Mayoral Candidates Debate

Unofficial transcript for the American Fork City Council and Mayoral Candidates Debate - Mayoral Candidates Debate

Prepared by Jared Dalton

October 14, 2009

NOTE: This transcript has been posted online in an effort to encourage the younger voter population in American Fork to vote. It is not a complete report of every question that was asked (I wasn’t there the whole time and I didn’t catch everything), but it is a solid report on how the candidates feel about many of our current issues.

Candidates:

J.H. Hadfield

Heber Thompson

Opening comments –

Hadfield – Youth council is awesome for putting this together. “Are you really wanting to go tell citizens what’s wrong with AF?” Today’s rainbow was the answer. AF is the hallmark in music programs in Utah. Why is he running? Strong leadership. We should plan ahead, not having to react to everything that happens in the future.

Thompson – So proud to be a citizen of AF. Marching band accident was an example of how close and strong we are. The High School kids spontaneously started singing primary songs while waiting for more information at AFHS Saturday night.

How did we get here where our roads are in such bad shape?

Thompson – Road funds and maintenance were not adequately planned. We are putting together $1 million to get the roads set.

Hadfield – In Utah, the roads have problems over winter freezing and thawing. The roads weren’t designed to last so long.

This year, should snow removal focus on a few roads as usual, or should every road have equal priority?

Hadfield – Cul-de-sacs don’t get it as fast as school roads. Higher volumes of traffic get priority.

Thompson – Priority of the roads are established in order of the busiest roads. There are now 2 smaller plows to focus on the cul-de-sacs.

Do you favor increased taxes to fund new projects?

Thompson – Projects that are the highest priority need funding. There are no trivial decisions that come out of the council. We have property taxes and sales taxes. We have impact fees for new construction.

Hadfield – With property taxes, the schools take the biggest slice. The county then takes money, and finally, the city. We can drop what is our share, but the school district or the county may add more tax, so we don’t have a lot of control over property taxes.

(I didn’t catch this question) Something about a law –

Hadfield – We follow the law.

Thompson – It is a state law. We review (this) law every year.

Would you change anything from last year’s ballot?

Thompson – The City Council and citizens had suggested those programs. With a do-over, some could have been left out, considering the economy.

Hadfield – All of the bonds were good, we could have had at least 2 bonds passed. Not enough publicity.

Do you support having a profession manager operate the daily management of the city’s personnel?

Hadfield – Go for it.

Thompson – Works full-time, he can do it himself. With the growth of the city, you may need a professional administrator, but we’re small enough that we don’t need one. We can plan for one eventually though.

Do you support open discussion of city issues? How should they be facilitated? Are there any issues that should not be publically discussed?

Thomspon – We should definitely talk about everything in public. The only ones that we shouldn’t have public are issues dealing with specific private information concerning individuals.

Hadfield – I agree.

What is the most important aspect of city government?

Hadfield – Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Everything has an equal share.

Thompson – Quality of life is the most important thing. We have lots of programs.

There is very little information concerning city affairs- What do we do?

Thompson – We haven’t done a very good job. We should bring back the publicity position that was cut because of the budget. We’re going to do more this next year.

Hadfield – Barbara Christensen was great for communicating to citizens, now there’s no local newspaper. We need to get the word out.

Have you read the ethics disclosure for the city?

Hadfield – Yes.

Thompson – Yes.

How will you hold the city fiscally responsible?

Thompson – It’s our responsibility. We are lawfully required to have a 12% of cash in reserve. Former CEO of Bank of AF helps.

Hadfield – Cut out the fluff. It’s a big job to spend other people’s money. Citizens need to hold us accountable.

What is your plan for south AF?

Hadfield – The county manages most of the roads down there. It doesn’t carry heavy loads very well. We’re also going to have to widen and set the roads to city standards.

Thompson –We’ll follow the standards we’ve used, which are good. Some of the major roads will be funded by the state, with their high standards. As developers come in, they’ll be held to city standards.

Why are we painting the roads? It’s an unnecessary use of funds.

Thompson –It’s the state law, we have to. They’re good standards.

Hadfield – The double yellow line is for making sure you don’t go on the other side of the road.

Where are we supposed to park in downtown?

Hadfield – What’s the public’s opinion of where “downtown” is? Businesses owners don’t live in AF, they just care about getting people into their businesses.

Thompson –There is a study underway to give us suggestions for how we’re going to do this. It’s very unfortunate that many business owners neglect making their own parking. We should make property owners accountable for parking.

How will you make sure citizens have priority over special interests?

Thompson –We hear from city council and citizens talking to specific councilmembers. Not all citizens and special interests agree.

Hadfield – We need to be able to look people in the eye and tell some people “no”, because not everyone in the city agrees. You can’t please everyone, so you need to address what’s best for most.

What are your positions regarding 100 Eeast and 300 North?

Hadfield – The county hasn’t said when they’re going to give the road over to AF. 100 East is very important to us. 300 North has always been important.

Thompson – Taking over 100 East is only a proposal right now, it isn’t finalized. There’s not a lot of flexibility with what we can do with that intersection because of how 300 North is laid out.

How do you plan to revitalize downtown and build an arts center?

Thompson –We have to have a balance in AF and be able to do what’s best for the majority. When we get the results of the road study, we’ll have ideas for making it happen. It would be nice to have a performing arts center.

Hadfield – I concur. City Council is the center of the arts council is right now. We should support the arts council with everything they do, and there are other resources to not tax citizens.

To fund road construction, you’ll have to cut other areas. Where will you cut?

Hadfield – There are other ways to get funding besides cutting programs.

Thompson – We don’t want to cut programs to fund roads. What we need is extra funding, whether it’s stimulus, businesses, a turn around in the economy, or sales taxes. We need to come up with creative solutions to get it done.

Where should we cut back in order to get out of debt?

Thompson –We’re not in debt- we balance our budget. We can’t exceed our income for long before issues arise. We’re working to trim our purchases and tighten our belt.

Hadfield – When Smith’s came to American Fork, it was awesome. Now Smith’s is gone because Wal-Mart is there. Also Sears Grand brought in revenue. We’re losing money.

How should we fund the revitalization of downtown?

Hadfield – Use MAG (Mountainland Association of Governments, who serve Summit, Wasatch, and Utah counties).

Thompson –We have access to some Federal funds. We don’t have to go to any extreme funding sources to fund downtown.

Do you agree with “Grandma” in regards to privacy data?

Thompson –The intent of the law is that there should be open government, as documented by the law. It’s the right thing to do.

Hadfield – I concur.

Statistics – 21 questions, 4 redundant from the earlier City Council Candidates debate. 34 we didn’t get to.

Closing remarks–

Thompson –Respects Hadfield. One should keep his word. When he first ran, he said we’d improve on irrigation, and police. Believes in improvement and doing better. Skills are important. Service is at the heart of what we do. People are the most important thing.

Hadfield – Running because he wants to see that good things happen. He knows this city, and he wants to help. It’s the people that make this city great. November 3^rd is voting.