Incumbent Mayor Pud Colquitt, seated front right, and supporters begin campaign strategies as unofficial primary election results indicate a mayoral run-off in May.

2008 Sedona mayoral race goes into overtime

Adams, Colquitt vie for top spot at May 20 run-off; Sterling, Hamilton and Bradshaw take City Council spots for 4 year term; Surber takes uncontested 2 year seat.  2 year mayor term remains; and alternative expenditure limitation extended.

by Cyndy Hardy

Sedona, AZ - March 12, 2008 - Incumbent Sedona Mayor Pud Colquitt and candidate Rob Adams will face off in the May 20 general election, according to the unofficial results of the March 11 primary election posted on the Yavapai County Web site. The winner will be seated along with four council candidates in June.

The primary mayoral race was virtually a dead heat, with Mr. Adams receiving 1,479 votes, or 41.31 percent, to Ms. Colquitt’s 1,427 votes, or 39.86 percent. Candidate Matthew Turner received 667 or 18.63 percent of the votes. The remaining seven votes were for unspecified write-in candidates.

According to people in Ms. Colquitt’s camp, the unofficial results may not include some ballots received after 2 p.m., although no one expected the 11th-hour ballots would be enough to change the preliminary results. Out of nearly 12,000 city residents, 6,315 were registered to vote, according to the county’s summary report. To win the primary and avoid a run-off, any candidate needed a majority or about 1,814 of the total 3,622 votes cast.

Ms. Colquitt was first elected to the City Council in March 2004. Until 2006, the seven-member council appointed the mayor and vice mayor from its ranks. 2006 was the first year Sedona voters directly elected a mayor. State and city rules required Ms. Colquitt to step down from the council to run in that election because more than one year remained in her term. She was re-elected and Mr. Adams was appointed by the council to serve the remainder of Ms. Colquitt’s first term, which ends in June 2008.

The transition from a council-appointed mayor to a voter-elected mayor left a snag in the way Sedona’s council terms are staggered. Council terms are usually for four years; with four open seats in one election year and three open seats two years later. The way the timing happened; five council seats were open this year. Only two seats would have been open in 2010. That meant an appointed mayor served two years, unless reappointed.

In 2006, the council changed one council term from four years to two years only for the 2008 election. Dan Surber, a local architect who currently serves on the Sedona Housing Commission, ran unopposed for the two-year seat, receiving 2,377, or 97.90 percent of the votes.

The City Council intended to make the mayor’s seat a four-year term, but state law requires voter approval for that change. The measure failed 54.78 to 45.22 percent, according to the unofficial primary results.

Four candidates vied for the three open four-year council seats. Those who received the highest number of votes are deemed elected, according to city rules. That means first-time candidate Suzy Chaffee, who received 1,421 or 16.43 percent of the votes, was not elected, according to the unofficial primary election results.

First-time candidate Marc Sterling received 29.82 percent, or 2,580 votes. Cliff Hamilton, who lost his first run for council in 2006, received 27.80 percent with 2,405 votes. Incumbent John Bradshaw received 25.49 percent or 2,205 votes. The remaining 40 votes were for unspecified write-in candidates.

In the final matter of ballot business, voters approved the Alternative Expenditure Limitation – Home Rule Option for another four years by 56.75 percent to 43.25 percent. The Arizona Constitution limits according to population the amount cities can spend in their annual budgets unless voters approve the home rule option. Sedona’s expenditures usually exceed the limit by about $10 million, according to city officials. If the measure had not passed, budget cuts would have likely affected city employees; city projects and services; and city subsidies to every nonprofit organization, officials said.

© 2008 Cyndy Hardy. Printed by permission. All rights reserved.

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