11/22/2005 4:00:00 AM
Yavapai County ripe for political changes
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By TIM WIEDERAENDERS
Courier Managing Editor
"I believe our supervisors a generation ago, before the public became so aware and involved in the process communicated," Prescott resident Jim Buchanan told me for a column in 1999.
Then a county planning commissioner and later a candidate for the Board of Supervisors, Buchanan launched the Committee for Five Supervisors.
He is not resurrecting the committee now, but that is not the point. This quote, from more than six years ago, typifies what's going on at the county level.
First, the public is learning more and more how to play the game. Following are just a few examples locally:
• Voters approved the Prescott No-Smoking Initiative two years ago that went into full effect on Nov. 12.
• Voters approved the Reasonable Growth Initiative (Prop. 400) this fall, requiring among other things a super-majority approval of the City Council for Prescott annexations of more than 250 acres.
• The Board of Supervisors reversed course on the proposal for a county complex at Pioneer Park because of public outcry, including a contingent from the Verde Valley.
• Many residents continue to battle the board over the pending widening of Williamson Valley Road to five lanes.
Thus, area residents are becoming more and more motivated. They have a lot of time on their hands. They have a voice. And, they are pretty effective; for example, proponents of Prop. 400 spent a lot less money than the "No on 400" group did.
Add to that the political culture in Yavapai County.
Before Carol Springer and Tom Thurman joined the Board of Supervisors, Gheral Brownlow represented District 1, with Lorna Street in the District 2 seat and Chip Davis for District 3. It was then that I and many other people witnessed a shift.
Before them the board was a mix, off and on, of Bill Feldmeier, Carlton Camp, Davis, Brownlow, and John Olsen.
It seems those guys knew how to cooperate and communicate. More simply put, they knew they had to get things done; for the most part, they put their agendas and feelings aside; and they looked more at the big picture.
Now we have Thurman, for instance, who is sounding like the Yavapai College board members who don't like the Open Meetings Law.
"There is a real problem when the board members can't talk to each other outside of a meeting, especially when it comes time to negotiate for property. The purchase of property is an executive session item, but that would eliminate public comment," Thurman said in a story about the county complex, in Monday's Daily Courier.
Plus, we keep hearing about "done deals" involving county projects.
Well, folks, you're working with the public's money and that is the public's business. If you don't like it or the law get out of the chair.
I favor five supervisors, rather than three. I've seen it work in Mohave County, and our population is ready for it. The state requires five when you have more than 200,000 residents; if Yavapai County is not there yet, we're very close so close that waiting until the next Census is wrong.
Until then, though, we don't need back-room deals or violations of the Open Meetings Law to get the job done. We need people who are willing to work together, better than they are right now.
Think about it.
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PARTING SHOT This is one county, not three lordships within one kingdom. Five supervisors would justly diffuse the power grid.
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