Mayor Tappan: New Industry, Mask Mandate, and the Facebook Post

Author’s note: This story was written Monday, July 5. On Tuesday, July 6, Mayor Tappan rescinded the Page City’s Council’s face-covering mandate, replacing it with an emergency proclamation. A 2/3 majority is sufficient to pass the mandate, however, it would take 30 days before it would go into effect. State law requires a ¾ supermajority for an emergency order to go into effect immediately. The council vote was 5-2 in favor. The mayor’s emergency order enabled the city to mandate face-coverings in indoor public spaces and businesses immediately. The penalty for noncompliance is not to exceed $50.

Mayor Levi Tappan spoke with the Chronicle Monday. The interview touched on three topics: new industry, the mask mandate, and his Facebook post that led to national media attention. All three topics focus on the search for solutions to problems.

New Industry

When this reporter interviewed Darren Coldwell shortly after he was chosen as Page City Manager, the conversation focused on creating new industry in Page. Coldwell cited examples from his time as a Mayor and a County Administrator in Montana. His idea was to diversify Page’s income streams, to strengthen the economic base with microindustries. He said businesses could develop from within rather than from outside the community. These could range between 30 and 40 employees in size.

The current pandemic highlights the pitfalls of reliance on a single industry. It also suggests the business of tourism could change dramatically for years to come. While some will adapt, finding creative ways to reinvent their businesses and stay solvent, others won’t. In order for a city to continue to provide public services, there must be a supporting tax base. This points to developing new industries in Page with markets beyond its borders, ideally recession and pandemic proof.

Mayor Tappan said the city is, “looking at ways to help small mom and pop businesses get started in Page, like small manufacturing, kind of like Yamamoto. We’re focusing on our industrial park to get small manufacturing and things like that.”

In another example, Tappan said, “The airport has a lot of office space upstairs, but it’s not ADA compliant until we get an elevator. We’re working on getting some kind of elevator so we can unlock all the office space and use the airport as kind of an incubator space.”

'Incubator space' is a term used to describe facilities for startup companies trying new ideas. This could include software development, online services, or completely new innovations.

Tappan, looking at the potential of the airport, adds, “We want to get more people flying into it, obviously, and also cater to private planes as a stopover. They can stop in and get lunch in Page, then go about their flights.”

“We’ve been throwing around a lot of ideas,” said Tappan.

The Mask Mandate

The mask mandate was brought up by counselor Warren at the June 24 City Council Meeting. Governor Ducey had authorized local governments to enact their own pandemic safety measures on June 17. At that time, only two of the seven council members voiced support for the mandate, Warner and counselor Auge. The following week, after seeing huge spikes in the state, an emergency meeting was called. The possibility of a mask mandate was still alive. This time, only two voted against it, counselor Lee and counselor Davis. Vice Mayor Kocjan and counselor Yank both changed their views and supported the mandate.

Tappan, who seemed on the fence at the June 24 meeting, cast the deciding vote needed to pass the order.

The Chronicle asked Tappan, “What changed?”

He said, “I started getting a lot more feedback, emails. About 75 percent wanted masks and 25 percent were against it.” “Kocjan said something that really struck me: if this can save once life, it’s worth a little inconvenience.”

Kocjan, in the emergency meeting, said a statement from the Whitehouse helped change his mind about the mask mandate.  He said, “This thing's been debated all over the world. The white house has changed, and like they said yesterday at the white house, that if it saves one person's life it's worth doing the right thing for your fellow man.”

Tappan said, “I heard arguments on both sides, and the majority of the public wanted masks. So, we did it the way that would be the least intrusive.”

In regard to renewing the mandate Aug. 1, Tappan said, “We’re following the numbers. We’ll do what the data says.”

The Chronicle asked if he received pressure from fellow employees at Banner Hospital. He said most are pretty good about not pressuring him one way or the other, though a few have cornered him. Tappan said, “Even in the hospital, health care employees are opposed. Most want masks, some of them don’t. There’s not a consensus within the hospital.”

The Facebook comment about Navajo Nation President Nez

Page residents are familiar with the groups of seemingly homeless people who congregate in the parks and the breezeway on block 17, the center of town. Police and emergency medical staff are called frequently, either because of intoxication, fighting or someone passed out on the sidewalk. They’re arrested or taken to the emergency room, then released. The arrest cycle repeats, most often with the same offenders. It’s been a concern for the city and local businesses for many years. Hospitals, public safety officials, and city representatives have met and discussed solutions. They were having regular meetings and developing plans of action. Then came COVID-19. It is in this context that Mayor Tappan made a one-sentence comment on Facebook, one which received national media attention in early May: "I wish he [Nez] would battle alcoholism as hard as COVID19."  The comment included a photo of a small group of people gathered in the breezeway of block 17. This, along with the intoxication, ambulances, and police responses, is a familiar scene for businesses in the area, including the Chronicle with its main entrance located on the same breezeway.

The Chronicle asked Mayor Tappan to provide his own context for his comment, which some interpreted as having racist underpinnings.

He said, “My first state of the city address, I said we need to work on substance abuse in town, and we need to do it without pointing fingers and calling names at each other -- because I knew that would happen and that is exactly what happened.” Tappan said, “People that live in Page know that there’s a problem we need to work on. I tried to explain the context on that post, but no one wants to listen to facts anymore,” adding, “Alcohol kills one in ten people on the reservations. It’s much higher than COVID. And the only way we’re going to solve this is working together because President Nez closing down the reservation is causing more problems for border towns.”

When asked if he’d had any interactions with President Nez recently, Tappan said, “Two weeks before that comment I had emailed him and mailed him letters trying to work with him and we’ve never heard from him. We’ve never gotten a response from him.” Tappan said, “I talked with several of the tour companies, and they say they can’t get a response from him either. So, I’m guessing Facebook is the way to get ahold of President Nez.”

The comment did get the attention of President Nez. He wrote a widely published response to the mayor’s comment. It essentially asked for the same cooperation Tappan said he’d been asking for in solving the substance abuse problem. Tappan, looking at the positive side of the incident, said, “So, I started the conversation. Eyes are opened. Kaibito Mental Health has contacted us. They have resources and want to help us out, partner with us. There’ll be a lot of good that comes from this.”

Liquor sales, mental health, and drug court

The mayor outlined the city’s approach to solving the problem.

“We want to cover it from three angles. One is the supply side. We want to cut off the supply side. So, if they know that can’t get it, they’ll stop coming. We’ve had great success. Styx Liquor is reporting great success on that. We want to help educate the clerks. It’s actually illegal to serve inebriated people.

“We also want to work on the mental health side. Catholic Charities is coming in, and lake Powell Medical Center.

“The third side, I think we’re going to get it this year, is setting up a drug court. So, we’re putting more in the budget for the court side so it’s not just a revolving door. We’re actually helping them find the help they need.”

Tappan says this will happen in the municipal court with the help of the county for services. In addition to city and county involvement, he said, “Catholic Charities is doing fieldwork, hanging out in our parks to find out what people need.” The city of Page is providing office space and utilities for Catholic Charities to work from.

Tappan, referring to his 2018 campaign promise, ended the interview with, “And we’re still working on a pool.”