Petition signatures for a proposed referendum on the Sedona City Council’s February decision to take ownership of State Route 89A from the Arizona Department of Transportation have now gone to Yavapai County for verification.
After originally collecting 1,295 signatures for the referendum petition, a city tally verified 1,170 signatures for the petition, said former City Councilwoman Sheri Graham, chairwoman for the Let the People Vote on 89A organization. Those signatures have since been forwarded to the county level for verification.
The group formed after City Council voted 4-3 vote to take ownership of roughly five miles of State Route 89A from ADOT. The grassroots committee seeks a referendum on the decision and hopes to hold a special election on the matter as early as November.
“Our petitions have been turned over by the city to the county recorder’s office, so now they’re in that second stage of verification,” Graham said. “The city came back with a number that they certified as 1,170, and that’s to be expected. We turned in all of the petitions with everybody’s signatures because we felt that everybody needed to be counted. Any time you’re gathering signatures on petitions there are always errors.”
Meanwhile, funds from ADOT for ownership of State Route 89A, expected Monday, April 11, were not transferred to the city at the expected time, according to Sedona Mayor Rob Adams.
“Regarding the referendum, if ADOT does not deliver the $10,500,000 by June 30, then basically the agreement is null and void. At that point I would question what would be accomplished by the referendum,” Adams said. “There would be no reason for it, so that needs to be thought about.”
The group is also working on a petition for a special initiative that Graham said “will force a second special ballot issue” in the city of Sedona.
“The initiative is to call for a law that will state that, before any City Council begins contractual negotiations for any state highway within our boundaries, the citizens would have a vote first,” Graham said. “There would have to be a well thought-out plan, clear financing, a clear and precise explanation of what any kind of ownership of a state highway would entail, so that the citizens can enter into their constitutional right of having a say, having a voice.”
On March 31, the group sent a letter to ADOT Director John Halikowski making ADOT aware of the petition for the referendum.
“We have not heard back,” Graham said. “The letter was basically stating the reasoning for the referendum and the initiative.”
Graham also recently met with Adams to speak about the ADOT letter.
The goal for the group, Graham said, is to force a special election for a referendum and initiative to stop the State Route 89A route transfer. According to a March 28 press release, organizers said the petitions will “cause a new law prohibiting any City Council from ever negotiating with ADOT for ownership of any state route highway within the city of Sedona limits prior to a vote of the people.”
Adams said he was concerned about the initiative, due to the fact it could tie the city’s hands when it comes to negotiating a contract with ADOT or another entity in the future. A forced turnback, for instance, could be hamstrung by the initiative, as it would not allow council members to negotiate a better deal.
“We wouldn’t be allowed to discuss it with them. Essentially they could say we’re going to force a turnback, and we wouldn’t be able to have a discussion as to whether there would be any remunerations, any benefits to the city or anything. I think with both the referendum and the initiative, the unintended consequences of both of these is something that needs to be considered,” Adams said. “The unintended consequence of the referendum could be a forced turnback.”
