2025 Meet the Candidates

I start the answers on the next Alright. It's 07:00, so we're gonna get started. Yeah. I'm excited to see so many of our citizens out here. This is an important decision. It affects us all, and I'm happy to be able to partner with the youth council. Let's all give them our respect tonight in providing this Meet the Candidates tonight. I'm gonna give the microphone over to Addie. She's gonna lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Alright. Will the audience please arise, and we'll start. I pledge allegiance

to the flag of The United States Of America

I'd like to introduce Mikaela and Hudson who are going to read you our guidelines for tonight. And also Emily Rabau who is one of our moderators. Hi. Welcome, and please see over the following rules which will guide this evening's format.

Each candidate will be given a minute and a half to introduce themselves and explain why they're running for Nedley City Youth Council.

The introductions will be followed by a seventy five minute question and answer session.

All questions to the candidates will come from the moderator. The public is welcome to submit questions to the moderator. However, there will be no direct questioning of the candidates by the audience. Please place questions in the basket on the back table or raise your hand, and a staff member or community volunteer will pick up the paper.

A community volunteer and the moderator will will select questions from those submitted by the audience. Questions designed to defame, attack, or otherwise embarrass candidates or public officials past or present will not be entertained.

Each candidate will have sixty seconds to answer each question. Candidates will be notified when they have thirty seconds, ten seconds, and when time is up.

Candidates will rotate who answers each question, so each candidate has an opportunity to answer first, second, etcetera. However, the overall order of answering will follow the order listed on the election ballots, which follows the order of the state of Utah twenty twenty four twenty twenty five master ballot position list.

At the end of the question and answer period, each candidate will be given one minute to make final statements.

Please be respectful of the candidates, moderator, and others in the audience. Cat calls, outbursts, applause, and other such behavior will not be tolerated and may result in your dismissal from the forum.

Thank you for your attendance and participation. Don't forget. Your ballots must be placed in a ballot drop box before 8PM on Tuesday, November 4.

We appreciate you reading those forum rules aloud. We do have participants on YouTube. That's why we wanted to get get the get those participants online aware of the forum tonight. I did want to note that Larry E. Jacobson is not on the dais. He there was a new state law that was passed. It took effect 05/07/2025. If candidates are run unopposed and there are a certain number of stipulations that have are are in place, that candidate is the city is now required to cancel a race or an election. So the Nibley City Council passed I forgot the resolution number. I have it right here. Resolution twenty five twenty nine, which canceled the Nibley City mayoral race and elected Mary Larry e Jacobson as our Nibley City mayor. So he that is the reason he's not participating tonight, but I do know that he loves to take questions, so get a chance to speak with him. And we will take give the mic to our moderator. Oh, our moderator is Tim Ramirez. He, was a former council member, and he he's on the Cache County sheriff he's an administrator at the Cache County sheriff's department.

Thank you. We're gonna go ahead and get started if you guys are ready. Our first question. Oh, that's correct. Sorry. Thank you. We'll start with a minute and a half intro, and then we'll we'll start with Nick down on the end.

So my name is Nick Salivo. Moved to Utah about two years ago with my family. We're looking for a better way of life. What's that? Just leave your finger off. Leave it off? Yeah. Is the mic working? Okay. Perfect. Will do. So my name is Nick DeSalvo, moved here about two years ago with my family from Delaware. Basically, what happens, my wife came home one day fed up looking for a better way of life. I called a recruiter found work in Utah, came to visit. It took us about two hours of riding through Northern Utah here to find that this was everything we were looking for as a place to raise our family. You had kids running down the street playing in parks, families outside. And truthfully, like, that's the environment we wanna raise our family in. Delaware had kind of gotten away from that it wasn't very family friendly. And so we want to make sure we provided good opportunities for our our our daughter. Reason I'm I'm here today running for city council is, you know, there's oftentimes we all complain about what the council is doing, good or bad. And the only way that you can really make a change is to be impactful is to speak up, have a voice, and potentially, you know, take a position to run for candidacy. That way you can make an impact on decisions that are affecting you and your family and your neighbors. This is a place we love to call home, we're happy to be here, we want to make sure it continues to grow or prosper for next twenty, thirty, forty years. You know, and we wanna make sure that we're a part of that. And one of the best ways that I think I could do that is to serve on a council to serve all of you. Thank you.

K. When you're ready, Randy. Oh, sorry. I'm Randy Spalding, and, my wife and I have lived in Nibali for about seventeen years. We live in Stonebridge. We raised our six kids here, and we love our town. And maybe it's not. I just wanna pause for a second. You're gonna hear a lot about things that I think and believe, but really, I just wanna thank everyone for coming. First off, I wanna thank people I'm with, these colleagues. Two, I'm planning his own commission have worked tirelessly for the city, and I wanna thank Kay Sweetin who's here tonight. And, for Norm and Norm I don't see Norm here tonight, but their years of service, they deserve a tremendous amount of thanks. I knocked on a door once recently. The guy says, I like Norm. He fixes things. Like, yeah, my car has been there before. And for Kaye, a big thank you to Kaye. She's been up here for a long time. But really, when I think of Kaye Sweetin, I think of the Nibley Children's Theater and her many years of service in doing that and so much appreciation, for these great individuals and with what they've done. Driving here tonight, I was noticing before dark these trees on 3200 South. For an Eagle Scout project, I helped plant those trees many years ago. I watched them grow. I watched our city grow with it. And I can just say to everybody that's here, we're growing and help us manage our future. Thank you. Thank you, Randy.

When you're ready, Nick. Alright. Hello, everybody. It's good to see some familiar faces out there. My name is Nick Kentska. My wife and I and our daughter moved here about six years ago. I actually ran a couple years ago knowing that I probably was not gonna win because I was kinda new to the area. But I really wanted to kinda put myself out there and get involved. And through that process, I was lucky enough to be appointed to the planning commission, and I cannot tell you what a great experiences that has been. Really learning about our ordinances and our code, understanding the process, and and really helping me understand more or less the fundamentals of when those those parts of the process are really important for you and us as Nibley residents to get involved. And that's one thing I really wanna continue within that work is be that voice for you and really help everyone in terms of residents of Nibley understand that process and really be, that transparent voice to to everybody, in certain in in all the residents and helping everyone understand what those important, aspects are of development as we grow. You know, one thing that really is important to me, in my professional life is is leadership. And and I think the best leaders that I've ever been around are those proactive leaders. Right? Not the I don't I wanna be a proactive leader for Nibley. I don't wanna be a reactive leader. I wanna make sure that we're communicating well with each other, understanding what the needs are, working with the community to set a vision for Nibley, and then creating ordinance and code to act upon that vision, and and really just bring common sense is in my approach to the council. Thank you. Thank you, Nick.

When you're ready, Troy.

Alright. My name is Troy Rabau. First of all, thank you everyone for coming out tonight. It's really good to see people who are engaged in the dealings of of their city, of their community. I am running for city council because sixteen years ago, after we had our first daughter, my wife and I grew up in a small town on Maui, and we were pushed out from where we grew up because we we realized we weren't gonna be able to afford to stay there until they were where we grew up. We've been Nibley now for nine years, and we've come to to love Nibley. We've come to call this home. This is where our three daughters have grown up, and this is where all of their memories have been made and where their friends are. But I see the same thing happening to them where it is getting to the point where they are about to get pushed out and as well as all the other friends that they have pushed out of where they grew up. And I don't want to see that happen. I want this I I wanna see Nibley grow responsibly. I wanna see I wanna keep Nibley great, but I wanna make it awesome for the future, awesome for our kids in the next generation, a a place where families don't just live, but a place where families thrive. So that's why I'm running for the city council.

Thank you, Troy. Okay. Now we're gonna start with the questions. Troy, I think we'll leave you first on the ballot, so you'll go first. Alright. You'll have a a minute and a half. You already have the 70 sorry. Just one minute. Just one minute to answer each question.

Okay. Nice. Awesome. Thank you for the intro song. Theme music. Yes. Thank you.

Alright. Here we go. There have been more than 20 city council meetings so far in 2025. How many of these meetings have you attended in person, and what are some of the things you learned from those meetings?

City council meetings this year. I have not physically attended any city council meetings so far this year. Although I have been to either physically or, watched online, every single city council meeting and planning and zoning commission, meeting as well as many other, city meetings, over the last two years. I have not missed a single one over the last two years.

Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. You need to resend it or you Nope. I'm good. Yeah. So over the last year, I probably attended half dozen in person city council meetings. Obviously, as a member of the planning commission, I've been to every single planning commission meeting minus one. And really what I've learned through that process is just how great our community is to, be willing to come and speak their mind. I really think it's awesome that we have this opportunity as city residents to come and work with our council and, communicate with our with our legislative body, right, when when we feel like maybe things aren't making sense. And then just obviously having that opportunity to work with, citizens through, attending the meetings and and understanding the perspective better in terms of where maybe some of the concerns are in our community. And then, and then taking what I've learned through attending the meetings and communicating with with everybody in the community and applying that even at our level on the on the planning commission. So thank you. I'll just hold on to it.

You ready? Yep.

I've attended three in person this year, and I've turned attended one on Zoom. Many of my Thursday nights are have been swallowed up in work and other, ecclesiastical responsibilities. But But I've made arrangements if a miracle happens and I want city council that I can have that night free, which which will be great. What I've observed, I wanna say if maybe from a different perspective, I came home late the other night on a Thursday night. What was it? 10:30, 11:00. They were still in here. They were still in here working for us, the citizens, and my my gratitude was just overflowing. I've also learned that not many people attend. But I think one of the things I'd like to do is see if we can get more people to come and to participate in this, this great moment and and help the council and to know what what's in our hearts and minds.

Thank you.

So in person, I've attended one council meeting this year. I've watched probably four or five of them via YouTube. Thursdays, I've committed to search and rescue training. So that's where I spend most of my Thursday evenings. But similar to Randy, you know, if if elected, then I'm committed to being here for the meetings. What I've learned is that a lot of people don't speak up or show up until it's something in their backyard. And I think it's important to have somebody that's here attentive and and that is foregoing information to the public, maybe in ways that people weren't necessarily looking for because you often hear that people don't know about the issues ongoing. So it's not that the information isn't being, you know, provided is that it's not being distributed in a way that people are receiving it. And so hopefully, we can bring attendance up to the meetings as well just make sure that information is disseminated to people further. Thank you.

I'm gonna choose to rotate so then Nick will take it Yep. First and so on and so forth. Yep. Okay. Nick, this one's gonna start with you then. Can you share an example of a time you had to work with people who disagreed with you and how you reached a productive outcome? Yeah. I mean,

I get to live that sort of every meeting almost at the planning commission, and and it's it's it's an interesting process. You know, one thing that I, again, kinda reiterate what I said in the previous meeting is one thing I love about Nibley and its citizens is they're not we're not afraid to come and speak our mind and and really try to present where our concerns are as a community. And just like I mentioned in the last answer is, it's so fun to to have these discussions in person with with the community. One thing that I really have and really feel like I I can bring to to the process is just that education aspect of the all this information and process I've learned over the last couple years and really understanding the process to the extent of when it's best to communicate and and and why. Like Nick said, oftentimes the most frustrating parts are, hey, this is happening. Why? Well, it was because of all this information and meetings that happened maybe a month ago, maybe longer. And so, yeah, it's just working with the community and trying to understand how the process works and make sure they that communication's had.

Yeah. I mean, I've had that experience, at work and also with, some community responsibilities for years. I served as the HOA president for Stonebridge, which is unique learning experience because you you deal with people and everyone's got issues. We have 69 different housing units in, in Stonebridge. And one individual and we have some extra covenants there was not willing to mow those weeds and and keep those down. But what do you do with that? Well, we've got a conflict. We've got a problem. We've got some standards that we're trying to keep. So there goes some letters, and it realized we we gotta make some connections and and maybe ask the different questions like, well, why aren't they why aren't they mowed down? And then when we get down to the heart of the matter, it's like, okay. We we can solve the problems. Sometimes just asking the why questions, and then how can I help makes a huge difference?

Thank you.

Go ahead, Nick. So professionally, I'm a project manager. So a lot of my job often involves conflict with others and disagreement. So I think it's important to hear people from the other side and their perspective, figure out why maybe they're upset or why they disagree with it. You know, at the end at the end of the day, if one person wins, somebody's always gonna have some hostility, whether it's a group or a single person. I think it's important to have those discussions, figure out what we have aligned, and kinda discuss, like, why we're wanting to take certain actions. Ultimately, you wanna come to an agreement that is a win win for both parties, and that takes some sacrifice on your part at times, some, you know, swallow some humble pie. But just because you're in a position of authority doesn't mean you're always right. I mean, you just gotta be, you know, listen to people and and move forward.

Thank you. And Troy?

Yeah. So I am very analytical and very data driven, and I do a lot I take a lot of time and and really study issues out. And being on the planning commission over the last few years, we have gone through a variety of different ordinances for recommendation to city council. And as we've discussed those, there have been a lot of varying points of view. And at the same time, no matter the amount of research and time that I put into looking at data, people's lived experience is is valid, and I I still take that into consideration. And over all of those ordinances, I believe we came to a a very good place where they eventually got passed by city council. Makes sure.

Okay. I'm gonna start with you, Randy. What do you think Nibley's biggest challenge or problem is?

Well, I think one of the greatest challenge that we have is is who are we? What is our identity? I asked myself that question all the time, and I I think of our neighbors to The east of us into Millville, they're having this big up where about 70 units going into 38 acres, and they're having this battle. And I went and read that on the site, and what they're they're battling over they wanna have large farms. They wanna have community that has connection, and and I I sometimes wonder, who are we? What what are we going? What are we doing? What's our direction? And I think about that. I think about that, and I wonder, are we becoming a destination spot? Are we becoming just a transitional area for residents? And so I think our biggest challenge is figuring out who who we are.

Thank you.

Let me pause for just one second for technical issues. To lose the timer. We're just trying to figure out how to get him to be able to control the timer and show the right view to the people at home on Zoom.

Anyone have any good jokes? Come on. There's gotta be a good dad joke out there somewhere. Larry, you got one?

Okay. Are you ready now? Ready. Yeah. Let's go ahead and start.

Sorry about that. No problem. So I think the biggest issue depends on who you talk to, but one of the most common ones you hear about is is that the congestion, and, you know, overbuilding. And it kinda alludes to Randy's points like who are we? You know, constantly we were having meetings where zoning is is being approached to change their their zones to build different style communities or houses, whatever the case may be. But some of the problems that are that derive from that, and honestly, one of the biggest pet peeves of a lot of people is parking issues, to the point where you can't park on streets in the wintertime, yet we're we're allowing lots so small, you can't build a driveway big enough to park a full size pickup in. In today's world, if you're a working man, you generally have a full size pickup in your driveway. And, you know, I've heard people getting complaints because their hitches over the sidewalk, which they hurt when you walk into, I understand, but we need to be able to live and keep our things where they belong. So I think one of the biggest issue we have is housing and how do we follow through with maintaining that. Thank you, Nick.

Go ahead, Troy.

Yeah. Nibley's biggest challenge.

Nibley.

Right now, about 44% of Nibley residents are 20. And there's a a community, we pride ourselves on being very family centered and community driven community. And as those kids grow, the memories they make here, if if they plan on staying here, that really goes against a lot of different perceptions that people have of Nibley. Where do these kids live? Where where do they raise their families? Do we have enough house homes for them and for their families? It goes against a lot of some of the the perceptions that people have of Nibley on wanting to stop growth. And so kind of like what was said before, we kinda have to decide on on what are we as a as a community and how are we gonna address that going forward.

You ready? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I basically I think I agree with every most of what everyone has been saying up here is, you know, certainly, we we what is our identity? Right? Like, right now, Nibley, frankly, is just a bedroom community like many other cities in in our valley to Logan. Right? And I think it's important that we as residents really come together and figure out what our identity is for for the next five, ten, fifteen years. And are we prepared, to move forward with a clear vision to achieve what that goal is? Right? Do we want to have a semblance of commercial in Nibley to help support ourselves to become more of a holistic city, or do we wanna continue just to be a, residential community that everything we we do, we have to leave Nibley to go do that thing, right, other than obviously our wonderful parks and recreation program. So I think it's just important for us to come together as a community, work with work with our residents, and make sure that we have a vision for what we wanna become. Let's put the plan in place and and act upon it. Thank you.

I think that's everybody has answered that question. Alright. So I'm gonna start down the end this time. What are your top three priorities for our city over the next four years, and how do you plan to accomplish them?

So top three priorities to me would be putting a standard to the building codes as far as sizes of lots and housing we're going to build to maintain those size properties and the lots we were discussing. Third one to me would be adjusting the code so that people aren't being ticketed for frivolous items such as having your hitch over a sidewalk. I think that's a common complaint. The third biggest issue that I can address is, with building as far as quality of homes and construction. I got a friendly fly here. And making sure that we're building quality homes, not just quantity of homes because that's that's a common problem I've heard from numerous people.

Thank you. And then it'll go to Troy.

Alright. My top three priorities. So my top priority is very critical for my other top priorities. So my second and third priorities is strong support for local and small businesses. I I wanna see the city grow and foster small family businesses. And then second, we need smart development that pays for itself and doesn't put a tax burden on current residents and keeps our taxes low. But my top priority that is critical for those other priorities is we need the voice of our next of the next generation involved in the choices that we make. And so to do that, I have I have two things that I wanna do is I wanna create a a seat on our planning commission for youth that gives them a voice in how we design our city. And we have our Nible Youth Council that I don't think we utilize to to the the full extent possible, and I like to get them involved. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you. Yeah. So I think one of the one of the very most important things, and I've said this a lot already and I'll continue to say this, is I feel like we can be more creative in how we open up avenues to communicate with our residents. Like I said, as I talk to to residents and oftentimes they're like, well, I just found out about this. How how am I just finding out about this? Right? And oftentimes it's because there's two or three meetings that preceded that situation at hand that that either they were unaware of or didn't understand the intricacies of the process. And really, to me, it's like how can we better, you know, communicate with our public and really coming up with more creative ways to reach out and make sure that everyone's informed in all parts of the process. The second one, like I alluded to in my previous answer, is just wanting to make sure that as Nibley grows up and then as we can continue to develop, like Troy said, just making sure that we have a good plan in place for commercial development when it eventually does come to our city so that we're ready and and we're ready to find that balance for what we need for for our city. And then the third one is just promoting more local land local ownership of homes in in the city as we develop. Sorry.

I guess that's you. Right?

Yep. Top three priorities. Yeah. I guess so. I think one is we start with growth. I think we need a variety of different styles of homes to attract a variety of different people and their and and the structures that they they want to live in. I think we need a balanced approach. We do need some some housing that can that people can afford that might be on the lower end and other people that might be on the higher end. I think a balance really helps with that growth. The second thing I think I wanna look at is roads. Are all the roads safe to to to travel on? And it's not just about bikes. It's also about the vehicles. Is this road safe for the vehicles to travel? That's a really interesting question. I start to question that right now as we open up 12 West even further. And maybe the last one I was thinking about is I'd really like to see a change to get more people in involved. They need a voice. They need an opportunity to say, listen. I and I kind of agree with what's been said about before, but I really think people need to have a say in the planning process and what direction we're going.

Alright. Does everybody get a chance to answer that one? I lost track. Yep. We're good. So Thank you. Alright. What are your thoughts on the traffic calming features on 12th West?

So 12th West. I use 12th West a lot, both commuting to work on my bike as well as driving through there. I have really enjoyed the traffic calming features on there. I believe where a lot of the discontent comes from from those in the who share that view in the community is they are, different and new to this area of of Cache Valley. And what I would love to see going forward as the city looks to implement different and other types of traffic calming features is using what's called tactical urbanism. It is where you use very low cost and cheap things to to do testing of traffic calming. So things like paint and cones, straw bales, planters, and you you test these and you re reiterate getting feedback from the community. Thank you.

Go ahead. Yeah. So my thoughts on 12 West, basically. Right? Yeah. So this has been an interesting process to be sort of listening and and coming to the meetings and hearing everyone express their opinions on on 12 West as a corridor. It's one of those things where I think well, I don't really live near 12 West and I don't really frequent the road myself often. I think it's important we listen to our community. Right? And it's one of those things where, yes, it's a new design. I think the intent is there, but, also, I think, you know, we we can use some common sense as a city and say, okay. Did we provide enough opportunity really to communicate effectively what this new design is gonna be, helping the community understand the ramifications? And I think it's important that as now now the final phases are done and and open, we can we continue to study the quarter and make sure that the intent is working. And if it's not, then we need to listen to the community and take measures to to to make it right according to, you know, what the needs are. And we we should just be thinking about the infrastructure we create and maybe not to solve problems maybe that don't exist. So just listening to community, like I said. Thank you.

And, Randy, when you're ready.

I hate them. Now with all due respect, I do like the idea that we're trying to we're trying to do a few things to to mitigate traffic challenges and and speed. I think that the approach was this. The the approach came from my point of view. It was, number one, what can we do to reduce the speed? And then it was can and then keep people safe. I I think it it was that was the problem. It was the intent. It was number one, it was, let's keep the speed safe. When was forgot about, well, what do we do about keep people people safe? So every day, I've gotta work at 05:45. It's in the dark. I turn left, and there's headlights staring right at right at me just inches apart. It happens twice. And I travel I just wonder. I'm playing this dangerous game of chicken every day going to work, and I wonder, is that a drunk driver? Is that person drowsy? And I I'm scared. I'm scared for myself and for my family. I don't like them. Thank you, Randy.

Go ahead, Nick. I know, 12 West is very controversial. There's a lot of good things about it. I know the biggest complaint's the bump outs there at the intersection, which I agree could be a challenge. But ultimately, stop signs don't or speed limit signs don't slow people down. The only thing that's gonna slow them down are are physical obstacles. People hate stop signs. They hate circles. They hate speed humps. Best thing you do is is put some curvature to the road, you know, minimize the speed. And, ideally, it's gonna people can't drive any faster than 35 without, you know, having major issues. The design is is I like it. The the bump outs, I know they're people are not a fan of them, but I live right there at the intersection 1232 Hundred, and all directions is a drag strip. So they can't go that fast when they're going around the curve, thankfully, without some sort of issue. But I I without putting physical barriers there, this is next best thing in my opinion. Thank you.

Alright.

Did you answer that one? My turn. I got it. Okay. Alright.

What does smart growth mean to you specifically as it applies to Nibley? Yeah. Good great question.

To me, smart growth means growth that complements your city. Right? I think it make it means understanding that, you know, Nibali's growing Nibali's grown, right, over the last many years. And I think it really is, like like Randy said earlier, building residential and commercial and all kinds of development that complements itself. Right? So making sure that we are identifying areas in in Nibley where maybe higher densities belong. Right? Where we have high roads that can have the capacity to handle that kind of development. But but then also that doesn't necessarily mean we're gonna gonna or we should develop one type of development as our city as our city grows. And and to expand upon what Troy said, you know, as we move forward, it's simply like, are we trying to build a city in the next five, ten, fifteen years that our kids can stay? And and I and I hope we I hope we are. And and to me, again, it's smart development is just simply development that complements your city and what what your vision and needs are. Thank you. Go ahead.

So I think it's an it's it's a very interesting question. I'll go once again back to balance. I think we need to attract a multi a variety of individuals in lifestyle and life cycles to come in and to live in into Nibley. I think we need old, middle, and young individuals. I think we need families. I think a balance makes makes a lot of sense. We recently had a family move into our neighborhood, and they brought a bunch of kids. And their plan is to stay there for twenty, thirty years, and I absolutely love it. And then they looked around and they says, well, we see a lot of high density housing. So we're we're kinda we thought we're going to Cache Valley, to get away from what we experienced in West Valley. And so I think we gotta be careful. We gotta be careful. You only get one chance to develop a property. You get one chance. And so we have to look not just today, but also to the future.

Thank you.

Yeah. Okay. Smart growth, I think it's important to not outgrow the infrastructure. And it's easy enough to do. Right now, schools are at or exceeding capacity where I've heard one teacher had 40 students in a class, whereas my daughter is in a class with, you know, two additional age of 25 students. Now I know we don't we don't have any rule over knee of, the schools, but we do have a responsibility to align with the schools and not overpack them, make sure the roads can fit the capacity of traffic, make sure all the, the water runoff and containment and water supply issues can meet the demand of the people here already. We always talk about water being a big issue, but we're we're building all the time and the demand for water increases without being able to supplement that. So I think smart growth is just maintaining your infrastructure, not outgrowing it and make sure we can maintain what we have already. Thank you.

Ready? Smart growth. First of all, smart growth should be fiscally responsible. Does that growth is able to pay for itself? Meaning, the services that serve that development, is the taxes generated enough to pay for that maintenance? And not all development does do that. So first of all, is it fiscally responsible development? Second of all, are you creating development that meets the needs of your city, And are you creating places that people want to be, that people want to not only just spend time in, but that is where they they live and they and they thrive in. That is smart growth.

Awesome. Thank you. Alright. Ready for the next question? Let's do it. What is something we need We do very well in our city.

It's a fantastic question. I always wanna say, I think a couple of things we do just amazing. I think Chad runs an amazing program with sports. It it is unbelievable. We have so many kids involved in the the youth leagues and now going to adults. I think that is absolutely just fantastic. And the second thing, which is an addition to that, is the children's youth program every summer, that theater play is amazing. That is the most unifying thing I see all year round is that experience. People talk about that, and they come and the hard work is involved in that. I know Kaye's been involved in that for years. I think we do sports, and I think we do those unifying things just in amazing way. I like to see honestly, whatever the youth theater is spending, we gotta double their budget. It's absolutely amazing.

Go ahead. So I second that. I think, with Chad's own, the the parks rec department is is superb. My wife and I played in the adult coed volleyball league that finishes tomorrow, and it's been a ton of fun. Having more things like that to give us older adults a chance to get out and get some exercise is great. I love all the programs they have for youth. The opportunities that we have to have facilities in and around Napoli that we can use for events like that, for fundraisers for different nonprofits and things like that, I think it's it's great that we provide those opportunities and use the facilities, and we do a pretty good job with it. And I certainly think we can grow that area and do even better.

Thank you.

Yeah. I I hate to echo, but I have knocked on a lot of doors and talked to a lot of residents. And when I asked them what is their favorite thing about Nibley, hands down, 99% of the time, it is our parks and rec, our parks, the recreation, the sports, for the kids, for the adults. That is by and far, the most favorite part that people enjoy about Nibley. But I kinda wanna build on that. I think what Nibley does really great is creating a strong sense of community. Not only do you see the community come together with recreation, but with community events like heritage days with the days of service, and a lot of other things that I've seen, throughout the community. It we have built a a great strong community that knows how to stand by each other, regardless of whatever challenges or differences that people may have. A great community.

Alright. When you're ready. Well, I mean, everyone took all the best answers. Mhmm. Obviously, yes, parks and recreation. I mean I mean, if you look at our parks and recreation master plan, I mean, the level of service, meaning, you know, the the acreage to people we have is one of the highest in the entire county. And so, obviously, we're doing a great job with providing those spaces for the community. And like many have said and and how how do we use those spaces. Right? We we we do a great job of creating those events and coming together as a community. And frankly, it's things like this, like what we're where we're here at tonight. Like, I cannot tell you how many other times I've seen meetings like this and maybe one or two people show up, right, in terms of Meet the Candidates tonight. This is a special thing that and and special people that we have in Nibley. And and, frankly, maybe to to divert a little bit, you know, something I think we really do a good job of is our is our budget. You know, I really know our council takes a lot of pride in our mayor and our staff in creating a good fundamentally sound budget to where they're being respectful to our tax dollars. And I really think and commend them for doing such a great job there because it it's a lot of work, and they and they really do a good job. Thank you.

Alright. The sticks one's a long one. You might wanna write something down. K. So this has to do with modern income housing. Nibley City, like all cities in Utah, is required to plan for moderate income housing by law. What specific zoning or land use strategies would you advocate for to meet this state mandate while minimizing negative impacts on existing neighborhoods?

Alright. That's a really good question. So define what the moderate income housing is. The situation we're in right now is is a house that I built five years ago, you could sell from as double the money, yet my wages haven't doubled. So I it's a supply and demand issue. We kinda struggle to control that. The other issue we have is the cost of land here. It's it's four times the cost of many other places. You know, so that kinda leads you to the high density housing townhomes, you know, point one acre lots, whatever the case may be. I think what people get bothered by is is when you're sprinkling that into established neighborhoods all around. If we need high density housing, you plan that in areas that are accessible to highways, accessible to schools so kids could walk to and from school and not make a bigger impact to the infrastructure of roadways. But that's a I think that's an ever evolving task that we're trying to hit and moving target. You know, there's there's that's always gonna be a challenge. I just think we need to mitigate where we put it. Thank you.

Yeah.

So, moderate income. So moderate income, housing is, 30% of the, area meeting income, of 80% of that. And so to to fit that the median house price in Nibley right now is $500,000 with the median household income at a 105,000. That income cannot afford even the median home price here in Nibley. And so to get affordability and to to hit these moderate income housing goals, we need a variety of different housing. There's more than just single family homes and townhomes. There's a lot of different kind of homes in between. So as you vary the home type, as you vary the the size of the home, you can look at things like community land trusts and then doing development agreements with developers to do deed restrictions on homes. There's a lots of different things, and I have a a plan that Thank you. That does that. Yeah. Great.

Yeah. Great question. Yeah. I mean, to to parallel some of the previous discussion, I obviously, you know, in order to provide affordable housing, we need variation, right, in our housing. Does that necessarily mean one neighborhood or one area of town need to take on the entire responsibility to provide that product? No. Does it mean that we can chip away at it little by little over time? Absolutely. And we can do creative things working with developers, like Troy said, to develop neighborhoods where we have deed restrictions over a certain amount of time. Right? Where the developer can build a project at a scale that makes sense for them because they're, you know, they they're in the business of of developing and making money. But I think we can be creative in in working with them through development agreements to say, okay. A certain percentage of this, Right? We want we wanna make sure we're preserving this, for our younger generations. And, and and we can certainly work with them to provide, that as as a context of how to, basically enforce, more affordable housing for our kids. I totally stay here. Thank you.

When you're ready. Well, it's a tremendous challenge. I mean, well, I think we understand that it it's a big deal. I saw I read an article the other day that, Cash Valley is 17% lower in wages compared to Davis County. Well, yet the home prices are only slightly cheaper here only slightly. What what a disaster that presents to our future that's so just so difficult. And your interest rates are high. But I think we can only do so much with affordable housing. It's not affordable. I mean, it's really not. But at the same time, you don't wanna get into a a thirty year loan in into a into a place you can only stay there for a couple years. So it is a challenge. And if you wanna live in Cache Valley, it's a tough deal. But then I wanna say one more thing about that. It really is if you look at people that are going into Ridgeline, Cash Nibley is the bargain. The median price here is about $50,000 less than our neighbors in in Millville. And so it is tough. So I do think a balanced approach is what what we need. I think we can work with open spaces and Thank you. Thank you. Thank

you. Alright. So this next question goes right along with it. A major focus for many in Nibley is to help facilitate the success of the next generation, especially our children. Housing affordability is a major challenge for new homeowners. What do you see as an appropriate role for the city to facilitate affordable housing?

So the the role the city plays in the cost of housing is a lot more than I think people give it credit for. As I was saying, you you have single family homes and you have townhomes. That's that's kind of the majority of what we have in Nibley. 5% townhomes, 95% single family homes. There's a lot of different housing between those two housing types, and they are all illegal here in Nibley. As a city, we can make those legal and make those buildable. That would bring in a variety of different housing types at a variety of different levels of housing that would meet the budgets of a lot of different budgets of families. There are, as I mentioned, other things like community land trust that cities can do, which would take the cost of land out from the homeowner, drastically reducing the cost of homes. As it was previously mentioned

Thank you.

Yeah. Sure. To answer this question in terms of what the can what the city can do, it really fundamentally comes down to our zoning and ordinances. Right? And I think, you know, the last year, especially on the planning commission, we've really taken a hard look at this and we're trying we've been working hard to figure out how can we do some creative zoning and work with the council, right, to make some recommendations on how to further explore this concept of, you know, how do we do more creative zoning, allow for more variation or a lot sizes. Again, it doesn't necessarily mean that one neighborhood or one area has to take on the responsibility of something like this, providing this variation in in product and and housing opportunity. But I think like Randy has said, it it all comes down to a balance. Right? I think we can work together and make sure that, you know, as we develop over time that we're being thoughtful in our approach and then making sure that we're just considering that, you know, hopefully, our kids can stay here one day because they're they're the future of Nibley, frankly. Thank you.

I think it starts in the home, honestly. I think it's my wife and I have strived to have our kids get all the education you can. Go after it. If you're not making enough money, then do something so that you are. And and so I think we can it starts in the home. Let's do all we can to get people to make the best career they can possibly find. Thanks. I think it's I think it's there. There's only so much we can do. I do have an idea. It's a little out there. And that is I think if you're a first time homebuyer, I would think that the city can do something, and that is maybe the impact fee is so dramatic. If you buy a brand new home, it's your first one. I would like to see a possibility that maybe we reimburse the impact fee to the to the purchaser for their first home 20% a year on the on their anniversary of buying that house. Saying here's a little extra cash. It takes a lot of money to to build a house. Let's see if we can help you. Thank you.

When you're ready. So the the city actually would I was in this room. I was told one time they can't dictate what is built on the property that is bought and sold. And so unfortunately, that supply and demand is there. If I buy a piece of land, I build a million dollar house on, I wanna list it for a million bucks, I'm gonna sell it for that, because somebody's gonna buy it and inherently is gonna drive the cost of all the other properties. I don't think introducing cheap low income housing to the area is the solution to that. You know, Randy makes a good point about give us some sort of tax benefit to, first time homebuyers or people who've been here for twenty years or invested in other opportunities. The other thing we can do is to bring some more businesses into into the city, to help offset some of the costs that the residents are carrying. Part of that is, you know, we'll have to build some infrastructure to support that as well. But there's many avenues the city could take, but direct housing costs, I don't think we have as big of an impact on that as we'd like to have. But it's a lot of the residuals that we can help offset along the way. Perfect timing.

Alright. You guys ready for the next one? Yep. This one's a two part question. Okay. Has to do with commercial development and and growth. How should Nibley's plans, ordinances, zoning, and land use regulations be adjusted to attract desired commercial development that provides local jobs and services without negatively impacting the community's residential quality of life? And where do you see the most appropriate areas for this to go?

And we have a minute to answer that? Yeah. Okay. Alright. I didn't write it. Buckle down. Okay. No. I think, really, it comes down to, you know, adequate zoning. I think, you know, Nibley, in the grand scheme of things, especially in this commercial space, we're pretty naive and new, right, to to and we're just kinda waiting for our opportunity. So I think the best thing we can do, like I said earlier, is just be prepared working with commercial developers, making sure that we are ours our ordinances and zoning are in place so that we're not a hindrance to the the idea that for for commercial development when it comes. And then I think it's just partnering with our landowners in those areas and making sure that we're working together to make sure that, again, that the city is prepared and ready to go. And, really, what it comes down to the second part, I think you said is Where should you put it? Where should we put it. Right? So one thing our two one thing that Nibley does have an advantage over is we're bordered by two highways. Right? And in in commercial, more than anything else, it's simply just an opportunity of timing. Right? So we do we do have a lot of great frontage along the highways. And, again, it's just making sure that we are ready to go and our ordinances are in place to make that successful when that time comes. You made it. Awesome.

It's a great question. It's also a terrible question in in one one minute and try to figure all that out. But the reality is this, the fact that we are I completely agree that we are this community that is just we've got one sixty five. You got 89 over here. And most people go by Nibley about fifty, sixty miles an hour, and they don't stop. And if you don't stop, you're not gonna, you know, you're not gonna have economic development there. So So I would think we need a slogan like, you don't have to drive to Logan. Just stay here. I think what works here is when you have an appointment. I love seeing that right across right over down down in here, we have, I think, an orthodontics center going in there. That that's awesome. It's just awesome. Whenever you have an appointment, I I mean, that's what I would develop here. We have kids going to school. Great. Have an appointment for physical therapy, doctor's office, etcetera. I also think people are kind of obsessed with eating out. We need food. What if we could have a few extra restaurants on the side? It's gonna make a huge difference.

K. When you're ready. Yep. So this is actually a a topic that I feel pretty strongly about, and I've reached out to a couple business owners in the area that would would actually love to move their business to Nibley, but, we don't have the support for them. And some of that is is power supply to manufacturing. And it doesn't need to be anything huge, like a big assembly plant for Ford Motor Company. But, you know, when you're running a piece of equipment that require three phase power, we don't have the power to supply them to run multiple pieces of equipment. With that could come some high paying jobs. You know, again, we do have the the highways at our land borders, which are perfect places to put jobs, with easy access for trucking to keep them out of town. You know, people always eat, so there's always room to put places for food. Like you said, different doctor's appointments, etcetera. I I don't think there's an issue of having people come to nibbling and build businesses here. We just be able to have that discussion to make it beneficial, for them to to invest in us and us and and nibbling invest in them as well. Thank

you. Yeah. So businesses in Nibley. Definitely, supporting for small, family local, businesses. As a city, we can push that. And with that, we talked about the question asked about changing of code. If as a city we move to what's called the form based code, what what that does is it doesn't focus on the separation of uses like our code currently does. Houses over here, businesses over here, but it focuses on the design of the the relations from, buildings to streets and how they all mesh together and naturally ties into a neighborhood. If you've been to places like Japan or a lot of other places around Europe, that's exactly what they have, where you have a little corner store, you have these small little businesses meshed into neighborhoods. That way, you you get the commercial. You you're supporting small businesses here in Nibley without these big commercial developments coming in and, again, keeping it community focused. Awesome. Thank you.

Okay. Next question. What incentives or policies would you suggest to encourage responsible higher quality development rather than just fast and cheap projects?

Oh, that's a great question. What I'd honestly do would I would actually eliminate the r two a quarter acre lot zoning for a future use. I'd go back to the third acre lot. And I'll tell you why. I'd go back to that because it puts the city in the driver's seat for negotiation about home size and lot size. And if you wanna go smaller, then maybe we can have an open space agreement where we can have a conversation about what type of home is going in there. And and then we with that open space, we can have a place for people to have a park. But I think it starts with having a mid almost a little bit larger lot size that that puts the city back in the driver's seat.

Thank you. Are you ready?

So I think some of that could come from, you know, essentially the code and control. You know, these big mass builders are about volume, because volume is what brings in money. We have a lot of small time builders in Nibley that could really use our support, for one, you know, but when we bring somebody in like that, you're gonna get a better quality home. You're not putting a house up at three months to settle and fall apart on you. Inherently, you know, the more loads you put on concrete, the faster it settles. And, you you know, we hear about the water issues we have with some people flooding or when your ground gets wet, it moves on in. And inherently, you have more issues with that. I think, you know, just ensuring that we are building quality homes by controlling the code and who's building could go a long way, versus just throwing up 50 houses to sit there and wait till they sell. And then kind of allowing the builders to mandate who's doing inspections and who is who's checking this and checking that. So I think we need to have a little bit more control and oversight over those items. Thank you.

When you're ready.

Yeah. So higher quality development. Exactly what I was saying with my my last response is a form based code. It would do exactly this. It focuses on the form of the building, the quality, and materials that are used in the building, which exactly is what we're looking for. Right? We're high quality buildings focusing on the building and how it ties into the neighborhood. Does this does this building feel like Nibley? Does it feel like this neighborhood? And that's what form based code does. So if we were to move to a form based code, this is exactly what it would do is it would pull in higher quality buildings that mesh with the neighborhood that brings a mix of uses that and builds a place that people want to spend time in and want to be in. And you're not going to to Logan to to do other things, but you're staying here because this is where you wanna be.

Thank

you. K. When you're ready. Yeah. Sure. So incentivizing higher quality builds. You know, I think it really I like I said before, a lot of this a lot of these issues frankly come down to our zoning and our ordinances. Right? Really, what we what we need to be looking for is are are those zoning and ordinances inhibiting the small builder to come in and build spec homes or one one at a time kind of a development versus are we encouraging through our zoning and ordinances these large scale developments. Right? And and, really, I think all we need to do is just make an make an introspective look into our ordinances and just make sure that we're not inhibiting the potential for a small builder to come in and build one home at a time versus just large scale developments.

So Awesome. Yep. Thank you. Good job. Okay. We're gonna change the subject a little bit. What do you guys think about trails?

When you're ready. Okay. So I think the trails are a a great system for people to get out into the community and just just move around, be outdoors without going up into the mountains and without walking the streets. I come from a neighborhood that was five miles large. And the only way you could walk around the neighborhood is on the streets, but then you get hollered after walking on the streets. So we're giving people an opportunity to go outdoors, breathe fresh air, walk around. They're, you know, ideally safer than walking some sidewalks in the streets. I think we could always use more trails because it's it's nice. You inherently have to leave open space for people to enjoy. You know, I think we need more of them personally.

Trails. Don't get me started. I so I was a pretty big runner, and I love running on trails. And when I think of trails, I think of, like, dirt or gravel trails, but I know not everybody enjoys those kind of trails. And that's a a little difficult to do in Nibley right now. There's not a lot of dirt and gravel going through the city. But what we do have, if you look on 1200 West, we have these 12 foot trails, these really big sidewalks. And I see so many people that are out and about who are who are out walking, walking their dog, walking with their kids, kids on scooters, people on bikes. It is heavily used trails, and I would love to see more of that in Nibley because, again, we are really big into recreation. And having these multiuse trails, I I think fits very well here in our community. Thank you.

Yeah. Great question. I live in a neighborhood with trails. Hey, Vees. Welcome. Thanks for coming. Yeah. I I I love the the concept of more trails in Nibley. I I I try to run a lot through our city, and oftentimes, I'm I find myself running on the road because it's just easier on my knees rather than the concrete. So so I'm running against traffic, looking my maker in the eyes, you know, as I'm running on the street. And I think, you know, trails are a way that we can connect people to places in Nibley and get people off the road and keep put them in a safe environment, get our kids off the streets in in in getting them safe ways to connect a to b. And so just just to shout out our our active transportation master plan. If if you're unaware, you know, that's how Nibley City is communicating to you what what their vision is for for this the trail infrastructure network and and the projects that are coming in in the future. So Awesome.

When you're ready. Like many, I I love trails. I've run thousands of miles in the mountains. I do that almost not daily, but I would like to. And trails in the valley and trails in our community, I think it's a fantastic idea. However, we have to be very, very, very careful that I ran into a neighbor, talked to him for a while, that someone in the city says we're we're gonna take your backyard because we have an easement there, and we're gonna take it for Inmate domain. And and we're gonna we want you to give up x amount of land so we can have a trail through here. And I think that's very, very troubling. Now, of course, the lawyers will have to go through that and figure that out. But I think the very idea that maybe someone have to give up part of their private property for a trail system, that cost is too much. They've been there ten years. They have trees. They have a trampoline set there. They have privacy. They've surrendered too much. It's not worth it. There's a cost with that.

Thank you very much. Okay. So this next question must be written by the guy you talked to. He'd take my backyard to make a trail. When you're ready. Oh, okay. Sorry.

Can they or should they? That's the way they wrote it. Yeah. Well, can they or should they? I don't believe that they should. I mean, I could I could just stop right there. But I I don't know the specifics if if this is the the the same person on the property. But, yeah, you also have to respect property rights. And, you know, does are are we removing freedom from people by taking taking their property for for a trail? And I I don't think that we should.

Thank you.

Yeah. I I'd agree with Troy. I think the important part of this process is, like I mentioned earlier, you know, the city has ways that, through planning processes that we communicate with you, the residents. Right? It's through our general plan. It's through our future land use plan. It's through our active transportation plan. And it's so important that we as residents, understand how Nibley communicates to us in terms of what we plan for the future. And this is a part of it. Right? And so I actually spoke to another resident, who's going through this process just like this. Maybe it's the same people that you've spoken with. Maybe. And really the what what I what what I counsel them on is, look, like, these plans are not they're not, legally binding. Right? They're plans. That that's what they are. And so I think it's it's a way to make sure that we're all unformed and understood in terms of what the vision is for the city. And then when inevitably something like this comes up, we're using the proper methods of procedure to to communicate with our legislative body and then let the legislative body decide what's best or or at this level on how to move forward. So Thank you.

I've answered the question kind of, I I suppose, but maybe I'll just take a step back. And and I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know the codes well for what state what the state has declared for in the domain and when you can take things and when you can't. But I think the the principle is that the state of Utah has some codes in place so that they the cities don't take don't take your backyard for recreational purpose. That's kind of the that's the that's the intent of that that law is to make sure they just don't take it. They have to have a really, really good reason. And recreational purpose is not listed as a as a qualification for that. So I think we gotta be very sensitive to that. I think we gotta be kind, and we're gonna need to be considerate. And we had we have, like, everything else. We gotta consider the cost. And it's not it's not it's not worth the cost if that's what's gonna cost for somebody have to have to move and lose lose their privacy.

Thank you.

I mean, it's pretty simple. The answer should be no. I mean, if you'd like to buy the piece of land off, I'm sure we can have that discussion, but for you to take it and build a trail, absolutely not. You know, it's a public utility easement. If you need to bury some utility lines or need a repair line, sure. But you put it back the way you found it. Lots are small enough here as they are. Again, I'm all about the trails, but I'm also about people having their own property and that's theirs. Like, we need to find another solution if that's the only one we had to look forward to. So I mean, it it you know, quick and easy answer is no.

Thank you. Alright. Next question. If you were on city council, what would you do different?

My turn. Yeah. What would I do different? So I I think I've talked about this a lot in in many of my answers, and I'll just continue to reinforce this concept of just trying trying to figure out bet better and and more unique ways to just communicate with you, the residents. Right? Like I said, through my experience over the last couple years, it's really just helped me understand where the most critical parts of the process are and when when really, like, this the residents should get involved in in the process and really provide that input. One thing I'd like to do is explore ways to, even come up coming up with, like, a sign sign up email, right, where the the council or or staff or or collaborative efforts to put together even just a newsletter more frequently. And, you know, we do a great job with our newsletter already, but it doesn't always highlight the, you know, the maybe the more specific parts of what's going on at city hall in terms of some of these legislative decisions. And so, that would be that would be probably my first primary focus is just coming up with more unique ways to just get the word out to residents so that everyone's informed as to what's going on. Thank you.

K. When you're ready. You know, I have a tremendous respect for the mayor who chairs that and for the member of city council. They sit up here and they give so much time and effort. They they really truly do. And and I I think we owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude for what what they're doing for us. What changed I I sit in the back of a meeting a few months ago, and people were kind of upset about an issue. I walked out the person who did not know me. I talked, and I said, how'd that go? And he says, they don't listen. It's an interesting comment. I pinned him down a little bit, but he was kind of upset. He says, I get up there. I'm shaking. I'm nervous. They sit up there in those elevated chairs, and they're not listening to me. Well, that's interesting. It's it's kind of a terrifying experience to sit out there. It it it is. And so I think we can maybe communicate a bit better, maybe talk about when they bring up issues, maybe talk a bit more about it in council. Nobody wants to feel like you're being talked down to. So that's just a small idea. A little bit more communication there. More of a voice. Thank you.

K. When you're ready. So the second that, I know a lot of people that have come to the meetings, they they, you know, speak their mind in the beginning or comment on a subject. And as the meeting proceeds, you walk away feeling that you weren't heard. And then when there's a response given, you have no opportunity for rebuttal. You know, so people leave very frustrated because they ask a question, you answer it, and there's no chance to to kinda, you know, question that once again until possibly the next meeting or via email, phone call, whatever the case may be. So I think there needs to be a change to the format in the meeting just a little bit to have a in a meeting, open discussion with the the citizens.

K. Thank you.

Yeah. Listening to our citizens, I think, is very important. But I think there's a a portion of our our citizens here in Nibley that are often overlooked, and we don't really listen to them as much as we should. And that is our youth, which is why that is my number one priority is getting our youth involved in civic engagement. They are the future. We need to develop them as future leaders. We have our Nibley Youth Council here who is helping out tonight. I mentioned earlier, I don't feel that they're utilized to their full potential. The city, as we're developing plans, there are committees that are formed, and there are no youth voices on these committees. And these plans are what direct the city in how the city should move forward. As the future of the city, having their voices on those committees, I feel, are extremely important, and we should be utilizing their voices there.

Thank you. Okay. Everybody had a chance to get that one. Right? What is one bold but achievable goal you would like Nibali to accomplish in the next four years? It's a great question.

I think we really can achieve a goal and make many people happy by coming into Nibley with once again a balanced growth approach. I think we need to be very sensitive to various income levels and what people are doing. I think we need to make sure that the city itself is not allowing developers determine the destiny of how we grow. I think we need to take control of that. I think we need to look at our codes and rezonings and to make sure that that we're we're developing the we're developing, allowing the right builders to come in here to help the city manage the growth that's gonna happen. The projection is that we're gonna grow by like 300%. Well, we need to have smart, smart decisions. We have to have people in there making the right decisions so that we don't get overrun with just one type of building.

Thank you.

Yeah. Randy makes a really good point. You know, a really bold step would be to slow down the demand of housing because we are we're we're growing fast. And, you know, I come from an area that was quickly overgrown to the point where everybody left because it took you an hour to get across town. The infrastructure wasn't supportive of the added traffic. You know, we we could stop building quantity of houses and more or less focus on what we have and improve the quality of what we have. You know, and again, invite some some other businesses come in, find a way to support them. That way they invest in the city as well. So it's not just a citizen or the city itself carrying the burden of cost of, you know, different parks or rec avenues. The biggest thing would just be to slow down, with the building and just improve the quality of it. I know that's hard for people to to understand and grasp, but I think that's what we need.

K. Thank you.

Something big and bold. Something that the city is currently going through right now is putting together a plan on a town center for Nibley. I know I've heard from a lot of residents who are excited about this. And as I've talked to some youth, they've expressed, you know, there's no place for us to hang out in Nibley. You know, we gotta ask mom or dad to drive us someplace. We can't just go somewhere and hang out with our friends. No place besides Ginny's that we can go and go get an ice cream or or go get a treat. And I I think a town center would fill that role. You know, we don't have a local library or any place that kids can hang out. You've probably heard the term third place, a place where you go that's not work or home, a place where you go to to mingle with with your neighbors and with your community. And, again, I think that's what we need is some place that we can come together as a community that's not just heritage days.

Awesome. Thank you. Yeah.

I mean, how bold are we talking here? Like, do we wanna bring a baseball team to Nibley? I'm joking. You know, one thing that I think is important to mention that we're going through right now and and hopefully everyone's been informed and can and can participate is the idea of a rec center potentially coming to this end of the Valley. We're in the process now of, exploring the idea of creating a special service district and partnering with other communities to see if that's something that can be realized for Nibley. If we're talking about bold, that would certainly be a direction. And and and right like I said, right now, we're going through that process, that that exploration process to see if that's a viable opportunity for Nibley. And if it is, the potential that that brings, you know, to expand upon some of what Troy was saying is bringing more of those third spaces to our community so that we have more than just I'm glad I love Jenny's. Right? And we have a lot of great spaces in our parks and recreation, but that would definitely be a bold step for Nibley if that becomes realized. Thank you. Alright.

We probably have time for about two more questions, I bet, before we run out of time. So we've picked the last two. How will you ensure transpares transparency and accountability in your decision making process while in office? Okay.

If you can't sign it, you know, don't write paper. Don't say it. I think it's important to say what you believe in and stand for what you believe in. People are gonna disagree with you. Some people are gonna agree with you. But as I mentioned earlier, you know, the people that you do disagree with, have a new conversation with that. You know, come to to some sort of resolution everybody is is mostly happy with. But if you do say something that somebody disagrees with and they approach you to discuss it, be open about it, admit it. If you can't admit about what you said or what you did, you shouldn't be doing it and you don't belong here on this council. So my commitment is to own what I say and do. And if I do something wrong, I'll I'll accept that responsibility for it. But, ultimately, my goal is to be as honest and transparent with you as I can.

Awesome. Are you ready? Yeah.

If if you watched our city council meeting last week, they did a training in the open meetings act for Utah, and that is one way that there is transparency. Right? Any discussions as a group happens here. It has to be a public meeting that the community can participate in. And I feel that as a city in all areas with city council and planning and zoning, we follow this to the t. So I would continue doing doing that, obviously. Second, if I'm elected to city council, my phone number and email will be on the city website. Please call me or email me anytime. As I've talked to hundreds of residents, as I've gone out knocking on doors, I have given them my contact information and asked for them to contact me with any questions or concerns, and I would do the same if you like to city council.

Thank you.

Yeah. Same. Again, I'm I'm gonna repeat myself. Again, you know, really fundamentally what it comes down to is just providing any and all opportunities to give give the voice to to the Nibley City residents. Right? Like, whether it's how we communicate when and and what kind of communication we have. One thing I really like that certain members of our council do is they have these backyard meetings. I've been to a couple over the last couple years, and what a great opportunity to come and just kinda maybe let our guards down a little bit and really talk openly as a community. That is definitely something that I would love to embrace and partner with other members of council if I am so lucky to become part of the council. Yeah, I think it's just really just come together as a community. Just be good friends and neighbors and have productive, even if it's difficult conversation, that's okay. We can through conflict, we can come to a good resolution and make sure that we're just moving forward as a as a community. Thank you.

You know, I think transparency is is very important in city governance. I I I believe in that. I think all successful relationships have good communication. I think we need a I think it's done in the past, this has done well, and sometimes it's not done well. And sometimes there's when we have a, like, land that's been developed, sometimes the citizens have this question, well, where's the meeting before the meeting? Sometimes we get blindsided. And there's been so much work going on on a development, and then you get a letter saying information that's saying, oh, by the way, we're gonna have a meeting on this development. And you feel like, oh, that's not very transparent because I'm not included in this, and you don't have time to prepare for it. And so I think just neighbors talking to neighbors and saying, hey, by the way, did you know what's going on? Let's check out the website. Let's look at this, you know, things here and there. And I think it makes a huge difference. And so I would like I would reach out, I'd visit with people and say, hey. In your neighborhood, FYI, these are things going on. Here's how we we get involved. And the next thing I would do is I'd encourage the the citizens to

to subscribe to find out what's on the agendas for the minutes to the meetings. Yeah. They do. I think so. Yeah. It is you. K. Oh, he's keeping to hide the pumpkin from me, but I figured it out. Okay. I think See it. My last question. As our city continues to grow, how do you plan to manage development in a way that supports necessary progress while preserving the rural character and open spaces that many of our residents value?

Yeah. So Nibley already has a couple tools to help with this. There's the Open Space Subdivision, which preserves open space as part of a preserves open space as part of a development going in. There's also the transfer of development rights, which allows a big swath of open space to be preserved. I feel as a city, we can definitely push these two if we feel that open space is very important, and I know it is to a lot of residents. So I would like to see both of these pushed more. There are there are other tools that we can use as a city, but I'm I'm in strong favor of keeping open space and keeping that nimbly feel in in whatever facet that open space looks like. I know and I I know that depends on on who you're talking to, on what open space means, but I'm sure we can come to an agreement on on something that we we can we all appreciate.

Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah. To to reiterate, Troy, yeah, we do have a few mechanisms in place already where we can encourage development that does preserve those open space neighbors. I live in one myself. So in Mount Vista, if you've not visited that our neighborhood, we have about seven acres of open space in our neighborhood that we manage as an HOA, and I think we all love our neighborhood and kind of what it represents. We can certainly execute that throughout many parts of the city. And frankly, really, like, we've all been talking about many times throughout tonight, it really does come down to that balance. Right? And and really, like, how do we define what rural is to Nibley? Right? Like, rural could mean density. Rural could mean supporting ourselves. It's kind of that thing that maybe means it a little bit different everybody else in the room. So what really for me, what I think when I think of a rural community, I think it's a community that supports itself, and and supports each other. And and again, it just comes down to working together to create a vision that we want for Nibley, and and let's put the plan in place to execute that vision.

Awesome.

I love the idea of open space. I too live in a a cluster subdivision. We have we had a social there about a month or so ago. I bet we had 300 people coming together. It builds community. When we have open space and we have room to gather, I think it makes a huge difference. So when we have developments come in, I think it's just if we could push them to an open space agreement, I I think that really does matter. It's it's important, but we have make sure what we're winning. It's like you're making a trade off. You know, I like I love sports, and I think of there's always, oh, so and so was traded to so and so. And the big question is, well, who won who won the trade? And we wanna make sure that when we're dealt open space and we're working with developers that we're not getting the desert and they're getting a lot of milk and honey. You know, we gotta make sure that it's fair for everybody. And does the open space have parking? Are more people using the open space than actually live in the subdivision nearby? That's a good indicator. If more people are using open space, then it's a great idea.

Thank you. You got almost exactly a minute and thirty left in the question and a minute left for you to answer. Perfect.

So I think it's important that, you know, as we develop, we do indicate open spaces, but I think we define the open space as an area that community can use, not an area that is just open for use of, agricultural animals or whatever the case may be. If the community can't use that open space, it is very minimal benefit to those people. I don't think building houses on superbly small lots or giving them a couple of acres of open land that's used by somebody else is is adequate. I believe people should be able to have a yard where it could go out back, have a bonfire. I think that people should have an open space where a community can go and have a picnic or such as Randy said, a gathering and have the neighborhood come together and and just enjoy the peace and the serenity of that spot. Again, it is a trade off of development versus having the open space. But I think it's critical that we have that that balance to where people have usable open space and not just the title of the land.

Thank you. So that concludes the question period. We're gonna give, one minute for each candidate to give a final statement. I'm gonna start with Troy to keep the same order. And, when you're ready, we'll start the timer.

Well, I wanna say thank you again for everybody coming out or watching online. It's it's really good to see this public engagement. I wish we had this more often in our public meetings in planning and zoning and and city council. I think our city would be that much better off if we had this much continual community input and and feedback. Thank you for the to the NIVA Youth Council staff and mister Ramirez for moderating tonight. I I just wanna say I'm running for city council because, like I said, I I I love the city, and I put a lot of time and effort into dedicating and improving this this city, not just for my kids, but for your kids, for your grandkids, for our community. And I hope to earn your vote in November. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for all for coming. What a fun experience. I don't know. Maybe we're sickos up here. I don't know if if you think this is fun. But, yeah, just thank you for coming. And, really, like I said earlier, you know, I ran two years ago knowing that I likely wasn't gonna win, but I really wanted to just show the residents and the leadership of Nibley that I wanted to get involved. So I kinda put my money where my mouth was and luckily, Larry pointed me to the to the planning commission and I've spent two years just learning so much about the process and how it works. And really, I think that's given me the tools and the skills to really help communicate to you, the residents, on, hey. These are the most important times. These are the most critical points of the process for you to get involved. I wanna make sure that, we're providing those avenues and opportunity for you to become engaged and understand how the process works so that you know exactly what's happening and how the process works so that you know exactly what's happening, what may be happening, how the city's communicating to you, what our grand vision is. And I'd like just to continue those efforts and and work together as as residents together just to make Nibley a special place as it can be. So thank you. Appreciate it. And, again, thank you everyone for coming tonight.

I agree. I echo with everything that what's been said before. It's an interesting experience, and here we are. We're all applying for the same job. It's a terrible job interview process, by the way. It really is. And for very little money, and I it's it's interesting. I I kinda made a mistake. And you see Randy Lloyd Spalding on there. I didn't mean to put my middle name. It just now it's there. But I'm okay with it because I'm named after my grandfather, Lloyd, who, believe it or not, fought in World War one. World War one people. I'm not that old, but really, truly. And he gave his he served. I have his flag. It's in our home. It's displayed. I don't have the courage to to be in the armed forces, but I think I have the courage. I I love my country still. This is how I can serve. I'm willing to be public servant. I will work with the city council and work with the mayor and all those that sit on this side that work for the city, that work with the city, but I will work for you. I'll work for the citizens. I'll be a public servant if I'm elected. Thank you.

So you could say I'm a glutton for punishment. My wife will probably echo that. Since I was about 16 years old, I've always volunteered as a first responder. You know, so I've I've always made those calls late at night or leave a family dinner or whatever the case may be. You know, I'm on a board of directors for a school we're trying to bring to the county here for another charter school. A lot of things I try to do for the community, that, you know, I just like to serve, I like to be of benefit to people. I like to see an improvement in the community. I don't need the recognition for it, I truly don't. But I just like to see people thrive, I like to see people benefit. Everybody here tonight, you're supporting us, and you're here to find out who we are. And we appreciate your time. You know, it come November, if you vote for me, I promise that I will serve you, I'll work for you. I'll be transparent. And if you need to come kick me in the tail, I'll give you my address. You could do that too. But, you know, truly thank you all for being here tonight. It's been a pleasure, you know, up here with everybody, and we look forward to hearing from you in November.

Thank you, guys. That concludes our meeting. Thank you, everybody.