On Thursday, Nov. 13, Sedona Planning and Zoning Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Hosseini was voted by the Sedona City Council to fill a vacancy and was immediately sworn in to serve as an appointment for until the end of November 2026.
The seat was created by the resignation of former Mayor Scott Jablow. Vice Mayor Holli Ploog was chosen as interim mayor and Councilman Brian Fultz as interim vice mayor, creating an open seat on council.
“I really do believe in public service and in civic involvement,” Hosseini said following the vote. Public service “makes a richer life for yourself. If you’ve been lucky enough, and I’ve been a lucky person all my life and have things just work out well for me. It’s time to give back. So this is a way that’s of interest to me and for some reason, not everybody wants to do this; I just enjoy it.”
The vote was 5-1 for Hosseini, with Fultz voting for Allan Affeldt.
Originally from Texas, Hosseini has resided in Arizona for the last 35 years and recently succeeded Kathy
Levin as chairwoman of P&Z following Levin’s last meeting on Oct. 21.
Hosseini said stepping down from P&Z “given House Bill 2447” was “not as difficult a decision,” as the bill shifts approval of most site plans, plats, and design reviews from public hearings to city staff review.
“Having gone through running for office myself, and after sitting through over a year of City Council meetings — where I had the opportunity to learn about the issues facing the council — then, after I was elected, I had another three months as an elected council member before we were sworn in to meet with department heads and the city manager and to learn the job,” Ploog said about her vote. “Still, when you get up on the dais, there is a lot to learn. Those were the factors I considered, and I felt that Charlotte was best positioned to be able to hit the ground running.”
In addition to serving on P&Z since 2018, Hosseini has been on several other city work groups including four fiscal years on the Citizens Budget Work Group from Fiscal Year 2017 to 2020 and the Sedona Citizens Academy in 2015. She spent 24 years working with the state of Arizona, starting in 1989, serving in roles including special projects administrator for the Attorney General’s Office and deputy finance director for the Arizona Department of Administration.
“My work experience in Arizona was with the state,” Hosseini said of her 24 years working in the state government. “My husband and I bought our house in 2010 when we knew we would be retiring here, and we moved here full time in 2015 after we retired. In my work life, I’ve had various positions, not just with the state, but the through line has always been budgeting and working with budgets. I worked for five governors with the state of Arizona. I started with the governor’s budget office — it was Gov. Rose Mofford at the time, for those of you who are familiar — and I retired from the state. A majority of my time was with the state’s Department of Administration.”
Hosseini told the NEWS that she will not be running in 2026’s municipal election to seek a full term, citing personal reasons.
Sedona voters in 2026 will decide our next mayor, three seats on council and vote on a four-year extension of the home rule option for the city’s expenditure limitation requirements, which is a decision that Hoessini said “is almost an existential priority.”
“I believe the No. 1 issue facing this particular City Council at this point in time is regaining the trust of the community,” Hosseini wrote in her application. “I hope this is a relatively short term issue because there is a lot of work to do on other fronts. These include determining an appropriate mix of components for the Western Gateway and a candid assessment of revenues and priorities for FY 2027 — and FY 2026 if necessary. Declining population, school enrollment and the loss of worker housing all contribute to a different future for Sedona if strategies are not put in place as soon as reasonably possible.”
Council interviewed its four finalists on Nov. 13: Hosseini, Affeldt, Jean- Christophe Buillet and Ernie Strauch.
On Oct. 28, council had selected the finalists from a larger applicant pool who were not interviewed: Andrea Christelle, Chase Norlin, Henry Silbiger, Gary Whitehill and Scott Ross.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Hosseini’s position as P&Z chair.
