The Cottonwood City Council discussed a draft code of conduct on Tuesday, Dec. 10, before hearing a report on this year’s Thunder Valley Rally from Parks and Recreation and Library Director Jak Teel.
Code of Conduct
The council previously declined to adopt a code of conduct by a 4-3 vote on Dec. 19, 2023, but requested this November that the concept be revisited.
After Councilwoman Felicia Coates wanted to discuss the procedures for handling violations, interim City Manager Tom Whitmer explained that because the council are elected officials, the maximum punishment some council members can impose on another is a resolution of censure; they cannot remove a member or prevent them from participating in meetings. Whitmer suggested Cottonwood examine the disciplinary procedures used by other cities.
Attorney John Gaylord clarified that the council can fill an empty seat but cannot remove a member and described the code as an accountability tool. “We should be doing this on our own,” Councilman Stephen DeWillis said. “We shouldn’t need to have this, but I do agree there should be something in writing.”
DeWillis had initially asked for the item at the December 2023 meeting before voting against it, along with former council members Lisa DuVernay, Michael Mathews and Derek Palosaari, who had been investigated by the city for harassing at least six female staffers. DuVernay and Mathews were defeated in the Nov. 5 election. Palosaari did not run and instead sued the city.
Councilman Bob Marks compared the code to a tool kit that provides tools without telling the user how to use them.
Gaylord suggested the council might consider establishing rules of procedure to work in tandem with a code of conduct, as the council currently has neither. Rules of procedure would cover the conduct of meetings, such as how to handle a vote if a council member abstained — in some jurisdictions, an abstention is counted as a “no” when tallying votes, while in others, it is not counted at all.
Whitmer indicated that city staff would present a revised draft of the code of conduct at a future meeting that would include a process for handling violations of the code.
Thunder Valley Rally
During Teel’s annual review of and financial presentation on the outcome of Thunder Valley Rally, he sought council’s direction for next year’s event. Teel said that this year’s Thunder Valley Rally had faced problems including political red tape, a late start and an alienated target market after the previous council elected in March 2024 to rebrand the event to make it more “community-oriented” and less focused on motorcycles. Teel noted that some of the comments made during those meetings did not win the city any goodwill among their target market and led to a loss of trust with the motorcycle community.
For next year’s event, Teel said, the city could keep the event unchanged, change the music, hold it on one day only, change the venue, continue with the rebranding or use the funding for more smaller events. He suggested changing the name if the council decides to continue with the rebranding because TVR is seen to be synonymous with motorcycles.
For comparison, Teel said, TVR costs $180,000 while Walkin’ on Main in November cost $15,000; adding more small events could happen throughout the year if council pursued that route. Teel also commented that there are no obvious missing gaps to be filled with unserved activities in the Verde Valley’s calendar of events.
“The income for the city has never been the big driver in this,” Mayor Ann Shaw said. “It’s really about bringing people into the region to eat at Vinnie’s Pizza or stay at the Little Daisy Motel … and bring revenue into the city itself.” She said she did not see anything wrong with the rebranded event and recommended the city try once more to make it work and that the city cancel it if it proves unsuccessful. DeWillis said he had been involved in the event since 2000 and was in favor of keeping it going.
Marks expressed concern over the loss of revenue at recent Rallys and asked Teel if he saw a path to get revenue numbers back to levels before the COVID-19 pandemic response of 2020.
Teel explained that the Rally is challenged in part by staff having to fight public perception every year that the event will be canceled by the council, and said that council should commit to the event on a multi-year basis to assist with public confidence and in securing sponsorships. When the previous council decided to rebrand the event and deemphasize motorcycles, Indian Motorcycles dropped their sponsorship and the Law Tigers reduced theirs by $15,000. When the city took a year off to rebrand Old Town Music & The Market, Teel said it took three years to get attendance back to previous levels.
With regard to the available venues, Teel said that Riverfront Park would be the best option to avoid community disruption, while the Cottonwood Kids’ Park would provide the best logistics, given its large and easily-accessible parking lot. If the Rally were returned to Old Town, that location would be most likely to draw the highest number of attendees.
While he said he favored returning the event to Old Town, Teel also argued it would present challenges for residents and business who had to adapt to the weekend, but the estimated attendance would be highest. Of the three options, Teel said he saw Riverfront Park as the best option because it put community concerns first.
Teel also said that the council would have to decide if the Rally will continue to be a motorcycle event or not and pointed out that the addition of a hot rod show to the last TVR offended many attendees. He recommended the Rally remain a two-day event if council wanted to retain the motorcycle theme, as the additional cost is minimal and two-day events are more attractive to vendors and exhibitors.
Shaw and Councilwoman Felicia Coates spoke in favor of keeping the Rally focused on motorcycles. Whitmer recommended that council avoid looking at the last TVR as representative of what the event has been or what it could be, as the former council was very divided over whether or not to continue it or reducing it.
Councilman Chris Dowell asked Financial Services Manager Kirsten Lennon if the city could handle another deficit from the Rally, and Lennon, noting that this year’s event was an outlier, said that the city’s budget could cover it in the hope of eventually reducing its funding contribution to around $12,000 if the Rally’s popularity returns.
Council expressed consensus on abandoning the rebranding and retaining the Rally’s motorcycle theme.
