Residents urge nondiscrimination language in Prescott's 2025 general plan; council schedules special meeting

Mayor Pro Tem Cantelli announced on June 10 that the Prescott City Council will hold a special meeting on Thursday, June 12 at 9:30 a.m. in City Council Chambers to discuss the 2025 general plan. The meeting will be available in person and via City of Prescott online channels, Cantelli said.

During the open call to the public, Dr. Janice Creed, identifying herself as a member of the MLK Committee, urged the council to include a nondiscrimination statement in the general plan. Crediting the plan's existing vision statement that calls Prescott "everybody's hometown," Creed said that nondiscrimination language affirms a community's values and counters stigma. "If we're 1 nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all in everybody's hometown, I think that that language is the least we can have in our general plan," Creed said.

Creed addressed several objections she said had been raised: that nondiscrimination language does not belong in a land-use document and that including it could threaten federal funding. She told council that the general plan is about the future the community wants to see and that language about people belongs in the plan because "people are part of the land, and the land is part of the people." She also said she has observed growing support and that public comments have favored the language over time.

The council did not vote on the nondiscrimination language during the June 10 meeting; the item is scheduled for further discussion at the June 12 special session on the general plan.