Abigail Adams Foundation’s “Meet the Candidates” Night

CORRECTION: We need to issue the following correction to our coverage earlier ( located below ).

To clarify what was written before about the Abigail Adams “Meet the Candidates” night, during the meeting the candidates were asked whether they would devote their full time to the position, if elected.

However, we wish to clarify that at the end of his remarks, candidate Poulson did specifically say that, “I don’t feel like it’s necessary that I have to quit a job or do anything else” to do the job as a Sevier County commissioner.

Currently, he is said to work full-time at Jorgensons, and has a 20-hour per week job for the City of Richfield.

The candidate’s campaign literature says the candidate is also actively seeking a college business degree. Ideal Living confirmed that he is a first year student in a two-year program of 52 credit hours total in Provo.

County officials confirm that the position of county commissioner is a full-time, 40+ hour per week job.

The event sponsors asked that we include the fact that a week is 168 hours long.

Ideal Living regrets the error.

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A packed room enjoyed hearing from the many county commission candidates, and the two sheriff candidates, on May 26. The meeting is currently being broadcast on Channel 10 on CentraCom cable television.

The Republican, Democrat and Constitution Party county commission candidates faced summarized questions, based on suggestions submitted by over 170 respondents.

The Republican candidates — who are facing a run-off primary election over the coming weeks, culminating on June 22 — answered questions covering a variety of issues:

Incumbent Gary Mason generally conveyed that the county commissioner’s job was harder than people seemed to give him credit for, and said he hoped that his experience would be valuable to voters. He said that placing additional requirements on NEVCO’s power plant proposal was generally off the table, because local government officials didn’t require them of all applicants. This struck an off chord for many in attendance, who say they have attended government meetings and seen applicants regularly face differing standards before construction. Mason said that bringing more jobs to the area had proven to be very difficult, if not impossible. He said that the commissioners’ job took a lot of time, often more than full-time, and although he had significant demands from his farm and family, he hoped to continue to serve the county as commissioner.

Challenger Sara Straw said the the power plant was not likely to be a positive thing for the county; she has opposed its construction for some years over public health, property value, water, and other issues. She listed numerous ideas for bringing jobs to the area, noting her penchant for doing in-depth research on the issues, stating that Sevier County was a wonderful place to live, showing great economic promise for the future. Straw said she was retired, and eager to serve Sevier County full-time.

In the other commissioner race, challenger Kimball Poulson styled himself as an incumbent of sorts, who had served in a variety of capacities to bring our area to its current state. He repeatedly said that due to the money involved, the county had to force NEVCO’s power plant proposals forward and approve the projects as soon as possible. When asked about how he would stimulate our local economy, he again talked about his support for the controversial power plant proposals. He appeared to side-step questions on whether he would forfeit his current job to work full-time as commissioner, claiming that busy people got more done. Poulson is reportedly employed full-time at Jorgensens. He also claims to be working on getting a college business degree.

In striking contrast with Poulson, Tooter Ogden stated clearly that he has been semi-retired (since selling Ideal Dairy), and when elected, he would devote his full time and energies to serve us, the people of Sevier County. Ogden said that although he was generally supportive of the gas power plant proposal, that numerous issues still needed to be clarified, citing several facts and statistics about the size and water consumption of the Mona natural gas plant, which is said to be very similar to the NEVCO gas plant proposal. Economically, Tooter Ogden said that Sevier County had served as a hub for this part of the country for years, saying we should support local businesses first and foremost, and then as a secondary priority, seek outside business. Ogden said that a varied economy was a strong economy, listing the key industries in the area. He explained that he wanted to hear from the public, to find out what we, the people, wanted more of in our area. Briefly noting the divisiveness of the power plant proposals in our community, Tooter Ogden said that while good, solid economic growth could be difficult, by pulling together as a county, we would achieve a more prosperous future.

Sheriff candidates were asked about several important issues as well.

When asked about the demotions and firings after the last election, which Sheriff Barney authorized apparently against those who opposed him, Kirt Rippstein said that he had joined a lawsuit in order to protect the people who served under him and who had supported his campaign. He noted that the suit showed that he had a backbone, stood for justice, and cited his many years of administrative experience. Rippstein also said that he would work hard to communicate with the public and would work to keep us all safe.

Nate Curtis said that the lawsuits were regrettable, suggesting that the firings and demotions were arguable as to what exactly happened. He also said that he would help to keep us safe, and would communicate better with the residents of the county.