Sedona, AZ — Moss never grew beneath the feet of Sedona mayoral candidate Brian Fultz, having lived in so many places. But when he touched down in Sedona, he knew he was finally home.
“I grew up in Indiana and have lived in Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Japan,” Brian said. “I have lived the longest in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, which is where my wife, Amy, and I moved from before arriving to Sedona.
“I brought my family to Sedona in 2004 for Spring Break. The weather was terrible the whole time with rain, sleet, and snow. We experienced hail and lightning at the Grand Canyon. But driving down Cook’s Hill at the end of the week while it was drizzling and the clouds were down low in the red rocks, I looked at Amy and said, ‘This place is impossibly beautiful under all conditions.’ We succumbed to Red Rock Fever right then and there.
“The defining moment in our journey to Sedona was when we finally found a home to purchase back in 2004. The market was red hot then. I poured over Realtor.com daily looking for property, and every time I found something, I shared it with our realtor who promptly told me it was already off the market. This went on for some time, and then one day, our realtor called and said he had our house.
“I scoffed. He said a gentleman walked in who wants to sell his house but doesn’t want to go through the listing process. Our realtor promptly went to the house that day; took a dozen pictures and sent them to us; and we put a contract on the house that afternoon. The second time I visited Sedona was for the home inspection.
“We bought our home in Sedona in 2004 and became full-time residents in 2021.”
A consummate professional and dedicated businessman he founded successful companies, serving consumers and other businesses across the country.
“It’s not ‘did’ but ‘do’ career wise for me,” he said. “I started a consulting business early on in the Great Recession in 2008. The company is called Peak Innovation, and we work for companies of all sizes in a variety of industries, but technology clients are our most common.
“We focus on Competitive intelligence. New product & service innovation. M&A search where we help clients find companies to acquire for their unique intellectual property.
“I also started a company called Restoration Holdings, and we own multiple Sir Grout franchises around the US. I serve as CEO for that company and a particular area of expertise that I’ve developed is digital marketing.
His inspiration and desire to serve his community is rooted in his wife’s volunteer activities, where serving is what life is about.
“My inspiration comes first from my wife, Amy, who always amazed me with how much volunteering she did with our children’s schools and activities while they were growing up,” he said. “I also believe I’ve been blessed with a variety of skills and experiences that I should utilize to help others in the community.
“Even before we made the final move to Sedona, I was networking in the community here learning about its economy and its challenges. I studied the city council in terms of who was on it and the kinds of decisions they faced. I felt like someone with my background would add new perspectives to the council, so I knew I wanted to run before we arrived full-time.”
He believes he’s the right man for the job of mayor in Sedona, citing his ability to manage, speak, and his understanding of what a mayor must do to govern.
“The mayor is often the figurehead for the city despite being just one vote out of seven in council meetings,” he said.” I believe I’m well-spoken and professional when speaking in front of an audience. The mayor needs to be willing to take a stance on tough issues, and I’ve frequently been the first member of council to state my position and recommend the approach I believe we should take.
“The mayor needs to be an effective meeting manager, and I was trained in professional facilitation and have decades of experience leading small group meetings in business and personal settings. The mayor needs to be able to listen and synthesize differing views and seek common ground.
“People tell me I’m incredibly patient when listening to others, and I’ve worked hard over the last few years to listen to all the differing views of residents and other stakeholders in our community. I believe an ideal candidate for mayor should be experienced in municipal government in some manner, whether through previous council or working group or commission experience. When taken in whole, I came to the conclusion that I was well qualified to serve in the role of mayor and have a desire to serve Sedona to the best of my ability.”
He believes he has an intrinsic knowledge of the challenges facing Sedona and acknowledges there is much work to be done in maintaining the community’s quality of life.
“Sedona has perpetual challenges like traffic, increasingly limited healthcare providers, and the risk of wildfire,” he said.
“But when I think about what challenges our quality of life, I think about our sense of community, our relationships,” he said. “We’ve lost nearly 19% of our housing stock to short term rentals and thus, many of our friends and neighbors are gone. 80% of our workers, including critical or essential workers, commute. Enrollment in our schools has declined 50%. What I hear residents and business owners frequently lament is the loss of neighborly relationships, of families with children, and the richness and energy of a community with members at all ages and stages of life.
He sees housing for employees as the top challenge facing Sedona.
“I believe housing is our number one challenge in Sedona,” he said. “It’s why about a year ago I said the city needed a true housing strategy. My council colleagues agreed with me. Today we are rolling out what’s known as the Balanced Housing Strategy. It’s a plan to encourage the development of 775 housing units over the next 10 years in a combination of rental and ownership products.
“It includes a target of 175 units specifically for seniors so there are options to downsize for folks who’ve lived in Sedona for years. There are specific goals for multi-bedroom units for families, so we can reclaim half of our lost student enrollment. And if successful, we’ll see the percent of workers commuting decline from 80% to 70%. It recognizes that not every Sedona worker can live in Sedona or even wants to.
“In fact, I believe that adding Verde Shuttle transit to the VOC and on to Camp Verde is an essential component of supporting the Sedona workforce and also adds the benefit of fewer cars traveling on S.R. 179 to the Y! Overall, this is a modest but meaningful plan to address this pressing need.”
“How we execute on the Balanced Housing Strategy is critical and is being planned currently. I don’t want the city to play the role of landlord—that’s not in our wheelhouse. However, having the city participate in public/private partnerships is important because if the city contributes a land lease or a loan to a project, the city can negotiate in very important terms such as restrictions on use as short term rentals or a period of specific affordability levels.
“While I don’t necessarily expect any federal funds being available, I’d prefer to avoid use of such funds if they would prevent a project from establishing preference for people already residing in Sedona or the Verde Valley.”
He is open to where the data leads concerning the Cultural Park Amphitheatre.
“I’ve been a proponent of learning what a business plan looks like today for a possible return of the amphitheater. I’m interested to understand plans for parking, traffic management, and noise mitigation. I don’t believe the city should provide any funds to renovate the existing structure nor should it contribute to any ongoing operational expense. Any return of the amphitheater would need to be completely self-supporting.”
He is in favor of Home Rule and is skeptical of other council candidates who won’t take a stand.
“I think it is ridiculous to have candidates for office in Sedona who are unwilling to say whether they are for or against the renewal of Home Rule and will just sit back and see what the voters decide,” he said. “This is too important of an issue for candidates to not clearly say whether they do or do not support home rule and share that view with the community accordingly. Of course, I will accept the will of the voters, but the voters deserve to know where we stand as candidates.
“I am for Home Rule. It has worked well as our budgeting model in Sedona for 30 years. With home rule, the city is required to prepare a balanced budget every year using the resources available to us. We’ve run a surplus on our budget every year I’ve been on council. We’ve used those extra funds to pay off debts early.
“We’ve built pickle ball courts and made other parks investments for our residents. We’ve purchased conservation land along Oak Creek and built up a housing reserve. We’ve built miles of shared use paths and increased funding for our trails. We’ve increased funding for the arts by more than $250K annually.
“We’ve also increased funding for community service partners that all of us value greatly like the Public Library, the Community Center, the Humane Society, Verde Valley Care Givers, and more. We’ve monitored expenses too. Did you know that the cost of our city staff is only 42% of our operating budget? That compares to a national range of 50% to 70% or more. And during these four years, our cash and investment balances have increased by over $58M to nearly $100M.
“Without home rule, Sedona could see its budget restricted to about $33M compared to our proposed Fiscal 2027 budget of about $97M. We would still be collecting revenues that would be sitting in the bank and be unavailable to be used for the benefit of our community. It is possible that a one-time override could be put on the ballot subsequently, but this creates an uncertainty for all of our grant recipients, our community service partners, and our staff. And if the override vote were to fail, then we would see draconian cuts to city services and all discretionary spending, such as grants and community service partners, would be eliminated.
Those opposed to home rule would like you to believe that Sedona can get by on a $15M budget, and that is just not true. Whether you vote for me or not, and I hope you do, I would want the city council to have the use of home rule for budgeting.
He was and is totally opposed to Flock automatic license plate reader surveillance in Sedona.
“Those cameras were installed without the knowledge of the city council, with the exception of the mayor at the time,” he said. “As mayor, I would never sidestep our rules to avoid public debate or voting on a controversial issue. When we learned of the cameras’ existence, at the first opportunity we directed staff to turn them off.
“We then had a Flock representative attend a city council meeting to answer questions about their service. Subsequently, we gave direction to have them removed. There is no other topic I can think of during my four years on council in which there was near universal agreement from the public to have Flock cameras removed. It was an easy decision.”
When it comes to taking the lead on any issue or measure, Brian strongly believes in inclusivity.
“I would define my leadership style as inclusive,” he said. “I like to hear from a variety of points of view before forming an opinion or providing direction. This comes from when I started my career at General Electric. Many of my roles involved project management where I was responsible for delivering a big result and had to achieve it by leading a team of colleagues who didn’t report to me and that in some cases didn’t have aligned goals.
“So, I came to the conclusion that I had to treat all members of my project teams like volunteers and had to do a great deal of communication to explain the value of the project as well as the importance of their specific contributions, in order to win their hearts and minds.
“Fast forward a few decades, and I still utilize that approach in business even though my team members are my employees who do report to me. That’s how I retain employees and drive success.”
His main wish and desire is to build Sedona back up to the promise it once held.
“I want to build back and build up our sense of community,” he said. “Housing is the essential first part of that vision as I unpacked in an earlier question. I want to see people of all ages and stages flourishing here. The caveats to that are that the housing can’t create a sense of urbanization. We have to be mindful of the views, density, and building design and materials so that what makes Sedona, special—often times its quaint or quirky features—aren’t lost.
“I would like to see more opportunities to gather in community. That could come from bringing back popular festivals or events from the past like the Wine Festival or Jazz on the Rocks. It could also come from new ideas from our community. One area I’m particularly interested in is driving more engagement, through community events, with our city businesses, particularly in Uptown.
“With our tourism industry, I’d like to explore the idea of “quality over quantity”. One of our local business leaders has coined the phrase “less done better is more.” I believe the city and chamber should explore that idea together with the goal of having a healthy economy that doesn’t rely on gaining more visitors this year than we had last year. Rather, how can we foster a healthy business environment by attracting visitors that spend more in our galleries, retail shops, and restaurants; stay longer in our hotels; use our transit; and demonstrate the highest respect for our red rock country.
“At the same time, I would like to see Sedona enjoy some economic diversification. With Wecom bringing true high-speed broadband fiber into Sedona over the next couple of years, there is finally a real opportunity to encourage expanded entrepreneurism here. And I want us to look at the Northern Arizona region for where there may be opportunities to collaborate such as with Flagstaff and its growing bioscience hub.
“A future vision for Sedona also includes the completion of the Sedona In Motion (SIM) program of road improvements along with the prudent expansion of transit to continue to reduce congestion.
“Finally, public safety concerning fire and flood is always critical, and I’m excited about the work we have underway to address increasing home insurance costs, or worse, the cancellation of home insurance for many residents. I envision every neighborhood having Fire Wise successfully implemented at every home.”
While serving in the city council he spent as much time learning as he did leading.
“I learned that despite best efforts, it’s incredibly hard to effectively communicate the details of most city projects,” he said. “It’s not because the community isn’t smart. On the contrary, we have one of the most highly educated communities in the country. And yet, there have been numerous instances where a project has been in the works for many months, possibly over a year, and has been in front of council on more than one occasion.
Now, we’re at the council meeting where a final vote is to be taken, and we have community members up in arms stating that they just heard about the project in the prior few days. It’s frustrating for everyone—community members, staff, and council.
How do you fix this problem? I’ve certainly thought about it quite a bit. My first idea was what I proposed to my council colleagues in December, and they agreed, that we would swap out 1 in 4 council work sessions for Community Conversations to be held outside council chambers in a less formal setting with our community.
Our first event was in April and it went really well. We gained terrific input about “What would make it better for seniors living in Sedona?” and “What would make it better for families living in Sedona?”
Going forward, I want to be sure that topics covered include what may end up as more controversial projects; ones where getting more visibility on them sooner will hopefully gain more resident input and result in fewer members of the community being surprised at the last minute. I’m really pleased with this first step and look forward to identifying more ways, including the use of technology, to increase interaction between the community and city council.
In looking back Brian notes the many successes achieved by the council and re-affirms his commitment and ability to be the next Sedona mayor.
“There have been so many positives during my four years on council,” he said. “The Ranger Station Park won the American Public Works Association’s (APWA) 2025 Project of the Year Award in the Small Cities/Rural Communities category. The Red Dirt Concert Series has been expanded. Pickle ball courts were built, and Yappy Hour has a new home. The pool season has been extended, and new playground equipment and shade structures have been completed.
“Our All-Hazards Evacuation and Re-Entry Plan for natural disasters was completed and is seen as a model for the rest of the state. We hired an Emergency Coordinator within the police department to raise the level of support for our community in the event of a natural disaster. The city’s Financial Services department won the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for transparent budgeting and reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the 13th consecutive year for the fiscal year 2026 budget.
“We are a small, rural community with the challenges of 3M+ visitors. I believe the city council, during my four years, has risen to the challenge of managing tourism while investing in the community for the benefit of our residents.
“I’ve shared my vision to build back our community primarily with our balanced housing strategy that I prompted. I’ve shared my understanding of the challenges of communicating city activity and how that resulted in my idea for what has become our Community Conversations program. I’ve shared how our city council has been good stewards of city revenues and some examples of how that money has been and continues to be invested for the benefit of everyone that lives, works, or plays here.
“I’ve been working hard for our community for more than just my 4-year term on council. I’ve built relationships and figured out how to get things done in our city government. I believe I have the insights, the experience, and the temperament to serve our community best as your next mayor.