Sedona City Council members got an update on the State Route 89A transfer agreement between the city and the Arizona Department of Transportation during their regular meeting Tuesday, March 8.

Sedona City Manager Tim Ernster told council members that ADOT funds are currently available for the city of Sedona as part of the agreement between the state and the city for ownership of the roadway. City officials are expected to receive $10,650,000 this week. Ernster said ADOT Director John S. Halikowski has signed the agreement transferring ownership of the road as well.

Sedona city council members voted 4-3 to take ownership of approximately five miles of State Route 89A on Feb. 22.

An overlay project for State Route 89A will go out for bids in April. The project will include a signal at Andante Drive. Work is to be completed by ADOT as part of the recent ownership agreement. Council members Barbara Litrell, Dennis Rayner, Mike Ward and Vice Mayor Cliff Hamilton voted in favor of city ownership for the road. Councilmen Dan McIlroy and Mark DiNunzio and Mayor Rob Adams voted against city ownership of the road.

The transfer encompasses roughly five miles of road in the heart of Sedona, from the  ‘Y’ intersection to Sedona Red Rock High School.

“Those projects will start sometime this summer, once they open the bids, evaluate the bids,” Ernster said. “They will be looking for completion of the overlay probably sometime in the spring of 2012. They have quite a bit of concrete work that’s part of that. The Andante signal, I believe, will be finished by the end of this calender year.”

Paul Tutnick, former Sedona city council member and former vice mayor, spoke to council members during the public portion of the March 8 meeting. He added his support to the council members for standing by their decisions, despite efforts for a recall and a referendum opposing the State Route 89A transfer by two separate groups.

“I’ve been hearing talk since the council meeting of recalls and polls and things like that. It seems to me, and I have reviewed a lot of records from the papers and things, that we did in fact have a poll regarding that issue about a year or so ago. It was called an election,” Tutnick said.

City officials held a number of meetings to educate the public on the route transfer. Public comments were also sought during the investigative process on whether the transfer would be a viable option for the city. Meetings included an open house, various listening sessions and meetings with Sedona-based service organizations. Polls and surveys were also held seeking input on the transfer.