A Broader Look at the Local Election(s) – Bill Williams

Photo: Prescott Valley as seen from Prescott

Who can name some of the upsets in neighboring communities that happened on election day? I will name some in a moment. County residents are guilty of living in silos. People in Cottonwood tell me they see Prescott/Prescott Valley as an all-day investment in travel for not much gain. And we fail to go there to realize it is quickly taking over the Arizona wine industry. People from New River think Prescott and Prescott Valley are one and the same. Prescottonians don’t go to Prescott Valley. And few if any of us reach out to Williamson Valley or Chino or Paulden for ideas on politics or water. None of this makes anyone silly; it is simply one’s perception is one’s reality.

Right after I posted Save the PV Pronghorn Antelope (my non-profit on Facebook), two men from Paulden/Chino texted me “Hey Bill, don’t you realize our antelope walk down and hang out with your Antelope?” And then Prescott Valley (PV) planner Roxanne, who will be working on wildlife corridors or habitats for our town government, shared a connectivity map showing how incredibly connected our four-legged creatures are (county wide). I wish it included humans.

My first two articles about how much water we have (back in 2018) were not about PV … they analyzed how much we have in the county. My next article on water was about a 100 year long lawsuit for water rights along the Verde, over by Cottonwood. The hearings are still happening in the county court in Camp Verde. Yes, we have a beautiful modern courthouse in Verde and from my view it always defeated the idea of needing a second jail (the second jail need was based on the Sheriff whining about the long prisoner transport from the Verde jail to the courthouse in Prescott). And by the way, did you know that you now own 3 jails? You might see a tax on an upcoming election because the county leaders keep underestimating the costs of the third jail. They actually cut the ribbon on that one with no salary money for the jail staff. Can you name the street the newer jail is on? Didn’t think so.

We’re all in this together, folks. Clarkdale residents get the same county services and sheriff protections as PV does and stick their straw in our water. Their molecules of water simply took a left turn when they slammed into Mingus Mountain instead of taking a right turn and heading our way from the same underground source. With three local aquifers, it’s either serendipitous or God’s plan, that we presently have water.

My investigative journey in this county began when employees started leaking me documents out of the Fair Street building in 2010 showing corruption and graft and greed… (some articles are on Western News Service on Facebook including my expose on how we lost our horse racetrack and the ripple effects on all of us.

I’m no Pulitzer winner, I just look around and pay attention and people bring me things; ideas and documents. (I use Facebook because 3 of my dot com journalism sites were hacked, logons destroyed).
More recently, employees leaked documents showing notorious councilwoman Billie Orr was trying to annex PV and County land which is now part of the Dells Park agreement – without any permission from her mayor or fellow council members. My article helped usher her out of Prescott. Although the news release said her husband was starving for oxygen in the extremely high altitude of Prescott, so they had to move.

Please look around. And drive around. On the campaign trail I met Prescott Country Club (PCC) residents who have never been to the Jasper community. And Coyote Springs residents who never heard of Stoneridge or the gravel pit. And Granville residents who think PCC is in Prescott. And many who had never heard of Superstition Hills (which has historic signs on its street signs on PV’s east side.) And many who thought Citizens Alliance was the only activist group when in fact we had 5.

Sandy Griffis, Chair of Planning and Zoning (and the Executive Director of the Yavapai County Contractors Association) and I spoke the other day; she actually called to congratulate me just days after she shut off my microphone and told me to sit down, as the mayor often did to me. She wrote an incredible opinion editorial article for the paper that few have probably read, about what she saw as the nastiest, most vile and vitriolic election in PV history. I told her I didn’t know she had an outstanding writing skill; we laughed and remembered a dream we both agreed to about a vision for a wildlife habitat. We can work together now.

This past election showed an earthquake few paid attention to. This according to numbers I last checked at 1 in the morning; so do check my accuracy… if our County Elections mopes will ever get their acts together and give us a final count. They don’t realize it’s starting to look like bad numbers in the 2020 national election or the Bush v. Gore hanging chads settled by SCOTUS. You do know about their unprofessional mistakes, right?…. sending multiple ballots last February-March for the presidential preference vote to several individual registered local voters interested in Biden or Trump being on the ballot, and then a week later watching their hired consultant sending out test ballots for the next vote which contained misspelled candidates’ names. Yikes. And they want our confidence as they count our final council tally?

But I digress. Let’s look at the aftershocks. There is a spirit of rebellion afoot in Yavapai County, said a wise man from Prescott. Last August, at our town council microphone I called it “an undercurrent of discontent,” and the mayor and Council and lawyer and town manager rolled their eyes. “That’s just Bill,” they said.

But look at this… Finchem’s defeat of Ken Bennett, Brooks Compton’s defeat of Mengarelli, Chris Kuknyo’s defeat of power-wielding County Supervisor Chair/CYMPO chair Craig Brown, (which will have an effect on those newly hired to CYMPO), Fenn’s defeat of John Hughes for Mayor of Dewey-Humbolt, and the Town Council result in Prescott Valley all portend change, says the wise man.

I’m giving an assignment to the new PV council members…. attend a CYMPO meeting and tell me the names of every member on the dais and tell me where they are from! When I approached their microphone and told them not to build the Sundog Connector, it was a joyous feeling to watch that roadway go down to defeat. It was always an ADOT problem, not a $151 million problem for the rest of us. And if any of you ‘all were paying attention you can tell me you saw the ADOT news release; they will begin to widen highway 69. (in specific problematic areas).

There is an old management theory called “Management by Walking Around.” Get in your damn cars. Go have a coffee with a local at the Big Country Market in Paulden; ask them what’s on their minds. Are they aware of the water pipe from Paulden to Prescott? Ask them who the mayor of PV is. Keep an eye out, people, pay attention, please be in touch with your surroundings, our four-legged creatures and elections that have consequences on brothers and sisters in this county, even if they live 70 miles away.

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Bill Williams earned a Master’s degree in journalism and is a newly elected councilman in Prescott Valley.