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Sedona council debates how to weight parks, shared‑use paths and transit amenities in new CIP matrix
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Summary
Councilors pressed staff to ensure parks projects and long‑standing items (like Posse Grounds restrooms and concession facilities) are not deprioritized by a risk‑weighted matrix; staff proposed adding ‘obsolescence’ or adjusting weighting and set a placeholder of $150,000 for SUP amenities (benches/shade) in FY27.
Council members used Wednesday’s work session to press staff on the effect the new priority‑ranking matrix could have on parks projects and transit amenities, saying some long‑standing community items risk being repeatedly deferred if the scoring emphasizes immediate regulatory or failure risk.
Mayor Ploog and other councilors said projects such as the Posse Grounds concessions/restroom building have been on the list for many years and should receive higher priority or a separate consideration so they do not languish indefinitely. “It’s been on the list probably for 10 years,” the mayor observed when discussing Posse Grounds, noting parks work sometimes gets a lower score under a purely safety‑oriented rubric.
Staff offered options and examples Deputy City Manager Barbara Whitehorn and Sterling West outlined alternatives: add a specific obsolescence or replacement category, allow overlap between priority categories, or treat readiness and outside funding as feasibility factors rather than as the primary driver of rank. “We could include that as how many years has this been on the list that we haven't considered,” Whitehorn said, proposing staff return with language or scoring to capture long‑deferred items.
Councilor discussion on weighting Multiple councilors urged a weighting mechanism so council priorities (community, housing, mobility, economic diversity) meaningfully influence final rankings. One councilor warned that outside funding should inform feasibility but not automatically demote a project’s core priority. Another suggested allowing some projects to be evaluated under alternate criteria so parks projects are not always compared apples‑to‑oranges against police or wastewater projects.
Transit amenities and bus shelters Councilors also pressed staff on bus‑stop improvements and transit rider amenities. Staff said the CIP includes a design and pull‑out program for State Route 89 and other corridors and that a placeholder project (SIM 11 11, labeled SUP amenities) was set at $150,000 for FY27 to support benches and shade structures; staff said the amount could increase. A councilor argued that estimates should be adjusted upward to incorporate shelters and heat‑mitigation needs for riders.
What was decided No final change to the scoring matrix was adopted Wednesday. Staff said they would update the materials and said changing readiness or core‑priority scores can move items between tiers; staff offered to work offline with council champions to refine the matrix and return with revised language and visuals.
Context and next steps Staff emphasized the session was a formative, interactive review; the SUP matrix and the revised priority rankings will be presented again during April work sessions and refined through the Citizens Budget Work Group and city‑manager review. Councilors asked staff to show percentages and visual cues in future slides to make tradeoffs easier to assess.
— Reporting in this article is based on the Feb. 11 City of Sedona council work session transcript.
