By Zachery Schmidt | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – The Scottsdale City Council voted last week to discontinue its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Five of the seven council members approved Ordinance No. 4662, which mandates city employees are “hired, evaluated and promoted based on merit.” This ordinance also stops funding DEI systemic programming and moves DEI-related employees to different positions.
The Arizona city’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion was created in 1998. The city allocated $716,356 for the office for fiscal year 2024-2025.
Mayor Lisa Borowsky said at the hearing that the city has evolved “tremendously.”
She said DEI is “alive and well” and “highly valued” in the city.
“As your mayor, I am committed to abiding by and enforcing all federal and state laws which faithfully advance the principles set forth in our U.S. Constitution,” Borowsky said.
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that ended DEI programs in the federal government.
The mayor said the future of Scottsdale she envisions is one where all its residents can “dream big and achieve their goals.”
“Scottsdale will continue to prioritize merit-based hiring, performance reviews and promotions that reward individual skill, work ethic and productivity,” the mayor said.
Borowsky voted in favor of this ordinance.
Another ordinance proponent, Councilmember Adam Kwasman, said at the hearing that DEI runs policies through a lens of identity categories.
“It actively prevents diversity of viewpoint,” Kwasman said. “It subverts equal opportunity in favor of an artificial equity outcome. It excludes those whose beliefs diverge from a narrow orthodoxy.”
Kwasman said the ordinance complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and does not eliminate the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.
On the other side, Councilmember Solange Whitehead, who opposed the ordinance, said it served no purpose. Whitehead said Scottsdale has always been a “merit-based hiring city.”
She said this ordinance will not change the city’s policies.
During the city council hearing, many people spoke out against this ordinance. Fifty-one people signed up to speak during the public comment on this ordinance. Only two people spoke in favor of it.
Speaking against the ordinance, former Scottsdale City Manager Jan Dolan said the city only hires on merit.
“There is no hiring based on quotas or diversity,” she said.
Don Logan, the former Scottsdale Office of Diversity and Dialogue director, stood beside Dolan when she spoke.
Logan also spoke in opposition to the ordinance, saying it was personal to him.
When working for the city, Logan almost died in 2004 after opening a package that had a pipe bomb in it. He suffered serious injuries during the attack that required multiple surgeries and skin grafts, according to azcentral.
Dennis Mahon, who was found guilty of this crime, received 40 years in prison in 2012.
Logan recalled the events of what happened 21 years ago.
“Every day, I am reminded of what happened that day,” he said.
