The 2026 election season in Sedona is already beginning to take shape. Councilman Brian Fultz announced his intention to run for mayor, asking voters to elevate him to the city’s top elected office.
Meanwhile, Councilman Pete Furman has confirmed he will not seek reelection.
In addition to two council seats, the third currently held by Councilwoman Melissa Dunn will also be on the ballot — Dunn has confirmed to the NEWS she will be seeking reelection.
The specter of current Mayor Scott Jablow already hangs over the 2026 contest. On Sept. 10, a majority of council members voted to censure Jablow and called for his resignation, citing seven major complaints, including interference with city staff, creating a hostile work environment, and acting unilaterally on city matters.
Additionally, Sedona Police Chief Stephanie Foley filed a human resource complaint against Jablow alleging the creation of a hostile work environment and sexual discrimination. City Manager Anette Spickard sent a separate memo to council accusing Jablow of manipulative behavior in the city’s installation of its now-terminated automatic license plate reader program.
Brian Fultz
“One, because I’ve had a term on council and I have a good understanding of how the city works, and it takes time to learn that,” Fultz said is his pitch to voters. “Second, I’m an analytical thinker and use data to inform my decisions. Third, I’m very strategic. I don’t want to make knee-jerk reactions. I want council to fulfill its role of developing policy and providing staff direction to execute. I’m a strategic thinker in that regard. We’ve got big decisions ahead, and I believe I can be an objective, well-reasoned individual to make good decisions for the community.”
“The mayor serves as a representative of the city, but that doesn’t mean the mayor can be working on establishing policy at a regional or statewide level without that being the policy council has said it wants to pursue,” Fultz said. “There was a disconnect at times; [Jablow] was doing his own thing. A good example would be short-term rentals, and the rest of council didn’t know what [Jablow] was doing. That’s something I want to work on immediately with [the] current council: Redefining roles and responsibilities so we don’t have that disconnect going forward.”
Fultz said he feels he can be the one to restore public trust in the mayoral position.
Furman
Furman, a first-term councilman, said he will not be seeking reelection after having health challenges over his term and is changing his priorities.
“I think I’ve had some effect on some of the internal processes on council — changing our rules, getting us to be a little bit more open [and] also, actively participating in the housing short-term rental discussions.” Furman said is what he is most proud of from his term.
