Hall elected in uncontested Prescott City Council race
25-year UniSource franchise agreement approved

In an uncontested race this week, Prescott voters overwhelmingly elected Jessica Hall to a four-year term on the City Council, and also approved a 25-year franchise agreement with UniSource Gas.

The unofficial results that the Yavapai County Recorder’s Office released at about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, showed that 12,789 votes were cast in the council race, with 9,954 voting for Hall.

The results showed an “under-vote” of 2,835, which means that those voters chose not to vote in the council race.

In the UniSource franchise matter (Proposition 454), voters approved the 25-year pact with an 88%-to-12% margin. A total of 10,890 voters were in favor, while 1,553 voted against it, with a 345-vote under-vote and a 1-vote over-vote.

Hall was the only candidate listed on the ballot, after fellow candidate Grant Quezada chose to withdraw from the race in August.

Three council seats and the mayor’s position initially were up for election in the 2021 cycle, but the mayor’s race and two of the council seats were decided in the August primary.

Current City Councilman Phil Goode was elected as Prescott mayor in the primary, while the two top vote-getters in the City Council race, Eric Moore and Brandon Montoya, were also elected outright by receiving a majority of the ballots cast.

As the third- and fourth-highest vote getters in the primary, Hall and Quezada were set to head to a runoff in the general election to fill the third open seat on the council.

But on Aug. 24, Quezada announced that he was withdrawing from the race, noting that he believed Hall, a Certified Public Accountant, to be the most qualified person to serve on the council. That left only Hall’s name to appear on the general election ballot for the remaining council seat.

Hall could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, but in August she said she was eager to begin serving on the council, noting that she has been attending council meetings and working to get up to speed on city issues.

A vote is required on the city’s franchise agreement with UniSource Gas every 25 years, with the last franchise agreement dating back to May 1997.

The franchise agreement gives a utility the authority to work within city rights-of-way to construct, operate, and maintain facilities for handling, production, transporting, storing, sale and distribution of natural gas.

In exchange, the utility pays the city a franchise fee of 2% of revenues.

On Monday, Nov. 1, Yavapai County Registrar of Voters Laurin Custis reported that 34,063 general-election ballots had been mailed out to Prescott voters in October. By Monday morning, 11,594 returned ballots had been accepted by the county, with about 1,000 more still to be processed.

The county’s unofficial results from Tuesday night do not separate the city’s voter turnout response from the other races that were conducted Nov. 2, including override questions for Cottonwood’s Mingus Union High School and Cottonwood Oak Creek School District, and bonds for Crown King Fire. (All of the questions appeared to have passed in the unofficial results.)

Overall, the county’s voter turnout was reported as 35.64%.

The totals for Prescott’s two questions indicate that 12,789 votes were cast in the city, for about 37.5% voter turnout response.

“Unofficial final” results are expected to be available by about Monday or Tuesday, Nov. 8-9. The results will not be considered final until after the Prescott City Council canvasses them later in November.

The swearing in for the new City Council members is scheduled for Nov. 23.

Follow Cindy Barks on Twitter @Cindy_Barks. Reach her at 928-445-3333, ext. 2034, or cbarks@prescottaz.com.


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