The Clarkdale Town Council discussed its strategy for preparing a statement asking for the Verde Valley to be considered a “community of interest” during this year’s congressional and legislative redistricting.
The Independent Redistricting Commission will be redrawing Arizona’s congressional and legislative districts following the results of the 2020 census, as it does every 10 years. The IRC commission is made up of two registered Republicans, two registered Democrats and a registered independent chairperson to maintain impartiality.
The redistricting decisions are based on a number of factors, including district shape, geographical features, respect for “communities of interest” and potential competitiveness.
The IRC will be holding a public meeting to hear comments on this year’s redistricting July 27 at Yavapai College in Prescott. It will also be hosting the meeting in Sedona via satellite.
Following the 2010 census, the town of Clarkdale did not speak up about its preferences until it was presented with four options to vote on at a council meeting further along in the process. At that time, communities in the Verde Valley were put into the same Legislative District 6 but were split up by congressional district, CD1 and CD4, including the Yavapai-Apache Nation being split into two.
This year, mayors and city managers from across the Verde Valley are coming together to demonstrate that the area as a whole is a community of interest and ask the IRC to keep them within the same districts.
“Ten years ago, when we didn’t come together as a community of interest, we weren’t listened to and we know, at least congressionally, we were split in the region,” Mayor Robyn Prud’homme-Bauer said. “For me, Clarkdale is a part of a bigger region. And that, I think, has impact with the redistricting commission. … We have a lot of like-minded stuff going on in the Verde Valley.”
A “community of interest” is defined as a group of people and geographic area with common concerns about issues such as religion, political ties, history, tradition, geography, demography, ethnicity, culture, social-economic status, trades and other shared interests that would benefit from joint representation.
Leaders of regional municipalities say the Verde Valley shares many ties, including working cooperatively on issues such as transportation, broadband, housing, tourism and recreation.
“We’re kind of at the mercy of the big guys. And the only thing we can do is to come together and say,‘ We have a community of interest, and we believe our community of interests this,’” Councilman Bill Regner said.
Some conversation was had amongst council members about whether the town should prepare a statement on its own or if it would be better to propose all of the cities and towns in the Verde Valley coming together in a united stance with a singular statement.
Some council members thought it would be best to provide one collective statement from all of the Verde Valley communities, but Prud’homme-Bauer believed it would more powerful to have more voices speaking up at the meeting instead of just one.
It was ultimately decided the town would craft a statement to share with the public and other nearby municipalities, but present it alone as the town of Clarkdale.
“It’s super important that we stand together. Even if it’s not successful, you’ve got to give it the best shot you can,” Council Woman Lisa O’Neill said.
Prior to the meeting, Regner had drafted an example of what he would like the statement to say.
“The town of Clarkdale understands that in rural Arizona, the best solutions are often regional solutions. We urge your recognition of an action towards preserving our ‘community of interest’ consisting of the Verde Valley communities of Camp Verde, Cottonwood, Clarkdale and Jerome along with Yavapai-Apache Nation and unincorporated areas of eastern Yavapai County,” Regner wrote.
After reviewing the city of Sedona’s proposed statement as another example, the Clarkdale Town Council decided to use Regner’s statement and add more detail about why the region should be considered a community of interest, including the Verde Valley’s combined economy, infrastructure, health care systems, natural resources, economic development opportunities and ecotourism.
The Clarkdale Town Council made plans to come together for a special meeting on July 20 to finalize and adopt the statement to be presented at the July 27 meeting with IRC. The proposed statement will be published online prior to the July 20 meeting to allow the public to make comments
