OPINION – In a move that would silence the citizens of Fountain Hills, our mayor and the majority of the town council will possibly vote to remove the Call to Public segment in their Nov. 18 agenda. If they table that vote, it will likely go to the Dec. 2 meeting.
I’ve seen no other mayors or town councils, during the many decades that I have lived here, try to silence or challenge the residents’ rights to speak to their local government.
Mayor Friedel has been our mayor for less than a year and during his short tenure the council weakened diversity, equity and inclusivity; removed the sanctions on Councilman Allen Skillicorn for adjudicated ethics violations; and Friedel took credit for improvements in our town, made during his first few months as mayor, when the budget spent for those improvements was under our previous mayor and Town Council.
