go through a local buying metric or anything like that.”

“That anecdotal information is sufficient for me,” Kinsella said.

Of the 23 firms selected for MSA awards, none are headquartered in the Verde Valley. Awarded firms and their locations were:

• Advanced Structural Engineering, Scottsdale
• Ardurra Group, Miami, Fla.
• Canfield Engineering and Integration, Chandler
• Carollo Engineers, Phoenix
• Childers Architect, Phoenix
• Civiltech Engineering, Itasca, Ill.
• Coe & Van Loo Consultants, Phoenix
• Consor North America, Houston
• Entellus, Phoenix
• Gabor Lorant Architects, Phoenix
• GH2 Architects, Scottsdale
• GLHN Architects and Engineers, Tucson
• Huitt-Zollars, Dallas, Tex.
• J.E. Fuller Hydrology and Geomorphology, Flagstaff and Tempe
• Kimley-Horn and Associates, Phoenix
• LAST Architects, Phoenix
• Ninyo and Moore Geotechnical and Environmental Sciences, Prescott Valley
• Pacific Advanced Civil Engineering, Fountain Valley, Calif.
• Quality Testing LLC, Gilbert
• Quantum Integrated Solutions, Tempe
• Speedie and Associates, Flagstaff
• Van Boerum and Frank Associates, Murray, Utah
• Western Technologies Inc., Flagstaff

Spending Cap

“I’m a fan of efficiency, but I don’t think I’m a fan of loosening the limits that much,” Councilman Pete Furman commented, and asked why staff had suggested a $300,000 limit on the contract value when the city manager’s discretionary spending authority is capped at $100,000.

“Why is it that [Sedona City Manager] Anette [Spickard] can sign off for $150,000 or $300,000 as it relates to this, but every thing else is still a $100,000 max?” Councilman Brian Fultz similarly asked. “I’m not opposed to bumping up the $100,000 necessarily, but I just kind of want us to have a broader policy perspective about why would we treat this different than any other discretion that we give the city manager?”

“Ian is also working on a broader procurement policy update to bring to council in which that question of signature authority and delegation will be addressed,” Spickard said.

“We don’t write blank checks for a million dollars, and that’s what this is,” Fultz said.

“If you wish to amend the motion that’s before you tonight, you can request that any work orders under this contract return to city council for approval in excess of $100,000,” Coubrough said.

“I think it should come back to us,” Kinsella said, suggesting an alternative cap of $150,000.

“They can at least get through not having to go through the RFP and all the rest of the stuff that they did. We’d have some qualified vendors,” Furman said.

“$300,000 these days is pretty small,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said. Councilwoman Melissa Dunn agreed.

“I can go along with the $150,000, but I wouldn’t go any higher without there being council oversight,” Fultz said. “My proposal to my colleagues is, let’s have it come in front of us at $150,000. It can come via the consent agenda.”

Furman suggested adding language specifying that “items over the city manager’s signing authority must still come to council. And then, when that floats, whatever the number is going to be the future for the signing authority, this would then float with it as well,” a proposal supported by Mayor Scott Jablow and by Fultz.

After further discussion about how the process would work, council voted unanimously for approval of the agreements “subject to the approval of the city manager’s signing authority.”

City to add FEMA-funded sirens in Uptown – Sedona Red Rock News

The Sedona City Council unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with Coconino County to install up to four emergency sirens around Uptown, which will be funded by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, during its May 13 meeting.

The agreement provides that the county will absorb the costs for the design and installation of the siren system, while Sedona will become responsible for the costs of the system’s administration and maintenance after the first year of operation. Staff estimated the annual cost to the city would be approximately $10,000. County funding under the terms of the IGA will not exceed $269,200, and ownership of the system will be transferred to the Sedona Police Department on Dec. 31, 2026.

The agenda bill accompanying the agreement stated that Uptown had been selected for siren installation “as it generally has a higher concentration of tourists” who have not signed up for the city of Sedona’s Nixle text messaging notification system.

SPD Chief Stephanie Foley’s executive assistant Jessica Bryson told the council that the sirens may be either pole mounted or roof-mounted and will have the ability to broadcast voice messages in multiple languages.

Coconino County Emergency Manager Tim Carter told the council that the city will have primary authority to activate the siren system but that it will also include “a backup to our county-wide notification system, “a backup to our countywide notification system. That way, for whatever reason, there’s a redundant system that we can set off remotely.”

“It’s not the old air raid sirens that go off every Saturday at noon,” Carter also assured the council. “The testing for that is completely silent. It’s just a systems check of the electronics. The only time they make noise is when we want them to.”

“I grew up near one of the nuclear attack sirens in Phoenix and I’m very happy to hear that they can be tested silently,” Councilman Derek Pfaff said.

Coconino County Emergency Management and Sedona Fire District operate sirens in Oak Creek Canyon and conduct annual tests, usually in July.

Councilman Brian Fultz asked whether, since the project will be funded by a FEMA grant, the National Environmental Policy Act process would be “applicable for a pole in a city right of way?”

“If you want to hang a federally-funded photo on that wall, and put a nail in that wall, it’s applicable,” Carter said. “Unfortunately, yes.”

“Some of the locations we tentatively, preliminarily looked at, would be more of the roof-mounted,which goes into what we’re requesting with some of the companies that have that capability more so than others, and also that meet some of our specific codes to color,” Foley said. “We could also say that, depending on the system, that we could pick three and then add discs for adding additional radius to that location.”

“Is there any risk of those funds being lost at this point?” Fultz asked.

“We have received written confirmation from both [U.S.] Senator [Mark]Kelly’s office, who sponsored this, and from the state Department of Emergency Management that the funding is still there and is still in place, so we should proceed,” Carter said.

“You said if this was successful, we would be looking at whether or not we would want to place additional ones throughout the city,” Councilwoman Melissa Dunn said. “How do you know if it’s successful if we have no emergencies?”

“As far as how the implementation went, that system itself, and then some of the testing,” Foley said. “Ideally we never have to use it. So we might not know.”

“Can you give a timeline?” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog asked.

“I wish I could,” Carter said, explaining the timing would depend on the NEPA review and that county staff intended to score the nine proposals they had received from contractors by the end of the month and award a contract within 30 days after selection, which would be followed by acoustic studies, the submission of those studies to FEMA and finally construction. “If there’s ground disturbance, that could potentially take longer. If we submit a project that’s going on top of an existing building … that usually will be much shorter.”

“The visitor center would be an ideal location,” Ploog said.

“I was looking forward to hearing the chief’s voice beamed down to me every Saturday morning at noon,but I’ll live with that disappointment,” Councilman Pete Furman said.

Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella expressed the hope that residents would sleep better at night knowing they could be woken up by the city.

“Hopefully the system could be transitioned into Yavapai,” Mayor Scott Jablow said. “We would have control of these speakers, whatever it is that they’re speaking.”

Council considers staff requests to hire more staff – Sedona Red Rock News

Following the Sedona City Council’s budget work sessions on April 30 and May 1, the city of Sedona may hire at least 12.76 new full-time equivalent employees in fiscal year 2025-26 to fill newly created positions, as well as hiring additional staff to fill vacant or unfilled positions and several consultants.

According to the FY26 proposed budget, this will increase the total number of city staff to 201.65 if fully staffed. positions except for the two court specialists. The estimated cost of the new positions is $2,937,712.

Staff had originally proposed adding 14.76 FTE new staff positions during the budget sessions, to include five patrol officers, three traffic officers, a community outreach officer, an emergency manager and a part-time records technician for the Sedona Police Department; two court specialists and a full-time security officer for the municipal court; a dedicated short-term rental code enforcement officer for the City Clerk’s Office; and the conversion of part-time traffic control assistant positions to full-time.

After review, council approved moving ahead with all of the new

Staffing History

Finance Director Barbara Whitehorn reviewed the history of staff levels with City Council at the beginning of the session, noting that in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008, the city reduced staffing levels from 167 in FY09 to 117 in FY12.

“We’ve increased, in 16 years, only 13.2%,” Whitehorn said. “It’s a pretty normal increase over time.”

Sedona’s estimated population declined from 10,017 in 2012 to 9,819 in 2023.

Councilman Brian Fultz asked staff if there were actually negative consequences from eliminating those positions.

“Essential things continued to move forward,” Deputy City Manager Andy Dickey said, adding that the jobs cut were primarily project managers and other roles related to optional capital improvement projects.

“Most people want to have a job where they’re closer to their home,” Human Resources Manager Russ Martin said with regard to hiring and staff compensation. “It is imperative that we have, if you will, the premium to come here, because they are taking time out of their day to come here in that commute.”

The average city of Sedona salary as of March 2025 is $74,219.

Police & Code Enforcement

SPD Support Services Manager Erin Loeffler and Police Chief Stephanie Foley presented council with several different staffing models to explain hiring additional police staff, with one of those models estimating a need for 13 additional officers, another recommending between 69 and 78 officers total and a third estimating a need for 54 officer-hours per day.

“It’s more needed to have 13,” Foley said. “I’m not asking for 13, I’m asking for nine.”

According to the numbers Foley presented, including the newly approved positions, SPD’s FTE count would rise from 40.5 in FY15 to 60.5 in FY26, while the number of sworn officers would increase 30% from 30 to 39.

Council agreed to add nine officers but to fund the positions for only nine months to allow time to fill them.

“Are collisions and injuries and fatalities increasing?” Councilman Pete Furman asked.

“They’re not decreasing to that we already have,” Foley said. “In my opinion, we haven’t reached the level of being out there in enforcement that we need to see a decrease.”

Per the city’s previous budgets, financial reports and SPD data, crime in Sedona declined 32.8% from a peak of 662 arrests in FY07 to 445 in FY24; traffic collisions fell from a peak of 255 in FY13 to 233 in 2023 and 234 in 2024; and traffic citations fell 52.9% from a peak of 4,589 in FY08 to 2,161 in calendar 2024.

“Is it really realistic you’re going to hire all these people when you have vacant positions?” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog asked.

“I do think it’s realistic. We have a waiting list now,” Foley said. “We have not grown to the same level the rest of the city [staff] has.”

Foley also proposed hiring a commercial vehicle inspector who could “put vehicles out of order and not allow them on the road.”

City Clerk JoAnne Cook said that staff’s intention was to hire “a qualified code enforcement officer with experience” without having to train for the STR-specific position. Community Development Director Steve Mertes noted that while the new staffer would work with his department, that person would formally be under the supervision of the City Clerk’s Office.

“I think that this is a position that the public has been clamoring for,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella said.

City STR complaint data earlier this year indicated that 8% of residents filed STR complaints.

In Process

As of May 9, the city’s website listed available full-time openings for a maintenance worker, community services officer, court specialist and police officers.

City Manager Anette Spickard said that she was “in the beginning stages of recruitment” to fill the vacant second deputy city manager post, authorized in last year’s budget.

Mertes said that the city will continue to try to fill the vacant senior planner’s position again.

“One of my objectives in fiscal year ’26 is to onboard that coordinator,” Communications Manager Lauren Browne said with regard to hiring an additional tourism coordinator authorized in the FY25 budget. “We’re doing interviews next week.”

“We’re currently working on updating [Kegn Moorcroft’s] job description … to make sure that her job description include being a main point of contact for emails and phone calls that are coming in to all of our inboxes and she can help guide them through the engagement process,” Browne added, a role that Spickard described as “an ombudsman position.”

Cook requested $15,000 to hire a consultant to do a “holistic review” of the city’s more than 1,200 contracts and determine their value to the city, while Housing Manager Jeanne Blum requested $105,000 for a housing strategy consultant “so that we can build out the housing plan that we feel that we need in order to make a comprehensive sort of plan for housing development.”

“We’re looking at getting a temp to help us convert all our as-built [plans] into electronic [format] as well,” Public Works Director Kurt Harris said. Spickard described the position as an internship not adding an FTE that was “too small for the council to debate.”

Harris also requested a $35,000 ongoing allocation for a licensed arborist to help diagnose dead trees to be removed. “We get a lot of pushback from people,” Harris said. “We just want to have that level of data and authority to make that decision.”

“We are in the process of selecting a contractor for [an] Uptown circulator study,” Transit Administrator Amber Wagner said, with the contract to be awarded in early summer.

Less formally, the city is also paying for tourism professionals at Sedona hotels.

“We’re on track to hit about 40 [familiarization trips] just for context,” Tourism Manager Andrew Grossman said. “To date we’ve hosted 130 people within those 40 FAMs.”