Logan City Council hosts ‘meet the candidates’ night

On Monday, Sept. 30, Logan held a Meet the Candidates Night for Logan Municipal Council hopefuls.  Presented as a panel discussion, and broadcasted by northern Utah talk radio station KVNU, the event gave candidates an opportunity to present their political positions to potential voters. 

A total of six candidates are running for three open spots on the Logan Municipal Council.

The candidates for city council are:

• Mark A. Anderson
• Jeannie F. Simmonds
• Abraham F. Verdoes
• Ken Heare
• Keegan Garrity
• Tom Jensen

During the program, candidates answered questions from potential voters, both in person and from comments online. Candidates used their answers to present their positions on various topics affecting voters and other Logan City residents—including Utah State University students. 

Many of the candidates discussed issues that affect USU students directly.  According to Heare, the student presence may be a source of tension between USU and Logan City residents.

“I think depending on who you talk to, it’s a love-hate relationship,” Heare said. Heare also said  the student population is part of what makes Logan City a vibrant community.

“I think what we have to remember, too, is the institution, the students that attend there,  the academics and the knowledge that is coming out of there is what makes our community strong,” Heare said.

Other candidates also recognized the tension between USU and other Logan residents. “There is a tension. The tension comes largely in parking,” Jensen said. Jensen said residents in the city have often complained about students parking in front of the residents’ houses. 

Jensen also said one way to solve the tension between USU and Logan City residents is to implement a council between students, university leaders and city leaders.

According to Simmonds, USU and the city have a functional relationship. However, Simmonds said  she sees a disconnect in the relationship between the city and the student population. 

“I think the students feel like they are not full residents of the community. They don’t participate as much downtown as I would like them to be able to,” Simmonds said.

Candidates also focused on the rising costs associated with housing both in Logan and nationwide. While many of the candidates focused their policies on building affordable housing in Logan, some candidates took a different approach.

“When we talk about housing being affordable, a lot of times it’s in the context of, ‘How can we get housing cheaper?’” Garrity said. “An important part of affordable housing is raising the median income. Logan has one of the lower median incomes in the valley.”

Garrity said one way to raise the median income is by attracting better jobs to Logan. According to Garrity, the national yogurt company Chobani recently relocated to Twin Falls, Idaho. Garrity said, had the city done more to attract Chobani, more job opportunities could have been brought to Logan.

“I think that Logan suffers a marketing problem. It would behoove us to let these companies know that we have the talent here, and that we can support good jobs,” Garrity said.

Verdoes also agreed higher paying jobs are needed to help the housing issues in Logan. 

“If people are working in call centers as their primary source of income, it’s going to take them a while to save up for a down payment,” Verdoes said.

Anderson agreed affordable housing is becoming an issue in Logan and described his recent experience of helping his son find affordable housing. Anderson said his son has a degree and works a full-time job with a decent salary but still struggled to find housing in Logan. 

“It was difficult, there were not a lot of homes available in his price range,”  Anderson said. “I think as a city and as a city council … we have to be willing and open to listen to all kinds of options.”

However, Verdoes emphasized housing was not just an issue within Logan but also in the country as a whole. 

“The affordability problem is occuring not just in Logan, and not just in Utah. That’s a problem nationwide,” Verdoes said. 

Anderson said he hoped to look to other communities around the country to find solutions for Logan City.

“We don’t have to come up with a perfect solution for us, we can utilize what other communities are doing to try to find solutions,” Anderson said.

Readers can listen to the full program on KVNU’s For the People podcast. Ballots will be mailed out on Oct. 15. The last day for voters to submit their ballots is Nov. 5. Voters can find more information on the election on the Logan City website.