Flagstaff election takeaways: Hospital opponents want more collaboration, will 'come to the table'

FLAGSTAFF — Final, unofficial results show voters soundly rejected a proposal that would have relocated Flagstaff's hospital from atop the hill north of downtown to a currently undeveloped parcel of land south of the city.

Voters were also approved a slate of city charter amendments but struck down a few major policy changes like eliminating the residency requirements for some city employees, board members and commissioners.

Tuesday night saw the release of a preliminary, unofficial tally from all ballots except those submitted in person on Election Day. Whitney Juszczak, assistant elections director for Coconino County, said her department has tallied all ballots mailed back, dropped off or voted via replacement ballot before Election Day. That's about 15,800 ballots.

Officials then worked to process the roughly 4,700 ballots that still needed to be tabulated, and released updated unofficial results on Thursday. The final, official results were released Tuesday after the state's ballot curing deadline, according to the Coconino County Elections Department.

The county Board of Supervisors canvas is scheduled for Nov. 21, a process that will certify and make the results official.

Here are some takeaways from what's known now about Tuesday night's special election.

Hospital opposition pledges 'to come to the table'

The large crowd of opponents to Proposition 480 that had gathered in downtown Flagstaff on Tuesday night erupted in cheers when the first batch of unofficial election results revealed that voters were on course to overwhelmingly reject the construction of a new hospital from Northern Arizona Healthcare.

More than 70% of voters opposed the referendum, which sought to rezone nearly 100 acres of undeveloped land south of the city for the construction of a new $800 million hospital, associated medical building and parking garage for the health care system.

At the election night party, Flagstaff Vice Mayor Austin Aslan celebrated results showing the ballot measure was firmly on course for defeat. But he also stressed that there was still a lot of work to be done to begin solving the area’s health care problems.

“The ‘No on 480’ people can’t just be a dog that caught a postal truck,” Aslan said. “Yes, we got our way tonight, but there’s a lot of conversation still to be had and I’m willing to come to the table.”

He emphasized that the community will need to be receptive to some of the things that Northern Arizona Healthcare might ask for to meet its needs in the future, including possibly adding height to the current facility and potentially closing the section of Beaver Street that bisects the hospital's campus.

"Our community really has strong health care needs, we are experiencing growth and our future trajectory demands we take action in modernizing our health care," Aslan said. "And so, I hope you'll join me in pivoting off of this to supporting what NAH and our hospital community needs in order to grow in place."

That mindset was echoed by other area leaders and organizations throughout the night as people began turning their focus to the next steps moving forward.

Why some say it wasn't the right choice: Flagstaff election measure would build a new hospital

Michele James, the executive director of Friends of Flagstaff’s Future, known as F3, said she hopes that the election results will serve as a “wake-up call to our City Council” and will encourage more public participation in major decision-making for the city moving forward.

“F3 calls on the city to be transparent in their future decision-making and proactively engage in processes that rebuild the community’s trust in the public involvement process,” James said in a statement. “We hope for improved relations between NAH and the residents of Flagstaff and the opportunity to work together on the health care needed in our community.”

Northern Arizona Healthcare did not seem immediately receptive to the idea of revamping conversations about improving the current facility.

A spokesperson for the provider on Tuesday night said they were “disappointed” voters didn’t support the development and reiterated that they “cannot continue to renovate Flagstaff Medical Center.”

“To keep our commitment to Flagstaff and the region to provide a modern health care facility capable of serving our community, we are evaluating alternative locations for a new hospital,” they said.

Aslan said he found Northern Arizona Healthcare’s statement “disappointing.” He firmly believes it is possible for them to modernize in place, which is what many critics of the proposed new construction had been calling for.

“This is a crisis of their own making, and they have an opportunity to learn from their error,” Aslan said, emphasizing they need to better listen to what the community wants.

“I think there’s an opportunity for this conversation to reset a little bit and for them to visualize the potentiality of staying where they’re at, maybe saving a lot of money and getting everything they ever wanted out of a remodel.”

Majority of charter amendments pass

Also on the ballot in Flagstaff were 19 proposed amendments to the city charter, many of which focused on modernizing terminology and protocols.

But voters did oppose seven of the amendments, including one that would eliminate the need for voter approval of municipal facilities costing more than $1 million and another that would speed up the ordinance adoption process.

Voter participation up from last comparable election

There was a notable increase in voter turnout this year compared with the city's last off-year election in 2015. Just under 41% of registered voters cast a ballot, compared with 23% eight years ago.

As expected, turnout was still considerably less than in general election years when more than 60% of registered voters in Flagstaff typically cast ballots.

Officials say this was illegal: Mailer claims Flagstaff’s school district backs hospital proposal

Reach the reporter at LLatch@gannett.com.

The Republic’s coverage of northern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. To support regional Arizona news coverage like this, make a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Flagstaff hospital opponents open to 'pivoting' after election win