Dear Fellow Carefree Residents:
As chairman of a residents group we call Carefree Citizens For Responsible Government, I want to personally explain to you why on June 30 our group filed two ballot measures meant to rein in Carefree’s town government, our Town Council and Mayor Les Peterson.
Our initiatives are focused on protecting the desert, protecting private property and protecting residents’ freedom from government run amok.
As you’re likely aware, the Town and its leaders have sued The Boulders Homeowners Association and residents of The Boulders in a bullying attempt to use eminent domain to seize private property. Carefree leaders’ motivation? Once they’ve seized the land, the Town plans to use it as the site of a massive 300,000-gallon industrial water tank, set to be built mere yards from residents’ homes.
We absolutely support clean and inexpensive water for all Carefree residents no matter where they live. Given that the Town claims to have considered 32 possible sites for this giant tank, this structure clearly can be built in a location away from residents’ homes. By restricting eminent domain actions like this ill-conceived lawsuit, our “Good Government Act” will force the town to rethink the tank’s location. Originally filed in early June then expanded after we received a groundswell of support from our neighbors all over Carefree, this measure would prevent the Town from using eminent domain to seize private property within town limits unless they first get a two-thirds vote of Town Council and secure the approval of Carefree voters.
Given how serious eminent domain is, we see this as an entirely reasonable measure – one that we can put on the ballot by gathering just over 200 valid signatures from registered Carefree voters.
The second measure is equally straightforward. It would amend the Town’s municipal code, creating term limits for Council members and the Mayor.
Carefree previously had term limits, but the measure was ruled unenforceable in court. The new initiative follows the Arizona Legislature’s action to grant towns the legal authority to implement term limits.
Members of the Town Council and the Mayor would be limited to two two-year terms in office.
Why term limits? After the town suing its residents and Mayor Peterson’s costly flip flop on the Liberty/Black Mountain Sewer rate hike – which will cost many Carefree residents $150 a year and which Mayor Peterson opposed for years until he suddenly did not – we see reform as a must. We believe public service at the town level should not be a career. Rather, it ought to be a form of volunteerism open to many people. Two two-year terms – four years in office – will prevent public servants from building little kingdoms that disregard the needs of the people to whom government should report.
The Town of Carefree and some in leadership seem not to get it anymore. They believe residents should be subservient to their vision. They see our property as theirs to take. And they seem to think that they can act first and exercise transparency and explain it to residents – their bosses – later.
We don’t want to see the desert destroyed. We don’t want to see private property seized to fulfill politicians’ whims. We don’t like backroom deals and politicians who talk out of both sides of their mouths. Thus, we’ve chosen to fight back in a way enshrined in our state’s Constitution – at the ballot box.
We hope you will join us. Together, we can create a Town government that is more responsive, fair and transparent. We believe that will be worth the intense effort ahead.
Maureen “Mo” Benedetto
Carefree Citizens For Responsible Government
