1 minute question starting with Randi von Bose
It is regarding your role;
-As the mayor you are the only elected official who does not normally vote on policy. What can you do as mayor to effect real change in the city?
-And as a city council person, you are one of five votes in the legislative policy body. How do you effect change?
-And for all of you, how do you improve the civility of city council meetings?
Randi von Bose
This is a great question. I think it’s on the minds of a lot of people sitting here. I think it’s a lot of the reason why a lot of you are here because you have seen this not happening in our city. I’ve had lengthy discussions with a lot of people about this. And, there are many voices in our city and there are voices that are important. We have concerned citizens who have a voice that is important and they have concerns that they want to bring up. We have homeowners that have voices that want to be brought up. But when those voices come out in rude behaviors, then the voice is lessened. And I firmly believe that in the city council, our job is to find out the opinion of the majority and then we are to lobby with the other council people to assert our position. But at the end of the day, it comes down to five votes. And if it is three against two, that is the way the chips fall. And that is the way government works. And that is something we have to be able to accept and move forward and be able to talk to each other about without it reverting to rudeness.
Susan Lee
I appreciate this question. I know, first hand, it’s not easy being on the city council and especially when you have somebody that can be more of a challenge. But, with that being said, I love diversity. I’m grateful for it. I think that as a council, it’s stronger if you have varying opinions and varying perspectives that you can listen to. And a lot of times I have shown up thinking one way and then listening to other perspectives that have been brought out, I recognize and I realize, there’s more that I didn’t realize. And I was grateful for it. And it was very helpful. I think as a member of the city council you always need to come with an open mind. Your voices need to be heard when you come and that’s what I will do.
Rustin Jessen
I think the role of the mayor, here in Kaysville in particular (I don’t mean to oversimplify because it’s varied and it’s nuanced), but I think in very large part, the role of the mayor here is of communicator and of facilitator. I think someone who is well intentioned but not experienced in facilitating resolutions to disagreements, I’m afraid we are going to have a lot more problems very similar to what we’ve faced already. We have a lot of opportunity to improve communication both within the city council, in the council chambers during meetings and outside and effectively improve the way we treat each other a lot. I would really like to see someone in the mayors chair (hopefully me, obviously), I would really like to see someone in the mayors chair that isn’t well intentioned but very well practiced at facilitating very difficult situations, handling distractions of just about any kind. And I would like to make sure, again,like I said in my opening statement, that the city business doesn’t get overshadowed by a lot of those personal problems and those personal back and forth issues that we have faced quite a lot recently. Thank you.
Lorene Kamalu
This is my favorite question. So, Kaysville has not a “strong mayor”. It’s a part time mayor, paid very little because it is truly a public service position. The mayor on our council does not vote. The mayor leads. The mayor is a leader. The mayor influences. Great leaders have influence. Great leaders are kind. Great leaders are collaborative. Great leaders are respected. Great leaders are knowledgeable. Great leaders can do a lot of good even when they don’t have a vote. I am very excited about the possibility of being able to lead Kaysville. I have prepared to lead Kaysville and tried to learn all that I can so that I would be ready. Parliamentary procedure change is very much needed on our council. And it’s probably going to have to become more strict both for the council and also for the audience. It’s gotten a little bit crazy for the last year or two. And that doesn’t have to be that way. It can change. And I think a change will be good for Kaysville. I have working relationships with everyone on that council and everyone needs to be treated fairly and similarly. That’s how I want to lead our council.
Katie Witt
I think the role of mayor, although not a voting position, you are in a position to help things go right. And we really need to work on making sure our processes are fair, transparent, and that we continue to build trust with our community. We might disagree with the outcome of a decision but we should not disagree that the process was not fair. So the mayor has a lot of ability, responsibility in order to make sure process is right and making sure things go right. Now, I, as I said, served on a city council before. I lived Robert’s Rules of Order. I think it is beneficial to our community at this time to go with the more strict Robert’s Rules of Order. I will not try and control individual council members. That’s not my role but I will control the meeting. And that’s all that we can really ask. We do need to have lots of voices but in the right time in the right way.
Michelle Barber
I am actually going to turn and address my answer to the people that I believe are live streaming this event and that may view it later on. Because more often than not, that’s my position. That’s how I’ve been involved in city as of late. And that’s what I like to see. That’s our involvement of the future. It’s wonderful if you can come and sit here in person but it’s great if you can be involved otherwise. We live in a virtual world. I work in the virtual world every single day. I’m excited to see the role of the mayor to set the stage for not only the city council meetings but for the government as a whole, how we run. I look to the mayor to keep everyone on track with our vision. The city council, when I’m telling people about my campaign and that I’m running, I tell them, “Don’t look to me as your leader. I’m your representative.” I will go there and represent you whether you’re in person with me there or you’re watching and live streaming and communicating with me outside (which is what I hope that you do). I hope that you know that as sitting on that city council, it will not be my first time sitting in a heated meeting or my first time using parliamentary procedure to get my things that I want voiced through in the most effective, well communicated and fair way.
James Hansen
I told you I work with the scouts on citizenship in the community and if they don’t like the way things are going, we say, “What should we do with government.” And we talked about one thing you always need to do is be civil. If you don’t like what’s going on, elect new leaders. Get involved and get the leaders there that you want to have to make the changes you need. We do need diverse opinions on the city council. That’s important. I love what’s been said about we represent you. But, I didn’t say this, I have eight kids and they keep me busy. And I don’t have time for all night city council meetings, unless it needs to be. I’ll listen to everybody from the community. But I think as we get back to more civil meetings, not being argumentative because arguing for just the sake of doing that isn’t an efficient meeting and it doesn’t help the city more forward. More’s done when we keep a civil tongue, share our opinions, take those opinions, work together to to make things happen. And that’s what’s important. That’s the city council I want to be involved in.