What makes you qualified to be on the council?
I have lived in Cottonwood for over five years and have been following the Cottonwood City Council for most of that time. I became interested in what the council was doing after I attended a meeting for work and walked away feeling dissatisfied about how the city was spending our tax dollars. As I meet all the basic resident, age and voter status requirements to qualify, I was appointed to council in March of 2019 and would like to continue to serve this community.
What makes Cottonwood great?
Cottonwood is a great community to live, work and play in. We are a small close-knit community with wonderful citizens who care about each other and are willing to pitch in and help one another, as we have recently seen with the emergence of COVID-19. We are the hub of commerce for the Verde Valley; and we have great parks, events and city services.
What would be different if you were not on the council?
I would like to think that the city council would continue the progress that has been started [increasing reserves/decreasing debt], however, I cannot be sure of that as I do not know how the person who might replace me would vote on issues. I am fiscally conservative and a voice for the people but someone else might not be.
How will you help Cottonwood to recover from the coronavirus and resulting economic slump?
I will continue to vote in a fiscally conservative manner so that the city is spending the taxpayer’s money wisely and for the benefit of the community. I believe that opening back up should be done with caution to avoid a second wave and am in support of local business which I will continue to be. I have been, and will continue to be, a part of the city task force that has become an economic recovery group.
How do you hope to keep Cottonwood affordable to residents?
I will continue to support efforts to attract affordable and low-income housing opportunities to Cottonwood.
Candidate Essay:
I am a member of the Cottonwood City Council. I worked in the field of social work for over 20 years before accepting my current position as community manager of two low-income apartment complexes in Cottonwood. Now that I have two small grandchildren I want to make sure that we are leaving them a viable and sustainable community and planet in which to live.
The money the city spends belongs to the people of Cottonwood and I want to ensure that the city spends our tax dollars wisely and for the benefit of the community as a whole. A city council member serves at the pleasure of the voters within their community and it is very important to me that our citizens know that they can reach out to me when they have questions or concerns. For me to vote in a way that the community, as a whole, would like me to it is very important that those who live, work, and play here reach out and share their thoughts on issues with me either by email, phone or at a council meeting.
When I arrived in Cottonwood, it felt like I had finally arrived home. I love this city and the people that I encounter here and want to make sure that Cottonwood continues to be the close-knit community, full of people who love and care about each other, in the future. To do this we have to approach growth in a careful, well thought out and sustainable way. Growth will happen regardless of whether people want it to or not. But the city council can shape what that growth will look like in a way that will help Cottonwood continue to be all the things that we love about it.
Part of that, of course, is protecting our natural resources [such as water and our riparian habitat] so that people in the future still have those resources to use and enjoy.
Planning for the future also involves continuing to increase the city’s reserves so that we have adequate financial resources to get us through any economic downturns that come along. With adequate reserves, there will be less need to take on future debt for the things that the city needs to take care of.
I think that cities need to start thinking more about climate change and what we can all do to minimize those effects on the Verde Valley.
We need to attract more low-income housing providers to this area, as well as more affordable workforce housing since most of the jobs here are in the service industry. We need to take care of all of our vulnerable populations which includes individuals experiencing homelessness who need a wide variety of supportive services to try to improve their lives.
I am humbled and grateful to be serving the citizens of Cottonwood and would like to continue to do so.
