Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky is at odds with the council — and it's impacting city operations

Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky will be hosting a town hall on Wednesday. An announcement for the event says it will "set the record straight on critical issues."

Borowsky and her colleagues on the City Council have been at odds on a number of issues over the past 10 months — including on issues over staffing and a downtown parking garage.

KJZZ's Wayne Schutsky joined The Show to talk about what's happening.

Full conversation

MARK BRODIE: So, it's a little bit surprising, I think, for a lot of folks that Mayor Borowsky and members of the council are having this disagreement because in theory, politically, they're all generally like in the same place, right?

WAYNE SCHUTSKY: For the most part in Arizona, City Council races are nonpartisan. But at this point in time, in this political environment, you kind of know where everyone stands. And Borowsky, along with the council majority are mostly conservative Republicans. So, yeah, on the surface it would look like they should be getting along. But as you mentioned, there's been a slew of issues since Borowsky came into office that have really divided them.

BRODIE: So does it seem then that the disagreements are political? Are they policy wise? Are they more personal?

SCHUTSKY: I think the latter, I think it's more personal and then some policy stuff. I mean, I used to cover Scottsdale very closely. And you see in when you're covering a city that politics — maybe more than any other level — don't come into it as much. It really is policy driven. So whether it's the height of buildings in downtown Scottsdale or how many apartments are being built, those are the issues that are dividing, especially like a City Council versus something like Republican versus Democrat.

BRODIE: Yeah. So let's talk about some of the issues. I mentioned a couple of them just a moment ago, but what are some of the biggies that are sort of dividing the mayor and members of the council — with whom otherwise you would think she would be aligned?

SCHUTSKY: Well, there's that parking garage you mentioned, which I believe is being funded by a bond that was approved years ago by voters and, you know, just to add more parking to downtown Scottsdale. But the area it's going, the mayor is not a big fan. They're afraid it's going to ruin some maybe like historically significant parts of downtown.

And so she's been trying to put a, you know, alternative proposals on the board. But the council majority has largely blocked that. At one point earlier this year, there was accusations that she was trying to help a political donor become a consultant on the project and went so far as having the Maricopa County attorney get involved momentarily and conduct some interviews.

Now, they didn't end up starting an official investigation or anything, but it just kind of shows you the level of discord. And, you know, there were some leaked tapes from those interviews where some of the council members said some not-so-nice things about the mayor. And these are council members, again, who are members of her same party, but obviously don't get along with her all that well.

BRODIE: Well, Wayne, there is also the issue of Mayor Borowsky hiring a staff member and then the council basically taking that person away from her.

SCHUTSKY: Yeah, earlier this year, again, there was ... the mayor generally has a certain number of staff members assigned to the office, and the cat and the council made attempts. Actually, I mean, they could have pulled, I believe, two of the positions and reassigned them to a different office. Now, I think that got resolved, and she ended up having those positions returned.

But, yeah, again, it was just kind of the council flexing its muscle versus Borowsky and indicating that there's some conflicts of personality here.

BRODIE: Well, it's probably worth noting how city governments tend to work in Arizona, speaking of flexing muscle. Because, you know, we're watching news coverage of the mayoral election, for example, in New York City. And mayors don't work that same way here, by and large.

SCHUTSKY: That's right. Yeah. In Arizona and a lot of Western states outside of maybe the biggies like Los Angeles, you know, we have what's called basically a weak mayor system. And they call it that because, unlike a place like New York where the mayor has broad executive authority similar to, like a governor or something, but just for the city, in Arizona and other places with weak mayor systems, the mayor's vote is really just as strong as the other council members.

They have a few other authorities, like, kind of presiding over meetings and deciding agendas for those meetings and things like that. But other than that, the mayor position is largely ceremonial, and they're kind of just as strong as the other council members when it comes to actually voting.

BRODIE: So how does the climate on the current Scottsdale City Council compare to those in the past, maybe even those that you covered when you were covering Scottsdale?

SCHUTSKY: Yeah, I mean, having split and divided city councils isn't unusual. I mean, the previous mayor, Dave Ortega, often sparred with members of council during his single term in office. And then even Mayor Jim Lane, who had three terms in office, often kind of presided over a 4-3 split.

The difference was, is the mayor was on the winning side of that 4-3 split, Mayor Jim Lane back in the day. So he often got many votes go his way versus where we're seeing with Borowsky, she's often ending up on the losing end. So the divide isn't necessarily surprising or new. It's just the side the mayor's landing on, I guess, is a bit unique.

BRODIE: Does it seem as though all of this discontent is impacting city operations, the way that Scottsdale is being run?

SCHUTSKY: Oh, without a doubt. I mean, there's that issue with staffing we talked about earlier. But also something like Axon, which, you know, listeners are probably familiar with. You've got one of the biggest homegrown companies in the city trying to build its headquarters. And now you can't — you have the council kind of getting wishy washy on whether they're going to sue over a state law that allowed them to build that headquarters.

And the only reason that law was even pursued by Axon and some lawmakers was because the council, you know, had initially approved the development. And then some members of the new council supported an effort to, you know, send it to voters. So it's just like when ... one of your biggest employers and homegrown success stories can't get their headquarters built, I think that's an indication of kind of where the City Council is at.