St. George • Referring to what some have termed St. George’s most contentious campaign ever, Council member Dannielle Larkin issued an impassioned plea Wednesday night to residents and her fellow candidates at a debate hosted by Utah Tech University.
Beset by recent vandalism to her campaign signs and targeted by opponents who have affixed thousands of Post-it notes to vehicles accusing her of supporting drag shows in front of kids at city parks, Larkin implored candidates and their supporters to do better.
[Related: St. George Council member targeted for her support of the LGBTQ community]
“I have been watching with a broken heart as we have seen the most ugly City Council campaign that has ever been in the history of … St. George,” said Larkin, one of five candidates vying for three open seats on the council.
“That is … heartbreaking because it is not what St. George is all about,” the incumbent continued. “We are about building, we are about lifting, we are about looking into the future and making a space that we are proud to live in … We should not allow this kind of negativity and hatefulness to creep into our community. We are better than that.”
Despite her plea, hundreds of more anti-Larkin notes were stuck on car windows in the university parking lot during the debate, which was hosted by the Washington County Debate Coalition. Inside the Eccles Fine Arts Center, however, the candidates and hundreds of their supporters were on their best behavior.
(Mark Eddington | The Salt Lake Tribune) Anti-Larkin note affixed to car window in the university parking lot during candidate debate.
Candidates stick to the issues
More cheers than jeers greeted the council contenders. And for the most part, the candidates refrained from rehashing arguments about drag shows, election fraud, declaring St. George a Second Amendment “sanctuary city,” unwavering support for the old state flag and unflagging opposition to the new one, and other polarizing cultural war issues that have divided the city.
Moreover, there was only one reference to changing the name of Utah Tech University back to Dixie State University — one of several cause célèbres pushed by conservative challengers Brad Bennett and Paula Smith and their supporters.
“If we had the representation that we have had in the past, I firmly believe we would all be sitting in the Eccles Center at Dixie State University,” Bennett said to widespread applause.
That prompted a rejoinder from Steve Kemp, chairman of the St. George Planning Commission, whose “no nonsense” campaign is centered around sticking to traditional municipal matters.
“If we do not have the ability to control, vote … or put in place a law that controls that item, we should not be involved with it …,” said Kemp, adding the city has more pressing issues to deal with. “When it comes to the City Council’s business, we need to stay within our lane.”
Public safety concerns
Public safety was another issue that prompted disagreement, especially the property tax hike proposal the council rejected a year ago last August to pay for more police and firefighters and fund salary increases for first responders, among other things.
Instead of hiking taxes, the City Council opted to fund some of the improvements with increased sales-tax revenues and by deferring construction of a maintenance shed at Dixie Red Hills Golf Course and dipping into the city’s rainy day funds.
Smith and Bennett took issue with the budget maneuver. “We shouldn’t be dipping into our rainy day [funds],” Smith said. Bennett argued such funds are for unplanned expenses, not “for ones you can foresee in advance.” He insisted that money could have been avoided if council members were committed to funding public safety first, rather than making it an afterthought.
Council member Jimmie Hughes, the other incumbent in the race with Larkin, disagreed.
“I guess if it never rains you never need it,” he countered. “But that is what rainy day funds are for. It also helps us to prioritize some of our budgeting processes.”
Another issue that prompted disagreement was a new shuttle service the city is running on its SunTran bus line between St. George and Zion National Park. The service is being funded, in large part, with a $15 million grant from the Utah Department of Transportation.
When that grant money ends in five years, Smith said, St. George residents will be saddled with subsidizing a bus service that they never wanted or asked for. Hughes argued otherwise. “If it isn’t profitable, it will go away,” he said.
Larkin echoed Hughes’ remarks.
“Only people who sit in privilege say things like the bus route that we didn’t ask for …,” she said. “There are so many people in our community who cannot drive a car. So when we look at infrastructure for transportation, we are not just looking at cars, we are looking at buses, we are looking at walking, we are looking at bicycles … and we are looking at a holistic environment that can transport humans. We are not looking at an auto-centric environment.”
Differences over water and inclusion
Views also varied about how the city can shore up its water supply. Hughes noted the strides the city has already made, such as requiring secondary water systems to be installed in new subdivisions.
Kemp said St. George already has a regional water reclamation plant that treats wastewater and distributes it to St. George, Ivins, Santa Clara and Washington City. Like officials with the Washington County Water Conservancy District, he wants that service expanded to the rest of the county. That, along with the impending construction of Graveyard Reservoir and other planned reuse water projects coming online, he said, will help ensure the availability of water over the next two decades.
For her part, Smith warned about the need to guard against government overreach from the Environmental Protection Agency. She said water conservation should start by educating students and children at an earlier age, “sending them home with activities” on how to conserve water, “planting trees” with their families and getting them engaged in the community.
Candidates largely agreed on the need for more affordable housing. They further weighed in about how to make St. George more inclusive with respect to LGBTQ and other underrepresented groups. Hughes and Smith said St. George is already an inclusive and welcoming community.
Others said there is room for improvement.
“There is not a single person who doesn’t deserve to live here and to feel like they can be safe … [and] have their voice heard,” Larkin said.
Kemp touted the role of technology in inclusion. He argued upgrading the city’s website and enhancing the city’s profile on social media will ensure everyone’s voice is heard. Bennett decried the mayor’s decision last May to temporarily suspend the public comment period at council meetings due to unruly behavior from some members of the public.
If elected, he favors making the city more inclusive by restoring a more robust public comment period at meetings and by posting polls and surveys on the city’s website to get more input from residents. He also wants to pay for an audit of the city’s $520 million budget from an outside firm with no vested interest in the outcome to audit the city’s budget to ensure taxpayer money is being spent wisely.
Smith, a self-billed budget hawk, also vows to keep an eagle eye on city expenditures.
“If we pay as we go,” she said, “we can actually put more money into our city rather than spending less and losing money with interest payments [from bonds],” she said.
Despite the anti-Larkin stickers and campaign-as-usual tactics outside in the parking lot, inside the debate ended on a more civil note. After Larkin’s plea in her closing remarks for a gentler campaign, Smith walked up and hugged her rival.
