Goes rogue, gets censured, refuses to quit, reverses & vacates; Ploog now acting mayor

Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow announced his resig­nation “effective today at 5 p.m.,” on Tuesday, Sept. 30, in a 7:51 a.m. email to City Attorney Kurt Christianson.

This came after Jablow was formally censured in a 5-2 vote by Sedona City Council members on Sept. 10 for seven violations of public office; attempted to attack those five colleagues at a council meeting on Sept. 23; then posted what he had attempted to read to his social media account on Sept. 26.

Vice Mayor Holli Ploog will step in as the acting mayor until the council meets on Tuesday, Oct. 14, when council will vote on the interim mayor who will serve until November 2026.

The resignation comes after Jablow lost the support of city staff, his colleagues on the City Council and several online petitions calling for his resignation.

Jablow, who stated Sept. 12 following the Sept 10 censure that he would not seek reelection, did not respond to numerous requests to his cell phones and home phone from the NEWS to comment about his resignation.

“I’m pleased, that with the resignation, to start the healing process with the community, and the fact that he recognized that his continuation as mayor was a distraction from the work in front of us,” Ploog said.

“I’m disappointed in how things turned out, but Scott did the right thing by resigning,” Councilman Derek Pfaff wrote. “He put the best interests of Sedona and its residents ahead of his own. He should be thanked for that.”

“I’m glad [Jablow’s] changed his mind,” Furman said. “I think it’s good for the community, and it’s time for all of us to move forward.”

“I appreciate [Jablow] coming to the conclu­sion that his resignation is in the best interest of the community and that we can now move forward productively addressing the matters affecting Sedona,” Councilman Brian Fultz wrote.

“I hope that [Jablow’s] legacy won’t simply be the last few months of his term, and that people will look back at some of the positive things that have occurred and his dedication to the community as we get past this difficult time,” Ploog said.

“This episode has been an unfortunate distraction from the important issues facing out community,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella wrote. “I hope we can now move on and work to restore public trust in local government.

Councilwoman Melissa Dunn did not respond to a request for comment.

Complaints

Sedona Police Department Chief of Police Stephanie Foley filed a 157-page human resources complaint on July 27 alleging Jablow created a hostile work environment, discriminated against her based on gender and micromanaged SPD and police officers.

On Aug. 13, City Council held a public discussion about 11 Flock Safety auto­matic license plate readers that had been installed in June without council approval. Council members learned then that the cameras had been installed without public or council discus­sion but had been pushed by Jablow since spring 2024.

Council, through a 6-1 majority consensus on Wednesday, Aug. 13, decided to shut off its Automatic License Plate Reader program and have city staff provide a timeline of the installation of the surveillance network that was installed in June without a vote by council. Jablow opposed the shutdown.

City Manager Anette Spickard provided council with a 30-page memo on Aug. 17 in which she accused Jablow of “manipu­lating” her in the installation of the ALPRs to the point his behavior had “damaged my credibility and profes­sional reputation,” with city staff and Sedona residents by not stepping forward taking “responsibility for the direction on this project.”

When Spickard wanted to have the project discussed before council, Jablow emailed Spickard on Nov. 13, that “I would rather not make it public because it’s police related.”

Council voted unani­mously Sept. 9 to remove the 11 installed ALPRs and to terminate its contract with Flock Safety, citing public opposition and issues with Flock’s data security.

“As of Friday, [Sept. 26] a couple of poles still need to be removed but all cameras have been removed,” Deputy City Manager Lauren Browne wrote on Sept. 27.

Censure

Council proceeded to take the “unprecedented action,” according to Councilman Pete Furman, of publicly and formally censuring Jablow and calling for his resigna­tion on Sept. 10, for engaging in conduct in violation of Sedona City Council’s Rules and Procedures for: “1. Interference with city staff/departments, 2. Creating/fostering a hostile work environment, 3. Breaking the confidentiality of attorney/client privilege, 4. Circumvention of city council process, 5. Acting beyond the authority of the office of mayor, 6. Acting unilaterally, 7. Violating principles of ethical conduct for elected officials,” according to the meeting’s action item list.

The censure vote was 5-2, with Jablow and Pfaff opposed. Pfaff’s statement was that it should have been up to the voters in 2026 to decide if Jablow should have remained as mayor.

Prior to the censure, two private reprimands were already given to Jablow about his behavior of the same nature.

Penalties for Censure

Also on Sept. 23, council unanimously voted after an executive session “to investigate allegations made against the mayor on Sept. 19.”

On Sept. 23, during what became his final regular council meeting, Jablow attempted to read a prepared statement regarding his censure during the coun­cil’s Summary of Current Events. He was cut off by Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella and Christianson for going off topic. Jablow later told the NEWS he would forward his full state­ment to the press but never did. The following day, Sept. 24, a Facebook group based in Cornville briefly posted the full statement before deleting it several minutes later.

Jablow confirmed to the NEWS the writing was his but claimed he did not know how it had appeared online.

Later in the meeting on Sept. 23, council decided to have a work session to discuss a comprehensive review of council’s rules and procedures. The topic was raised by Furman who wants to modify Sedona City Code and the council’s rules to punish council members who have been censured by removing the censured member’s use of city property or suspending their salary for their service. Furman said he sees the punishments being in place until voters decide if they wish to reelect the censured official.

The council work session on rules and procedures has been scheduled for Monday, Oct. 27, at 8 a.m.

“I urge the council to continue to press forward with the disciplinary changes that we will talk about,” Furman said Sept. 30. “It’s important. It applies equally to all of us, and I think we need to get those in place [to] prevent future aberrations.”

On Monday, Sept. 29, council had an executive session to discuss Danielle Dulaney and Richard Speer applications for appoint­ment of presiding magistrate judge. Jablow was absent.

Opening on Council

The mayor’s resigna­tion creates a vacancy on council that residents are encouraged to apply for. The appointee will serve until November 2026, and will have to run in next year’s election if they wish. Within the next few days City Clerk JoAnne Cook will send a press release announcing the vacancy with a three-week applica­tion window due back by Monday, Oct. 27. Council will then interview the applicants and appoint a council member.