Where I Stand

Kevin’s Answer to public questions:

Land Use and Zoning

Question:

Washington County’s rapid growth pressures both development and preservation of open spaces. What is your proposed zoning strategy to balance new housing and commercial projects with maintaining the region’s natural landscapes, and how will you address community concerns about overdevelopment? 

Answer:

For the last three and a half years, since I have been on the council again, we have approved only a small fraction of the zone change requests that had been approved the previous two years. Zone changes were basically stopped altogether in areas that didn't have power, or a way to get power to them. So some areas didn't have ANY zone changes, or preliminary plats approved for quite a while. Things are improving as power is slowly being developed, but that has been a pretty slow moving train. Also, zone change requests in other parts of the city have been met with requests from the council for lower density that had been requested. We cannot, nor do we want to deny all zone changes. But we are doing our best to ensure that they meet the goals of the city and can be built out in a reasonable way that makes sense. I will continue to view zone changes the way that I have in the past few years.

Infrastructure 

Question:

Aging infrastructure, such as roads, water lines, and public facilities, requires ongoing investment. What is your plan to fund and prioritize maintenance and upgrades, and how will you balance these costs with other municipal budget demands? 

Answer:

Impact fees cannot be used to pay for existing infrastructure. Therefore, the cost of maintenance and upgrades has to come from our main budget. I helped in the prioritization of our roads that need upgrading and repairs into a 5 year plan. That allows the city to navigate the expected costs of those repairs by putting them on the radar. Each road section will take a different amount of time and money to prepare for it. By having a 5 year plan, engineering money is allocated from our budget to begin work so that we can get cost estimates for accurate budgeting. Our city has an accounting fund that acts as a savings account just for the repair and maintenance of roads. Laws dictate how much money is legal to save in those accounts for future use. Money is allocated each year to go into that fund for the projects that will be ready for the upcoming year. State and Federal funding is also used when appropriate and available. Some roads only need surface repair and maintenance while other roads need to be completely dug up and the underground utilities are all replaced. We have an active GIS computer tracking system that helps with prioritizing the needs and documenting where we have issues that need taken care of.  Water, Sewer, Irrigation, drainage and power all have to be accounted for in this type of planning. As we grow, our tax base increases naturally and that brings us new money for projects that could not be previously paid for.

Public Health and Safety 

Question:

With rising populations, how will you ensure that police, fire, and emergency services remain adequately funded and staffed? Please specify whether you would reallocate existing budgets, seek new revenue sources, or implement other strategies to meet these needs. 

Answer:

Public Safety is at the top of our list. We are determined to keep our police officers from being persuaded to leave for other cities. There is quite a wage race that has been raging in the county and beyond and it is truly a challenge to keep up with, but we are doing our best to keep them paid, equipped, trained and happy. We back the blue because we care about the protection of our citizens and they do and fantastic job doing that. We appreciate all of them.  We have reallocated budgets many times over the past few years for the sole purpose of keeping up with the rising wages and competition. I am always willing to look at options for funding these departments, but overseeing budgets, equipment, vehicles, personnel and projections is always easier said than done. I am not in favor of raising our property taxes to pay for these things. Our fire department and EMS services all belong to a special service district which has it's own power to raise taxes. I believe that they need to live within their means and manage their budget in a way that will not result in the raising of property taxes. I have ideas for how this can be accomplished, but those decisions are not ours to make. As long as they are a district, we don't have much say in that regard.

Community Engagement and Development

Question:

Large and even small scale development projects often spark community debate. How will you ensure that residents’ voices are meaningfully incorporated into decisions about zoning and development, and what specific mechanisms (e.g., town halls, advisory boards) will you establish or strengthen?

Answer:

The planning of our new proposed Civic Center is a prime example of the very real battle of words and opinions about what we should do with our city property.  We have had small group of neighbors who live nearby, who will be affected the most, who have been attending every meeting possible so that they can protest and stay informed about what we are doing.  All of our discussion are had in public meetings and everyone is always invited to either attend, or to listen or read our minutes after the fact. All of our decisions are being made in the open and with the public present.  We started that process well over a year ago including open meetings with a focused group of employees and leaders. Then, open houses were held and surveys sent out. Public meetings were held where ideas were proposed by the consultants and direction was given back o the consultants in the direction that they should go. When some of the citizens realized what was happening, they felt that they had not been properly informed by the city and complained that they had not been given to proper chance to give their input. When that happened, we stopped working on refining the project and stared completely over with new open houses, meeting, surveys and public engagement. I believe that this is a testament as to how hard the city is trying to be transparent and open to the public's input. While our ultimate decisions will probably not make everyone happy, we are tying to strike a proper balance in catering our final decisions based on what the public wants and what the city needs.  It's a tightrope that is not easy to navigate, but we are doing our best.

Economic Diversification

Question:

To reduce reliance on tourism and construction, what specific industries or business types will you target to diversify Washington County’s economy, and what incentives or policies will you propose to attract them? 

Answer:

Our city does not, should not, and will not, be the one who develops the commercial property within our city except on city owned property where we can give direction, lease or sell with a development agreement, such as what is being proposed on our Civic Center property or a future downtown partial block where the city owns property. However, we can reach out to and make proposals and offers to companies that we would like to see build in our city.  There are conversations of that nature already in the works that I am not at liberty to discuss, but those efforts are already being made to some extent. Because we live in such a desirable place to live, I don't believe that we need to spend an exorbitant amount of effort doing that. We already have many great commercial companies who are looking at coming here, and because we live in such a desirable place to live, we are not having to give concessions to make most of those happen. I don't believe that we need to give away our future tax dollars, that will be needed to maintain our city just to attract businesses. They already want to come here. I would only support tax concessions for a very limited purpose, the likes of which I have not considered at this point.

Traffic

Question:

Washington County is experiencing increased traffic congestion, particularly in urbanizing areas. What specific infrastructure improvements or policies will you prioritize to reduce traffic delays and improve road safety, and how will you fund these initiatives without overburdening taxpayers? 

Answer:

Hurricane's biggest challenge right now, in the way of traffic, is the ever growing congestion along SR-9. The geographic challenges that we face is unique and challenging and yet we face record growth and ever increasing numbers of cars using that road. We cannot ignore the problem in hopes that it will go away. SR-9 does not belong to Hurricane City and therefore, will not be our burden alone to bear. UDOT has already been holding meetings that I have been a part of in an attempt to come up with solutions that we can live with. At this point, none of those involved in these meetings like any of the alternatives that have been proposed; and yet, if we do nothing, SR-9 will fail in the coming years. Of a necessity, we will have to make some really tough decisions. Decisions that may not make any of us happy. However, we can work together with UDOT, quality engineering companies, as well as local residents who are familiar with the area and have valuable input. There are three or four options being discussed, however, we may not have thought of the best solution yet. We are in the planning stages now in hopes of having corridors ready before the traffic is unmanageable. The areas of SR-9 around Walmart already have new interchanges and frontage roads designed. That construction is planned for the near future and we are desiring to hurry that time frame along to get it done sooner than previously planned.

Water

Question:

Given the ongoing drought concerns in Southern Utah, how will you prioritize water allocation among residential, commercial, agricultural, and recreational (e.g., golf courses) users? Please provide a specific plan or framework to ensure equitable distribution while addressing conservation goals. 

Answer:

The Washington County Water Conservancy District is really the authority over all of the water allocation, usage and planning in the county. Their responsibility is to provide water according to the needs and requirements of the cities. The State of Utah and the State Legislature have enacted, and will probably enact more measures that the cities and the district will be required to comply with. As a city, we are doing our best to preserve the water rights that we already own as well as working to obtain all we can without handing it all over to the district. We want to maintain as much autonomy as possible while still being a good team player with the county as a whole and the district.  We have spent, and are continuing to spend a lot of money on water infrastructure designed to store and preserve all the water that we possibly can within the purview of our city. We are building a secondary watering system which will conserve a lot of water that is used for residential landscape watering as well as agricultural watering. All of our golf courses will be using secondary water, not culinary water, to water their lawns. We will not be approving more golf courses in our city. "We are also drilling new wells, building more water tanks and participating in a new water re-use system which will stretch the ability to provide water for several years to come. We have also enacted restrictions requiring water reduction functions in new construction, while preserving the rights of our long time citizens to continue to use the water responsibly but with fewer restrictions. Working to provide more water sources, more water storage, more water re-use and more water savings, is all part of the continuing effort that all growing cities face. Working to provide for the future with vision and wisdom and not reacting from fear is my mindset.

Qualifications

Question:

What specific experience, qualifications, or background do you bring that would help you prepare for this position? 

Answer:

I have served two terms (Not Consecutively) including the rest of this term which ends December 31st. I think it took most of my first term just to settle in and learn the process and how to get things done. It’s not something that just comes natural. To me, besides accumilating a vast amount of knowledge that is required to make good decisions, learning how to vote independently of the other council members and independently of peer, family, friends, Facebook and other sources of pressure is the hardest thing to accomplish. It’s easy to sit in the audience and say “I would vote this way or that way”. It is completely different once you get elected and you are actually sitting behind the rostrum with everyone else watching you and criticizing you for ever thing you say or do. Feeling confident in your own thinking and confident in defending your position is no easy task. It’s so easy to just see how everyone else is voting and go along to get along. Unless you are there to cause trouble then you just vote against what everyone else is voting. Just kidding. I hope that doesn’t ever happen. But it could. But seriously, acquiring the wisdom to vote for what is right is the hardest thing to do. There are very few times when there is a black and white issue to vote on. Those aren’t always easy votes to cast either. But they are much easier than the votes that are full of grey areas where there is not a wrong or right answer. Rather, there are various ways of looking at things and varying opinions on how things should be done. And then there are things that you seriously will never know what was the right decision until you are looking back in time from the future to see how it turned out. Everything we vote on will play out in the future. Since none of us have a crystal ball, that makes some decisions very difficult to make. Sorry, long answer for such a short question.

Approach to Growth

Question:

How would you describe your approach to growth, both residential and commercial? Do you see yourself as pro-growth, controlled-growth, or growth-resistant, and why? 

Answer:

I am in favor on Controlled Growth. It is unrealistic to be anti-growth. If a city isn’t growing, it is dying. That is not helpful for anyone. But uncontrolled growth will lead to Hurricane becoming a big city which is the antithesis of why most of us live here. We like the small town feel, charm and safety. Controlling growth is the tricky part. Big money and people in high position in power want high density growth and skyrise apartments. I am not opposed to apartments, but I think they should be limited to 2 or 3 stories max. We should also not exceed our current zoning of RM-3. I also don’t want to see all of our land becoming apartments. We need to control our approvals of zone changes to not allow everything becoming high density. We need lower density housing as well as agricultural preservation. Commercial growth is what brings the biggest tax dollars into the city’s revenue. With that revenue, we can repair our roads and infrastructure and keep things maintained and running smoothly. We can also keep up with the needs of our police department and first responders. We can also develop the things that citizens want inside our community without increasing taxes on the citizens. That commercial growth also provides the job base so jobs are available. Maintaining a more moderate rate of growth in residential areas will naturally keep the commercial growth from growing too fast as well.

Transparency

Question:

Many residents are concerned about transparency, especially when it comes to accessing Council voting records and understanding decisions made in closed-door meetings. How do you view the current level of transparency in local government, and what role should elected officials play in improving public access to information and accountability? 

Answer:

I believe that this is a perception problem. Closed door meetings are not allowed except when the city is looking at purchasing real property, where price gouging could occur if it were known where we were wanting to purchase land. Closed door meetings are also necessary for discussing disciplinary actions of employees or anything involving lawsuits with the city. All other meetings are open to the public and are recorded. Meetings are also broadcast online so that if you want to attend a meeting but can’t be there in person, you can participate online. Minutes are kept. Audio recordings are available online within three days of the meetings. City council members are not even allowed to have three, which constitutes a quorum, together at one time except at social gatherings or similar. We also don’t discuss council agenda items by phone or email except to inform each other of dates, times and to request or approve items going on the agenda. I do not believe that there is a transparency issue, but if you perceive that there is one, I am happy to discuss it with anyone and listen to their view.

Spending

Question:

What criteria will guide your decisions on city spending and budgeting, especially when resources are limited? 

Answer:

When times are lean and budgets are tight there are many requests from staff and department heads that don’t get fulfilled. That goes from purchasing equipment, vehicles, hiring new employees, raises in wages or buying new property or building new buildings. All of those items are on the chopping block when resources are not available. Cutting expenditures to keep a budget balanced is the only consideration I give. I will not raise taxes.