This is a part of a series of Cottonwood City Council candidate essays that will be published prior to the election on Tuesday, Aug. 28.
I have been a resident of the incorporated city of Cottonwood for over 30 years. I relocated here to raise my children in a small town environment. I am the mother of six, two boys and four girls, all grown and making their own lives. I have been married to my husband, Jim Allen, for almost 22 years.
We also have three oversized fur babies which are all rescues. As my children grew, I told my husband I get a dog for each child that leaves the nest. Fortunately for him, I decided three was good enough.
I retired from the city in 2015 in hopes to more seriously devote time to my personal business, however six months later, when three council members stepped down from the council at the same time, the city needed to appoint two citizens to fill the vacancies.
Feeling my experience and ability to hit the ground running would be of benefit, I applied and was the top-scoring candidate. I am filling out the remainder of what was now Mayor Tim Elinski’s former council seat.
I am currently serving on the Verde Valley Leadership Board of Directors, getting ready to begin its 13th year, and am a graduate of Class III. I also serve the Verde Valley Military Service Park Committee, and the Northern Arizona Professional Women’s Group Board of Directors as vice president. I will serve as president in 2019.
I also participate on the Arizona League of Cities and Towns Public Safety, Military Affairs and Courts Policy Committee, which assists in developing legislative policy on those topics; and the Northern Arizona Council of Governments’ Area Agency on Aging, which provides information on resources, services and advocacy for seniors. Having served in numerous departments within the city as well as having volunteered on countless boards and committees, provides me with the rare viewpoint and additional knowledge needed to work seamlessly with citizens and staff. It also enables me to see where improvements are needed.
A policy I would personally like to focus on is our current committee/ commission process. I believe most communities in Arizona are struggling with the same issue of trying to fill the boards and committees with volunteers needed to assist the City Council in making policy decisions. Most boards have a four-year commitment period and often, that is just too long.
I am interested in initiating a Citizen Engagement Program, similar to many throughout Arizona but fairly recently instituted by Sedona. This process allows citizens and their interests to be put into a database and when an issue comes before council, we can draw from that database and have a volunteer committee formed to tackle the issue.
Some events might need a commitment of only one or two meetings, others, for example, a Citizen’s Budget Committee might require a six-month commitment.
Once the issue is addressed, the committee members would be released until the next time an issue they are interested in presents itself.
One of the great outcomes of this process would be the ability for more local residents to participate. Right now, participation from citizens outside the incorporated city boundary is typically limited to one individual per committee/commission, if any, yet there are many individuals outside the city that have much to offer, and this will allow their participation and perspective.
Finally, I feel my qualifications for representing our citizens on the City Council are many, with some very clear cut reasons why voting for me is in our residents’ best interest.
In Cottonwood alone, I have had the experience of working with at least four police chiefs, three city managers, two finance directors and recreation managers and many, many employees. My ability to work well with all these personalities as well as the general public and our business owners is invaluable.
In serving on the PSMPC mentioned earlier, I have the experience to effect change on a legislative level. I also have experience in what does and doesn’t work for our community on a local level. For example, some years ago it was decided the park behind City Hall would no longer allow dogs. Our citizens were very unhappy with that decision, it didn’t work and dogs once more were welcome. A very little thing, but important to our residents.
It is this type of professional and personal historic knowledge and experience, encountering what was — and is — important to our citizens and community, that will best our serve residents in the upcoming years.
–Kyla Allen
