The Prescott City Council had some new faces to assimilate last fall after the election, Mayor Jack Wilson and Councilwoman Lora Lopas. Of course, Councilwoman Mary Ann Suttles and Councilman Jim Lamerson were re-elected, and Councilmen Bob Roecker, Bob Bell and Bob Luzius were in the middle of their terms. This left a mix of old and new ideas, directions and personalities.

Observing interactions during City Council meetings, sometimes it seems as if this new council hasn't found a unified voice. They frequently bicker, and often it seems as if items being introduced or discussed are a surprise to some of the other councilmembers - as if there's little communication amongst the group of seven. Of course, communicating between themselves has to be done carefully, due to Open Meeting laws, which makes the whole thing tricky.

Prescott eNews sat down with Councilman Lamerson to get his perspective of how it's going. Do they really get along better than it seems? Do they even like or respect each other?

Councilman Lamerson replied honestly, "Like has nothing to do with the job. It's not relevant. Respect has nothing to do with it. It's not relevant, we're there functioning."

But, are they functioning well? "I don't think it's functioning the same as it was," Lamerson said truthfully. "I think there's communication on the floor if somebody wants to hear what's being said. I don't think there's a whole lot of communication outside the chambers."

Of Septic Tanks and Sewers

The question about septic tanks and sewer hookups is one that this council in particular has grappled with for many hours since January. [See: Sewers or Septics? How Much and Who Pays? ] Lamerson, who has openly struggled with the proposals offered as solutions, spoke about the issue, saying, "I see this issue differently, apparently, than some of my counterparts on the council. I listened very hard to hear what my city staff was saying at these meetings. If I'm not mistaken, (and I'm not above making a mistake, I have never taken the position that I'm above making a mistake). But I think I heard our Public Works Director and Deputy City Manager sit there and say that we have not been able to ascertain the source of pollutants in the lake, we have not been able to demonstrate a wide range of septic problems throughout the community, we have not been able to ascertain which septic tanks in the community are failing, we do not know how many septic tanks in the community are failing, we don't know if there's a big number or small number, whether there's a huge problem or not."

Lamerson continued, "Evidently there's a problem of some sort, we just don't know the magnitude of the problem, the source of the problem, and with that, I guess the easiest way to try to address the problem is to say, 'Ok, we don't know how to fix that problem, so let's make everybody change.' I have a problem with that, because everybody may not have that problem. And in doing that, what you're doing is telling those people that don't have the problem, we're going to take your private property and make it something different than what it is. Especially if they're not being compensated for the private property we're taking."

Not only are they not going to be compensated, they're going to be charged for it, if one of the three offered proposals is adopted. "That is yet to be determined," Lamerson said. "I don't think there's anybody who has come up with... how we're going to finalize the solution. And I know that we have made all kinds of overtures as to what one person thinks or this person thinks or whatever the case is, and nobody's come up with a solution that makes most people happy."

After a very vociferous public comment session, Mayor Wilson suggested a Mayor's Advisory Task Force to look into some of the issues that haven't been fully explored, such as alternative options to sewer hookups, and what the scope of the problem and the need is. But, will a Task Force work?

"I don't know," Lamerson replied. "I would like to know what the value is going to be to the wide range of tax payers that may also have to pay for the next however many years to pay off the indebtedness. Whether it's the indebtedness by bond, or whatever the case is going to be, if we're not going to charge the septic tank owners to pay the whole bill, what is going to be the benefit to the taxpayers and can we show them or demonstrate to them what their benefit is? I mean, what's in it for them to pay $3 or $5 a month for the next however long it's going to take to pay for this? We've already heard from public works that we're not going to clean the lakes, we're not going to clean the creeks, what are we going to do? I'd like to know what we're going to do."

Will the Task Force come up with any solutions? Lamerson shrugged. "Hopefully they'll come up with some legitimate suggestions - maybe the issue isn't going into public sewer, maybe the issue is going into alternative septic tanks for those that are damaged, maybe the issue is identifying those that have been damaged all along and what we've done is turned our head to identifying what the problem is. Instead its 'Well, since we can't do that, lets say everybody is the problem.' I don't know but I don't think that's the right approach. And that's been my problem, that's one of the reasons why I'm not real happy with the idea of going out and bonding. Why do we borrow money when we don't know what the solution is? Why would you borrow money and put it in your budget when you don't know what it's for? This makes no sense. So, that's where I'm at right now, because there's no finality to it."

What about those Capital Needs?

Another item that's been discussed a lot lately is the recommendations from the Prescott Capital Needs Committee. With several projects on the list, one of the recommendations was to cluster the public safety items. Lamerson had indicated that as far as the recommendation was currently presented, he didn't think he could support it. The response was mixed amongst the other councilmembers.

"No, I'm not in favor of clustering, I'm not in favor of a lot of things with this whole process," Lamerson said. "I think that during economic times like we're in during right now, people are very concerned over how they're going to pay for their gasoline to get to and from work, how they're going to keep their income levels where they need to be to pay their mortgages and put food on the table and keep their jobs and things like this. It's pretty hard to go forward and suggest we borrow money on their behalf for things that they may not need. And there's a lot of things included on there that may not be needs, they may be nice to have, but they're not absolute needs."

Lamerson continued reflecting, "If they were absolute needs, we may not have gone this far in life without them, but we have. We haven't seen people dying without them, we've seen people maybe inconvenienced without a swimming pool, or inconvenienced without hiking trails, or inconvenienced without a park or public restrooms for the hikers in a fire station, which is beyond me why you would build a public bathroom in a fire station for hikers, and to take something to that level that started out as a two bay fire station with a round the clock fire crew to maintain public safety, to include all of these amenities, and then take it to an $8-9-10 million dollar project, I'm not so sure all of that's a need. It may be things that are nice to have, but not necessarily critical to safety and life."

Lamerson wondered aloud about other options that might be out there, "One of the things I don't understand fully either, is I think we own the other fire station. I don't know why we haven't discussed retrofitting that other fire station. Why haven't we looked at, 'well it may not be here on this busy corner, but is over there on 6th Street and it has served as a fire station, what's wrong with saying why can't we bring that one up to date?' Maybe its a bigger site, maybe there's things that can be done to make it a better site. And we do have one on top of Montezuma there that may be that there are things that can be done to make that a more productive site. I don't know, I'm not an expert in that field, I try to pay attention to the experts."

But, Lamerson also expressed his support for city staff, "I'm not going to second guess my fire chief or my experts. I am concerned with making sure we're providing the service that's necessary."

"I try hard to look at these things as objectively as I can, and maybe I'm wrong," he admitted, "but it seems to me that we've lived without the park and the hiking trails and the public bathrooms and all this stuff, located in a fire station for all these years - it doesn't seem like somebody's going to die tomorrow because we don't have it. And at this time in history, do we really need to go borrow $8 million to do this, and I don't think we do."

Lamerson addressed the idea of extending the sales tax, "I think that, to be very candid with you, I think that I agree that the tax should be left in it's present form until the year 2015, and then in the year 2015, if somebody chooses or wants to address the Open Space issue, there should be an initiative at that time. I think that we need to fix these roads, we need to maintain these roads. The roads put people in harm's way. That's just the way it is. I'm not so sure the lack of Open Space in the middle of all this federal government land and State government land and Bureau of Land Management land, and city land and school land, and all kinds of land, that we need to spend a lot of money on Open Space."

The budget presented by the City staff concerns Lamerson, "Here again, it is my sense that we've included things in the budget that I just don't support. I don't support, for example, taking the flexibility from the council, the ability to know that $6 million has been designated for Open Space... What I'm trying to get across, is that as a Council we're going to set aside $3 million in an account, that if you can't take the money out of the account, and if you do, you're borrowing it, and so you've got to put it back with interest. Well, if you put the money in a rainy day fund, or the general fund, that leaves the council with flexibility to fix the road if the road falls apart, or fix the sewer if the sewer falls apart. If some travesty happens, you're not boxed. What you're doing is boxing the council in, you're taking the liberty away from the council to function as a leader. That's what you're doing and that's where I have a problem."

Regarding the City Employees and Management

Agreeing that it's been a long six and a half, seven months, Lamerson was asked if it's going to get better. Lamerson replied, "A lot of that depends on Jack, I don't know how else to say that. If Jack wants to work by himself, no. If Jack wants to work with one councilman, no. If he wants to alienate the rest of the council, no. If he wants to work as a council, yeah, it'll get better."

On reflection, Lamerson backed up a little, saying of Jack's style, "I don't know that it's alienating. I don't know Jack that well. He strikes me as a guy that's used to doing things his way."

Lamerson has a lot of respect and concern for the City employees. "I guess the thing that concerns me the most is the fact that this community has invested a lot of money and a lot of energy in building a very qualified and very talented staff. We have a very good staff. And at what level do you want to compromise and throw your staff under the bus? What level do you start to overtax and over burden your staff in order to make political brownie points? This isn't all about Jack or all about Jim or all about Bob or whatever the case is. That's not what this is about, This is about what do we do that's in the best interests of this community? That's what this is about. So, that concerns me a lot, when you see the smiles change."

He spoke of the unintended consequences that policies and decisions can have, "They're all trying to protect their job, because they need their job. At the end of the day, whether we're reelected or unelected, we all walk away from this. They're stuck with the mess. That's my concern. At the end of the battle, the body bags are filled with little people, not the generals. And see, that's my concern. And it's heartfelt."

"What about the extra committees? It's a heavy duty demand on the staff's time, on their resources, their ability to perform," Lamerson pointed out. "Imagine yourself - right now you have 13 children, imagine yourself with 26. And three husbands. You get my point."

Lamerson knows how important the staff is to the City. "Part of my role is to... ensure their ability to do their job and to protect the integrity of their job, the sanctity of their job, make sure that somebody doesn't stick their nose so far up their job that they can't do their job. I don't know how to put that politely but you understand what I'm saying."

When asked if in the long run, his biggest concern is the city of Prescott, Lamerson nodded and smiled. "I didn't run for my job because I need it for my ego, I can fill my ego here all day long and I get paid for this. I get paid real money. I'm really concerned that our folk's ability to do their job is being compromised out of fear and trepidation. I mean, you can't have people afraid to do what they need to do. You can't have somebody that's doing their job that's afraid to do their job. They've got to be in a position not to be fearful. I see some of that, and it bothers me."

"I think that with the economy across this country, with the demand for high-performing executives, it would not surprise me to see headhunters out looking for people. That bothers me. It bothers me a lot to know that you would have talent scouts out there and we would be encouraging it through ineffective management."

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Good job.
written by Adam R., July 10, 2008

I liked this article.

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