Fund launches with $25K gift to relieve Pocket Fire economic damage

The Greater Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau announced the formation of a charitable foundation at its Economic Outlook and Leadership Forum on Friday, July 24, at L’Auberge de Sedona, seeded with a $25,000 donation that will go toward Pocket Fire relief.

The gift was announced by Chamber CEO David Key and the Sedona Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a 501(c)(3) and will focus on economic development, workforce development and arts and culture.

The initial gift comes from the Stevenson family, the Sedona hoteliers who one Ambiente, and is directed to the Red Rock Recovery Fund.

“The recent Pocket Fire reminded us how quickly unexpected events can affect the people who make Sedona such a special place,” the family wrote in a prepared statement. “We are especially grateful that this fund will live beyond the Pocket Fire, creating a lasting resource to support Sedona’s workforce and local businesses whenever future disasters or unforeseen hardships impact our community. We hope our contributions inspire others to join us in strengthening the resilience of the people and businesses that are at the heart of Sedona.”

The forum’s panel featured Sedona Mayor Holli Ploog and Yavapai County Supervisor Nikki Check [D-District 3].

Much of the fire discussion centered on Oak Creek Canyon and the West Fork closures, which are in Coconino County rather than Yavapai.

Check said Coconino County Economic Development Director John Saltonstall is administering disaster relief loan applications.

Ploog pointed to the creation of the city’s Know Your Zone evacuation plan and the hiring of Chance Wnuck as Sedona’s emergency manager in November as major steps taken ahead of the Pocket Fire’s June 19 ignition.

Legislative Update

Arizona Rep. Selina Bliss [R-District 1] prerecorded end-of-session legislative update video aired during the event.

“My seatmate, Rep. Quang Nguyen [R-District 1] sends his regards,” she said.

“In my four years in office, it seems like another record is broken each year,” Bliss said. “My first year it was the number of days we stayed in session. My second year it was the number of vetoes, and as we wrapped up this legislative session, another record was set, and that we introduced a record number of bills at 2,030. Just to show you how difficult it is to get a bill signed into law, only 264 of those more than 2,000 bills introduced were actually signed into law.”

That gap between bills introduced and bills signed has widened under Gov. Katie Hobbs [D], who has vetoed 541 pieces of legislation since taking office in 2023, including 151 this year alone, as she prepares to square off against Republican challenger Andy Biggs in November.

Republicans have responded by routing measures directly to the voters. In the November general election, voters will decide Prop. 317, designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations; Prop. 316, exempting food from municipal taxes; and Prop. 319, requiring voter approval for photo enforcement systems. Potentially joining them is Prop. 212, the Protect Education Act, a citizen initiative seeking guardrails on the state’s school voucher program, pending a legal challenge.

After this story ran in print Maricopa County Superior Judge Joseph Kreamer ruled Wednesday, July 29, that House Concurrent Resolution 2048 —to put Proposition 145 before the voters — was unconstitutional and ordered the state to remove it from the ballot — that decision will be appealed.

The city of Sedona may pursue its own path on short-term rental regulation through the ballot. At its July 14 meeting, the City Council discussed lobbying the Arizona State Legislature for a 2028 ballot referral that would let municipalities hold local elections on how to regulate STRs. Introduced in the 2027 session as a concurrent resolution, it would go straight to voters without the governor’s signature. If approved, cities could then ask their own voters to cap STR licenses or set minimum distances between rentals, with existing STRs grandfathered.

The council deferred a decision on pursuing it until after the League of Arizona Cities and Towns annual conference, from Tuesday, Aug. 18, to Friday, Aug. 21. None of the city’s efforts in recent years to have the Legislature regulate STRs have been successful.

“I remain fully involved in this effort and am continuing to work with the League,” Bliss recently wrote to the NEWS. “I am optimistic for the potential for voters to support as a possible HCR, as my experience is that STR industry reforms are broadly supported as a bipartisan effort.”

Advancing to the November general election out of the Republican primary are Bliss and Nguyen, with unofficial results of 33,069 and 32,933 votes over their challenger Shawn Dell Wildman’s 11,961. State Sen. Mark Finchem [R-District 1] ran unopposed.

On the Democratic side, both LD1 challengers ran unopposed: Sandy Zalecki had 17,001 votes and was the lone Democrat in the two-seat state representative race against the incumbents. Christine Ellen Dargon took 17,259 votes to face Finchem.