Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels hosted a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at the Sedona Public Library in the Village of Oak Creek. Also in attendance were Lynn Whitman, director of flood control, Corey Christians, director of the Yavapai County Free Library District; Verl Cook, director of roads; Jeremy Dye, director of development services; and Mark Lusson, assistant director of development services.

Michaels opened by discussing her efforts at lobbying Gov. Katie Hobbs on behalf of the Manufactured Home Residents for Change in Cottonwood, which is seeking state rent control on lot rental increases.

“I was appalled to learn recently that their site fees have gone up, in some cases exponentially,” Michaels said before screening a short film provided by the lobbying group. “They have formed a task force on their own, and they reached out to me and said, ‘Is there anything you can do, supervisor?’ Of course my first answer was, I just don’t know yet. But it makes sense to me that we do something if we can to ensure that they stay in their homes.” Michaels added that Yavapai County doesn’t “have any rent control [and] there’s no site fee control.”

Michaels also discussed her efforts lobbying for Senate Bill 1221, which would allow counties to expand their regulation of groundwater use by creating basin management areas, and the U.S. Forest Service to make sure that its prescribed burns do not overlap with the grape harvest season in the Verde Valley to prevent smoke particles from altering the taste of the resulting wine. Any change in the timing of the burns, as discussed at a recent “smoke summit” by state officials, would require a community meeting involving public comment, federal agencies and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. 

“That [meeting] may not be until the fall, though, as we are gearing up for fire season,” Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management spokeswoman Tiffany Davila stated.

Michaels expressed optimism that the Village of Oak Creek would be included in upcoming broadband expansion contracts for Beaver Creek and Rimrock or Cottonwood and the Verde Villages. However, she also walked back a statement she had made to VOC nonprofit on broadband expansion on Feb. 7.

“Broadband is being brought to the Village of Oak Creek,” Michaels told the nonprofit on Feb. 7. “We have approved Wecom as the outstanding bidder for this contract. It’s a family-owned business, they have a fabulous reputation. And we’re going to begin the process of installation of the broadband services in probably September and finish somewhere in 2025.”

“I actually misspoke about it,” Michaels told town hall attendees. “It’s not the first on the list, I just want it to be … I want it here so bad I can almost taste it … We have to meet the needs of the most vulnerable communities, the most underserved, which I do agree with. So Beaver Creek, McGuireville, some of these other communities are going to get the broadband that they need.”

Flood Control

Whitman discussed a list of projects that the Yavapai County Flood Control District is working on in the VOC and the district’s objective of getting residents to fill out questionnaires about their homes and drainage issues. The district completed a preliminary study in 2009 that resulted in the completion of two projects; several others have been put on hold due to financial limitations and the inability to secure easements, so the district is now broadening the study to assess these projects.

“Once we have those potential projects in place, we’re going to be reaching out to people to make sure that we were able to get the easements, because if we can’t get easements, there’s no reason to spend money on design,” Whitman said. “Once we have the design in place, we’re either going to put them into our five-year plan that [we] will spend ourself, or we’ll start applying for grants. We have a lot of problem areas in the VOC.”

A public meeting to solicit community comment will be held once the district has decided which projects it wishes to pursue.

Telehealth

Michaels said the Sedona Public Library branch in the VOC would remain open and speculated that library services would be expanded, possibly to include telehealth services, if her proposed lease-to purchase agreement for the county to take over the Big Park Community School is approved. Michaels and the board of supervisors voted in May to cut municipal library funding by $475,000 over the next two years, including cutting $76,826 from the Sedona Public

Library

Christians described how the county is expanding telehealth options for residents with the upcoming launch of the Verde Valley Health Care Network. “Verde Valley Caregivers Coalition has been the leader in getting that organization up and running,” Christians said.

“The Verde Valley Rural Health Network is established to solidify partnerships with health care and behavioral providers and community-based organizations to increase access to health care and basic needs for adults and adults with disabilities throughout Sedona and the Verde Valley,” VVRHN Network Director Linda Clark said in a prepared statement on Tuesday, March 12.

Roads

Cook stated that “we have put a little over $1.05 million in the VOC” in road-relating spending over the past year, of which $250,000 was spent on routine maintenance, with the biggest project being Concho Drive.

“We do have a couple of bigger projects that are not necessarily in the [VOC],” Cook said. “If you commute to Cottonwood, you’re more than likely going to go across Beaverhead Flats and Cornville Road. Beaverhead Flats — next year, we’re planning on doing some cracking remediation. Through there, we’re going to grind out some of the cracks… The other big project that’s moving forward is the roundabout at Tissaw [Road] and Cornville Road.”

Michaels cited the roundabout as evidence of an improved relationship between Yavapai County and the Arizona Department of Transportation following the termination of the Verde Connect project , which she opposed.

A resident said that “at night, there should be like a little solar lamp or something [at the intersection] … because I passed it up one time.” “There should be a light on top of that stoplight,” Cook said. “If it’s not there, I will check it on my way back over there to make sure that’s working.”

Development Services

“One of the things that we’ve been really seeing a little bit more of in the last few years is just an increase in hoarding properties and properties with a lot of junk on them,” Dye said. “As [Cook] mentioned, we can’t be everywhere at once. We only have six code enforcement inspectors for the entire county, sowe rely on you to be our eyes and ears out there.” 

Lusson gave an update about the county’s “A Home of My Own” program that provides free, pre-approved home plans for those wanting to build in the county.

Lusson estimated that about 50 of these homes had been built in Yavapai County during the last three years and that his department has received outside interest about the program.

“We’re currently working on some contracts with Prescott Valley, Prescott, Pinal County [and] Clarkdale to allow them to use these same plans, so they can share that with their residents as well,” Lusson said. “But as of right now, it’s a stand-alone program that if you’re [in] unincorporated Yavapai [County], you can have one of these plans to build on your parcel land for free … We’ve kind of created the expressway through our permitting process at a discount. So our average estimate is probably about a savings of $10,000 to $15,000 right off the bat.”

Dye added that the number of free plans available through the program should double to six options by the start of July.

A resident asked about progress on updating the county’s dark sky ordinance to eliminate its grandfathering provisions for nonconforming lights.

“I don’t know where we’re at with that yet, whether we can continue to allow that grandfathering or we are able to establish [some] kind of end date, and that’s going through right now, or our attorneys are reviewing that information,” Dye said.

Dye later added that the now shuttered Tuesday Morning in the VOC will be replaced by a Dollar Tree at that location.