The 2016 election will include major local changes to our elected bodies.
A 2014 change to state law resulted in several Camp Verde Town Council members having extended terms to bring the town into alignment with the even-numbered-year election cycle in the rest of Arizona.
The recent aftermath of the recall effort in Camp Verde should prompt residents to challenge current council members, after all, running for office is certainly more cost-effective than attempting a recall every time a group of residents oppose the votes by a majority of council members.
Cottonwood City Council members Jesse Dowling, Ruben Jauregui, Terence Pratt and Mayor Diane Joens are all up for reelection in 2016. Two members of the Cottonwood City Council are running for higher office on the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors.
Running for a seat on council is a civic duty. In 458 B.C., the young Roman Republic faced war against a neighboring Italian tribe. The Roman army sent to battle the Aequians and Sabines were besieged, so the Roman Senate nominated former consul Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus to serve as dictator, giving him extraordinary powers. Cincinnatus drafted an army, crushed the tribes in battle and returned to Rome.
Unlike the power-hungry consuls or emperors of later Roman history, Cincinnatus resigned the ultimate power as dictator 15 days later and returned to his farm. Some 19 years later, Cincinnatus was again named dictator to save the city. He put down a coup and again resigned to return to his farm. To the Romans, Cincinnatus was the perfect politician — one who used supreme power to conduct the people’s business, then left office once the job was done.
Legislatively imposed term limits for elected office would seem as odd to republican Romans as it was to the Founding Fathers of the young American republic. For both, civic duty in a republic’s elected offices was a noble calling, certainly not a lifetime career.
The Verde Valley is filled with people espousing their opinions, yet when election time comes around, most do not consider running for office. Local social media discussion groups especially are filled with residents with opinions about how our local towns and cities could be better run, so this is call out for these individuals to prove it: Pull a packet and run for office. A community this vocal and opinionated should have 20 candidates for council in every election.
Council should represent all the voices of a town or city, including young people, working parents and business owners. While council does not pay much, combined with a regular job, a resident of any age could live comfortably while serving on council.
Running for council can be done on the cheap. There are plenty of community-sponsored forums and debates, as well as coverage by Larson Newspapers to get one’s message out even if one can’t pay for mailers and campaign signs.
A few big donations or lots of little ones would more than cover any resident’s electoral run.
We encourage our city’s best minds to run for office. Make your community the best you think it should be.
