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Summary

​Since I took office in November of 2022, the council has authorized projects that benefit residents and worked to reduce city debt and increase financial reserves. In this section I will list those items I think were most interesting or important. Here are some points:

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  • Over 80 decisions to improve parks, recreation facilities, and community events. 

  • more than 20 decisions to reduce noise and air pollution from traffic, lower heat impacts, and increase shade

    • ​between 325,00-358,000 car trips removed through use of trailhead shuttles

  • over 10 policy changes saving over $100,000 in interest payments and adding more than $58 million to city reserves

  • I represented Sedona on the Greater Sedona Recreational Collaborative resulting in a slower speed limit for OHVs on Morgan Road and the city agreeing to manage a State Parks grant to redesign Broken Arrow parking area to reduce the impact of OHVs on the neighborhood​

  • Approved and built the Forest Road extension that especially benefits uptown residents by reducing traffic at the Y (was controversial but is now appreciated by many)

  • Approved the Uptown Parking garage to reduce traffic and side street parking to the benefit of uptown residents (controversial but unproven either way)

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What follows is a list of the highlights of the work I have done on council since being elected in 2022.

Accountability

The work the council has done on budget, and financing has been the opposite of fiscal irresponsibility. The budget is ALWAYS balanced, as required by State Law. We never spend more than is earned in sales and bed taxes, and fees. The projects approved during the budget year stay at around 80% of the approved budget. The remaining 20% has been used to pay off debt where the interest rate paid is higher than the rate earned and there is no pre-payment penalty, pay into retirement funds paying more than the state creating additional portfolio assets, or moved forward into the next year.

As examples, since 2022:

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  • Council has added over $58 million to the reserves

  • Saved over $100,000.00 in interest payments through pre-payment or issuing lower interest rate bonds to remove the higher interest rate bonds

  • Fully funded Sedona's portion of the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS), which is the state’s primary defined benefit (DB) pension program for public safety personnel, corrections officers, elected officials, and judges creating a high yielding asset for the city

  • Authorized the creation of a specialized fund for the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) yielding higher rates than that provided directly by the state

  • Used highly accredited outside auditors to review and certify the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (ACFR)  

  • ​Received the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for 23 consecutive years and the Distinguished Budget Presentation award for 13 consecutive years from the Government Finance Officers Association

  • Received special recognition for the FY 2026 ACFR for outstanding financial plans, capitol programs and strategic goals

  • Authorized a new Enterprise Resource Planning software system to create a new system integrating all departments making project reporting and fiscal accountability easier for reporting and performance auditing

  • Lowered the fiscal signing authority of the City Manager for contract change order so more change orders must be approved by council

  • Updated the Debt Management Policy

  • Created a Capital Assets Governing Policy

  • Vice Mayor Fultz, Councilor Furman and I started a performance audit committee with staff to both set performance metrics for projects and departments but also to set up an outside 3rd party auditor

    • result: more consistent metrics and understanding for council to make decisions and easier to create reports and dashboards making the information easily accessible to everyone, especially residents

  • Approved the 3% franchise fee paid to the city by Arizona Water Company be applied to resident water utility bills until such time as the $10 million AWC assessed to Sedona for having built a "house" over the new 179 AWC water tower has been paid 

  • Rewrote Rule, Procedures and Roles of Mayor and Councilors to help further ensure personal accountability

Community

There are many aspects of Community: parks, recreation facilities, traffic reduction and disbursement to make travel through the city faster, road repair, etc. Some overlap with environmental improvements. Some with safety. All of them are meant to improve the quality of life for those of us who live here.

Highlights from the over 80 decisions focused on improving the overall quality of life:

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  • ​Formal resolution opposing the mandatory disposal of Bureau of Land Management and National Forest Service land for housing provision in the Big Beautiful Bill

  • Continued use of a lobbyist to

    • Regulate Short-term rentals

    • Oppose bills impacting the rights of local governments to self-govern

    • OHV bills that would further negatively impact our community and surrounding forest land

  • WECOM agreement for high speed/reliable fiber to the city and community allowing for possible future economic diversification

  • Dark sky 2028 compliance ordinance

  • Destination Marketing and Management Organization asked to direct marketing to changing who visits Sedona NOT for more people to visit Sedona

  • Tourist Advisory Board directed to think about Tourist Management where residents benefit year-round from the decisions

  • Small grants raised from $250k to $350k with 40% arts and culture, 40% human services and 20% discretionary to the grants program work group

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Parks and Recreation

  • Posse Grounds​

    • New playground equipment​

    • New pickleball courts

    • Added benches and shade structures to the pickleball courts

    • New grassy community space behind the pickleball courts

    • Extended the dog park

    • Added shade structures to the dog park

    • Created a new Yappy Hour space at the grassy fenced area behind Brewer city buildings

    • Added disc golf course 

    • Extended pool hours by adding more lifeguards

    • Repair and maintenance of the pool

    • Updated the bike skills park

    • Resurfaced tennis courts

    • Resurfaced basketball courts

    • Repaired and upgraded Bocce court

    • Resurfaced soccer field and lower field

    • Red Dirt Concerts

    • Removed invasive species throughout park

    • Firewise brush and limb removal

    • New metal signage throughout the park

    • New parking lot across from dog park

    • Made dog park parking area 1 hour with fines to ensure dog park users have parking spaces

    • New water permeable parking lot next to hub adding new native trees along the edges with irrigation support

    • dark sky compliant stadium lights

    • dark sky compliant solar bollards along pathways

    • updated the interior of the Hub

    • Added gabion seating at the amphitheater to accommodate more Red Dirt and other performance seating

  • Ranger Station Park​

    • Engineering award for renovation of Ranger Station Park House and Stable

    • Innovative and imaginative playground 

    • Putting Green

    • Outdoor table tennis

    • House designed for community meeting space​

 

Mobility​

One strategy to reduce the impact of traffic on both the quality of life and our town's infrastructure is to reduce the number of cars on the road by encouraging "park once" through access to easy transit to desired places, safe places to ride bicycles or walk that connect you to all the places you want to go. Since taking office in 2022, I have approved:

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  • 11.9 miles of shared use paths

    • Andante​

    • White Bear

    • Dry Creek 

    • Shelby

    • Thunder Mountain

    • Social trail to Little Horse TH parking lot

    • Soldiers Pass TH

    • Navajo Drive

    • Ranger Station Park

  • Shuttles​

    • Trailhead shuttles (removing 350,000 car trips)​

    • On Demand shuttles

    • Bowstring Shuttle lot

    • Posse Grounds Shuttle lot

    • West Sedona Shuttle lot

  • Continued Support for Trail Partners funding for trail maintenance​

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Roads and Traffic Impacts

  • Forest Road Extension

    • originally a controversial decision. Now appreciated by both local Uptown residents and locals in avoiding the "Y" when going to Uptown​

    • Intension is to pull visitors to Uptown garage rather than through the "Y" to Uptown (still to be proven)

  • Uptown Garage (opening summer 2026)

  • Tlaquepaque Underpass​

    • meant to remove pedestrian/vehicle conflicts slowing traffic at ADOT owned street level crosswalk connecting Tlaquepaque South to Tlaquepaque North ​

    • Other points of conflict not yet addressed (e.g. Schnebly roundabout U-turn out of Tlaquepaque for cars going to 89A, slowing traffic for merge onto 179 at Ranger Road, cars turning into or out of Tlaquepaque parking lots)

  • Amara turn lane Uptown

  • Zipper merge Uptown

  • Repaired 32.1 miles of residential roads

  • Approved city maintenance of streets not currently maintained before incorporation (e.g. Goodrow)​

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Trailhead Residential Impacts

  • Dual speed limit on Morgan Road for OHV and standard vehicles

  • Agreement to manage State Parks funded grant to upgrade Broken Arrow to improve quality of life for residents within the Broken Area subdivision

  • Work on reducing residential impact in Back O' Beyond Cathedral TH

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Health and Safety

  • 8 employees completed Firewise assessments, can now:

    • Conduct Firewise home evaluations

    • Support neighborhood Firewise certification

    • Participate in the city’s new Firewise engagement model

  • Fully staffed police patrol officers ​

    • complete coverage for all shifts​

  • Emergency Coordinator​

  • Evacuation plan in coordination with Yavapai and Coconino County emergency management

  • Emergency Sirens placed in Uptown

  • New emergency radio technology and strategically placed towers for coverage across Sedona

  • Added K9 Sam to the force

  • Ordinance preventing feeding of wildlife

  • Ordinance preventing the display of exotic animals for profit without appropriate handling and care license

  • Wastewater lift upgrades

  • Improved drainage throughout the city

  • Voluntary agreement with OHV rental companies to use quieter mufflers

  • Dual speed limit on Morgan Road to slow down OHV traffic

  • Ordinance regulating construction of Private Courts to reduce noise impact on neighbors

  • Realigned Dry Creek Road to make it safer for cyclists

  • Approved unhoused interface sworn officer

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Arts and Culture​​

  • 3 new "Art in the Roundabout" installations

  • Sculpture at Ranger Station Park

  • Mural for Ranger Station Park Barn (currently housed with the permanent art collection in the Vultee conference room)

  • ​Senior and Junior Poet Laureates

  • Arts and Culture Large grants ($200k)

    • FY2026 awards to Sedona Arts Center ($100k) and Sedona International Film Festival ($100k)​

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Housing

  • Annexed the Dells

  • Villas at Shelby

  • Goodrow housing development

  • Housing at Oxford Suites

  • Deed restriction program allowing homeowners to prevent use of homes as STR

  • Change in Land Development Code to allow ADU construction in addition to a single-family home on the same property

  • Approved more stringent measures for Short-Term Rentals out of compliance

  • Approved a code enforcement office specific for Short-Term Rentals

  • Raised the monthly rental cap for the Rent Local program

Environment 

  • Purchased Creekside property to protect the creek and riparian eco-system

  • Committed funding and resources to Verde River and the Greater Sedona Recreation Collaborative

  • Free compost trial program

  • Upgrading city hall building doors and windows to lower utility costs

  • Citizen Scientist heatmapping program

  • Home Energy Retrofit program to help residents contain utility costs

  • CDBG grant to Habitat for Humanity to run home repairs for qualifying Sedonans

  • Sustainable communities initiative

  • Yard waste pickup event

  • Hazardous Household Materials event

  • Electronics Waste event

  • Smart recycling receptacles across Sedona

  • Added 10 EVs to city fleet 

  • Added 5 hybrid shuttle buses (50% of fleet)

  • Added 10 hybrid vehicles to city fleet

  • Trialing heat reflective asphalt in Lot 5 in Uptown

  • Projects with schools on water conservation

  • 16 EV charging stations/20 spaces

    • 2 stations/4 ports City Hall

    • 2 stations/4 ports Sunset Park

    • 4 stations/4 ports Posse Grounds

    • 8 stations/8 ports Uptown Station

  • ​Added Mill composting throughout City buildings​

I'm Listening! email: melissadunn.sedona@gmail.com  Call or Text: 928-295-8626

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Any expression of opinion that may be read into this content can only be attributed to me as the author and does not necessarily represent the position or opinion of the City Council or City staff 

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