Last updated November 6, 2007.
The results are in, and I lost. Congratulations to Phil Bird, Niel Strong, and Dean Olsen for winning, and to Stacey Petersen and Michele Dugdale for good showings. Thanks to everyone who voted for me or otherwise supported the campaign.
Thank you for your interest in the 2007 election. I am running for city council because although our community is a good one, it can be better. You deserve a city government that is more responsive to its citizens, and you deserve a progressive city government that provides better municipal services. I ask you to cast one of your three votes for me so that I can help improve city government and city services.
Good city government requires three things. First, active voters who pick the best leaders and then continue to demand that those leaders do right by the voters. Second, responsive city leaders who listen to the voters and do what the voters want. Third, city employees who are very well trained and dedicated to their work, so that those who provide you with services day to day are the best available people for the job.
The first thing, informed voting, is your job.
My job, when you elect me to the city council, will be to listen to you. In Springville we seem to fluctuate between responsive city administrations and city administrations that are on their own program. We currently have the latter type of administration. You have seen the city newsletters in which the current mayor essentially likens himself to Brigham Young, and calls on us to fall in behind him. That kind of arrogance permeates some of the city council also. As an elected official I will listen respectfully to your feedback and follow you, or provide a polite and honest explanation for why I cannot.
When you elect me to the city council I will also work toward building the best possible city staff. We have to hire and retain good people if we want safe streets, reliable power, clean water, and all the other benefits of good government. This requires a strong commitment to merit-based hiring principles, effective training programs, and enough respect for the ability of our workers to pay them fairly and then hold them accountable for doing their jobs with excellence.
With active voters, responsive leaders, and qualified and accountable workers, good government will flourish in Springville. If you elect me, I commit to you to do all I can to improve the quality of city government.
There is a lot to appreciate about Springville: safe streets, good neighbors, a beautiful art museum, thriving community sports teams, and much more. The city has changed dramatically in the past few years, though. Now most Springville residents are new, and many of you come from places where you’re used to better municipal services. You don’t have to look any farther than Mapleton to find a community that has figured out that our children play more soccer than any other sport, and so it has built soccer fields. You have seen Provo’s library, Spanish Fork’s pool, and Orem’s recreation center. You know our city can do more to serve families. If you have ever asked city leaders about that, you’ve got the run around. In the November city newsletter the city even claimed that the city provides more services than almost any other city in Utah. That’s only true if you include all the small towns scattered around Utah, but not if you compare us to nearby cities, or to what we ought to be. I am seeking office because the old ways aren’t good enough any more. You deserve better.
For example, the current administration is fixated on building themselves new city offices. They claim that someday we can have facilities for families to use, but that new offices come first. I think that’s backward. It is true that city offices are too cramped and inadequate for such a rapidly growing community. However, the voters I talk to are much more interested in things like an adequately supported library and in other services of benefit to young families, than in a city office complex. It seems to me that citizens come first, and I will stand for putting first things first. Springville voters who want a library/community center to stay in the library’s existing location on what is effectively our town square need to understand one thing clearly. If in this election you do not remove the incumbents and replace them with people who will protect the library, then by the next election the city council will be so far into new construction that they will have guaranteed that if a new library is built it will be shoehorned into a different space. This election is pivotal in a couple of ways, and this is one of them. Some opportunities, once lost, are gone forever.
Some of you are probably worrying now about the expense of providing better city services. That is a valid concern—we can’t do everything at once. However, we can do better than we’re doing now. We all know that the I-15 interchanges are ripe for commercial development, and that should mean increased tax revenue without increased burden on Springville families. If you read the October city newsletter, you saw city government essentially admit that we are losing commercial development to Spanish Fork. These opportunities, once lost, will never return: stores like Target, Costco, and Lowes will not build in both cities, only in one or the other. This is the second pivotal issue in the election, and we cannot afford to let the politicians blow it. We need to do a better job of developing the 400 South interchange. Such development would go far toward funding better city services. Failure in this area will cripple the city. One additional thought on funding services: we also all know that the west fields are going to fill with developments. Impact fees should cover infrastructure development there, leaving new property tax revenue to help fund the facilities many of those people will also expect.
Springville residents deserve better city services. If you elect me, I commit to you to do all I can to improve the quality of city services.
I am not a lifelong resident of Springville, nor am I a member of any of the families that have controlled our fair city for so long.
For over a decade I have provided legal counsel to Utah County, as a deputy county attorney. Before that I taught government and social studies. I understand what makes government work, and what doesn’t work.
In recent years I have served as a Scoutmaster, small claims judge pro tempore, soccer coach, party convention delegate, member of the Utah Supreme Court’s juvenile rules advisory committee, and more. Now I would like to serve you as your representative on the city council.
If you want to know more, here’s a résumé.
Voters have asked me the following questions:
To see a page in which I provide answers to these questions, go to www.xmission.com/~wake/answers.html.
By now, you know I would like to hear from you. Feel free to call (please use the phone book, as I don’t like to put home information online), or e-mail me at wake@xmission.com. If you cannot use e-mail software from your location, you could try this form.
If you would like to help with the campaign, the best thing you can do is to get out and vote for me on November 6, and talk to your neighbors and get them out to do the same. The city has a map of consolidated voting districts here. If you aren’t sure whether you are registered, voter registration information is here.
Thank you to everyone who voted for me during the primary election in September. Thanks also to those who contributed to the campaign so I could get some lawn signs and newspaper ads, and to the people who let me put up lawn signs. And thanks to my family for being so supportive during the campaign.
Paul Wake