© 2011 by Jack D. Wilson
Photo courtesy of spekulator.
I first visited Prescott Arizona in 1995. I was living in Chicago and working for Amoco Corporation but had started to investigate potential retirement destinations. At that time I was a smoker and my wife Liz and I would have breakfast in the back room of Greens quite often. We soon noticed a table along the side wall where people would drift in and out and join the conversation. We started subscribing to the Prescott Courier in Chicago and soon figured out that this breakfast gathering was an assemblage of Prescott’s Good Ole Boys and included current and former city council members.
I did not really think about the implications of what we had seen until I ran for Prescott mayor in 2007. During my campaign multiple people told me that illegal quorums of the Prescott City Council were common knowledge to many people. The breakfast gathering at Greens were but one example. I was also told about illegal quorums at the Cattleman’s Bar and Grill on Sheldon and at the Eagle’s on Cortez. One of the more eye-opening examples people shared with me was a meeting at a veteran’s fraternal organization where a developer unrolled plans for council members to review!
Common Knowledge
The practice of the Prescott City Council conducting illegal quorum meeting in violation of the Arizona Open Meeting statutes has been common knowledge for many people since at least 1995 (and I suspect a lot longer). This practice has come out into the open recently with the inclusion of 7:00AM “Breakfast Gathering at the Lone Spur Café” on the official list of potential City Council Quorums. This notice includes this wording:
“PURSUANT to Arizona Revised Statutes, Section 38-431.02 the following Notice of Possible Quorum is given for activities for the month because there may be a quorum of the City Council present; however, no formal discussion/action will be taken by members in their role as the Prescott City Council.”
|
DATE |
TIME |
LOCATION |
FUNCTION |
|
12/01/2011 – 12/02/2011 |
7:00 AM |
Lone Spur Café (Back Door) 106 West Gurley Prescott, Arizona |
Daily Breakfast Gatherings |
|
12/05/2011 – 12/09/2011 |
7:00 AM |
Lone Spur Café (Back Door) 106 West Gurley Prescott, Arizona |
Daily Breakfast Gatherings |
|
12/12/2011 – 12/16/2011 |
7:00 AM |
Lone Spur Café (Back Door) 106 West Gurley Prescott, Arizona |
Daily Breakfast Gatherings |
|
12/27/2011 – 12/30/2011 |
7:00 AM |
Lone Spur Café (Back Door) 106 West Gurley Prescott, Arizona |
Daily Breakfast Gatherings |
This all makes you wonder what this quorum of the Prescott City Council is talking about if it is not city business. I guess “informal” discussions are legal but ”formal” discussions are not. Sounds like a grease-slicked slope to me. Maybe the Arizona Attorney General could provide some clarification to ensure we do not go down the same path as the Quartzite council.
Maybe it included “informal” discussions of the Granite Creek Park Community bench or efforts to get rid of J.P. Vicenti or others on the fear and intimidation list. Hopefully we as Prescott citizens will say enough is enough and this has to stop.
“Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.” – Mohandas K. Gandhi
Feedback
If you found this article helpful, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg or email it (button below). If I missed something that you found along the way, leave a comment and I will try to update the information.
Jack D. Wilson first visited Prescott in 1995 and has been a resident since 2000. He took a sojourn into politics and was the mayor of Prescott Arizona from Nov. 2007 – Nov. 2009. He now writes a couple of blogs among his many activities.
Thanks for writing about this Jack. City employees have known about this activity for years. Until the political climate in AZ changes nothing will be done. The Attorney General knows and it continues across the State.