From Left to Right Mayor Wilson, Councilman Bob Roecker and Bob Luzius.

"We'll move on to Agenda Item E, 'Adoption of Resolution No 3888-0856 - A resolution of the Mayor and Council of the City of Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona, authorizing hte official development of a Sister City relationship with the city of Suchitoto, El Salvador," and with those words, the City of Prescott Mayor Jack Wilson opened up the discussion on whether or not Suchitoto, El Salvador would be the newest Sister City.

But, Wilson had more to say, "Last week, my major objection to the Suchitoto Sister City relationship was the lack of a private sector support organization for the relationship. I feel strongly that this needs to be a private sector driven, not a public sector driven group. Since that meeting, such a group, has in fact, been formed and I will be voting in favor of this resolution."

Wilson went on to read an email that had been sent to him by Mr. Melendez. (Read the story, Mayor Wilson Calls Mr. Melendez .)

"During my conversation with Mr. Melendez," Wilson continued, "I mentioned that his letter of December 3, 2007, never was received by me, and perhaps this was because it was misaddressed to 222 S. Marina. After I talked to Mr. Melendez, I called the former Mayor, Rowle Simmons, and updated him on my conversation with Mr. Melendez. I also mentioned that Mr. Melendez's December 3rd letter was misaddressed and never received by me. Later in our discussion I will be offering an amendment to this resolution that will facilitate completion of the support organization. But, now I would like Councilman Bob Roecker to update the Council and public on the Prescott Suchitoto group that has been formed as of last Wednesday."

Councilmen Comments

Councilman Roecker took his microphone and said, "Thank you very much. After last Tuesday's contentious [City Council] meeting, we had a meeting on Wednesday. We had a turnout just short of - I was counting heads there - just short of 40 people at that particular meeting. And we appointed a chairman, who is myself, Sharon Bell, agreed to be our scribe, and/or secretary or whatever the official term is, and a gentleman named Bret Matthews, who is sitting out here, agreed to be our treasurer. At that evening, we received about eight or nine checks, right there on the spot, from people joining the Suchitoto organization, and since then I believe we're up to 22 members now, that have actually submitted checks, which is very good news. At that meeting, it was run by Elisabeth Ruffner, and Enrique Melendez, to begin the meeting, they got it organized and got it going, we made a few comments, Mr. Greninger was there, and he generously offered to look into how we could get under the Sister City umbrella that's already established under the City of Prescott, and all of this is good news. So we left there Wednesday evening, with good feelings that we got this thing rolling, and here we are today. I'm happy to hear that Mr. Melendez is going to meet with the mayor and get this situation set up. And I know that Dr. Fisher is in the audience, and there's some more good news, that I'm hoping that when we have public comments, because there was a meeting with himself and Ambassador Melendez. So, there's all kinds of good things happening and I think we're on the right road now, and ready to go."

Councilman Bob Bell asked to speak, "Thank you Mayor, I would just like to publicly thank the mayor for stepping up and backing this proposition also. Thank you."

Wilson nodded cordially, "You're welcome. Any other comments from council?"

Both Councilman Jim Lamerson and Bob Luzius had something they wanted to say. After a certain amount of back and forth as to who would speak first, Lamerson said, "I was going to acknowledge the mayor for acknowledging the fact that this is in the best interest of the Cities of Prescott and Suchitoto. Along with Councilman Bell's acknowledgement, I think it's appropriate to say, 'Thank you, Jack.'"

Councilman Luzius brought an abrupt change to the friendly atmosphere amongst the other council members when he made this statement, sounding angrier with every word, "Thank you Mayor, and thank you Mayor again for Mr. Lamerson's thank you. I'd just like to say that I had a, believe it or not, that I had a call from Rick Melendez on Friday. I wasn't in, he left a message, I called him back, and his message to me was that he wanted to apologize to me. I said, 'For what?' He said because, he had reviewed the tape of the meeting, several times, and even though I was being accused of being a nitpicker and the definition of what is 'is' is, and our own daily newspaper from the great white hunter of the east, wrote an article in the paper, saying that I was against the Suchitoto Sister Cities. I have never been against that. And I just wanted to go on record to say, we've got a newspaper here, you talk about nitpicking, they pick things up, they've got me saying that I was in agreement with the mayor, and I never once agreed with what the mayor said. I will continue to - I've asked questions, and I will continue to ask ask questions when any item comes up in front of this council. Because I think it's my privilege as an elected official, it's also my duty as an elected official to ask the necessary questions. And I approve of the Suchitoto Sister City arrangement, I approve of El Salvador, I am a great fan of Mr. Melendez. However, I assured Mr. Roecker I would not vote against this proposition. However, I will not be goaded into voting for it, so I am going to abstain and I understand that according to the charter, my abstanation will be counted as a 'yes' vote. But I don't want anyone to think that they're forcing me and goading me and coercing me into voting yes."

Wilson said non-committedly, "Thank you Bob. Any additional comment from the council? Citizen comment?"

"It's a Friendly Town"

Councilman Luzius abstained from the vote.

At that point, Rowle Simmons came to the podium, and ignoring Luzius' outburst, said, "I would like to get on the bandwagon and thank the mayor, for not only the courtesy phone call, but for coming forth on this, and I appreciate it and I'm glad that it's in the positive nature. I publicly want to thank you."

Dr. Will Fisher, the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Yavapai College, spoke, "In the past, the sister city organization has been supportive of cultural exchange with the sister city of Caborca, to allow a college choir from Yavapai College to go down and do a performance, and at this point it looks like the newly formed Suchitoto organization is also - we're in process of discussing the possibility of the College Choir going to Suchitoto to act as an informal cultural exchange. So, that's in process."

Another business man from Prescott spoke, "I just would like to comment that I've known Rick Melendez for at least a dozen years, and he's a gentleman, and he's an honorary person and he really is out there promoting one of the greatest democracies in South America and it is the greatest democracy in South America. A lot of countries in South America are not democracies. It's a wonderful relationship to get in, and I'd like to thank Mayor and city council."

Robert Greninger got up to speak on behalf of the Caborca Sister City organization, "I'm the vice president of the Arizona Sister Cities state chapter. Following last weeks' council meeting and attendance at Wednesday's organizational meeting, of the Suchitoto group, we coincidentally had our annual meeting of the Sister City Association of Prescott, the Prescott Caborca group, last Thursday. And I'm here to reaffirm the support of that organization for the about-to-be formed, or about to be officially sanctioned, Suchitoto organization, by the City of Prescott. With that in mind, I want to share with you that both the outgoing president and the newly elected president, Bev Houston, of the Prescott Caborca group have authorized me to invite all members of the Suchitoto committee to the welcoming session of the state meeting this Friday night at Sharlot Hall museum. And to extend an invitation to the Board members of the Suchitoto group to be our guests at the state conference on Saturday."

Wilson said, "Thank you for your support Bob."

Lamerson again spoke up, "I would like to first thank Mr. Greninger for your leadership, and too, Miss Elisabeth Ruffner, for her stewardship. It reminds you of the way Prescott was when I moved here 27 years ago, 28 years ago, it's a friendly town..."

At that point, Wilson chose to make the motion himself, which would approve the new Sister City. However, he offered an amended version, "I'd like to move to approve Resolution Number 3888-0856 with the following amendment: The City staff, including legal staff, are authorized, with the approval of the City Manager, to provide any and all necessary assistance to the Sister City Association, to provide for and support the inclusion of the Suchitoto, El Salvador within the Sister City Association framework."

Councilman Bell seconded the motion, and everyone voted in the affirmative, with the exception of Councilman Luzius, who followed through on his promise to abstain.

When asked, Gary Kidd, Prescott City Attorney, confirmed, "Under the charter, Mr. Luzius is correct, that counts as an affirmative vote."

Later, Kidd explained that the new language inserted by Mayor Wilson, was something that the two of them had worked on, and it allowed the City to give free legal assistance to the Sister City groups as they organize and prepare the necessary documentation for the non-profit status. Kidd said that this can help these groups save several hundreds of dollars as they get everything settled.

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