The city of Cottonwood is making adjustments to its procedures for public meetings following the Arizona State Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 1270 this spring, which amended Title 38 of Arizona Revised Statutes to require public bodies to provide increased seating for expected attendance, but other local municipalities do not plan to follow its lead.
“Schools, school boards, executive boards and municipalities shall provide for an amount of seating sufficient to accommodate the reasonably-anticipated attendance of all persons desiring to attend the deliberations and proceedings when feasible,” SB1270 reads. “This section does not require a public body to relocate a meeting outside of the largest regular meeting room.”
Introduced by Sen. John Kavanagh [R-District 3], SB1270 passed the Senate on Feb. 28 by a 16-14 vote and the House on March 29 by a vote of 57-0. Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the bill on April 6.
“During COVID, the idea of school openings and face masks and what have you was very controversial, including among parents,” Kavanagh said. “Scottsdale had a number of school board meetings on the issue, and one of the meetings was well-publicized and they had every reason to believe that there would be a large number of people attending. The meeting was supposedly going to start at 5, and I got there at 4:30, and the security guard said, ‘The room is already full; nobody else can go in.’ Not only did they use the regular room, but because of COVID they spaced all the chairs way out, so hardly anybody could be in the room. Now this school has a large auditorium they could have used for the room, but they chose not to. So they basically locked out two thirds of the people who wanted to attend that meeting.”
“This bill wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t physically present and got locked out,” Kavanagh added. “I suspect that people who don’t have the option of writing a law probably just grumble and go home — disenfranchised.”
The city of Cottonwood announced on Nov. 13 that as of Nov. 14, city council chambers would be relocated to the meeting space at the city’s Riverfront Water Reclamation Facility at 1083 E. River Front Road.
“This change in location will allow for a larger meeting space that can more comfortably accommodate attendees of the city council’s meetings,” the announcement stated.
Cottonwood City Manager Scotty Douglass declined to comment on the change.
Cottonwood Public Information Officer Tricia Lewis said that while SB1270 was not the main reason for the relocation, “it does contribute to meeting the new requirements. We expect it to almost double the capacity compared to our previous council chambers on Main Street.”
Other benefits Lewis said the city expects to derive from the change include “enhanced parking availability, along with the release of valuable parking in Old Town, [and] expanded capacity and a more welcoming space, including public restroom facilities.”
The city has no definite plans for the facility that it purchased two years ago at 635 Main Street with the intent of converting it into a consolidated city office space, but Lewis said that the council would be exploring options for it.
Unlike Cottonwood, other Verde Valley municipalities see no immediate need to adjust their meeting procedures.
Sedona City Manager Karen Osburn said that the city has no plans to make arrangements for an alternate meeting location, as the City Council chambers are the largest room the city has available and SB1270 “does not require a public body to relocate a meeting outside of the largest regular meeting room.”
“We hold our meetings in the Clark [Memorial] Clubhouse, which is easily expanded to accommodate a significant crowd,” Clarkdale Town Manager Susan Guthrie said. “The men’s lounge accommodates 215 and our auditorium accommodates 700 and they are in the same building.”
“From time to time, when a large turnout was expected, public meetings have been held in other locations: Overflow into the courtroom, the town’s gymnasium and at the Camp Verde Unified School District’s Philip England Center,” then-Camp Verde Town Manager Ted Soltis said. “These options are available should future meetings require additional seating.”
“We have a fairly large council chambers and a low population,” Jerome Town Manager Brett Klein said. “SB1270 uses the word ‘anticipate,’ and if we anticipate a large turnout, we will seek other options including the fire department, old Jerome High School, etc.”
