Cache County Executive/Surveyor candidate: Marc Ensign
Q: What makes you stand out from other candidates and why should people vote for you?
A: That’s a great question. I’m different from most career politicians. I’m not a career politician. I have not come up through the political arena. My background is in business and in community service. I was a franchised automobile dealer for 33 years. I was the franchise Toyota and Honda dealer here in Cache County. While I was an auto dealer, I— for five years, I served on the board of the Utah’s association, and I served as chairman as well.
That’s a trade group that works with political subdivisions, counties, cities, municipalities throughout the state to kind of improve the environment — the economic environment, for business, and particularly for automobile leaders. But I had a lot of experience in working with political subdivisions. I had a lot of experience in building auto malls, and other high tax revenue types of businesses, to bolster the economy in some of our rural and smaller towns throughout the state of Utah; built two auto malls in Utah County: one in Provo and one in Orem.
And I also, for six years until just a couple of years ago, served as the chairman of the board for the Utah Festival Opera. That is professional opera company here in Logan. That is a tremendous asset for the valley. It makes a significant financial impact as a big footprint through the summer on our economy in terms of benefit for our economy, and so I worked with them from a non-profit standpoint, but also, I worked with the counties, the cities in helping to support this entity. We had to raise some money. We had to do a number of things in the community to kind of continue to promote and preserve the viability of the organization. These are things that I have done.
My whole life’s work has been executive management, but I come at it probably from a little bit of a different perspective than a career politician. What I do not believe, Sara, is that the government is the solution to every problem and that we turn to the government to fund every need. I just, I feel like that’s impossible, and I feel like that’s a violation of government’s responsibility and its trust with taxpayers. I’m for limited government. I’m for working with — and this is probably the biggest difference between me and a typical political candidate — I believe in working with the private sector and marshaling and utilizing that leverage with the private sector to solve many of our common problems.
For example, in Cache Valley, we have private companies that are doing tremendous work with things like the Children’s Justice Center. That’s a big company here in town. We have others that are doing tremendous work with CAPSA. We have others that are doing work with, with the homeless and with the suicide prevention and all these extremely important social issues.
But typically, politician will say, ‘Well, you know, let’s turn to the government. Let’s appropriate some money. Let’s raise taxes to fund these things.’ I would say instead of putting the burden on taxpayers, let’s go to the private sector. Let’s work with the concerned citizens who have the means here in this valley to help and support, and that can be done. That’s what I have done. And that’s a great way to kind of augment and, and increase that amount of influence behind these causes without having to use taxpayer dollars.
Another example I’ll give you just really quickly is the airport here. Our airport is deficient; it has been for a long time, and we’re now realizing that as we continue to grow and continue to pursue this kind of development curve, residential development curve that we’re on that we need to upgrade, modernize our airport, but the county does not have the money to do that.
And so, do we let it sit and you know, and continue to be a substandard? Do we raise taxes, so we can modernize it? My answer to those questions are no. We turn to the private sector, and we turn to private industry, and we say, ‘Help us with the airport,’ you know? We can provide naming rights; we can provide other benefits that don’t involve taxpayer dollars.
And to me, the ability to work with this kind of initiative, and this type of leverage is something that I can bring to the table with my both community service, but also business background that perhaps, you know, isn’t generally thought of or considered. You know, I think typically in politics, we have a tendency to look back at precedent and say, ‘Let’s do things the way we’ve always done them,’ but in the private sector, when you have problems, you sit back and say, ‘Let’s look at every option’ and ‘And what are the best practices that would help us resolve this problem.’ And I would add to that especially in the interest of the taxpayer, because I do not want to increase taxes. I’m for limited government and lower taxes.
Q: If you aren’t elected, how will you still be involved and will still serve the community?
A: You know, I’ve been involved in this community ever since we came here. Just so you know, I’m a five-generation valley resident, and I will just give you a little family history if that’s okay, but my great-great-grandfather, Martin Luther, built the first frame house in Cache Valley in 1855 on the old church farm about a mile south of Logan. His son, Adams Wesley, was one of Logan’s first dentists and had a little dairy farm called Son’s Dairy.
My dad was born in 1928 on a little house here on 100 East and was very active here most of his life although he moved away for schooling, and that’s where I was born — at the time, he was at UCLA, so I was born in UCLA — but we’re back, and I have been involved since the, since the day I came back. I have been involved in community affairs and in local politics.
When I had my business, we were a major sponsor of the Cache County Fair and Rodeo every year. We donated, boosted every animal in the 4-H program. And we’re talking about four to five hundred animals, young people in the county, but we made a financial contribution from the business to help each of them.
As I mentioned, I’ve served on non-profits. I’ve worked with other non-profits and if I weren’t elected, I would continue that effort. I would do all I could to ensure that Cache Valley — Well, first of all that are the needs of the diverse population here, in particularly, you know, some of these more urgent social needs that are developing, as we’re dealing with homelessness and suicide prevention and, you know, the need for women’s center like we have with CAPSA. You know, there’s some great programs, there are some great organizations in this valley. I met the other day with one of the directors of BRAG, Bear River Association of Governments, and we talked about what could be done to solve the homelessness problem and deal with some of these other social issues.
I would raise my voice and continue to be active and visible. I have a little business in town I kept. I sold my auto dealership about eight years ago and retired early, but I bought a little restaurant. You ever heard of Jack’s? That’s mine, and I love to be in there, and I love to visit with the public and talk about community needs and help people.
And you know, I would obviously continue that effort and you know, it’s possible I would run again for Republican office. I’ve got time and I’ve got the interest. I’ve got the commitment, I’ve got the devotion to this valley, and I would like to do more than I’ve done in the past.
Q: What do you think is the most important responsibility of this position and how will you do your best to manage that?
A: I think the most important responsibility of the county executive is exactly what is laid out in the county executive’s job description that was written 32 years ago and the, probably the most effective responsibility or duty that I could have, the most of the effective function is to, as it says in the in the job description, carry out the policies and decisions enacted by the county council. We need someone who’s not trying to run an end around the council, not trying to overpower the council or not trying to function or legislate independently of the council. We need someone who says: I recognize the council’s role in our county government as the legislative body, and I’m going to do all I can to support that council, to carry out their decisions, their policies, and then perform my function, my responsibility of administering the work of government among the 35 different county departments.
I think when we go beyond that, I think that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in today. The government works if people will follow their designated job descriptions and responsibilities. And I want to return our council to that kind of functioning: working, cooperative, transparent government that has kind of defined us over the years and certainly was what we had had previous to our current executive.
Q: What do you hope to change or accomplish if elected?
A: There are so many things. You know, I think that if we were to take a survey of Cache Valley residents and voters, we would find that the number one thing on their mind is: how do we manage the tremendous growth that’s upon us, both residential and commercial? And in particular, how are we going to preserve our agricultural heritage and lifestyle, which is the primary reason that we stay here or the people come here. They absolutely love this valley because it’s different. I mean, it’s not built out, and the concern is, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, it will be built out, and we can’t take it back, you know. So, the decisions that we make today will govern what our valley will look like in the future and what it will be like for our children and grandchildren and posterity beyond that. And so, to me, we need to get ahead of that in a very proactive way. To me, the arbiter of any growth and development in a county is infrastructure.
And we don’t have the infrastructure in place to meet the demands of development that are currently upon us. And we’re starting to see ruptures in that in different parts of the valley, in different communities. We’re having problems with water and sewer. And we know we’ve got a tremendous need for road improvements and public transportation, and public ambulance and public garbage collection. Both that public garbage collection issue and the public ambulance issues that were at the county was at the table with the 19 different cities and Cache Valley to try and resolve in an economical way, in a cost-effective way, that would benefit all of the residents in the valley. Well, those talks both fell through. And it’s unfortunate, because many of our cities have had to go out and find their own solutions for garbage collection and ambulance services. And in some cases, not all that, but in some cases, the cost to residents is three times what it would have been had we’d been able to work out a countywide plan.
Well, I feel like these are all part of the growing pains, and they’re all things that need to be determined — not on the fly; not, you know, not as you’re going through it — and your options are limited, but we need to be proactive and determine these things ahead of time, so that we can manage to our plan, not have our plan managed to what’s happening, and we can still do that. We still got time; I think we’ve got a tremendous interest in this county. I think we’ve got so many residents and stakeholders who are invested here in many ways, not just legacy of families who have lived in the valley but people who have come here and put down their roots and devoted their lives to improving this county and this valley.
That would be my number one focus. Number two: I think there’s no question that we have got to find the right way to address, to deal with — not just with a window dressing way, but in a very substantive way — with the social problems that are developing this county, and not just in our county, they’re not unique to us, but everywhere. And we’re talking about poverty, homelessness, suicide, you know, those types of things.
From a business background, from my business background, I would work to try and do, find ways to improve the wage environment in this county. Historically, Cache County has been one of the lowest counties in the state in terms of household income. Historically, it was built more around, I think, agriculture and manufacturing, and those are extremely important industries, but typically they’re not as high paying as maybe some of the more contemporary industries like biotech or aerospace or communications.
Anyway, I think the typical political politician approach, Sara, to growth and managing growth is we sit down, we bring consultants in, and then we write a long-term plan, and it’s 99% focused around residential and commercial building, and growth and rezoning, and those kinds of things. And you might see in those plans, just like in the Envision Cache plan, which was done in 2013, which the county is in the process of revising. We’ve got a new master plan in the works. It’s actually been, been — I don’t know that it is finished yet, but it has been released in preliminary.
But anyway, that plan, the previous plan mentioned economic development and job improvement one time in 68 pages. Well, to me, before you go out and plan what kind of residential and commercial development you want, before you say, ‘Well, we’re going to force everybody into high-density, low-income housing, because our average wages in this valley are X,’ I would say, let’s talk about what we want, the kind of residential environment for our residents, and our friends, and our family in this valley, and let’s sit back and say, ‘Well, you know, they can’t afford it now, with the average wage.’ Let’s come up first and foremost with a plan to improve those wages so that our friends and family and neighbors in this valley can live in the kind of environment they want to live.
Not one that they’re forced into or one, that’s their only option because of lower wages. And if we do that, then our master plan, our development rollout, it’s going to look different, right? And so, I sit back and I say, ‘Why build, or why create that plan and build that development around, you know, something that isn’t really what we want and does not consider where we’re going?’ I think that’s a mistake. And I would certainly want to kind of get involved and steer that growth plan along these lines of economic development and wage improvements.
Q: What is your favorite spot to get pizza in Cache Valley?
A: Favorite spot. I’m going to have to think about it. No, of course not. I bought Jack’s Wood Fired Oven eight years ago, just after I supposedly retired and sold my auto dealership. I bought it because I wanted to stay involved in business and in the community. But I have to tell you, Sara, I was not a pizza fan. To me, pizza was doughy and thick and greasy and not healthy. And then, whenever I ate it, I went home with a three-day belly ache. And my son was working at Jack’s, and the owners who we knew had decided that they wanted to sell, and he approached me and he said, ‘Dad, would you consider buying this for me?’
Well, I did. My son moved on, and so I kind of inherited the restaurant, but over the years we’ve built a tremendous management team that does a better job than I could have imagined. And I don’t have to personally be that involved. I’ve got really good responsible people, and so it’s been a fun place for me just to come in. I come in once a week and I meet with my management team, but I also like to come in and meet with people in the community. We have many discussions. I love to buy, you know, anyone and everyone lunch. You’re welcome to come down if you want.
But I have to tell you the reason that I made that decision — besides to help my son — is I came down at his request to eat the pizza, and I was amazed. I said, ‘This isn’t like normal pizza.’ It’s thin crust; it’s European style. The recipe, the crust recipe at Jack’s, was developed in Italy by Julie Carlisle, who was Jack’s wife. Jack’s was named after the Carlisle, Jack Carlisle, who founded Jack’s, but he sold it a number of years ago, and then another party that, I bought it from that party.
But anyway, Julie had worked for two and a half years and made several trips back and forth to get that dough recipe right. And it’s phenomenal. But we also use the highest quality ingredients. We don’t try to load the pizzas up with anything and everything. They’re very careful about how they build those pizzas so that you have a bit of a flavor of each of the ingredients in every bite. And I can eat Jack’s pizza and I feel good. It’s healthy; the ingredients are healthy. We use a lot of local ingredients. We use a lot of local suppliers, and I think that’s what makes Jack’s different from any other pizza place in the valley.
And I think that’s why we have the loyal customer base that we have. You know what? One thing I learned, Sara, in business years ago is that you can develop your reputation or you can develop your customer base a couple of ways. You spend a ton of money advertising and maybe even come, you know, get to the point of discounting your product, which to me is a mistake, because then it gets people in this mode of well, we’re going to wait until we get another discount before we’ll come in. Or you can, if you believe in your product, you hold the value where it is, but you build your customer base and your reputation by word of mouth.
That’s what we did with Jack’s. That’s what I did with my car dealership. That’s what I’m hoping to do with my political campaign. With Jack’s, we started paying immediate attention to reviews. If there was a review that was negative, that had a problem, we were on it. It was our top priority to contact that customer to make it right, to solve the problem, whatever they had said. We would sit down with our employees and management team.
Well, that’s been our, that’s been our MO since the beginning. And we now have thousands of five-star reviews. I think our rating’s about a 4.5, somewhere in that range, on the review sites. But I have not spent one dime in advertising since I bought Jack’s Wood Fire Oven. We’ve been able to build it into a very strong and popular local business through word of mouth and then taking care of our customers.
-Sara.Prettyman@usu.edu
Featured photo by Aspen Marshall