Pocatello
Steve Contreras, for Pocatello City Council seat 1:
1.Why are you running?
To be an honest conservative voice on the city council and to be a voice for the unheard.
2. What do you think are the biggest issues facing your city? 3. How woud you address those issues?
High rent imposed on our senior citizens; High local taxes which effect all citizens especially our senior citizens; damaged roads; city council overspending; lack of city council and mayor transparency; lack of city council and city mayor accountability on overspending.
3. How woud you address those issues?
I would need to study the city budget and determine what financial pork spending can be cut to lower city taxes as pork spending is passed on to the citizens as tax and rent hikes.
4. What is your governing philosophy (e.g., generating more tax revenue for better services, or keeping taxes low and government small)?
I believe the city should spend only what it can afford to spend, have a more transparent contract bidding for building contractors, and generate more city funding by being more small business friendly. This would create more employment as well.
5. What sets you apart from your opponents and what do you believe makes you most qualified for the position you are seeking?
I am the only Republican candidate running for Pocatello city council seat#1. I volunteer at the Pocatello Senior Center 4 days a week and I know of our senior citizen concerns; high rent, high taxes, inflation, cost of gas and food. A large group of senior citizens are the ones who encouraged me to run for city council as they feel that they are not being at all represented by our current city Mayor and council. I feel that I have a good sense of what is happening around Pocatello.
Hayden Paulsen, for Pocatello City Council seat 1:
Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DGttnm42_i-uIKb_0Rjha_xqhNAie2kH/view?usp=drive_link
1.Why are you running?
I attended Pepperdine University and completed a program at their law school in Dispute Resolution. I studied in college, worked, and completed my first year of graduate school in China. My Masters at Johns Hopkins in Nanjing and Washington D.C. was in Strategic Studies and International Economics. I had planned to work with the State Department but COVID changed those plans. I chose to come back to Pocatello in 2020 and I now co-run my family’s local agricultural business. I have canvassed over 1000 houses in the last year. I have a pulse on what Pocatellans, of every demographic and political belief, care about and what they want addressed. Through my work life I know how to manage, spend, save money, and plan for the future, from my studies I know how to navigate government bureaucracy and financial challenges, and from my community involvement I know I can address the concerns of Pocatellans of all beliefs.
2. What do you think are the biggest issues facing your city? 3. How woud you address those issues?
I think the biggest challenge is the lack of affordable housing. People need homes. Rising housing costs affect everyone. Students, young couples seeking a place to raise children, low-income residents, and people on fixed incomes are especially affected. A group of ISU students are facing a doubled increase in their rent and they don’t know where to go. A young lower-income couple with two children have moved twice in two years because their rents keep rising. A woman on a fixed income doesn’t know where she will go after her rent is raised. These are people I have spoken to at their doorsteps. We must revise zoning to allow for higher density housing. I understand that people want a single family unit and I’m not saying they need to be eliminated, but we are pushing out life-long residents and new talented younger people because they cannot afford to sustainably live here.
3. How woud you address those issues?
I would explore better oversight of zoning to facilitate more housing in the core of Pocatello and to better promote higher paying and more sustainable businesses. When I canvass, many people are upset about the above mentioned housing issues and many people bring up the business situation. They question why it was allowed for several more car washes in great locations where something else could have been established from a park, to a restaurant, or a more sustainable business that employs more people. The housing issue also affects our natural landscapes that most of us use for recreation. I would like to continue to work with the Sagebrush Steppe and Mule Deer Foundation to set aside land and to allow higher density housing in the core of Pocatello to mitigate sprawl.
4. What is your governing philosophy (e.g., generating more tax revenue for better services, or keeping taxes low and government small)?
My philosophy is that our government is designed to protect and to promote the interests of all citizens. I do not believe in austerity measures that reduce the quality and scope of essential services that encourage a healthy, safe, and dignified life. Ideally, this is through generating increased tax revenues for better services. Supporting our city workers, first responders, and educators, and the positive effects they have on our community, means supporting those services. I understand the difficulties of cost-benefit analyses and tough decisions have to be made. Focusing on increasing revenues can ensure that these services are supported and maintained.
5. What sets you apart from your opponents and what do you believe makes you most qualified for the position you are seeking?
I think my unique education with a M.A. in Strategic Studies and International Economics from Johns Hopkins sets me apart because of my knowledge of government and economics. Every candidate is involved with the community in some aspect and I respect that about everyone, myself included. However, I think my commitment to talking to over 1000 Pocatellans at their doorsteps is unique. I know what people want addressed here from the Trump voter, to the Sanders voter, to the person who abstains from national politics. At the end of the day, each person cares about Pocatello and I know I can represent everybody. I have been endorsed by the Conservation Voters for Idaho because of my commitment to protecting our Idaho natural landscapes, the Central Labor Council because of my commitment to advocate for better wages and working conditions and local workers completing local jobs, and the Pocatello Firefighters IAFF Local 187 because of my commitment to support our first responders’ needs.
Stephen”Craig” Yadon, for Pocatello City Council seat 2:
1.Why are you running?
I am seeking a seat on the Pocatello City Council to personally invest in our great community. I am the beneficiary of many gracious mentors, educators, employers and friends and want to give back to our residents. I want to be a part of planning a prosperous future for Pocatello.
2. What do you think are the biggest issues facing your city?
Property taxes are too high.
Pocatello is not participating in the growth the rest of Idaho is enjoying.
3. How woud you address those issues?
I commit to working to streamline our city budget and operations which would reduce our property taxes.
Lowering property taxes and clearing the way for more housing will help make Pocatello a desirable place for new businesses to investment.
4. What is your governing philosophy (e.g., generating more tax revenue for better services, or keeping taxes low and government small)?
I believe in smaller government and lower taxes. I also believe in government transparency. This means making city financial details available to both city council members and the taxpaying citizens.
5. What sets you apart from your opponents and what do you believe makes you most qualified for the position you are seeking?
I’ve been a productive Pocatello business owner for over twenty-two years. During this time, I’ve learned how to negotiate contracts with multiple labor unions and the importance of financial responsibility all the while investing in the future. I’ve also had the opportunity to live overseas for several years. Having lived and worked in another culture has broadened my view of the world and I am better for it. Additionally I have no conflicts of interest with city employees.
Gary Ekizian, for Pocatello City Council seat 3:
[Editor’s note: Mr. Ekizian submitted a letter to the editor in lieu of answering questions in a particuar format.]
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
HOW TO LOWER RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY TAXES IN POCATELLO
The short answer to cutting residential property taxes is to cut spending. If there is a reduction in spending, it will eliminate the need for revenue raised through property taxes.
The difficult part, maybe not so difficult, is to cut spending. You can cut spending by several means such as consolidation, reducing unnecessary spending, changing the contract services bid process and if necessary, through the elimination of unnecessary jobs. It is human nature for every department head to not want to have their budget cut which is understandable. What happens when we enter a period of severe economic downturn? Budget cuts will happen rather we like it or not so why not plan ahead to avoid extremely harmful budget cuts while we are in control of the decisions?
Pay cards for almost every city employee need to be eliminated. A central distribution facility needs to be established where employees can requisition needed supplies/materials with a purchase order approved by a department manager. Purchasing in bulk by the city will lower costs of supplies for the city and ultimately the taxpayer.
The City of Pocatello might consider getting away from a strong-mayor form of government (though I am not usually in favor of a city manager for a small community) and return to the use of a City Manager. Our current mayor, after the city council voted to give themselves a raise with OUR TAX DOLLARS, will have an annual salary of over $95,000 beginning January 01, 2024. This is excessive for a city of less than 60,000 residents because the $95k is the salary and you can add approximately 40% more for benefits. This conservatively puts the mayor’s total compensation package well over $130,000 annually. The City of Pocatello could hire a City Manager from out of state to avoid any appearance of nepotism. The City Manager salary will be more than the mayor’s salary, but if you eliminate the mayor’s salary and maybe the CFO’s salary for example, it will be a net gain for the taxpayers. Additionally, the City Manager can be fired by the City Council if the person hired is not performing satisfactorily. With a strong-mayor form of government, the Mayor can only be fired by the voters by being voted out of office at the next election or going through the expense of a successful recall election. This means the citizens/taxpayers have to endure continued high spending and high taxes for as long the mayor’s term lasts.
Audits need to be conducted immediately by an outside accounting firm to determine areas of wasteful spending while at the same time providing transparency to an over-taxed citizenry. The safety and security of the citizens of Pocatello should be paramount in the budget process so police, fire and EMT services should be the last thing to be cut if necessary.
The bid process for contractors needs to be changed dramatically to reign in cost overruns. Whenever possible, the City of Pocatello should put projects out for bid for labor only. Bid and performance bonds should be required on all city contracts. The city can purchase materials for projects and keep the materials stored in a secure location. This process will eliminate material cost overruns due to inflation etc. by purchasing all of the materials at once. The city can receive material bids for projects pitting suppliers against each other for the best price thereby saving taxpayer dollars. Contractors can then be contractually held to time constraints for completing projects and provided penalties for going past deadlines or provided bonuses for completing projects early. Cost overruns can be completely eliminated via contract. Of course, there would have to be provisions for extenuating circumstances.
The City of Pocatello should eliminate the funding of any private business, such as the airline being subsidized. Department heads should be incentivized to reduce their budgets. An example would be providing an additional 3% in the following year’s budget for every self-imposed 10% reduction in spending for the current year budget.
If the City of Pocatello wants to revitalize downtown, it should be done with private investor money, NOT TAXPAYER DOLLARS. This can be done with incentives for people to move businesses downtown and builders who build around the downtown area. The only way downtown can be revitalized is to build around the downtown area making downtown a throughway for commuters. Mixed use housing and businesses are a must for downtown to be revitalized, but it does not have to be done with tax dollars. If businesses move into the downtown area coupled with housing/apartments/flats/multiplex development, the growth and revitalization of downtown will become self-perpetuating at the expense of business and property owners, NOT THE TAXPAYERS!
My overall sentiment is EVERYTHING needs to be on the table for the process of reducing taxes to be successful. This means absolutely all city spending must be under review.
I was asked this question by a local radio station, “If you were given ten million dollars to do anything you want to do in the City of Pocatello, what you would do with it?” My reply was simple, “I would give it back to the taxpayers, because it is their money!” All elected government people should remember they are elected to be servants, not dictators. Elected officials should be open-minded, flexible and not rigid in their thinking, yet firm when needed.
These are some of my thoughts on what can be done to save taxpayer dollars. I value my education with a BA in Management, but I value my life and work experiences much more as a graduate of HKU (Hard Knocks University). I would value your vote if you truly want change in Pocatello. If all you want left in your pocket is change, I encourage you to keep voting for the same people who have created the high property taxes we pay and the same people who think they are doing such a great job they vote to give themselves raises WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS. To be effective, I must be elected. Thank you for your support.
Gary Ekizian