I witnessed something very peculiar when the Fountain Hills Town Council addressed the final regular agenda item during its Feb. 7 meeting.

Several councilmembers addressed one or more bills currently before the State Legislature that the League of Arizona Cities and Towns has taken a position on because if they became law, they would substantially impact the League’s member cities and towns revenue, or freedom to make decisions or to act in the best interest of their residents. Most of the member towns and cities have agreed with the League and taken the same public position on many of these bills.

The action that the Fountain Hills Town Council took on this was to direct the Town staff to write letters to the Legislature stating our Town’s position for or against some of these bills, but the direction given during the public meeting was not specific regarding which bills or whether the Town was for or against each one. There was no motion, or vote. It was all very informal.

It was, however, clear that the Town would not take a position on some of the bills because one of the seven councilmembers disagreed with the League and the other six councilmembers. In other words, because one member of the council, just one, personally believes that the state should prohibit our Town from charging sales tax on food or residential rent, thus reducing the town’s revenue by nearly $3 million per year, the Town is not going to take a position on these bills.

Mr. Skillicorn was not elected to represent his own interests. Nor do I believe the Town should shy from taking a public position in its residents’ and businesses’ best interest due to lack of unanimity.