Sandy was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, where she graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in Economics. She also lived in Oregon, Florida & Alaska. She moved to Sedona in January, 1972, when Sedona was a town of about 4,000, unincorporated, and split between two counties. Sandy worked for the local branch of the Phoenix CPA firm, Walker & Armstrong, LLP, for 31 years, and is now a self-employed accountant.
Soon after coming to Sedona, Sandy became involved in getting Sedona incorporated. The community was already growing, and she agreed with others that we needed to make our own decisions rather than have Flagstaff or Prescott control our future. Incorporating Sedona was not an easy task, as state legislation had to be passed to allow the city to incorporate across county lines. After serving on three committees over a 15 year period, Sandy celebrated the voters’ approval of the incorporation of Sedona in a December 1987 election, and in January of 1988, the City of Sedona became a reality.
Sandy is proud to have been a member of the first appointed City Council. Meetings were quite different in those days, with no staff, no ordinances and no City Hall. By the time the first Council turned things over to the first elected Council five months later, Sedona had a City Clerk, a City Manager, a Police Chief, a sales tax and bed tax, a City Hall and a well-operating City government.
Sandy has always followed City government in Sedona and over the years has volunteered for a variety of organizations and activities across the state, in the Verde Valley, and in Sedona, including AYSO (youth soccer), Good Morning Sedona, Southwest Public Recycling Association and the Verde Valley Wine Consortium. She is a founder of Sedona Recycles, Inc., and served on the Board for nearly 20 years, and is also a founder of Sedona Winefest. She served on the City’s Wastewater & Effluent Disposal & Land Use (WEDLU) Task Force for two years, on the Housing Commission for 6 years, and on the City’s Service Contract Review Work Group. She has been proud to serve as Mayor of the City she loves.
