Important Opt Out update!

On Tuesday, our county’s Board of Supervisors will be voting on the first agenda item in 20 years that boosts the Opt Out Permit instead of diminishing it, a proclamation declaring October as Cochise County Opt Out Month. Huzzah.

The choice of October didn’t come out of nowhere, it won a vote by a large margin on facebook.

Normally these proclamations are just a rubber stamp that no one thinks twice about. But this created some serious discussion among the supervisors at their special meeting last week. It seems they’re generally in favor of the Opt Out Permit, but they also have some concerns.

Supervisor Kathleen Gomez said: “Cochise County has become known as an Opt Out community, which is great, but I’m concerned too about as we go down [the path of] economic development, up on 191 which is where they’re tending to go, that there might be some push back on the use of water by economic development. … I think that people who have very little are choosing this [opt out permit homesteading] as a way to survive, and then don’t plan and don’t want economic development. I’m afraid that might be in the path of what we want to do.”

Supervisor Frank Antenori said: “I went out there last week, there were a lot of campers. There’s a perception that’s what this [opt out permits] means, that you can come rolling into the county and pull your camper out here. … I do not want Tucson to dump all their homeless population into Cochise County. … Half of them are smoked out on meth and everything else out there.”

Now, from what I’ve heard, there will be quite a showing at the Board meeting on Tuesday. A who’s who of the Opt Out Builder community. Tiny Shiny Home will be there, Clay Greathouse of course, and many more. Some will speak, while others just want to be there to show support. (And many of us will be hanging out in Bisbee after the meeting.)

So why is it worth showing up?

Typically people go to the county seat to make demands, because they’re wrapped up in some dispute, or to protest something they don’t like. And that means the day-to-day life a Supervisor is a lot of drama and conflict, when its not typical boring technical management stuff.

But if people show in big numbers in a positive spirit because they’re supporting something, well, that’s going to leave a big impression. Especially when everyone’s wearing their Tuesday Best, have their families in tow, with big smiling faces. It’s important that our supervisors know that we’re not just a bunch of desert whackjobs making javelina-skin trousers, living in an old meat freezer and trying to tune our transistor radios to pick up signals from the Sigma 10 galaxy cluster. … I swear, I don’t do any of that stuff anymore.

Nope, we’re here to build homes, build community, and spend our hard earned dollars right here in Cochise County. And when the supervisors see that, they might be encouraged to help the Opt Out community grow. At that same special meeting last week, there was even some glimmer that this might happen.

Supervisor Tom Crosby said: “I would like to know what the Opt Out community lost in the last Board [of Supervisors]. … I think that it had to do with attached housing … the number of inspections, and the potential increased cost.”

Making a good impression can help us win back what we’ve lost, so that we can build more and with less hassle.

Not everyone who shows up will want to speak, but if you’ve got something to say, I offer this opinion for whatever it’s worth: Keep it simple, keep it positive, and tell your story. We catch more bees with honey.

The meeting is at 10am, but you’ve got to fill out a Speaker Request Form by 9am that day. You can do that online at this link: https://www.cochise.az.gov/FormCenter/Board-of-Supervisors-17/Speaker-Request-Form-127

Here’s how to fill out the form:

Hope to hang out with y’all there!

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