If the Tuesday, July 30, primary election showed anything, it’s that Cottonwood voters wanted a clean slate and a fresh start.
Candidate Ann Shaw handily defeated Michael Mathews to become Cottonwood’s mayor-elect and will replace outgoing Mayor Tim Elinski in November.
The election demonstrated that Cottonwood voters are tired of the pettiness and divisiveness of the last year and a half. Knowing that Mathews would merely provide more of the same, they kicked him to the curb and sent him packing.
Mathews had only been appointed in December after a tumultuous six months, but after experiencing him in office for seven months, Cottonwood voters could stomach no more.
Rather than acting as a stabilizing force on the council due to his previous service as a councilman and vice mayor, Mathews instead only intensified the division, forcing out and effectively firing Cottonwood’s extremely capable, personable and talented City Manager Scott Douglass; refusing to condemn Councilman Derek Palosaari for his alleged sexual harassment against female city staffers; delaying the ministerial function of setting a recall election date by not attending City Council meetings — three times — thereby denying a quorum and pushing back the recall election for his ally, Councilwoman Lisa DuVernay, from July to November; and leading an effort to censure the very popular Elinski — not for any of Elinski’s actions but because DuVernay was bitter at the mayor because she didn’t know the legal method for adding items to a council meeting agenda.
Cottonwood voters saw Mathews’ actions in totality and refused to reward him with the mayor’s seat. He is now set to depart the council in November. The electorate is simply done with his failed brand of “leadership.”
Joining Shaw on council will be Bob Marks and Felicia Coates, who appear dedicated to the proposition that municipal governments should be dispassionate, effective, rational and respectful. If the final vote tallies remain consistent with the current numbers, Joy Mosley and Lindsey Masten will head to a runoff in November for the third seat to replace the aforementioned Palosaari, who will depart the council in November, as he chose not to run due to … reasons.
DuVernay faces a recall election in November. No candidate has been selected to unseat her, but any of the candidates from Cottonwood who ran would make an excellent choice, and we encourage them to consider having a second go at her seat. If the primary results were any indication, the councilwoman’s days in office are numbered.
Councilwoman Helaine Kurot was also ousted, a somewhat surprising result. It could be that the electorate simply wanted a clean slate from top to bottom.
Voters may have rejected her because Kurot was the deciding vote to approve Mathews’ appointment to council after being misled that he would recuse himself from any discussions involving fired Cottonwood Police Chief Steve Gesell, a Mathews ally suing the city for wrongful termination. While no one council member can be blamed for the actions of another, it appears voters may have thought differently.
It’s no surprise that Holly Grigaitis came in dead last, given her alleged residency outside city limits that likely would have made her ineligible to serve and her toxic interactions with residents on social media.
Conversely, the voters in Clarkdale, Camp Verde and Jerome rewarded their officials with reelection.
Robin Prud’homme-Bauer was reelected as Clarkdale mayor, to be joined by Marney Babbitt-Pierce, continuing the headaches for newspaper editors who have to figure out clever page designs to get their long, hyphenated surnames into future headlines. As of press time, Debbie Hunseder is currently in the lead for the remaining Clarkdale council seat and will most likely be reelected, but she and challenger Nathan Porter have seesawed back and forth as late votes are being counted.
In Camp Verde, voters reelected Dee Jenkins to a third term, who defeated former mayor Charlie German for a second time.
Both Jenkins and German congratulated each other on a spirited race and German, ever the gentleman we all know he is, thanked voters for the opportunity to serve, only lamenting that voter turnout was so low. The only bad thing we can say about this race is that it’s unfortunate Jenkins and German cannot both serve.
The Camp Verde race resulted in no outright winners, meaning six of the 10 candidates will head to a November runoff for three seats on council. Both incumbents who ran, Jessie Murdoch and Jackie Baker, are among the six, with Murdoch coming within a hair’s breadth of winning outright. A six-candidate race will be easier to decide than a 10-candidate battle royale.
In Jerome, the status quo will continue, as three candidates running won reelection and Mayor “Alex” Barber will be most likely to serve as mayor again.
