At the Crossroads – Buz Blog

“Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” – Thomas Edison

I met last week with Brooks Compton who is running for Yavapai County Supervisor in District 1. He had some very enlightening things to say about his past experiences, his vision for the future of our area and the importance of Regional Master Planning to attain that vision.

Brooks Compton is a semi-retired businessman and engineer by trade. He also holds several automotive engineering patents. After researching the Supervisor’s position and communicating with retiring District 1 Supervisor Harry Oberg, Brooks came to the conclusion that the Supervisor position is a full time job requiring at least 50 to 60 hours a week to meet the needs of the constituents.

Brooks explained that he grew up in Clark County, Nevada. At the time of his birth, Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, had a total permanent population of around 200,000, which is less than Yavapai County today. Brooks lived through the unprecedented population explosion of Clark County to 2.3 million. Brooks witnessed what happened with such expansive unplanned growth and he doesn’t want to see that happen in Yavapai County. He knows that our county will grow, but he thinks that growth has to be controlled and carefully planned. Brooks said, “I am witnessing the same mistakes here in Yavapai County today that I lived through in Clark County.”

Brooks stated that he appreciates the hard work of organizations such as the “CYMPO” (Central Yavapai Metropolitan Planning Organization), but suggests a broader scope. He put forth a more inclusive solution by suggesting a renaming of the committee. He would suggest naming it Yavapai County Master Planning Organization.

Brooks’ proposal would encompass how to control growth so that the county can manage traffic, water, the use of public property and the economic effects of that growth. He wants to continue the trend to make Yavapai a destination and an attraction for tourism. He pointed out that the cities like Prescott make their money in sales taxes, therefore, the more visitors and tourists we have paying sales taxes, the more money our cities will have for police, firefighters and infrastructure.

When asked about his opponents in the District 1 Supervisor race, Brooks questioned whether either one could devote the time necessary to adequately represent the people of such a large district and county. Former Prescott Mayor Greg Mengarelli is the Business Development Manager for Prescott Frontier Days (PFD). This would appear to be a full time job in itself, so unless he resigns that position, how much time could Mengarelli give to the supervisor’s job? Is there a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict between the two jobs? Could PFD Business Manager Mengarelli solicit money and/or favorable business deals from builders and contractors for the city-owned Rodeo grounds on one day and not have a conflict if these same builders and contractors came before the Board of Supervisors in doing business with Yavapai County?

In addition, an expose last Sunday in Prescott eNews titled “Another Look Behind the Curtain – the Rodeo and the Recall“, by Deb Thalasitis, Mary Beth Hrin, and Toni Denis, brings into question Greg Mengarelli’s fiscal talents since the PFD has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars since he has become their business manager.

This article also implied a symbiotic relationship between the PFD and the attempted recall of Mayor Phil Goode with the hope to replace him with Stan Goligoski. The recall movement has now hired paid petition circulators. The inference of this recall is that the only way to “save the rodeo” is to recall Mayor Goode. Another view would be that with Stan Goligoski as Prescott Mayor and Greg Mengarelli as a County Supervisor, it would be a lot easier to expand the Rodeo grounds far beyond what the majority of the citizens want, (everyone loves the Rodeo and no one wants it move or leave its current location). Such a political alliance would seem to suggest that these two political allies would also open up an unrestricted building development of our rural area. Isn’t this a replay of the Goode/Mengarelli mayoral race? Didn’t the voters of Prescott overwhelmingly choose Phil Goode’s controlled growth policies over Greg Mengarelli’s open growth policies?

Deborah Pernice is an attorney licensed in California with a law office in Orange County, California. A legitimate inquiry is how much time could she commit to the Supervisor’s job with a business, clients and cases in California?

Just last week, a new candidate, David McNabb, announced that he was running for the Supervisor seat in District 1. From his announcement, McNabb looks like a devoted, honest, Christian, family man, which are good qualities for any politician to have, but it is hard to tell how his experience as a biblical scholar and educator could translate into an effective County Supervisor.

I can only suggest that every voter has an obligation to study the candidates, their materials and to attend as many candidate forums as possible before casting a vote.