Several voters have voiced concerns that a Cottonwood City Council candidate’s residency is not within city limits and have questioned her legal eligibility to run for office, prompting a investigation by the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
On her nomination papers, Holly Grigaitis listed her “actual residence address” as 17 N. 14th St. No. 3, Cottonwood, a mobile home owned by Kenzie Properties LLC, for which she is listed as a manager, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission, but gave her mailing address as 12250 E. Serenity Lane in Cornville — approximately four miles east of Cottonwood and outside city limits — which is the location of a property she has owned since 2007, and which is also listed as the address of her other business, Options & Opportunities.
H.-Grigaitis-Nomination-and-StatementThe ACC lists Grigaitis and Kenneth Svercl as co-managers of Kenzie Properties LLC, who both reside at 12250 E. Serenity Lane in Cornville.
A Cottonwood Journal Extra reporter visited 17 14th St. No. 3 and spoke on video to a tenant at that address, who confirmed that Grigaitis does not live there and that the tenant is renting from “Ken.”
When asked numerous times via phone on April 25 whether she lived on 14th Street in Cottonwood or on Serenity Lane in Cornville, which Grigaitis had listed on her form as being correct, under penalty of perjury, she refused to answer.
“I don’t think where I live is any of your business,” Grigaitis said. “Go look up what the definition of residence is.” Grigaitis subsequently hung up without answering the residency question.
According to the Arizona Secretary of State, a “residential address” is “where you live.”
Grigaitis is also listed as director, shareholder, president/CEO, secretary and treasurer of Holly L. Grigaitis P.C., with Svercl listed as vice president. Five of the six entries in the ACC documents give their registered address as the residence at 12250 E. Serenity Lane in Cornville [the shareholder has no address listed].
When contacted a second time, Grigaitis said, “I’m doing other things,” and in response to a repeated question as to whether she lives in Cottonwood or Cornville, she again refused to answer.
She subsequently wrote via email that she was “happy to speak to the press” but again refused to answer the question.
Arizona Revised Statute §16-311 states that “a candidate for public office shall be a qualified elector at the time of filing and shall reside in the county, district or precinct that the person proposes to represent,” with ARS §16-121.2 clarifying that the registration address of a qualified elector is “the place at which the registrant is a resident.”
The Cottonwood City Clerk’s Office rules for running for office states that a candidate must be a “qualified elector” at the time of filing nomination papers.
Grigaitis filed her statement of interest paperwork on Feb. 2 and her declaration of qualification paperwork on March 29. According to voter records, Grigaitis changed her voting address to 17 N. 14th St. No. 3 on March 4, 25 days before turning in her paperwork, but still has her mailing address listed as the Cornville house.
According to the city of Cottonwood, a candidate “must be a qualified elector at the time of filing nomination paper,” with “qualifying elector” defined as “a person who is properly registered to vote in the state of Arizona and, specifically, the city of Cottonwood by meeting all the following qualifications:
“United States citizenship; be 18 years or more on or before the regular general election next following the individual’s registration; state residency for a period of 29 days prior to elections; ability to write one’s own name or make one’s own mark unless prevented by physical disability; has not been convicted of treason or a felony unless civil rights have been restored; has not been adjudicated an ‘incapacitated person’ by a court with their voting rights revoked as defined in section A.R.S. §14-5101.”
City-specific qualifications require that a candidate “be 18 years or more on or before the time of filing of the nomination papers,” have the “ability to speak, write and read the English language” and have “city residency for a period of one year preceding the date of the election,” which is July 30, 2023 for the July 30, 2024 election.
