Rich Wood – 2023 Candidate Information

Questions and Answers

Why are you running for city council and what motivated you to get involved in local government?

I am running for a third time for city council. I got involved when I asked Mayor Pengra to appoint me to the planning commission in 2017 to fill a vacated seat. After 3 years on the planning commission and serving as the chairman the last year, it became evident to me that many of the codes I wrote, decisions I made and attempts to fulfill my responsibilities as a planning commissioner were either never presented in the form they left the commission, were presented and never evaluated or were viewed as a check mark at fulfilling the state mandated commission. That didn’t sit well with me so I ran in 2019. I learned a lot about how people absorb election campaign information and how few really engaged in the process of getting to know candidates and their plan. I ran again in 2021 in a very tight race. There were approximately 5000 ballots counted and I lost by 34 votes to the incumbent. I ran on and am still concerned about how we are growing as a city, how we are frozen in making the right decisions now instead of always waiting for the “best scenario” to execute, or worse in fighting between elected officials and elected officials and staff.

What relevant experience or skills do you bring to the role of city council member?

I served 3 years on the planning commission. I served as the chairman of the planning commission in 2019. I authored a total rewrite of most of the zoning code, wrote the master development agreement code and the planning commissions rules of order and procedure. I originated the original code language and idea for the position that is now called the director of legislative affairs. I have many partially and completed codes written that I will work with the city council to incorporate into the existing code.

What do you see as the most pressing issues facing our city, and how do you plan to address them?

1- Without question the most important items are building Midvalley road(changing it to an expressway with no lights) from Frontier Middle School east to the utility corridor, up to and straight through Hidden Valley(not around the valley, too expensive) and then continues south of Silverlake and connects to the road by the Saratoga Springs LDS temple that is intended to be a Mountain View Corridor extension. We need to increase the level of service(widening, reevaluating lights, stop signs and speed limits) to existing arterial and parkway roads. 2- Securing land for our civic buildings and then getting them built. 3- Creating a coalition of municipal governments to fight against the state’s overreach on land use and withholding tax payer dollars for roads unless we comply with their developer first policies. 4- Meeting with adjoining municipalities to discuss what is best for our areas for education and whether that will include staying in the Alpine School district.

How do you plan to engage and involve the community in decision-making processes?

I already have a record of this. But, I will say that we do a pretty lousy, and lazy job of seeking the input of our citizens. Our communication is very one dimensional and does not come close to reaching the majority of our citizenry. Because not everyone consumes social media, or consumes it the same way, and because the social media companies are constantly altering their algorithms, we need to use more ways than one to communicate to our citizens. We also utilize the bare minimum currently in letting the citizens be involved in what it is coming to our city. By the time they want to give input, it is far too late for anything to be done, because contracts have been signed, development rights secured, and permits issued.

What is your stance on fiscal responsibility and budget management? How do you plan to balance the city’s financial needs with the expectations of residents?

Eagle Mountain has been on both ends of fiscal responsibility. We were overspending for years, and now we have become so cheap that we are understaffed, underservicing, and delayed crucial tax increases that have some of our services dangerously close to running out of funds in the near future. We cannot be afraid to do responsible increases, funding crucial infrastructure projects(whether it is through collected taxes or issuing a bond), and educating the citizens on why their taxes will increase to accomplish this. It is naïve for us to think as citizens that we will have a fixed tax for the duration of our time in any city. There is a cost to living in any city, that cost is the burden of the citizens.

What is your position on sustainable and environmentally-friendly initiatives, such as renewable energy, waste management, or green spaces?

1- Balancing humans and nature has always been a challenge. One of the problems of renewable energy sources is the waste they create when the batteries and equipment need to be replaced or updated. The batteries can’t just be thrown into a dump but have to be disposed of a hazardous materials. We will be facing the same issues on large scales as solar panels degrade and have to be replaced. Wind turbines are a challenge because of the sheer numbers that are required to produce sufficient energy. Solar and wind energy requires a lot of land dedicated to the fields of their respective energy collection devices. We can certainly continue to put the panels on the roofs of our homes and let individual land owners produce their own energy. 2- I have been and will always be an advocate for protecting our rural, agricultural and open spaces. The urbanization push by developers, their politicians and Big Money is shameful. They use buzz words, like affordability, sustainability and community center development to mask the real words of wealth shifting, perpetual revenue, and controllable citizenry. As we watch the current state representatives stripping municipalities of the ability to make local decisions on land use, we will watch their campaign funding sources, or their own companies strip our communities of our resources, our character and our ability to decide what is best in our city. 3- I want to not just dedicate open space with no plan. We have to respect land owner’s constitutionally protected rights. However, we can and should direct the development in a way that protects our current citizenry, and provides for beneficial uses for our future residents. Well planned out agricultural spaces(as required by state law for every general plan), improved open spaces that aren’t just grass and tot lots, and natural open spaces are the key to balancing and beautifying every city. It shouldn’t be and afterthought like central park was in New York.

How do you plan to address affordable housing challenges in our city? Are there specific policies or initiatives you would advocate for?

Affordable housing is controlled by the market. It isn’t the role of government to control pricing for private entities. We can however use the Fair Housing funds we receive from different corporations in Eagle Mountain to create purchase, home rehabilitation, neighborhood improvement etc. I have a comprehensive plan for this and am ready to execute it on day one if I am elected.

What is your stance on economic development and attracting businesses to our city? How do you plan to promote local entrepreneurship and job growth?

1- We have been pretty substandard in our economic development efforts in Eagle Mountain. Most of what we have now was either already entitled a decade or more ago or were a result our location and low land costs for data centers to come to. Part of that problem has been the administration employment policy of learning on the go, promoting from within, or next person up rather than hiring experts in the profession to utilize their experience, skill and existing relationships to our benefit. Our current leadership disbanded our economic development board and has tried to farm that responsibility out to the Chamber of Commerce(not their role). We have some of the brightest minds in their industries, living right here in Eagle Mountain. I am pretty confident that the majority of the city council after the election will vote to reestablish the citizen Economic Development board and empower them to help us find and secure the best commercial and industrial partners for our city. 2- As a city we can be a great partner with the Chamber of Commerce in small business and entrepreneur development. We have very successful models to learn from in Orem City. We just need to quit talking about it and do it.

How do you prioritize public safety and community well-being? What ideas or strategies do you have for enhancing public safety and building stronger neighborhoods?

Public safety and community well-being are the core reasons I have fought so hard against overcrowding and overdevelopment. New neighborhoods are reflective of the policies that I personally wrote. Wider setbacks to enable better landuse options for homeowners, we will have a few neighborhoods with the benefit of garages that will actually fit two vehicles(the state passed a new law prohibiting municipalities from setting garage size limits), The quality of materials used for houses dictates how long it will maintain its functionality, usability and neighborhood appeal. If we continue to let the state protect developers and builders using inferior substrates, institutional looking architecture and preventing municipalities from regulating landscaping, then we will quickly watch the denigration of neighborhoods of individual home ownership to poorly maintained rental slums. With that comes increases from petty crime to violent crimes associated with diminished quality of living.

How do you plan to collaborate and work with other council members and community stakeholders to achieve your goals?

This one is easy, I have a demonstrated record of working with planning commission, developers, city council and city staff. I was able to get them to adopt the extensive zoning code and master development code that I wrote. I did this with a unanimous vote from both appointed and elected bodies.

Can you provide examples of situations where you have successfully built consensus or resolved conflicts in a diverse and potentially divided community?

Building consensus requires a lot of one on one time with decision makers. Especially with the very restrictive laws regarding creating a voting quorum with elected officials. I was able to meet with each of them individually or in pairs of two to accomplish getting their ideas and feedback in crafting law that they can all get on board with. It wasn’t easy with the zoning code, because at the time we had two council members that were firm in not restricting developers. We were able to get them to see the overall benefit and had to take out the restriction on poor quality exterior materials and designs from the code to get them to vote on the remaining document.

What is your vision for our city in the next five to ten years? How do you plan to involve residents in shaping that vision?

I look at our city for 5, 10 and 20 years when I have made policy. In the next 5 years we need to build the Midvalley road/parkway to create a better ingress and egress for our city. Because it will connect to the Mountain View Corridor, we will be able to get funding regionally from MAG because it connects two cities and from the state because it’s a state road. We need to get our new city hall built, create a city police department(We are almost at 60,000 people it’s past time), evaluate whether we should still be using UFA or start our own fire department(this is a financial decision, UFA is expensive for us to be a part of). We need to lead the way in splitting away from Alpine School district and bring education decisions back to local control with Saratoga Springs at a minimum and Lehi at a maximum. We need to start holding our state representatives accountable as a whole and those that represent our area. We need to make sure that the Suburban, Exurban and rural communities voices are heard and action is taken to protect them from damaging and dangerous urbanization policy. Every community over 5000 people should not need to conform to the state developer representatives, I mean state representatives vision of metropolitan grandeur.