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Residents urge Yavapai supervisors to adopt sex‑based restroom policy; board moves to executive session after public comment
Summary
During call to the public, multiple residents urged the Board of Supervisors to require restroom access in county buildings based on biological sex and to limit shared multi‑stall women’s restrooms; the board convened an executive session after the public comments and returned without taking public action.
Several residents used the board’s call‑to‑the‑public period on Sept. 3 to urge Yavapai County supervisors to adopt a restroom policy requiring use based on biological sex and to protect women’s privacy in multi‑stall facilities.
Deborah Seggler told the board she viewed the issue as a privacy concern and recommended single‑user restrooms with locks: "A door. A door that locks. A door that locks," she said, urging the county to provide private options rather than shared multi‑stall spaces. Noelle/Noel Pullen, Krista Echol and William Searle each urged board action to protect females’ privacy in county restrooms and asked whether county HR had authority to change restroom access policies for employees.
Pullen asked whether a new single‑user restroom being constructed at the development services building would be an accommodation for transgender people or a way to preserve women’s separate space. "It seems to me that it would only make sense that those with special accommodations would use a single user restroom rather than having women forfeit their right to male‑free spaces," Pullen said.
William Searle urged the board to enact an ordinance or policy requiring restroom use according to biological sex and asked whether HR had implemented a change for employees without the board’s direction. He said such policies, he argued, are needed to protect privacy and survivors of violence.
Board Chair Mallory moved to convene an executive session after the public comments. The board voted to enter executive session; when the board returned it announced it would take no public action before adjourning.
