#EM2019 – CC Question – Government Services

There was a time when tax dollars funded most of Pony Express Days. I felt those events were great, but didn’t always agree with how they were funded. Proper rolls of government are important to me. (Public safety, utilities, roads etc. are the proper rolls of government). Using tax dollars to fund entertainment, I think we must be careful. Although at times there are some things that might be appropriate, I believe they should be funded privately. I took that to heart, and with a board of 9 private citizens, created Pony Express Events. We host multiple events throughout the year with private donations, in order to provide the entertainment for residents, without the tax burden.

In general, I feel we have a good balance of services, events, and opportunities. However, I do not like government to focus on entertaining people. The best way to provide these services and opportunities is to either a) outsource, or b) create public/private partnerships that add value to Eagle Mountain residents without the use of tax dollars. Over the course of my term, I have supported outsourcing multiple programs and services. Some of those include: sporting programs, programs and events to sponsored non-profits within the city and other partner organizations outside the city to provide the Limitless Car Show, a Lantern Festival, and now a Farmer’s Market. This model provides great value to Eagle Mountain Residents with little to no cost to the city.

Now that the city no longer owns the gas and power plants, we are a lot closer to the proper role of government. While debate about whether a city should own it’s utilities is evergreen, I am not a big fan. I believe that the proper place of government is in regulating, not in owning/running. Regulation is also something to only be done where absolutely necessary. I very much applaud the city for doing away with the business license requirement. That was needless red tape in my opinion.

Recycling needs to be encouraged more on an individual level, it becomes hard on a city level because over 95% of recycling is just taken to the dump anyways. So we either try and help educate the people on what is accepted in recycling and what is not, or just have the people take care of it on their own instead of going through the city. Another thing the city needs to not do is harass the people over ridiculous rules and regulations. I know a man who tried to set up a milk machine for his cows for just his own personal use and it caught the attention of the city, representatives of the city came and said he can’t set it up because it “looks” professional and could used for commercial use and to distribute. So he took it all apart. Later the city returned to him and said they could not find a city code against what he was doing so they gave him permission to continue, but by then it was too late. He had already lost a lot of money taking it all apart and going through the process of setting up machine that doesn’t look professional. All of this could have been avoided and would have saved this man a ton of time and money if the city would not only know and understand the law but also not intrude on people’s lives to make sure that the government is not missing out on its chance to get all the money they possibly can from the people.

A city should not provide anything that can be provided equally as well by private business. I don’t believe that Eagle Mountain is providing anything for residents that it shouldn’t. Some other cities provide recreation centers and swimming pools. These amenities could be evaluated for Eagle Mountain contingent upon public support and population levels that could supported them.

I am fairly satisfied with what the city provides at the moment. We are still growing and what the government does should change as our community does.

There are a few things I love about Eagle Mountain, but wish were privatized and worked in consensus with the city instead of the city providing it altogether. This includes events and parades. I believe we should continue offering these but should move to privatize some of these events.

I don’t think the city should get into providing amenities that do not benefit the masses. By that I mean I am not in favor of special interest expenditures. I do think we should support organizations that have developed the very character of our city. Such as the rodeo, demolition derby, enduro, concert series and Limitless Car Shootout. Those have been run very well by private organizations with the support of the city. We should continue to expand our recreation programs for youth.