Citizen's Coalition Forms

QUARTZSITE COUNCIL FACES ALLEGATIONS, ACCUSATIONS

23 DECEMBER 2009 -- QUARTZSITE'S embattled town council has gone essentially without oversight since Mayor Steve Bennett resigned his position in August of 2008, amidst allegations that he owed the town back taxes on various business ventures.

In a controversial move, Bennett’s tax issues were publicly discussed and evaluated, and the council ultimately refused to allow Bennett to work toward a resolution while making $5,000.00 payments each month to the town against whatever debt was ultimately proven to be owed.

Before leaving office, however, Bennett made his own allegations against the town‘s council -- complaining that there needed to be an independent audit of the town's financial records by a third party entity that had no history or involvement with the town. Further, he cited a series of interesting statistics -- among them, that the town was paying exorbitant engineering fees [$400,000.00 per year] that were obviously not in line with those being paid by other municipalities of the same size and structure.

In fact, Bennett stipulated that according to those he'd spoken with concerning the outlandish totals Quartzsite was paying that $50,000.00 would be much closer to a realistic figure, and more in line with similar towns.

It brought a wave of criticism against officials and then outrage -- and, in spite of Bennett’s departure, support for his position, as well as sympathy concerning his tax debt.

Bennett, elected via a write-in candidacy, had been a popular candidate, easily winning the Mayoral position via a structure established in Quartzsite during the reign of Richard Oldham.

During the period Oldham was in office, it was decided that it should be by a vote of the people that Quartzsite’s Mayors would be elected -- and that any councilperson wishing to run for the Mayoral office needed to first relinquish their council seat.

Interestingly, as Bennett left office, a strange series of actions on the part of the town council ignored these previously established protocols and the town’s officials embarked on a completely new and different endeavor.

With the Mayor’s position vacant, the council voted to allow the position to be filled by Vice Mayor Charles Busby as a Pro Tem Mayor. Busby took over that position until his death in November 2008.

However, at the time of Busby’s death, there had been no one yet appointed to fill the position Busby vacated when he took over as Pro Tem Mayor. Thus, Quartzsite was left in the very unusual position upon Busby’s death of having no Mayor and no Vice Mayor.

Thus, in a hotly contested move, Walter Akin was made ‘acting Mayor‘ by a vote of the council.

When Akin abruptly quit and moved away, he revealed -- with no explanation -- that the town was broke.

The position of ‘acting Mayor’ was again left vacant. This time, it was given -- again by the council -- to Wesley Huntley. By now, the consternation of the public was quite evident, with strong and vocal opposition being raised by those in attendance during open meetings.

Ed Foster, an active participant in the Citizen’s Coalition, began questioning the actions of Quartzsite’s officials.

“It all began with Bennett’s allegations,” stated Foster. “After all, how could any municipality afford to govern with such little regard for accountability in office -- especially in light of the disappearing funds over which there had already been questions raised?”

Foster, an engineer, began his own investigation. “Everywhere I looked, there were efforts to conceal rather than to deal with past indiscretions: and with every new issue serving only to compound the problems at hand, Quartzsite’s council’s issues were only growing more obvious -- and more grievous -- by the day,” he continued.

“Sooner or later, this entire thing was going to topple, leaving a town full of unhappy residents in its wake,” he said. “If enough damage is done, the town would likely be broke for a long time to come.“

“I decided to try to do something proactive to effect change and to counter the problems that have been plaguing the town now for some time.”

If Foster was surprised at the lack of proper handling of the town affairs, he was even more disappointed at the lack of receptiveness on the part of council members.

“I made every effort to present the issues that they needed to be addressing in order to again establish credibility on the part of the town’s councilmen,” Foster stated. “The issues were so glaring, so obvious that I thought they would want to repair the damage, especially in light of the public criticism they’d been encountering. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.”

Certainly, Quartzsite’s council meetings had been fraught with problems -- one deteriorating into absolute mayhem with angry exchanges between the councilmen themselves as well as negative commentary from members of the audience.

But when Foster attempted to bring to light the legitimate areas of concern as brought to him by members of the Citizens Coalition, he was rudely dismissed on more than one occasion during the Call to the Public portion of the meeting.

One of the longstanding complaints had been the hiring of town workers in spite of the financial issues already plaguing the town. Also at issue were concerns that people were being hired without the town properly advertising positions prior to filling them -- usually with people already employed by the town.

At the November 23, 2009 meeting, Foster questioned the town’s hiring of Magistrate Judge Terry Frausto to a new position as grant writer, Foster addressed the council during the ‘Call to the Public‘ portion of the meeting, after they had conducted all regular business.

Foster asked whether or not the position had been advertised. Acting Mayor Huntley avoided Foster‘s question, saying, “I don’t care to respond to you, sir.”

The town’s officials have been well aware of the growing dissatisfaction of council actions as well as the growing discord over the handling of the town’s affairs. Fully five of the sitting council members are holding positions to which they were not elected, with Wesley Huntley’s recall petition rejected only because of an overwritten digit in the date of the document.

Two of the town’s officials, Caroline Guthrie and William Moore, were effectively recalled at that time, with others narrowly missing the date margin for inclusion.

Councilman Hal Davidson resigned his position, citing an overall unwillingness to deal with real problems on the part of his fellow councilmen, and complaining about a lack of fiscal responsibility that has resulted in the dismal state of Quartzsite’s financial position.

A lack of accountability became increasingly obvious as Quartzsite’s council sought to silence rather than to satisfy the concerns of those present at council meetings.

While much fanfare had been given Bennett’s immediate move to drop the ‘3 Minute Limit’ on the time given spectators to respectfully address the council to bring forth concerns over the governing of the community, acting Mayor Walter Akin immediately moved to resume the ‘3 Minute Limit’ upon his appointment as well as move the Call to the Public to the end of the meeting instead of the beginning.

Rain Shanana Golden Bear, publisher of the Desert Messenger, had pleaded with the council to refrain from this action, while pointing out that very few municipalities the size of Quartzsite utilized such rules.

Her comments, too, were ignored as the council moved to immediately implement the restrictions.

One of the new two elected members of the council, Joe Winslow, pointed out that whatever has transpired in the past, the newer council members are not responsible. The council also encountered heavy criticism over the yearly retreat for council members. Touted as open to the public and welcoming public participation and input, it was repeatedly held in Laughlin, Nevada.

Citizens repeatedly complained that the meetings were prohibitively expensive as well as too far away to facilitate public participation. Repeatedly, the public requests went unheeded, and the meetings in Laughlin continued -- including those scheduled under the new administration.

Finally, Bennett’s vehement and repeated demands for an independent audit of the town’s financial records and an accounting of the existing balances was repeatedly blocked by the sitting council, only to result in Hal Davidson’s exiting statement, “The Town of Quartzsite is broke, broke, broke.”

“How -- and when -- was this allowed to occur?“ Foster asked. “Why were questions concerning Quartzsite’s solvency not raised by those in charge? By whom were efforts to restrict an independent audit actually accomplished -- and why?”

“The records show that when Oldham left office,” Foster continued, “There was no debt and over $300,000.00 in the town’s coffers. At that time, the town was in good standing. We were successful -- financially we were thriving.“

“What happened to those monies? Who was in charge? Who is responsible?,“ Foster reiterated. “We [our nation’s people] elect representatives to be our elected representatives -- not to block efforts by the public to make certain that the town’s resources are being adequately and responsibly managed.”

“Repeatedly,“ Foster stated, “The council’s official position has been, ‘We were elected to do this job.’ “But they’re elected to represent their constituents. A public office is a position of public trust -- not a private club.”

“After all,“ he concluded, “It’s not as if no one is watching.”

　　

　

9 DECEMBER 2009 -- The Town Council meetings in Quartzsite are drawing an increasing number of critics and detractors as the town's councilmen are openly accused of failing to properly manage the town's finances in the wake of a recent report that the town is broke.

Exiting councilman Hal Davidson abandoned his post as councilman and charged that little -- if anything -- had been done to prevent the mounting problems from becoming critical.

In several open letters and then during a statement to the council during the Call to the Public portion of the Council's meeting, Davidson challenged the handling of the town's budget and criticized the handling of budget deficits that were ultimately cited as the cause of the fiscal crisis now facing the town.

Accusations of mismanagement have been plaguing the town since Steve Bennett's brief term as Mayor resulted in an open condemnation by Bennett against the sitting council for allowing literally hundreds of thousands of dollars to be paid out under the guise of 'engineering fees' without proper oversight, bringing the down to the brink of financial ruin.

Bennett has charged that certain officials retaliated by attempting to discredit him using a tax debt that he says was never proven. He is not alone in his quest for a hearing under a higher authority, and others are challenging Quartzsite's methodology in attempting to pull the town out of a financial tailspin caused by mismanagement by acting officials rather than any real tax deficit issues.

"There are people wanting to come here that represent real tax dollars. Their questions aren't even responded to," Foster stated.

"They barely call them back at all and if they do, it's not with any real answers. They're creating a greater financial crisis with their inability to tend to business."

Davidson agrees. [Click for Davidson's Statement]

Both Bennett and Roth are new candidates for office that are citing mismanagement of the town by the town's officials as a platform in their candidacy. It is a platform that has gained widespread support as organizers have sought to review and revise many of the current positions held under Quartzsite's common council.

At this point, that council of seven contains five posts to which the current holders were not elected to hold, yet another point of contention between the townspeople and its sitting council.

Last year, an effort to recall several councilmen resulted in the recall of two, with a recall effort against acting Mayor Wesley Huntley blocked when the town attorney indicated a date was changed on the paperwork, negating the petition naming Huntley.

The time element then prevented Huntley's recall going forward -- and Huntley is now running for Mayor without relinquishing his seat on the council as is required under the Town Statutes.

That Quartzsite is a battlefield of differing opinions has long been known. That aside, the current issues facing the town are threatening its very survival.

Abandoned are most of the projects and promotions that made Quartzsite virtually famous as an RV lover's paradise -- and the damage is tantamount to irreversible. Advertisements are no longer placed, stories that once regularly publicized the activities and shows Quartzsite became known for have been dropped from circulation.

Nationally recognized online RV aficionados with large followings have gone on the record with open criticism of Quartzsite, recommending people not come.

Not surprisingly, many vendors complain that the town is 'drying up' and that 'infighting over points of control' have prevented the town from tending to business while they pontificate over matters that should never have been mishandled had proper oversight been accomplished.

The blocking of a proper and independent audit has even caused Quartzsite's financial management to be questioned by those in control of monies that could have been utilized to help Quartzsite weather the economical storm that was approaching.

Now, too late to prevent a financial catastrophe, Quartzsite has little choice but to allow the audit and let the chips fall where they may before bigger and more damaging issues are raised.

23 NOVEMBER 2009 -- The Town Council met in Quartzsite to an unusually large turn out to discuss the financial issues plaguing the town.

Exiting councilman, Hal Davidson, brought renewed understanding and, thus, new interest to the issue when he exited his office, stating, "Quartzsite is broke, broke, broke."

"How did that happen -- and when?" Mayoral candidate Ed Foster asked.

As director of the Citizen's Coalition, Foster has established a strong following, spurred further by Foster's penchant for asking officials in charge the tougher questions.

Among the issues Foster has raised is that of seven individuals holding positions on the council, five are in positions to which they were not officially elected. He has demanded the council back and repair the improper appointments and go forward with an eye towards proper procedure.

Now, with the town's financial condition a top issue, residents are concerned that they will be expected to pay more to alleviate problems created under a council that has ethical issues of its own.

Complicating the matter further, the state has notified municipalities that they will be cutting spending on towns and cities 25-35%. This figure represents a significant downturn in terms of state support, a situation that will require even stronger efforts to offset losses.

"That's just this year," Foster stated, "There will be larger deficits next year and that's projected to be far worse."

"Quartzsite's increases in water and sewer rates cannot generate the necessary revenue to alleviate this situation," Foster said.

"By the time the engineering fees are charged and the improvements made, it will likely do little more than break even -- if that."

When Foster attempted to challenge the hiring of Magistrate Judge Terry Frausto as a paid grant writer for the town without having advertised the position, acting Mayor Wesley Huntley advised that he did not believe positions had to be advertised if they were 'filling them from within.'

Foster immediately countered, "Is she being paid additional money?"

Town attorney Pamela Walsma interjected a comment directed towards Huntley indicating the acting Mayor did not have to respond to Foster's questions.

Huntley then dismissed Foster, saying, "I don't care to respond to you, sir."

Groans could be heard throughout the audience. VIDEO HERE.

There are six candidates for the Mayor's seat [election scheduled for March 2010] and many residents are watching as the town contends with these newly discovered issues.

Even meetings to discus the water and sewer rate increases have generated a higher than normal number of attendees.

With business revenues down, Quartzsite has been involved in a series of audits that are being challenged by those under fire. In difficult financial times, they contend, there are better solutions than to go back and tap, again, those who have been paying their taxes all along.

Quartzsite's council has been charged for over a year with blocking an independent audit of their own books, an issue brought by Steve Bennett during his brief reign as Mayor.

While Bennett resigned his seat, the interest in understanding the issues that have brought Quartzsite to the brink of financial ruin continue to be of primary concern.

"How did we get here?" Foster asked. "In the past, when Oldham left his seat as Mayor, there was over $300,000.00 in the town coffers with no debt whatsoever. What happened?"

Hal Davidson concurred.

"If the current Mayor and council does not do something soon, like taking a look at the cost saving measures I've suggested as well as the other ideas that are out there, they will not be re-elected," Davidson stated.

"The people will no longer stand for a government that won't listen -- so now it is up to them to start listening to the voice of the people," he concluded.

17 AUGUST 2008 -- The Citizen's Coalition in Quartzsite is working for change -- but they want people to know it's not about fighting for control or exercising power.

"We are a group of concerned citizens," explained facilitator Dean Taylor. "I've been involved in other communities where change was imminent: this is just another of those times in which people have lost the ability to work together. It can improve! It can be fixed!"

The group is currently working on developing a website to keep the public apprised of what's happening within the coalition, an organization open to the public that holds publicly advertised meetings and wants everyone that's interested to participate.

The forum allows different people to facilitate meetings, with no one person in charge of the organization or its membership.

They are members of the Quartzsite Chamber of Commerce so are able to reach new members via advertising through the Chamber as well as by word of mouth.

"It's purely interested in helping businesspeople and citizens work toward a better relationship with the town's officials -- something that's not happening now," Taylor continued.

"We need to work toward change. Right now, many people feel alienated and -- basically -- unrepresented by the town, while still required to meet the requirements of citizenship here. We'd like to see that relationship improved." Taylor concluded.

The History

Town Manager/Town Attorney Dan Field requested permission to attend and address the first public meeting of the Citizen's Coalition group.

At that meeting, both Field and then-Mayor Steve Bennett addressed the group, indicating that the primary focus of the town was the town's sewer system, which did not meet the new ADEQ [Arizona Department of Environmental Quality] requirements.

Accused of being lax in moving forward with ADEQ's requirements, the town was now at grave risk of finding themselves forced into a moratorium on allowing new hook-ups. [Whether this pertained to business or residential hook-ups remained unclear.]

Field indicated that until this issue was addressed, there were few changes that could be facilitated by the town, in particular the contention that the Town of Quartzsite was paying an exorbitant sum to the Holt Group, an engineering firm.

Steve Bennett, as he took office May 21, 2008, discovered that the town's estimated $400,000 in fees to the Holt Group was not in line with what other municipalities were paying for engineering fees, and questioned the amount.

In fact, Bennett's research showed that, typically, a town the size of Quartzsite would pay no more than $50,000.00 per year in engineering fees.

Bennett brought the matter before the council and asked that other engineering firms be considered.

The suggestion died when no councilman would make a motion to further consider Bennett's recommendation.

Bennett also questioned other aspects of the town's financial condition. He proposed Lisa Lombard LLC of Phoenix be brought in to evaluate the books and audit the town's records.

Again, when Bennett made the proposal in an open meeting, not one council member would make the necessary motion for the matter to be opened for consideration.

"That one's dead, too," Bennett stated.

Bennett had also requested the town reconsider the current status of Daniel G. Field holding two key positions within the town's governmental structure -- that of Town Attorney and Town Manager -- simultaneously.

Bennett suggested the council vote to allow the advertising of the Town Attorney position.

Though it passed, Bennett indicated the advertisement was never placed. Bennett further indicated the advertisement was effectively prevented.

Over the next two weeks, Bennett's own financial situation was addressed by the council with the town alleging that Bennett owed the town $170,000.00 in back taxes.

Bennett suggested he be allowed to pay $5,000.00 per month while working with attorneys and tax specialists to establish the validity of the debt and develop a plan to pay any monies owed the town.

The council, voting without Bennett returning to his Mayoral position that evening, refused Bennett's $5,000.00/mo. $60,000.00/year offer.

Two days later, Bennett relinquished his position on the council and resigned.

In a special session held September 16, 2008, Dan Taylor reported the town's council voted to award a $4,000,000.00 contract to another engineering firm to develop the sewer system. It was unclear whether the council had advertised for competing bids on the project.

For further information on Citizen's Coalition meetings, visit their website. CITIZENSCOALITIONONLINE.COM

Citizen's Coalition Forms When politics are a problem, citizens often step up to change things. That's what appears to be in the works as citizens and businesspeople involved in Quartzsite form a new watch group.

The Citizen's Coalition held its first meeting August 11, and is planning regular meetings -- the next to be held at Janet's Kitchen on Main Street, August 25th. One stated objective is to review several issues recently brought before the Town Council as areas of concern, that were not chosen to be addressed.

The group's leaders have indicated they are simply hoping the council will ultimately show themselves to be more responsive to the needs of the community and less reluctant to act favorably towards the concerns and suggestions of their constituents.

As residents and business owners have consistently complained of apathy on the part of the council, tensions have grown, causing several town meetings to become public forums for the addressing of grievances as citizens and business owners have stepped forward to complain.

One such issue concerned the intention of the council to continue holding planning meetings in Laughlin, a sizeable distance from Quartzsite that was widely criticized for creating an environment in which citizens could not easily participate. In spite of wide opposition, the council reiterated its intention to meet in Laughlin.

Many see the election of Steve Bennett, a prominent Quartzsite builder, as a beacon for change.

Bennett encountered many problems establishing his candidacy as another candidate sought to prevent him from entering the election. Then, despite publicly disseminated documentation designed to discredit him and prevent his election, Bennett easily prevailed, winning the position of Mayor by a wide margin.

In the council meetings held since his election in May, Bennett's efforts to open dialog with the council concerning several key issues have been thwarted.

One such matter brought for consideration was a request for an independent audit of the town's financial records. Another was a recommendation by Bennett to open bids for an engineering firm to make certain the high engineering costs borne by the town are in keeping with those of similar sized municipalities. The new budget allocates $400,000 in engineering fees to the Holt Group.