Sedona council votes to move presiding magistrate interviews into executive session after public-access debate

The Sedona City Council voted to convene an executive session to interview candidates for the presiding magistrate position after a brief but pointed debate over whether the interviews should be held publicly.

Mayor Jablow introduced Item 3 and said the council could meet in executive session under "ARS 30 eight-431.03(1)" to discuss candidate applications and potential interviews. The mayor named the candidates slated for possible interviews as Mark Roy, Richard Shear, Nicole Countryman and Danielle Dulaney.

Councilor Pete Fuhrman urged colleagues not to use executive session for the interviews, saying the candidates’ names and the questions were already public and that constituents could benefit from hearing the exchanges. "I would once again like to jump up on my soapbox here and implore my fellow council members to think about topics like this, about whether we really need to be in executive session for these interviews," Fuhrman said, and added he would "be voting no on the motion to convene to executive session today."

Another councilor said they had discussed the matter with Fuhrman and would be willing to conduct the interviews publicly but would go along with whatever the majority decided. The council then called the question; the mayor asked those in favor to say "aye" and those opposed to respond, after which the tally included two opposed and the motion carried.

Following the vote the council entered executive session. When returning to public session, council members and staff noted that no further formal motion was required and the meeting was adjourned; a return time of 04:30 was mentioned.

The council did not take a publicly recorded vote on any appointment during the portion of the meeting in the public record; the action recorded in the public portion was only the vote to convene the executive session.