Jerry Jampolsky at Andrea Smith Gallery Sat. March 13

Dr. Jerry Jampolsky and his wife, Dr. Diane Cirincione, will be making their second journey to the Andrea Smith Gallery from Hawaii to do a special round circle forum at the Tlaquepaque Ballroom from 12:00 noon on Saturday, March 13th. The public is invited, although it is a good idea to call the gallery at 928-203-9002 to reserve a seat, as it will be sure to be filled to capacity. There will be a nominal $12 per person charge, and refreshments will be served.

The audience will be able to participate with two of the most compassionate people on the planet, in their forum discussion.

Between the two doctors, they have written over 15 books, and have talked of their mission in just about every country on the planet. Their hearts are filled with love and forgiveness, and their presence in today’s society has made a positive difference for the world today.

Jerry and Diane have a unique way to dialog with people, no matter who you are. When these people talk to you, you have the feeling of being someone special, and if you are in a group you will receive their attention no matter your status in life or importance to others.

Their philosophy is “You can achieve harmony, forgiveness, and well being, overcome any obstacle, build constructive relationships, heal illness, assuage the deepest grief. If you have the capacity to love, you can do anything, because LOVE IS THE ANSWER.”

In 1975 Dr Jampolsky founded The Center for Attitudinal Healing, a place where children and adults with life-threatening illnesses could practice peace of mind as an inspiration of spiritual transformation and inner healing-a practice that soon evolved into an approach to life with profound benefits for everyone.

All of the books written by Jampolsky and Cirincione will be available at their talk.
Jerry and Diane, in addition to all of their professional work and spiritual roles throughout the world, are true artists. They both are sculptors, preferring clay as the medium and casting in bronze. They will be unveiling two new sculptures in bronze at this event, in addition to Dr. Jampolsky’s previous pieces.

Please remember to call the Andrea Smith Gallery at 928-203-9002 to reserve a space for this memorable event. The gallery is located under the Oak Creek Brewery at Tlaquepaque.

Sedona Weather Service Notice - Hazardous Weather (Jan 18 - 22)

Weather Service Notice - Hazardous Weather

The City of Sedona and Sedona Fire District were made aware of a series of approaching storms that are anticipated to affect Northern Arizona, including the Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona area, beginning Monday, January 18, 2010 through Friday, January 22, 2010.
The National Weather Service has advised of the potential for hazardous weather including snow and rain at higher elevations, a wind advisory and rainfall in the lower elevations through out the week that may cause localized flooding in Oak Creek and the Verde River basin.
Should the need arise, three locations are available to obtain sand, sand bags and shovels which are provided free to the Public and can be accessed at any time:
Uptown - empty lot on Forest Road west of the Fire station
Sedona Red Rock High School parking lot - United Methodist Church parking lot on SR 179 near Back O'Beyond Road.

Updates will be posted to the City of Sedona website http://www.sedonaaz.gov/ and Sedona Fire District website http://www.sedonafire.org/ for Oak Creek Canyon and surrounding communities. For additional information contact the City Manager's Office at (928) 204-7127 or Sedona Fire District at (928) 282-6800.

City of Sedona to Audit Sedona Businesses

Get ready Sedona business owners because the City is setting sights on your books.
At its Jan. 12 meeting the Sedona City Council gave staff the go ahead to set wheels in motion to enable the City to audit sales tax collections. According to staff, this is the first step towards the implementation of the council’s top priority to achieve and maintain financial stability based on their November 12, 2009 retreat.

At that retreat the council also discussed the possibility of the City collecting sales taxes instead of the State in order to gain further control over the revenue.
At the Jan. 12 meeting this goal was not discussed. Auditing business sales taxes is the first step in the plan. According to Sedona Economic Planner Jodi Filardo, City Staff has been working with representatives from the League of Arizona Cities and Towns to modify the City’s tax code and to create the necessary related ordinance and resolution enabling the City to pursue the local auditing of sales tax collection. She noted deep staff reductions at the Arizona Department of Revenue, combined with the decline of City sales tax collection levels necessitate participation in sales tax audits at the local level.

Filardo said at the meeting 42 Arizona cities have supplementary local audit authority, including Camp Verde, Chino Valley, Cottonwood, Holbrook, Prescott Valley, Williams, and Winslow.
She said that the auditing could be accomplished by contracting outside professional auditing agencies instead of using City Staff. “For every dollar we spend we can get back three,” Filardo said. “It can go up to $8 for every $1 spent depending on the city and circumstance.”
She said these firms can be contracted for a flat fee per year, pointing out Bullhead City spends approximately $60,000 per year for these audits.

Sedona resident Sandy Moriarty during public comment urged the council to take into consideration the current economic situation and its impact on businesses. She noted many businesses might not know how to properly pay their taxes.
“I’ve seen comments in the media that doing audits on businesses in distress can hurt them,” she said. “People might not understand what they are supposed to do. Once they have been informed and audited, they will comply.”

According to Filardo, businesses that have been audited and haven’t paid their taxes are required to pay them. They must also pay interest on the owed amount. She said fining them is optional.

“Presuming we have conducted an audit and you have a finding, there is interest associated with the collection,” she said. “There is a penalty part but we are not required to make them pay a penalty.”

Councilwoman Nancy Scagnelli agreed people can make mistakes and some businesses owners might need to be educated so they can comply in the future. “A lot of people don’t understand,” she said. “I don’t want to penalize people at this time and put them out of business.”
City Manager Tim Ernster said leniency is an option. “We can make it as lenient as possible by waiving a fine and creating a payment plan,” he said. Councilman Jerry Frey asked when was the last time the State audited anyone in Arizona for sales tax evasion.
Assistant City Manager Allison Zelms said in 2008 and 2009 there were two audits and only because complaints had been made to the State.“Then the State did not come out on its own,” Frey noted. Staff agreed. Ernster spoke of the possibility of an audit finding a business overpaid it sales tax. “There are times where the tax is over collected,” he said. “We have to pay them back with interest.”

Councilor Cliff Hamilton asked if a business can refuse a tax audit.
Filardo said they can’t refuse. “We can audit them,” she said.
Ernster said that licensing of business will also be a requirement.
“First we get the sales tax in place by budgeting money and beginning the audits in July,” he said. “Then we have all businesses acquire formal licenses. Then we work towards collecting sales taxes ourselves rather than the State. This will take a lot more work but hopefully we can begin by November at the earliest.”

Several business owners expressed concern that their financial information would become public knowledge to their competitors. Wishing to remain anonymous, one said he fears competitors would use this information against him. “Many service businesses negotiate various prices with their customers,” he said. “Competitors could use pricing and earnings information against each other. The City is trying to act like IRS. An easier way to do this is to determine if a business has a Sales Tax Transaction Privilege License where they could compare who is filing and who is not rather than intrude on law abiding businesses that are paying their taxes.”

Social Media Classes at Tlaquepaque

Sign up for a Social Media Class offered at Tlaquepaque by the Sedona Chamber of Commerce. These classes will be held in the Tlaquepaque Ballroom on Monday, January 25th and Tuesday, January 26th at 5:00pm. If you are interested in attending this course, please contact the Tlaquepaque Management office at (928) 282-4838.

Social Media 3 Part Education Course

The Sedona Chamber of Commerce has created a three part social media education course for members interested in getting their names and business involved in social networking. The Chamber created the course based on popularity of Social Media topics from recent Strategies for Success workshops. This education course will offer hands on education in a smaller atmosphere for one on one learning. Attendees will be educated on social media, the best outlets to use, how to use them, sign up, start up, and operation. Attendees will come away with the tools and knowledge needed to engage in social media for their business.

Course 1:
Introduction to Social Media Outlets
Twitter
Facebook
Blogging
Which ones to use for your business
Sign up and create accounts
Terminology and user information
Make the best use of your time- social media is free but your time is not


Course 2:
Updates & Review
Identify your message and stick to it
Tools to use, search engines, applications, etc.
Who to follow on Twitter, attract attention on Facebook and get blog readers
When to tweet, @reply, direct message, or just listen
Policies and procedures to have outlined for social media use in your business
Who should tweet, post and blog? How many people should tweet, post and blog?

Course 3:
Updates & Review
Learning tools and resources
Spread your message quick
Examples of exposure, opportunities created, etc.
Discussion, information gained, question and answers, trouble shooting

Follow the Sedona Chamber of Commerce on Twitter @SedonaAZ. Check out our Facebook page- Sedona Chamber of Commerce. Also, read our blog: http://www.visitsedonablog.wordpress.com/. Course price is $135.00 per person or individual classes for $50.00 each.

Sedona Bridal Show this Sunday

Brides, engaged couples, corporations, wedding and event planners, destination management or anyone thinking about hosting/planning a Sedona event - this is for you! January 17, 2010 10:00 am to 4:00 pm beginning at Tlaquepaque (if you are not coming up from Phoenix in the limo busses). You will be shuttled between Tlaquepaque, L'Auberge and Amara by the Sedona Shuttle. Meet a variety of quality wedding and event vendors from Sedona and the surrounding area. Taste local cuisine, try fabulous cakes, enjoy the fragrance of exquisite floral designers and learn about the activities that Sedona offers. Brides can enter a drawing for a Fabulous Sedona Wedding w/gifts valued at more than $40,000! They'll see how affordable a fabulous Sedona wedding actually is, and meet the vendors that can help them create their dream wedding. For more information go to http://www.sedonabridalshow.com/or call Bobbie at 602-750-6517 or e-mail BobbieTWC@gmail.com.

Photo by: David Sunfellow Photography

Sedona Marathon Just Weeks Away

Join the Sedona Marathon's 5th year anniversary celebration, "Cinco de Marathon", on Saturday, February 6, 2010. The Pre-Race Expo will be held at Tlaquepaque on Friday, February 5, 2010 from 10 am to 8 pm during the race packet and bib pickup. Racers are required to check in person at the pickup and typically bring everyone they are traveling with. This equates to thousands of people at Tlaquepaque during this time. Additionally the Sedona Marathon is looking for donations of prizes in pairs of equal value for race winners of each category. Information obtained regarding prize donations on or before Friday, January 15th, 2010 will be listed in the awards ceremony program and all prize donations will be listed on the Sedona Marathon website.Businesses interested in participating in the Expo or donating prizes can email Tonya at tonya@4windsadventure.com. Visit www.sedonamarathon.com for further information on the Marathon.

ADOT Work Schedule for January 2010

A major milestone was reached last week when traffic was transitioned to the south portion of the new Oak Creek Bridge. Phase 2 of the demolition of the existing bridge is scheduled to begin next week—January 4, 2010. This is the last demolition needed to allow the remaining portion of the new Oak Creek Bridge to be constructed, and completely remove the old structures. The first phase of the bridge demolition (Phase 1) occurred in May of 2009 and included special provisions for removal of contaminants (lead paint) and debris. All demolition work has adhered to federal and state agency (EPA and ADEQ) guidelines and regulations.

Last spring, ADOT and the contractor applied for all applicable permits and submitted a detailed demolition plan for the Phase I demolition to the required agencies, and the demolition was performed with no impact to Oak Creek.

The Phase 2 demolition plan was approved by several federal and state agencies (including the removal of any hazardous materials) after performing site inspections for the proposed procedures. Once Phase 2 of the demolition is complete, the final drilled shafts and abutment 2 (west end) of the new Oak Creek Bridge can be completed.

ADOT and the contractor have implemented the same measures as in Phase 1 to ensure that demolition debris is not allowed to enter Oak Creek or to contaminate the riverbed. Any materials generated from the demolition activities will be removed from the creek banks for disposal. Upon completion of the new bridge, the floodplain area affected by construction activities will be rehabilitated to a more natural condition. Planting activities associated with this rehabilitation is expected to occur mid-summer 2010.

Traffic Restricted to One Lane at Night Between Canyon Drive and Morgan WashA 42” storm drain is being installed along SR 179 between Canyon Drive and Morgan Wash. Work that will necessitate restricting traffic to one lane will occur between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. for approximately four weeks. Flaggers will direct traffic in this area.

Daytime activities between Canyon Drive and Morgan Wash Work progresses on both the uphill and downhill retaining walls. Short duration traffic restrictions to one lane will occasionally be necessary for up to 10-minutes during wall form setting, and for equipment and truck access to the work area. Please plan your travels accordingly.

Project Success: Traffic Transitioned to Portion of New BridgeLast week, all traffic was transitioned onto the south portion of the new bridge.