Opinion

A tale of two mayors in Fountain Hills

Posted

OPINION — With the upcoming primary fast approaching, residents need to take the time to truly look at the last 17 months under Gerry Friedel and Reclaim Our Town’s majority council control. Compare that same time with former Mayor Ginny Dickey and the lack of a ROT majority council. Doing so will only magnify the differences these two administrations have had on our community. And it should make every resident question what our future will look like with ROT in control going further.

Mayor Dickey provided a safe environment for residents to speak during council meetings. She never attempted to shut down the call to public or make it inconvenient for residents to speak. Mayor Dickey brought us our own new fire department, a street committee that built a plan to fix the roads, she supported a bond to fix all our streets, safe neighborhoods, award-winning parks, curbside recycling, Four Peaks Village and Sprouts. That’s what you get when a council is working for the residents.

Friedel has a proven track record of being verbally aggressive toward some residents and he attempted to gut the call to public, but failed.

Friedel and the ROT majority forced the town attorney, who followed the law, out and replaced him with an inexperienced law firm who handled Allen Skillicorn’s and Reclaim Our town’s lawsuits against Fountain Hills. Both suits were thrown out. But they still cost taxpayers money.

Friedel recently settled a personal defamation lawsuit filed against him by a Fountain Hills resident. Under oath, Gerry admitted he lied about the resident and admitted posting bigoted, racist, misogynistic and homophobic memes. This suit was settled using Fountain Hills funds. Why?

Friedel voted against Four Peaks Village, the very development that brought Sprouts to our town.

If you want a positive future ,vote against more ROT.

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