By Joseph Rittenhouse
The knives are out, thirsty for the future of Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow, who stands ready to be hung for the mortal sin he allegedly committed by not following the rules—by talking directly to staff rather than through the city council concerning the erection of state-of-the-art automated license plate readers throughout Sedona.
People are already calling for his resignation while a local newspaper prepares to fillet his political career over the alleged infractions and accusations that the mayor is somewhat power-mad and guilty of harassing staff department directors and heads.
Under Title 2 of the Sedona City Code, elected officials are not supposed to talk to staff, and staff can only be given direction by the council during sessions. Jablow stands accused of violating that code by communicating directly with staff.
Let us ask ourselves: does that warrant censure or expulsion? Could it be that in his eagerness to protect the city, especially through his support of the ALPRs, he crossed the lines? Or maybe it’s because his office is in the same building as all the other departments, creating a sense of camaraderie and friendship that blurs official lines.
And look at the city. Is it falling apart? Are we in a crime wave? Are council meetings free-for-alls?
On the contrary, the city is moving smoothly, is well represented throughout the state, is crime-free, is clean, and is well managed.
Aside from his desire to be involved in everything, Jablow has done well in his role as mayor and should only be reprimanded rather than disciplined, censured, or removed from office. Perhaps his office could be moved to another building to keep things on a professional level?
If anything, it’s a lesson well learned, and we can be sure Jablow will stay within the lanes now and in the future.
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17 Comments
The city has been miss managed for years. A “clique” of city officials have worked around proper channels to manipulate and promote unpopular programs such as “safe parking”. It is time to clean house and get elected officials who listen to the tax paying residents, not their own personal political agendas.
Wait a minute there MKJeeves I believe you have made it clear that you do not care about Sedona and it’s “pot smoking, crystal worshipping hippies” so what do you care about how it is governed?
With all due respect for Scott, he was part of the council that voted to buy the Cultural Park for $23 million, between the time the Public voted for 3 new council members and the time they were seated. The new council members never had a say.
And he had an issue with our police chief, and possibly still does.
Let’s hope things change. He’s our mayor for another roughly a year.
All he deserves is a proper and fair investigation. We will find out much more if there was overreach, nothing or something. Why give someone a break when you dont have the whole story?
Time will tell wont it?
As per Red Rock news, they need to tone it down, stop being the National Enquirer of Sedona!
WS Dave
I agree with you assessment of the Mayor and our Payton Place town Town Crier-RRN.
Whether the Mayor overstepped or not should come out with a proper 3rd party (from outside Sedona) that is properly done through State or DOJ review will come out in their findings. I really do not understand the issue people have with that regardless of who is possibly in the right or wrong here. Fresh neutral eyes on the issues seems to me the only fair and legal way to make determinations on what if anything can or should be done. It’s 100% crystal clear that neither City Government/Council nor the Sedona PD have the ability of doing so without malice. These are not issues that can be permitted to linger. Disgruntled Cops are NOT effective nor is a City Government in chaos. The only proper response from City Council whom everyone insists should have been the one and only point of contact for all of the parties involved, would have been the exact same as what the Mayor in fact did by referring it out for investigation. So no matter how you feel about the issues the solution remains the same.
JB
One has to wonder since the city manager was also thrown under the bus, and she returned the fire.
You have to wonder if this is the tip of the iceberg? Wonder what Mayor Sandy knows?
This could get even bigger? Who knows as of now.
But sure looks like a pattern….Time will tell.
WS Dave,
it is my hope that whatever is determined will help the City and PD achieve a semblance of normalcy and get the City inline with itself rather than all of the chaos, rumor mill nonsense that has made dysfunctional. It certainly cannot achieve this on its own as proven by the insanity that has plagued it the past few years.
Mr Dave I know former Mayor Sandy M. from briefly speaking with her at various community events. She seemed to do a decent job while in office though she did have some issues. The current Mayor is a different story, he seems to have good intentions but is an old school law enforcement type who tends to be misogynistic towards and around women. Another example of the biases American’s instill in their children and their children and so on. It’s how racism became a norm among white people and their purposely all white gated communities. Yes other races are also guilty of these things but no where near the scale that white people are and they usually do so after seeing how their people were treated time and time again by a now white minority.
The Sedona Police Chief is a decent officer but not a great one. She will not accept criticism or listen to ideas outside of her own. The officers are a mixed bag of rookies and veteran officers and a mix of great, good and bad ones. That’s how organizations like theirs tend to be. Seems to me that they need some outside observation and perhaps some prodding to get on track. I’ve rarely in my life seen traffic stopping traffic accidents where officers ignore the traffic flow and stand around chatting until seeing Sedona PD in action or rather inaction on more than a few occasions. The officers all seem willing to learn what they can from one another and interacting with other agencies but they need someone to go in and ensure they’re all being taught the very basics of law enforcement and then continuing that education with a good specialized training program to bring them up to par with the rest of the country. Sedona is a small mostly lawful community. But big things happen in and around us and we need every officer on patrol to be trained, equipped and prepared to deal with those eventualities.
Maybe Sedona needs some younger hotshot Mayor who actually has training in and experience with all aspects of City Management from the top down. One who is not biased in anyway and has an impeccable reputation for honesty, good decision making and self accountability?
Maybe a new Chief as well? Regardless of what sex or race they may be. Justice is supposed to be blind anyway right?
I support the mayor. One indiscretion does not mean one should be castigated.
Muriel Nunn
Whether one supports the mayor or not is irrelevant now. The matter was referred outside the City’s preview and is in the hands of a third party to determine what’s right, what’s wrong and what should be.
This may not be only one discretion, if the 157 page complaint filed by the Chief of Police is accurate. It appears that it may have been a pattern and practice for a while. It may even go well beyond the Police and City Manager departments into other parts of the City’s administration. I hope the News continues to look into this mess to determine how wide spread it is, and how long it has been going on.
Judge I protest! That is hearsay unless proven correct by an independent investigation into all sides and aspects of what is ALLEGED by all complainants has determined it to be true, which has NOT yet happened. What a bunch of Sh#thouse lawyers. Claiming this and that as truth when your truth has yet to be proven truthful.
The call for Jablow to be reprimanded/disciplined/censured, forced to resign or be removed has more to do than just this situation with the Chief of Police. There are many issues that the residents have with him. Allegedly threatening business owners to not allow the democratic process to proceed, allegedly threatening a judge, his general attitude to the residents and his bad ideas and management. Many of us do not agree with the out of control spending by this city for some questionable projects.
And you know these things to be true how exactly?
Because I and others I know have personally experienced his manipulation and vindictive personal attacks.
So you say. Care to elaborate on these “vindictive attacks”?
Muriel, no, this would be 2 things, not one discretion. But none of them is he guilty of, till a full investigation gets finished.
As for mike and his right wing hate…..what in gods name does cultural park have to so with any of this….IMO, getting that land was a steal, find that much land less than that in city limits best of luck….Such a old troll, just stop grandpa!