Abuse of the Recall Process – The Arizonans For Promoting Integrity Board

The recall process allows citizens to remove an elected official from office before that person’s term ends.  This process should be reserved for incompetent or corrupt officials.(1)  Here in Prescott, however, the recall process is akin to watching 8-year-olds in a school cafeteria.  For no discernable reason, a playmate is suddenly ostracized from the group, subjected to mocking laughter, rolling eyes, and chants of, “Go away!  We don’t like you!”  The amorphous recall claims against Mayor Goode are reminiscent of such a childhood scene.

The recall committee filed a petition against Mayor Goode the day before he was sworn into office for his second term.  This was a mayor who ran unopposed for the office and received 97.10% of the vote.  Moreover, some of the mayor’s first term accomplishments include: (1) established a new water management policy with a designated water budget, (2) completed avigation easements with Deep Well Ranch developers to protect the airport from noise complaints (3) dedicated the first affordable housing complex for teachers, firefighters, and police officers (4) worked to create the Glassford Dells Regional Park, and (5) brokered an agreement between Blue Cross Blue Shield and Dignity Health to restore in-network acute care services.

Given these accomplishments, let’s review the “high crimes, misdemeanors, and malfeasance” for which Stan Goligoski and the rest of the recall committee claim newly elected Mayor Phil Goode must be removed from office:

• Breach of the City Charter

The official statement to recall Mayor Goode claims the mayor breached the city charter.  Prescott councilman Eric Moore’s formal complaint filed with the city attorney on October 31, 2023, serves as evidence for these violations.  Mr. Moore’s letter is primarily based upon what he “later learned” of a “private meeting” between the mayor and city manager, Katie Gregory, over the firing of airport director, Dr. Robin Sobotta.(2)  Mr. Moore stated the mayor violated the city charter and state statute when he asked the city manager to resign after she fired the airport director.  Mr. Moore also made a determination the mayor’s behavior amounted to malfeasance, and a Class 4 felony and Class 2 misdemeanor.(3)

To date, there has been no legal finding of fact Mayor Goode violated the city charter by merely asking for Ms. Gregory’s resignation.  Nor has there been a determination that asking for such a resignation constituted harassment or discrimination.(4)  Finally, no investigation concluded the mayor assumed, usurped, or interfered with the city manager’s duties/decision to fire Dr. Sobotta.  (In fact, the city manager had already fired the airport director, and her decision stands.)

• Lack of Transparency

Another claim made by the recall committee is the lack of transparency under Mayor Goode, specifically, the number of executive sessions held during council meetings.  An executive session is a part of a city council meeting (or open meeting) where the public is excluded.(5)  Some of the legal reasons to permit executive sessions at the local/city level include: sale or lease of property, public safety, personnel matters, and contract negotiations.  Each municipality’s attorney is responsible to advise the council on the matter(s) under consideration so the body does not violate the open meeting law.  Executive sessions under this and the previous administration often dealt with contractual obligations (AZ Eco Development, Deep Well Ranch annexation), property sale or land acquisitions (sale of old City Hall, land surrounding the airport), and employment (hiring of the city manager).(6)

In his first term in office, Mayor Goode held 51 executive sessions.  The previous mayor, Greg Mengarelli, in his last term in office, held a total of 47 executive sessions.(7)  Interestingly, although both mayors held basically the same number of executive sessions over two years, the lack of transparency claim has only now surfaced and is a basis for Mayor Goode’s recall.

• Hostile Work Environment/Poor Employee Morale

The recall committee also claims Mayor Goode created a hostile and toxic work environment.  The mayor’s disagreement with a single employee, the city manager, has now morphed into claims that all city staff morale is at an all-time low.  In fact, recall committee members Stan Goligoski, Greg Raskin, and Rebecca Ruffner declare the mayor is “wrecking havoc on city staff,” “staff is in fear,” and “staff is running for the hills.”(8)

Given such claims, one would think there would be a high turnover rate among such disgruntled and disrespected Prescott employees.  To the contrary, the City of Prescott’s turnover rate for 2023 is 15.65%.  (This number is somewhat skewed as it includes retirements and voluntary resignations as well.)(9)  It is important to note, Prescott’s turnover rate is below the 18% national rate for government workers.(10)

• Multitude of Unnecessary Lawsuits

Lastly, the recall committee claims Mayor Goode will be responsible for “impending” multi-million-dollar lawsuits because he singularly failed to adhere to Prescott’s contractual obligations.(11)  As he seeks to unseat Mayor Goode in this recall effort, Mr. Goligoski, in particular, refers to several of these lawsuits during interviews.(12)

-$15.3 M Allocation to Prescott Frontier Days

The Prescott Frontier Days (sponsor of the rodeo) a private entity, received a $15.3 million dollar appropriation directly from the State Legislature during the 2023 budget process.(13)  With the help of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, two Prescott residents filed a lawsuit claiming this state appropriation is a violation of the Arizona Constitution’s Appropriations and Gift clause.

Mr. Goligoski erroneously believes the city itself is spending tax dollars to “defend our right to receive the grant funds.”(14)  Yet he claims this is one of the reasons to recall the mayor.

-Airport Vicinity Overlay

Simply put, the airport vicinity overlay (AVO) is the protected area surrounding an airport designed to safeguard the residential homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, etc. which already exist (or will exist into the future as a municipality grows).(15)  Here in Prescott, the Airport Specific Area Plan and the 2010 Master Plan brought the AVO into existence.  The 2015 Prescott General Plan (approved by the voters) codified the AVO.

Mr. Goligoski repeatedly states Mayor Goode’s “support” for the AVO is a reason to remove him from office.(16)  He fails to understand — since Prescott received millions of dollars in Federal Aviation Administration grants — the city is obligated to protect the airport as a condition of already accepting the federal money.  Furthermore, during the 2017 Deep Well annexation negotiations, the previous council under Mayor Mengarelli exempted that developer from the AVO.  (Therefore, the groundwork for “impending” litigation over the AVO existed before Mayor Goode came into office as either a councilman or mayor.)

In conclusion, a recall without the results of the investigation(s) is at best premature. At worst, it leads to speculation and innuendo and is an abuse of the recall process. Led by well-financed special interest groups, it gives a small number of people undue influence over the political process and threatens the democratic process. If the recall petition gains the required number of signatures, before we commit to spending $80,000 for a recall election the City needs to be transparent about the investigation results and increase public awareness of the issues supposedly driving the reason for a recall. Then the public can decide, based on facts, whether a newly-elected mayor should be removed, instead of waiting for the election process to take its course in two years..

REFERENCES

1. 1. 1. https://www.ncsl.org
      2. https://prescottazportal.civicclerk.com/event/1403files/2552
      3. Councilman Moore is not an attorney. Rather, he owns “The Lookout,” a retail store specializing in birding equipment, and Hallmark cards and gifts.
      4. Councilman Moore himself described the mayor as “very upset” when they spoke about Dr. Sobotta’s firing.  He did not describe the mayor as out-of-control, angry, outraged, or infuriated.    Yet — while not even present during the meeting between Mayor Goode and Katie Gregory — the councilman states the mayor used bullying or intimidating behavior when he asked the city manager to resign that day.
      5. Arizona Statute 38-431.03 dictates the strict guidelines for executive sessions.
      6. prescottaz.portal.civicclerk.com
      7. prescottaz.portal.civicclerk.com
      8. KYCA Radio a.m. Talks Wednesday, November 29, 2023
      9. City of Prescott Human Resources Dept. turnover rate, Jan.-Nov 2023
      10. https://www.zippia.com/advice/employee-turnover-statistics/#Employee_Turnover_Statistics_by_Industry
      11. The recall website has been revised three times since its launch to change reasons to remove the mayor from office.  This includes the removal of any reference to the impending lawsuit with AZ Eco Development which the recall committee talked about in their initial interviews.
      12. KYCA Radio a.m. Talks Wednesday November 29, 2023; https://www.dcourier.com/news/2023/nov/27/group-files-recall-seeking-oust-prescott-mayor-phi/
      13. LD-1 State Representatives Quang Nguyen and Selena Bliss, with the help of a lobbyist, brokered this deal in “closed door” meetings.  Mayor Phil Goode and the rest of Prescott City Council were never involved in these discussions.
      14. https://www.dcourier.com/news/2023/nov/27/group-files-recall-seeking-oust-prescott-mayor-phi/
      15. Per FAA guidelines these are known as noise contours and airport impact (crash) zones
      16. KYCA Radio a.m. Talks Wednesday, November 29, 2023