UPDATE:
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — The Dec. 2nd Pocatello Mayoral Run-Off election is rapidly approaching. Tonight, November 19, Local News 8 is bringing you the Pocatello Mayoral Run-Off Debate, your chance to hear candidates Greg Cates and Mark Dahlquist answer the tough questions on the issues facing your community.
Local News 8 will now begin our live updates of the debate:
The rules for the Local News 8 Pocatello Mayoral Run-Off debate, as presented by Doug Long, are as follows: At the beginning of the debate, each candidate will be allotted 2 minutes for an opening statement. Following these statements, the moderators will pose each candidate a series of questions. Each candidate will receive 90 seconds for an initial answer, followed by 90 seconds for the opposing candidate’s response. A pre-debate coin toss determined that Mark Dahlquist would be the first candidate to respond. Then each candidate will be allowed a 30-second rebuttal opportunity before the next question. Finally, each candidate will be allowed 2 minutes for closing remarks.
Linda Larsen will ask the first question.
9:03 — In his opening statement, Mark Dahlquist emphasized how he loved the Pocatello community, stating he’s known by his friends as Mr. Pocatello. “I’m born and raised in Pocatello. I’m a Highland High School graduate, graduated from Idaho State University with a business management degree,” said Dahlquist. “Shortly after that, I got my first job or my first real job at Farmers Insurance Company, and I worked there for about 18 years, started out as an underwriter, worked my way up into progressive management positions there. And then in 2007, I got on as the director at Neighborworks Pocatello. NeighborWorks Pocatello. We’re a large community development nonprofit.”
He went on to say the decision to run for mayor is because there is no better way you make an impact on your community and be a service leader.
9:05 — Greg Cates chose to emphasize his professional experience as a law enforcement officer working with the Pocatello Police Department, among other local and national agencies. “I have 35 years experience as an investigator and a law enforcement officer. 18 of those years, I owned and operated a large private investigation firm. I’ve managed dozens of employees, and I conducted surveillance operations throughout the United States and Canada. I’m an expert in fraud investigations. I’m an expert in law enforcement and background investigations, and I’ve done hiring for some of the largest law enforcement agencies in the country. I’ve also been contracted by the Department of Justice and involved with them in investigations as well.”
He says the city deserves strong leadership, and his experience can provide that. “I’m going to bring that expertise and my life experience to the City Hall, where I’m going to use that to figure out what’s going on with our city and make it a better place for all of us to live,” said Cates.
9:06 — Linda Larsen asks Cates, “Voters sent a clear message in the general election that they wanted to see a change in city leadership. What kind of change do you believe the public is looking for, and what will be your agenda in your first 100 days?”
9:07 — Cates responds: “The people in our community are being crushed by high taxes. I believe that we need a leader who’s going to get into office and figure out where our taxpayers’ money is going.” Dahlquist points to how the City doesn’t have a current CFO and that the city has had 3 CFO’s in the last few years. He went on to emphasize making Pocatello a cleaner, more business-friendly environment.
9:09 — Dahlquist: “Pocatello did need a change…I’ve got my own ideas and my own unique way of doing things. I was the first candidate to come out with a 100-day plan. One of my top platforms is housing.” He points to the lack of housing supply and how the city needs to develop more housing.
“I think housing really is the bedrock of the community’s success since 2015, since the last 15 years, I should say that our housing prices have gone up 187% in Pocatello. That’s unacceptable,” said Dahlquist.
Doug Long asks, “There have been repeated calls for greater fiscal transparency in city government. How will you ensure city finances are open and available for public inspection, specifically regarding the annual budget process?”
9:12 — Dahlquist responds that the question has been on peoples minds as he went out to speak with the community. “At my workplace, what we do, it’s really effective for my board of directors is we have dashboards,” Dahlquist says the city needs to make the multi-million-dollar budget readable for the average citizen. “In my 100-day plan we do talk about doing the dashboards and making those available.”
9:14 — Cates began his response, agreeing with Mr. Dahlquist’s postition on using dashboards to make the information available. “I think there’s a lot of things we can do with technology where we can put our budget onto social media and put on, the city website, where it’s easier to read,” said Cates. “Right now if you were to try to go through our city budget, it’s over 300 pages long and over 5000 line items in a particular week of spending.”
Cates goes on to highlight the importance of a CFO, pointing to the ‘accounting by chaos’ of the last handful of city budget sessions. “We need to get a CFO in line. We need to go line by line through everything,” said Cates.
9:16 — In rebuttal, Dahlquist adds that Pocatello has a revenue problem, pointing to the importance of getting the city’s expenses in check.
9:17 — Larsen asks, “What is your budgeting process approach that you favor, and what would you do to assure efficiency and fiscal responsibility during your administration? We’ve touched on that some, but a little bit more about what you would do. And if there are other revenue streams that we can use to ease the burden on property tax holders?”
9:18 — Cates draws back to the last budgeting session where the city had a CFO on the payroll, saying that all the suggestions on spending and maintaining the budget were discounted by Mayor Blad and the City Council. “It led us on a trajectory of unsustainability in our budget,” said Cates. “I did meet with our CFO after he left. He told me that 2027 is going to be a very difficult year for us in the city. We are facing a 30% increase in our health insurance premiums for the city employees. That’s going to be a $2.7 million expense that we’re not prepared to handle.”
Cates concludes that going into 2027, “we’re going to have to tighten our belts and start streamlining things. And figure out how we’re going to make this, this, financial situation work for our citizens.”
9:20 — Dahlquist responds that “we’re always fighting over the slices, but we don’t want to talk about making a pie.” He went on to say that every budget cycle is a grind and a grueling process. “My plan is to get with the department directors right away, within the first 30 or 60 days. And I need all hands on deck with our department directors.”
9:22 — In rebuttal, Cates responds that he would also sit down with the city department heads. “It’s important that as we move forward, after we get our financial situation clarified, we’re going to just meet up and we’re going to decide how we’re going to move our departments forward,” said Cates.
9:24 — Long asks, “The shooting of Victor Perez and the lack of communication from city hall created deep divides in Pocatello, causing widespread community distrust in the city’s leadership and its police department. As mayor, how will you restore public confidence in City Hall and the police department?”
9:25 — Dahlquist responds that early on, he said the city needed a response right away from the mayor’s office. “I know that shootings that there are the the investigations both internally and externally,” said Dahlquist. “You have lawyers that are telling you you shouldn’t say anything, but I think a good message could have been delivered within those first six hours of what’s going on, at least with some reassurance that we’re looking into this.”
He went on to say that in leadership, he will be the buck-stops-here-guy. Addressing the trust and confidence problem with the Pocatello Police Department, Dahlquist says there is probably a training problem as well. “I’ve never been a police officer,” said Dahlquist. “I can’t go in and say, you take this step in this step, in this step. Thats where the police chief and I have to sit down (and say) ‘There’s a problem here, police chief. There’s a perception, a trust problem. How are we going to work past that?'”
9:27 — Cates addressed that he was a former police officer and the father of a child with autism, saying that the shooting of Victor Perez, an autistic teenager, was difficult for him to deal with. “That shooting was it was tragic and our community was devastated,” said Cates. “In 20 seconds, the relationship between the community and our police department was shattered. And it really hasn’t recovered since April 5th.”
When asked if he would make changes in the Pocatello Police Department, Cates said he’s assured people he would. “My promise is this. When I get into the police department, we’re going to make changes. We’re going to make changes in administration. We’re going to start relooking at our hiring. We’re going to make changes in our training,” said Cates.”
Concluding Statements:
In his concluding statement, Greg Cates focused his message on the year he’s spent on the campaign trail and the key areas he’ll focus on in office. “I have people willing to start developing and working on improving our airport. I have a plan for police reform,” said Cates. “I’m going to clean up the city, and I’m going to have people come in. I have a CFO who wants to come by and help us get our finances in order.”
He concluded that the city of Pocatello has been in trouble for a long time, and now they’re at a crossroads. “We have an opportunity to do something great together. I’m hoping that you vote for change. I’m hoping on December 2nd, you vote. Greg Case for mayor.”
In his statement, Mark Dahlquist focused on his love for the city of Pocatello. “I’ve just done everything that I can to uplift that community, whether it be the Beautification Committee or Important Valley Partners, or the Chamber of Commerce,” said Dahlquist. “I have 30 years’ worth of management experience. I have several years of CEO experience. I know how to handle personnel issues. I have a $2 million budget. I understand grants. I understand government and government and compliance with all of that funding. So vote Mark for mayor on December 2nd. Vote Mark for a change.”
ORIGINAL:
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) — The Dec. 2nd Pocatello Mayoral Run-Off election is rapidly approaching. Tonight, November 19, Local News 8 is bringing you the Pocatello Mayoral Run-Off Debate, your chance to hear candidates Greg Cates and Mark Dahlquist answer the tough questions on the issues facing your community.
Local news 8’s Doug Long and Linda Larsen will be moderating the event. Tune in tonight at 9 p.m. on channel 3.2 or watch live below:
