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Hyrum mayoral, city council races heating up

November 2nd, 2013 Posted in Opinion

By Tavin Stucki

HYRUM — Stephanie Miller and Patricia Hansen are campaigning to be elected Hyrum’s next mayor, while Jared Clawson, Craig Rasmussen and Paul James are competing for a pair of City Council positions. Hyrum residents who have registered to vote are eligible to vote for one mayoral candidate and two city council candidates. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Hyrum Civic Center, 83 W. Main Street.

About the candidates:

Patricia Hansen is a life-long Hyrum resident.

“I chose to stay in Hyrum and raise my own family,” Hansen said. “I love Hyrum and all that it stands for.”

Hansen said she feels Hyrum needs more choices for public servants and wants to fulfill that.

“Some people felt like (Miller) was kind of a shoe-in and I just felt like we needed a choice,” Hansen said. “People approached me and asked me to run and I felt like we needed a fresh perspective and government in Hyrum, someone who’s not a professional politician, someone who might have some fresh ideas in government.”

Though she hasn’t been “involved, per se, in government,” Hansen said she has been involved in a lot of leadership positions and has proven her abilities in the jobs that she’s had.

“I think that we need to make Hyrum more of a sought-after community,” Hansen said. “I think that we have a lot to offer and we have a wonderful culinary system, a wonderful electric system of our own. We have a lot to offer people and we need to invite clean, light industry into our community so people have an opportunity to be employed there, and stay and raise their family like I was able to.”

Stephanie Miller has served for about a decade on the city council. “I think I’ve proven myself through my 10 years of service on the council that I really do care about Hyrum and the citizens that live here,” Miller said. “My heart is here, that’s why I’ve worked so hard and so many years to serve them.”

Miller said she wants to preserve the rural atmosphere of the town and ensure the various public offices have an open-door policy to help residents voice their concerns about the community.

“One of the things that I’m going to do is add to our agenda that we’ll have a public question and answer time on our agenda,” she said. “Our current mayor has preferred not to do that, but I feel it’s important to allow people to have a voice.”

Miller feels the need for more businesses to find a home in Hyrum.

“I’d like to bring in some light-industry business,” Miller said. “One of my goals has been to better the relationship with local business owners, so we’ve been working on that.”

Jared Clawson, a dairy farmer who was born and raised in Hyrum, is a newcomer to the city council race.

“Right now, the city is very well run, so I don’t have a major agenda,” Clawson said.

Clawson said from his background from sitting on committees dealing with culinary and irrigation water, he has valuable expertise in that important area.

“I know that system,” he said. “I know why shares go where they go and I think I’m more qualified than anyone who sits on the council presently about it.”

Paul James is one of two incumbents in the city council race and has been on the council for eight years. “I’d just like to continue the great things that Hyrum’s been doing,” he said.

James said it is important for Hyrum to have veteran leadership during this next term to help ensure a clean switch from the old city council members and mayor to the new people who will hold those positions.

“I’d like to be able to finish the parks, I’d like to be able to hold our taxes at the area they’re at right now,” he said. “I’d like to not see any tax increases and be able to have a smooth transition for the new city administrator and the new mayor.”

James wants to ensure Hyrum’s youth will have safe neighborhoods to grow up with the family values, while still keeping costs down.

Craig Rasmussen is the second incumbent seeking re-election. “I don’t really have any huge platform or agenda,” he said. “My focus would be to kind of continue the direction that Hyrum is going. We’re doing well. We have a very strong track record of people being involved in the community through volunteering and service and things like that. I want to continue that and help that to continue to grow.”

Rasmussen said he is pleased with the financial situation Hyrum is in and wants to continue rainy-day type saving.

“(I want to) maintain the financial condition that the city is in,” he said. “We’re in a very good position with reserves and things. I think that’s important because one emergency can cost an awful lot of money, like a water well or something like that goes down. Maintain the financial stability that we have.”

Rasmussen said his actions are testament enough to the job he would continue to do on the city council.

“If you think things have been going well and Hyrum has been governed properly, then go ahead and vote for me,” Rasmussen said. “If you think that I have not made decisions that you agree with then I won’t feel bad if you vote for somebody else.”

NW

Tags: city council candidates, election 2013, Hyrum, mayoral candidates