I attended the April 5 Town Council meeting and was joined by a packed house of fellow residents. The main topic of discussion was the ordinance recommendations for sober homes restrictions from the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Planning and Zoning Commission worked on the ordinance for the better part of a year and came to some recommendations, backed up by legal precedent, that I think would be appreciated by the vast majority of Fountain Hills residents.

Unfortunately, our Town Council, including the Town Attorney, appeared ill-prepared for such an important topic. What was particularly depressing were the arguments by the mayor and a few of the councilmembers against some of the Planning and Zoning recommendations, such as the minimum distance between sober homes, maximum occupancy limits, questions about whether we should legally require sober home operators to carry insurance and whether sober home inspections by the Town could be unannounced.

This portion of the meeting ended on a really sour note. After the Council voted to move this discussion to a future meeting, most of the residents started to leave. At this point, Councilman Magazine decided to take to the microphone and castigate the crowd for their impassioned stances on sober homes in their neighborhoods. Mr. Magazine’s self-serving rant was poorly timed and tone deaf.

Sober homes will be the most impactful issue this Council faces and will certainly be the biggest issue in the upcoming local election. I hope the mayor and councilmembers will do the right thing for the residents of Fountain Hills, but I don’t hold high hopes based on what I witnessed the night of April 5.