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Nibley candidates say sewer system, growth are major challenges

October 21st, 2013 Posted in Opinion

By Mitch Henline

NIBLEY – The mayoral candidates are continuing to campaign and focus on the issues that will face Nibley in the upcoming years. On Nov. 5, residents of Nibley will elect a new mayor to fill the spot vacated by Mayor Gerald Knight. The two candidates for the position are Shaun Dustin and Carrie Cook.

Shaun Dustin

Shaun Dustin and his family have lived in Nibley for seven years. He served on the City Council from 2008 to 2012. He has also served the city as its representative to the Cache Valley Transit District and as a scoutmaster.

“This is a great city,” he said. “We’ve been here for seven years so we’re not longtime residents, but I feel like the city really welcomed us with open arms. It’s a great place to be, it’s a great place to raise a family and it’s a very welcoming. I want to keep it that way.”

Dustin said he is running because the issues that Nibley is facing are very important to him. “If we don’t take care of these big ticket items, if we don’t take care of these big priorities, if we don’t drive the bus, then somebody else is going to determine what direction we go with these things,” he said. “My concern is that if somebody else does that then we will be in a position where were not able to focus on what our real priorities are.”

He mentioned a new high school in neighboring Millville, the new Logan sewer project and the lack of crosswalks on the highways that surround Nibley as the issues that the city will have to deal with in the upcoming years.

“Because we contribute to it were going to have to help pay for it,” Dustin said of the new sewer project. “I want clean water and clean air, but our share of that is going to be somewhere between ten and 20 million dollars. For a town the size of Nibley, where our annual budget is probably 20 percent of that, that’s just not sustainable. It’s going to happen, there’s nothing we can do about it, but we can be very careful about how we structure that, and stay on top of it if we can. My training and experience are in civil engineering. I have my Ph.D. in waste water treatment and this is something that I know about, and I can be an effective advocate for the city in helping put that together.”

 

Carrie Cook

Carrie Cook has roots in Nibley. She has lived there nearly her whole life. Her grandfather was a farmer, raised cattle and built homes there. Cook has served on the City Council for the past two years. She said she has always been interested in city government, but it was her time serving on the planning and zoning board that helped her learn how it all works.

“I have enjoyed it,” she said. “I love learning. I like the discussions. I like getting to understand where people are coming from and the problem solving that comes with it. From there I’ve just expanded and grown into where I am now on the city council. When the position came open, I felt like I would be a good fit.”

She said that the skills she has learned from owning her own business and being a real estate agent will help her if elected.

“I have a lot of the skill sets that I think is needed with the professionalism, flexibility, my negotiating skills and my passion for the city,” she said.

Cook said that some of the biggest issues the city faces are the new high school, the new Logan sewer project, prioritizing city functions and city growth in general.

“Some people like growth, some people don’t,” she said. “We have tools available and we can use them. We just have to know what it is the city wants to do. We need to be able to understand growth, work with it and be able to make Nibley city look like the city that we want. Because I understand growth and I’ve been through the process, I know what kind of tools that we can utilize to make sure that we are building what we want.”

NW

Tags: Carrie Cook, election 2013, mayoral candidates, Nibley, Shaun Dustin