Have you ever had the desire to poke your local politicians with a stick? If you think about it, we are “their game wardens” and sometimes they need some encouragement. Want to know what I think? Read on.



On Monday January 9th, 2012 at 7:28 pm, I remembered the Mountain Home City Council was meeting for the 1st time this year. Ooops! (Go LSU) Too late to attend at that late hour so now I'll have to wait at least 7 more days to read the official meeting minutes. Seven more days before I can learn what our new City Council decided and discussed. My bad...

Challenges, Visions, and Expectations
A lot of the people of Mountain Home may not care what our city government will do in 2012. But that doesn't mean our elected officials should get a free pass. Shouldn't “we the people” have some insight into what each member of the City Council, and our Mayor expects to accomplish? How else will “we the people” know if they have our best interests at heart? I think “the people” really expect a government that is proactive rather than reactive.



A proactive official would already have a good idea of what challenges Mountain Home faces in the next year and beyond. They would also have a vision of where the city is headed in the future, and hit the ground running making that vision a reality. And the truly proactive official should already know what “the people” expect of them and what they expect of themselves. But sadly, our elected officials are not required to share these important (in my opinion) ideals with us.



That's Where the Stick Comes into Play
I lay down a friendly challenge to Mayor Rist and Council Members Anderson, Isaac, Urquidi and Schipani. This challenge is to individually inform, educate and publish the answers to the following:

1. What are the 3 biggest challenges you think Mountain Home faces in 2012?
2. What are the 3 biggest challenges you think our city faces in the next 2-4 years?

It's been said that Mountain Home is a vibrant rural community of 15,000 with strong agricultural ties. We are also the home of Mountain Home Air Force Base and Marathon Cheese.

3. Using “your vision” of what Mountain Home should look like in the future, rewrite and expand upon the above statement in order to reflect what you'd like people to say about our City in the year 2024.

Citizens have certain expectations of their elected officials but these expectations differ greatly from person to person. So...

4. As a City Council Member or Mayor, what do you expect to accomplish in the next 2-4 years?

While I doubt we will get answers to any of these questions, they are questions that truly need to be addressed. So if you think your Mountain Home elected officials should answer these questions, head on out to a Council Meeting and poke em with a stick.



Farewell, Welcome and Thanks from one of the Game Wardens

• It is much regret that I say farewell to an excellent City Councilman. Geoff Schroeder “did his 4 years” serving Mountain Home, Idaho. I thought he brought a level-headed, no nonsense attitude to the job while occasionally offering a few humorous zingers to each meeting. Geoff also seemed to be the only “on-line” personality of this City Council. I want to publicly thank Mr. Schroeder for making Mountain Home a better place to live, work and play. I'm glad you made it out of the jungle in 1 piece.
• A warm “Welcome” is in order to the newest member of the Mountain Home City Council. Jimmy Schipani should bring a fresh new outlook to our local government. There are many challenges to face in the coming years. So Jimmy, “welcome to the jungle” as “they” call local politics. Do a good job for us.
• For the rest of them? Mayor Rist, Alain Isaac, Rich Urquidi and Russ Anderson? I've watched you guys at council meetings for the last few years. My opinion???? You guys have done a great job. I have great respect for you and the extremely tough job you have taken on. So...Thanks. But don't let it [the job] bring you to your kn-kn-knees, knees.

Thanks,





PS: I'd also like to thank Guns N' Roses as this article was partial based upon one of their songs.

(November 8th, 20011) At approximately 11:00 PM, the preliminary election results were posted on Facebook by Councilman Urquidi. The winners for the 2 open Mountain Home City Council seats are Jimmy Schipani and Russ Anderson. Congratulations to both you guys.

Mountain Home Voters Spoke - The Unofficial Count
Schipani            621
Anderson          601
Sykes               557
Bondy              163


Thanks to the 8.39%
I want to thank each and every person who took the time to educate themselves on how I stood on the issues and voted for me. Getting thoroughly defeated is a humbling experience but I campaigned the way I think every candidate should. Full disclosure, a published platform accompanied by ideas and explanations is how it should be done. I'm proud of what I accomplished even if I gained the trust of only 162 voters.

My Future Plans
The whole campaigning process was a one of the best learning experiences I've ever had. With that said, the chances of me running for any political office in the future are pretty close to zero. Not that I have lost my zeal for local politics...I'll still be watching what our local government is doing.

Comments
Please leave a comment. Tell us why you voted for the candidate you did. Or even better still, tell us why you did not vote for me.


Thanks,

The Monday October 24th, 2011 City Council Meeting was as well attended as I've seen a meeting in a long time. And some citizens stuck around for most of this 2 hour marathon which is rather unusual. All 4 City Council candidates and a Boy Scout were also in attendance.



Issues I Found Interesting
Golf Issues: The Golf Course Board was called up in front of the Council to discuss some things. The most contentious issue seemed to be the City's decision to look for a new golf course manager or Golf Pro. The “Board” felt they were not properly informed about this and a few other issues.

Mayor Rist spent a lot of time agreeing with the Board that communication between all parties hasn't been very good in the past. Overall, the Board thought the City wasn't supporting the Desert Canyon Golf Course like other Departments in the City. Mayor Rist and Councilman Schroeder tried to explain our local government had to do what's best for the entire City and not what's best just for the golf course.

Also discussed was an increase in fees for golfers. The Golf Course Board sent their recommended “fee increases” to the Mayor/Council earlier in the month for Council review and passage. After discussions to amend the board's recommendations it was decided to accept the new fees as written. Some fee increases will have to go to a public hearing before they can be officially approved.

My Opinion:

• “Communication is a 2 way street” as Councilwoman Isaac correctly pointed out to the Golf Course Board. These types of communication problems can easily be overcome with today's technology highlighted in my official platform.
• The Golf Course Board seemed to use the old “It's not fair” ploy for trying to get more City support for the course. But their “balance sheet” for the last few years (or likely the last 17 years) clearly shows our local government has to do everything in their power to control the financial bleeding.  Enough is enough!
• Increased user fees to try to get the golf course closer to being self sufficient is great and the taxpayer should be happy...or should they. As Councilman Schroeder kind of pointed out, there is no hard data on golf course users so we have no way to calculate what the fee increases will do for the balance sheet of the golf course. Of course, gathering golf course user data would be a very useful starting point for future budgeting considerations. Hopefully someone on the Council will recommend this idea in the future.  It’s part of my platform in any case.

Mountain Home Business License Issue: Paula Riggs, our Economic Development Director addressed the Council with the idea to “require” all businesses obtain a business license. This proposed “license” would be used to develop a database of all businesses in town. A “Business Directory” would then be created from this data for use by all interested parties. This idea received support from the Mayor and Council EXCEPT the required/mandatory part of the idea.

• Councilman Schroeder stated he is totally against any kind of mandatory business license as he thinks it’s a roadblock to doing business.
• Mayor Rist agreed with Councilman Schroeder for the most part.

It was finally decided that the City will begin collecting business data but it will not be mandatory.  Notices will be placed on our City website and water bills to make sure word gets out.

• Councilwoman Isaac said something along the lines of “some businesses likely won’t be bothered to give the City this information unless it’s mandatory”. 

My Opinion:

• This idea is part of my City Council Platform.  I believe a mandatory business license is a NECESSITY.
• Without a complete and accurate picture of the businesses in Mountain Home, economic development and business education will be stifled…like it is right now.
• We already have at least 2 on-line business directories for Mountain Home on the Chamber of Commerce and Mountain Home News websites.  These are “optional” business listings that are not comprehensive by any means.  
• A “mandatory” $1.00 or $5.00 business license updated each year would pay for the database collection effort.
• My idea would be to waive the $1.00 or $5.00 fee after the 1st year if the business updates their license by the April 15th of each year.  In short, a business that obtains a license and keeps the information updated on a yearly basis would incur $5.00 maximum fee over a lifetime.
• At least the Mountain Home City Council left the door open to make the business license mandatory in the future.   

School Parking Lot Repair
The Streets Department asked permission to help our local school district re-gravel a parking lot between the football field and baseball fields.  This non-funded project entails bringing in about $12,000 of gravel, the use of City equipment and employees.   After some discussion, the Council decided to give the go-ahead for this project. 

My Opinion:
First off, the $12,000 amount for the gravel is a “fair market value” only.  The City already has this stuff sitting around so it really doesn’t mean the taxpayers are coughing up the full amount to repair this often used parking lot.  And the employees and heavy equipment would likely be sitting idle during this part of the year.  So, do I think this is a good project for the City to take on?

I have many reservations about using my tax money for projects like this…but:

• Working together and helping other local agencies on projects like this can pay dividends down the road.
• According to Councilman Rich Urquidi..., “this parking lot is used by many of our own citizens as well as many visitors to the City”.  Making sure the people don’t have to tromp through mud puddles is valuable to the City. 
• The most important issue I heard and saw that makes me think the Council made the right decision to repair this parking lot was that our own City employees appear to think this is a good idea. When the guys that are doing the extra work appear to think this is a worthy project then the Council and Mayor should listen closely.  The City Council gets paid big bucks to make these types of decisions.  I think they made the right call.  

Got Any Comments?
I know there are a few of you out there that have an opinion on these issues.  Keep them to yourself, or get it out of your system by commenting on this article.