Jay Monson

Jay Monson grew up in Magna, Utah, and attended USU and the University of Utah for two years each. He has a master’s degree from Arizona State University and a doctorate from USU. He has been the department head of the elementary education department at USU for the last 14 years.

Utah Statesman: If you are elected, how will you improve Logan?

Monson: The main thing I would like to do is have Logan City cooperate much closer with Cache County, with the other cities and towns in this valley, with the state of Utah, and certainly with USU, to solve the challenges ahead. I think Logan’s a great place to live right now, and it’s a wonderful place to raise a family … but Logan has some challenges as well. The two big ones are traffic and air pollution, and I think we can solve both of those only by cooperating with all these other agencies very closely. I think they can be solved, but we have to make sure we draw on the expertise of the university and other people to work together to meet both those challenges.

Statesman: How will your decisions affect university students?

Monson: I think university students are really important in any decision made in Logan because this is a college town, always has been. It’s one of the things that makes Logan such a great place to live. I think students should have input in the decisions, and I strongly encourage the students to vote. We need student input.

Statesman: What do you feel are the important issues in this year’s election?

Monson: A big issue seems to be the power question. The current council is divided three to two on whether to go with what’s called IPP3 Power, a coal plant that was proposed for Southern Utah. It’s all scrapped now, so it’s a mute point, but I think the majority of (people in the city) were upset because three of the five current council members voted against the power board’s recommendation and the mayor’s recommendation to go with the Intermountain Power Project for future power. They chose to explore other alternatives. One which they said many times was going on is geothermal power, but I learned just last week that that report was given to them in September, that that’s no longer a viable alternative. The price is so very high that Logan cannot consider that power. And so it’ll all go to California. Logan and Utah power rates are about half of the average power rate in California. And I’m committed to keeping the power rates as low as they can be while still exploring other options, but not going after such options without the approval of the citizens of Logan.

Statesman: What kind of experience do you have to bring to this position?

Monson: I was a county commissioner, one of the last three ever elected in Cache Valley. I worked with the voters to draft a proposal that Logan change to the council form of government, and we became the first county in the state of Utah to adopt the council form of government. I was chairman of that transition team and ran for the County Council its first time around. I was elected, and I served as the chair of the County Council the first two terms. I’ve also been the chairman of the Bear River Association of Governments, and I was elected to the State Board of Education for three terms. I was the chairman twice. I was on the Cache 2002 Task Force that drew up plans for Cache County in 2002, and I was on the Logan 2000 Task Force. I’ve been on many state committees appointed by the Legislature. I’ve been on the Constitutional Revision Commission. Two governors have asked me to be on various state committees. The best (experience) they gave me is how to work with people and how to bring people together, to agree to disagree at times, but to do so in a way that is consensus-building and not confronting. I think that’s important in public service, to have differences in opinion but not to be (confrontational).