Big Park Council Meeting Highlights Aug. 10

Guest Speaker: Randy Hawley, president of the Board of the Sedona Oak Creek Unified School District (SOCUSD) reported that new Superintendent of School Tom Swaninger started 7/24 and all staff returned on 7/31. Heather Isom is the new principal and George Gleason is assistant principal. The school is offering athletes their required physicals for free. All classes from last year remain and American Sign Language and a class for students with limited English skills have been added. 110 new students enrolled. All after-school programs remain the same. Free pre-school and day care are offered as a community service. School Board President Hawley can be reached at hawley@sedonak12.org

 Business Meeting

John Wichert called the meeting to order at 9:22am with a quorum of 15 Member Organizations and 13 guests present. 

President’s Report:

John expressed appreciation and thankfulness for new volunteers stepping up, acknowledging new APS subcommittee member Mark Matousek. He then reported that the trifold brochures prepared for Realtors are being distributed by the Membership committee. Dennis Bauman noted that the response from Coldwell Banker was extremely positive, and that BPC has been invited to their general meeting in September to help their agents better understand the Big Park Council and its role in the community.

Unfinished Business:

APS Powerline legal research fund raising: David Gill reported on behalf of the Sedona Village Partnership (SVP) announcing a matching grant for contributions to the legal research fund. See details in the separate President’s Report in the Villager.

Revision to Yavapai County Ordinance to include Noise: To help move this proposal ahead, Mary Morris offered to get in touch with Planning & Development Director Jeremy Dye introducing Susan Barber to him, and Dave Norton will provide information on his YC P&D contact for ordinance revisions.

New Business:

Nominating Committee: John explained that Treasurer Patty Reski and Secretary Mary Pope are available to serve one additional term and shared the reasons he would not be able to continue to serve as President for another term. He would be a very active Immediate Past President and remain a member of the APS Transmission line sub-committee. Colleen Hinds would like someone else to step up to the Vice President’s position due to work commitments. Dave Norton and Gay Chanler volunteered to form the Nominating Committee and one more member/chair is needed. The committee serves from August to October, spending about 12-16 hours each in total with meetings and phone calls. John asked Representatives if they knew of anyone within their communities to serve to please speak with them and get back to him asap.

Representative to USFS Stakeholders Meeting 9/19 – John Wichert will serve as the BPC Representative and Rick Harroun will also attend if he is in the country.

Committee Reports:

Art in the Roundabouts (AiR) – Rolf Funk reported that a Call to Artists will be released to the newspapers and on their website September 1. In answer to a question, he explained that local and southwestern artists are the priority, as the committee feels these artists would understand the vision best.

Dark-Sky – Dave Norton reported that he and Curt Schneider spent several hours with Yavapai County Development Services reviewing the proposed draft revisions to the County Lighting Ordinance and felt that their suggestions were well received. Revisions do not include a grandfather clause and all lighting must comply by January of 2027.  

Emergency Preparedness Planning (EPPiC) – Gwen Hanna reported that the Purpose of the committee is completed with the launch of the BPC website as a repository of information. The committee recommends appointing volunteer(s) to keep the information on the website up to date and continuing to engage the public via events such as the VOCA BBQ and/or a Community Forum.

Meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m.