For better or worse, a small group of citizens can damage reputations, slow progress and tie the hands of public servants. The best intentions can potentially reverse progress and waste resources.

The City of Page has made remarkable progress over the last few years under the leadership of the present and preceding councils. 

“We didn't even have money for a rainy-day fund up until a few years ago,” City of Page Mayor Bill Diak said, speaking about the recent controversy over the city’s Streetscape plan and Lake Powell Boulevard.  

“We're debt free, and we're doing good financially, putting some money in the bank, and we are reinvesting in our infrastructure. One of the first things that we’ve worked hard on taking care of is the majority of our streets. We have a couple that we need to get worked on.” 

The street layout of Page presents maintenance and infrastructure challenges. Some streets are wider than necessary, and therefore are more expensive to maintain. Aero Avenue, for example, is about 66 feet wide. Lake Powell Boulevard is about 64 feet wide. For comparison, Arizona State Highway 89 is only 24 feet wide. 

Diak, speaking of Aero Avenue, said, “Why the government would build a street like that in a community? But if you go to repave that – it’s atrocious for the amount of traffic it handles.”

Currently, a group of citizens want to prevent the Page City Council and city administrators from altering Lake Powell Boulevard. Three different applications for initiative petitions were filed at Page City Hall by Debra Roundtree, who lists herself as chairperson of Page Action Committee. The objectives are to let registered voters decide what happens to Lake Powell Boulevard now and in the future.

Two applications were dated Sept. 25, 2023. One ballot item would require the city to notify all U.S. Post Office box holders of any changes to Lake Powell Boulevard’s traffic flow and the cost. The other is similar but worded differently and specifies “direct mail” notifications. 

The submitted items in the applications were short and general and didn’t take maintenance or special events into consideration. It also assumes that all P.O. box holders are Page residents, which isn’t the case.

The third “Application for Serial Number Initiative Petition” is dated Oct. 30, 2023. It’s more detailed and sprinkled with legalese, suggesting possible attorney input, though the document had multiple typos, misspellings and grammatical errors.

The key paragraph is, “NEITHER PUBLIC RESOURCES OF THE CITY NOR OUTSIDE FUNDS FROM ANY SOURCE SHALL BE USED IN ANY WAY TO FACILITATE, ENCOURAGE, SUPPORT, OR ACTUALIZE A REDUCTION IN THE NUMBER OF LANES OR SIZE OF LAKE POWELL BOULAVARD BETWEEN RIM VIEW DRIVE AND ASPEN STREET FROM THE CURRENT SIZE AND NUMBER OF LANES.”

If Roundtree gets 585 signatures of registered voters residing in Page on her petition by April 14, 2024, the statutory measure will be on the ballot in August. It will cost taxpayers $20,000, and, if passed, tie the hands of council members and create obstacles for city administrators. For example, safety measures like creating Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant wheelchair ramps to the sidewalks or widening the narrow sidewalks by the high school practice field would require another $20,000 election. 

Roundtree has also threatened to recall the mayor and council members if they vote in favor of Lake Powell Boulevard improvements or changes. The bar for recall elections is low compared to getting an initiative on the ballot. It takes fewer than 300 signatures (25% of votes received) for a chance to vote out a mayor or council member. This does not stop an elected official from running again and getting the seat back on the same ballot. 

Roundtree did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for an interview.

Elected officials could decide the job isn’t worth the stress. This creates a bigger problem – finding effective replacements willing to work for a stipend and contend with combative citizens at council meetings and social media platforms. Council members work 40-60 hours or more a month for the city for an annual salary of $7,200. In other words, council members make less than minimum wage. Money is not the motivator. 

The Roundtree initiative highlights a common problem cities face: too little public involvement when it counts. After years of legal notices in the local newspaper, city notices (included in utility bills), post office bulletins and city news coverage, some feel blindsided by council decisions. All council has done so far is approve a budget that included funds for one block of Lake Powell Boulevard, the street between Vista Avenue and North Navajo Drive.

“You get people that don't want to participate, like they didn't participate in this process for Lake Powell Boulevard, which is kind of normal,” said Diak. “Most municipalities don't get a lot of participation. We have to do it in a public format, and we get very few of the public to turn out.”

“As I'm hearing it, if I look at what's being printed, what’s being stated, and what’s being told to me is Save Lake Powell Boulevard, and it’s expressed as it’s an entirety, the whole street,” Page City Councilor Mike Farrow said about Roundtree petition.

“Save it from what? The argument has been made, ‘Well, we’re concerned from North Navajo up through by the park that you’re going to reduce them from five lanes to three lanes.’ There are no current plans. There is no current thing that we voted for. The only thing that’s ever been discussed on the streetscape up in that distance was the J2 notional idea of ‘this is the art to the possible’ of what could be done. But none of that has been put in front of us to vote. None of that is beginning. The only thing that’s being worked on is from the 95% plan that was presented from Vista to North Navajo. So the only thing that’s being worked on at this point is from Vista to North Navajo. And with that said, there’s been no engineering drawings out for bid yet, and there's nothing presented to council to vote on for that section. So when you see ‘Save Lake Powell,’ what are we saving it from? It’s almost stating that the whole street is going to be changed, and that’s not the case at this time. We haven’t even begun.”

Farrow recommends forming a business group before going further up Lake Powell Boulevard.

“We have discussed it in the economic development meetings. I presented at the council meeting that we need to have such a thing,” he said. “Everybody I've met with that’s been working together, trying to work together, or sharing their thoughts, I've recommended it to. So I’m not shy on saying that we need to have business owners involved with the growth of the city.”