I’d like to give you an update on some of the issues and projects that will soon be before us.
On Dec. 17, Councilmembers Anthony Garcia and David Spence were sworn in and joined the Flagstaff City Council and, as the highest vote getter, Miranda Sweet was selected as Vice Mayor. I’m eager to get to know our new councilmembers better and look forward to continuing to work well together as a City Council.
I’d like to give you an update on some of the issues and projects that will soon be before us. At our first meeting in 2025, we’ll be discussing our state and federal legislative priorities. These guide council and staff when discussing our priorities and needs with our state and federal elected officials. These priorities always include water, forest health, transportation, clean energy, affordable housing, and regulating Short Term Rentals (STRs).
We aggressively advocate and seek funding for many of the city’s needs such as flood mitigation, forest health, transportation, low-income housing tax credits, and housing grants of all kinds. Each year we visit with our legislators to describe what STR proliferation has done to some of our neighborhoods and to request more local control and authority over STRs. The city is a member of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and I’m part of the Greater Arizona Mayors Association, and both prioritize local control of STRs.
I think many readers will be interested in the update and discussion the council will have about the city’s Land Availability and Suitability Study and the Code Analysis Project (LASS+CAP). They’re scheduled to be discussed on Jan. 14. For more than a year, staff has been inventorying underutilized and vacant land throughout the city to understand what land is available for a variety of uses.
The CAP analyzes codes to identify what works well and where current codes keep our community from meeting our housing and sustainability goals. The outcome will identify priority sites for residential development and recommend code changes. There will be many opportunities for public input, and I encourage readers to become familiar with this effort. Draft reports of both efforts are available on the city’s website.
The City Council will make several appointments to boards and commissions in the coming months. These volunteers do important work and are immensely helpful in public outreach, consideration of issues and policies, and in making recommendations to the City Council. Most commissions meet once a month and you can find more information about their work on the city’s website.
The city clerk maintains a working calendar of items that are expected to be on upcoming City Council meeting agendas and links to that calendar plus city council agendas and even a way to sign up to get notified when a new agenda is posted. This information also can be found on the city’s website.
You can find biography and contact information for the mayor and city council on our pages and my weekly schedule is posted on my biography page. If you email council@flagstaffaz.gov, your email goes to each councilmember as well as some members of staff.
Responding to residents’ emails is a priority for me, but when the volume is especially high, it can take me longer than I would like. I want to hear from you, so please do reach out anytime you have a question or a concern. FBN
By Becky Daggett
Becky Daggett is the mayor of Flagstaff.