Edwards decries lack of local leadership

By Matt Brabb
Mogollon Connection Editor

No speaker draws a larger audience at Payson Citizens Awareness Committee meetings than former Mayor Bob Edwards. He spoke on a number of topics of both national and local interest to a packed house at the Payson Public Library last Thursday.

He began by congratulating Su Connell and Ed Blair, both of whom he had endorsed and were in attendance at the CAC meeting, for their recent victories in town council elections.

He then turned his remarks to broader matters, beginning by lamenting the transformation of the once great city of Flint, Mich. into the devastated area that it is today.

“When I was a kid Flint was a great city; there wasn’t an area in it I was afraid to walk in.

“Today Flint is a war zone. What went wrong? Government went wrong,” he said.

He added that he fears that this scenario is beginning to play out all across America.

Speaking critically of local government, he claimed that the county is hiding from the people, the town is trying to borrow its way out of debt, and that government as a whole views the citizenry as pests.

“The majority of officials are out of touch, and the higher you go, the worse it is.”

He cited the fact that a recent delegation of congress people went to Europe and stayed at a hotel that charged $2,200 a night. Later they claimed that they were unaware of the cost.

“That’s out of touch,” he said.

He praised Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who represents Rim Country in the U.S. House of Representatives, for authoring a bill that calls for members of Congress to take a pay cut. She currently has 19 co-sponsors for the bill.

Interpreting the current condition of politics in Payson, Edwards said that there are two groups vying with each other for control of the future of the town. The first he called the “special interests,” who are more motivated and better financed than their rivals. The second group is made up mostly of retired folks who, for the most part, do not get up for a fight without a special reason to do so.

Edwards decried what he considers a lack of leadership in the present town administration.

“Tough times call for tough leaders,” he said. “The present administration has told town citizens that ‘we don’t want your input.’”

He said the town needed a planned approach for growth, and cited the efforts underway to possibly change the town building code to allow for seven story buildings as an example of the town council defying the will of the average Payson resident.

“They are elected to represent us, not rule us,” he said.

Edwards allowed that in some specific areas the idea for taller buildings made sense, for a dormitory for the new college for instance. But he warned against changing the code in a blanket manner, without restricting the taller buildings to explicit areas.

Councilor Connell defended the efforts made by the council to look into revising the code, saying that the change would, in fact, only apply to certain areas.

Fellow Councilor Richard Croy also defended the decision the council made to ask town staff to study making the change.

“There has been talk of bringing a convention center to the town, as well as the college,” he said.

He also stated that a major motivating factor for the council was to provide more affordable housing for those in a lower income range.

Speaking of the future of the town in more general terms, Edwards said that if growth was properly managed, he envisioned Payson to be a mountain community along the same lines as Boulder, Colo.

“We have great beauty here, no one can change that. God did his part; it is up to us to make the rest happen.

“It’s right in our back yard; we’re in the middle of all of the history we studied about back in high school.”

However, he warned about a potential second alternative of the town’s future if growth continued without a plan.

“The town will continue to be a play thing for a small group of people,” he cautioned.

As he has done in the past, Edwards called for a change in the way town government operates. He recommends dividing the town into districts, with each district having its own council to bring matters to the attention of the town council.

He said that these district councils would be a great launching ground for future candidates. In addition, he called for the creation of citizen task forces to take matters to the town council.

“We cannot continue to be passive citizens. Pay attention, or you get what you don’t want.”

He called for the creation of a “real” rainy day fund for the town so that in the future it does not have to face the economic problems it faces today.

“Don’t put $10 in a sock and call it a rainy day fund,” he said.