I believe that the voice of the people has power, especially at the local level. I want to help Eagle Mountain citizens learn to trust government again. I am prepared to work hard, make decisions according to principle without allegience to parties that do not have Eagle Mountain's best interest. Vote for me because I care and am prepared to make a difference.
MY VISION FOR EAGLE MOUNTAIN
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
I have 10 years of experience managing budgets, writing and monitoring contracts at the County and State level. I was also lead auditor of our prevention team, for 8 years at the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. As an auditor, I carefully scrutinized the budgets and funding allocations to determine if all expenditures were according to contract requirements and division directives. Occasionally, I had to make tough decisions regarding funding allocations because of contract and other violations. As a city council member, I will use this experience to assist in the budget management process for the city to examine all funding streams and line items to ensure the city is benefitting from a particular funding allocation. If that is not the case, discuss with council members, mayor, and other city officials to determine alternatives for optimal benefit to the city, including possible reallocation.
MANAGEABLE SUSTAINED GROWTH
A key in having a healthy and prosperous city is proper management of vital resources, such as, land, water, and a city's main commodity. In Eagle Mountain's case, our main commodity is developing subdivisions and communities. Eagle Mountain has been growing at a steady rate since its incoorporation in 1996. Since 2009, the growth rate is now at an average of 13%. Several years have experienced more growth due to an expanding housing market, but this equals to anywhere from 1800- 2000 new people each year. We had just over 2,800 new people enter our city over a period of 3 years from 2010-2013.
We have plenty of land but in several cases, our growth is not balanced and we are getting to the point where we are outgrowing our resources, namely roads and schools. We should be thinking about a long term sustainabilty plan that includes addressing the rapid growth to relieve the burden on the roads and schools. One example of overcrowding in schools is that Frontier Middle School, being only 2 years old, is already putting in portable classrooms to address overcrowding. This issue is not going away anytime soon because 30% of our population is between the ages of 5-18 years old. Our city officials need to press Schools and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) to prioritize Eagle Mountain for building more schools, particularly an additional Jr High and High School.
We should also look for opportunities to approve developments in a systematic way to avoid overcrowding on the roads until the city's transportation plan is updated. I am hoping that an implementation of new strategies and access points will address these issues.
Overall, the growth of our city is a very positive thing. We have a family focused community that care extremely about the future of our city. They are involved politically, they volunteer and they want the best for their families. As a council member, I will focus on making decisions that include planning and sustaining a rapidly growing future.
SMALL BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
In order for a city to be strong, resillient and prosperous, it must have a viable economic development plan. Some of these elements need to include: collaborating with citizens to build prosperity and having financial solvency both short and long term. This means paying off all current debt and finding solutions to sustain finances without borrowing. Currently our city is on the right track, but more work needs to be done. A transportation system should be included as a means of creating prosperity as well because people need to access the resources once they are created. Job creation and economic growth are generally the result of a healthy local economy. Part of the dilemna for our city is for many years we have used land and developing subdivisions as our main commodity. This strategy has helped to increase the amount of property taxes that sustain a great portion of our budget but it is only one pillar of sustainability. Developing subdivisions mostly creates jobs for the developer and limited opportunites for city workers. While this has sustained our city to this point, we need to begin making a transition to create a more comprehensive economic and development plan that includes buidling small businesses from within, and bringing in targeted retail that will attract dollars. We also need to consider bringing in a manufacturing company that will add more jobs to our city that consequently will support established retail that will come in. Our growing youth population will soon become a small workforce that need job opportunities. I would like for them to look at our city for those. Developing small businesses from within can help us address this.
I would like to see the Business Incubator Development Program re-energized in a way that will help us to build an infrastructure from the inside without hoping and wishing for some great retail company to come in and save us. Why do we not have a city of commerce? I would like to have a discussion with city officials regarding this and present ideas of how a city of commerce can help build a solid business infrastructure that will attract outside businesses to our city as well as continue to build from the inside. We can also provide training and volunteer services to help build skills for those entering the workforce. Eagle Mountain can build a reputation of being more friendly to small businesses, especially those businesses operated by individuals who live in our city. We can manage this process through tax incentives and contractual obligations among other things.
RECREATION AND YOUTH PROGRAMS
Building a healthy community involves proper management of resources in order to provide opportunities to serve those who live in it. Currently, 48% of Eagle Mountain's population is under 18 years old. As our city continues to grow, more and more families are expressing concern about having activities and programs for youth to participate in. As part of a thriving community, participating in worthwhile structured programs and activities facilitates bonding, and positive outlook for a city. Several ways to improve upon building youth programs and infrastructure would be to look at the current programs and how they match up to the youth population. Making sure there is a variety of programs is essential to addressing wide variety of interests and abilities. Secondly, how well are city staff and volunteers trained to assist in the training and development of youth participants. I have reached out to Utah After School Network and the United Way and discussed what programming they have available to assist in serving our youth population. So far, it is minimal but they are willing to collaborate with our city to train staff, develop programs and partner with schools and other agencies in this effort.
There has been some talk resurfacing about whether or not Eagle Mountain can sustain having a Recreation Center, a pool or other types of entertainment for youth and what impact those facilities would have on the city's budget, and individual property taxes. I think it's fair to look at options for recreation for a city that grows as fast as ours and for as many youth as we have. For any major change to fund a rec center, pool, etc, it needs to be carefully considered so it doesn't burden the citizens. Raising property taxes would be a huge burden to many so it is in no way an option in my proposal. I'm currently looking at models of how other cities have been able to do this, and it can be a very complicated process. Some cities use a combination of bonds, private donations, grants, and taxes to build a Rec Center. While our city has a growing need for such a change, we currently do not have the capacity to fund it at this time. We can build up the programming through collaborative efforts and adding additional programs as needed until our city is financially able. The good news is our city is moving in the right direction. The city council recently voted to match a grant that the parks and rec board received to finish a part of the baseball field. I think this is the continued incremental growth we'll continue to see until we can get more resources to catch up to our rapid growth.