Mark Anderson

What makes you stand out from other candidates and why should people vote for you?  

I would stand out from other candidates because of my business background, which is really helpful when it comes to being on city council. I have served on multiple boards for large corporations throughout the country, and working on city council is very similar to running a board of directors. It comes down to the city having lots of different employees — they’ve got lots of staff that runs the city, and our job is to oversee what happens and be financially responsible for the taxpayers’ money that comes in. So, it’s important to have that kind of background in running a business, knowing how to budget, knowing how a budget works, how to stay under budget as well, which we have been able to do in Logan City for the four years that I’ve been here, and that kind of experience is invaluable when it comes to being on city council. We’re not there to instruct them how to do their jobs. We’re there to make sure the city runs how it’s supposed to, pass ordinances as necessary and make sure that the money is used as wisely as possible. 

Why should students care about who is on City Council? 

There’s a lot of issues that really directly affect students, and a couple that come to mind would be student housing, which is a major concern for a lot of students right now, and whether you’re in student housing or whether you’re renting a place that’s off-campus, utilities affect students and how much money they have to spend. If their utilities are really high, it makes it very difficult for students to have an affordable place to live. So, as a member of city council, we determine what those rates are for the public utilities in Logan, so that directly affects students and their pocketbooks as well too. So it’s important as members of the council that we are aware of that and how it can affect our students and help them try to find the best possible places to live and maybe partner with Utah State and try to build some new student housing. It would be amazing if we could do that. There’s a lot of student housing that has disappeared over the last ten years and there’s a definite need for a lot more. The decisions that are being made in city council directly affect students, whether it comes to financially or whether it’s a place to live or the laws that govern the city, so it’s important that our student population, which is a big population, not everyone that lives here in Cache Valley all the time, they can really make a difference by getting out there and participating and being a part of the vote. Coming to city council and seeing what’s happening and learn about what’s happening in the city they live in right now. 

What advice do you have for college students? 

I look back fondly on the days that I spent at Utah State. I got two degrees from Utah State. It was a great time to learn, a great time to explore, a wonderful opportunity to be able to broaden my horizons and do things I never would have done before. I was fortunate enough to work with some amazing professors that are still friends today. I built some relationships that lasted much longer than just a class or two, but lasted a lifetime for me so far. And those people made very, very important impacts on me and on the decisions that I made and it kind of helped shape the person that I am. My recommendation would be to take advantage of all the opportunities that you get — get to know all the people you go to school with, but most importantly get to know those professors. When you take the time to get to know them, especially those that are in your department and in the field you’re studying because they will definitely make a difference on you for the rest of your life. If you get a chance to do anything in student government, or whether it’s a student exchange program to go somewhere else, you know, any of those opportunities that crop up, take advantage of them because you’ll never get the opportunity ever again. 

What will you do for students as a member of the City Council?  

I talked about that a little bit with what’s important to the students. I would love to see Logan City partner with Utah State and work on some more student housing. I think that’s critical for our students. One thing we are focusing on as a city council and have done for the last four years is making sure that our environment is as clean as possible. We just built a new water treatment facility, which makes all the water that comes through our sewer system cleaner than it was when it came in. It’s an amazing and very, very advanced and technological piece of equipment that we have that cleans our water, and it’s a great starting point for us in the city. We’re looking for ways to mine green energy — whether it’s solar or whether it’s geothermal, there’s a lot of different opportunities out there but they’re so slow to come online, so we’ve really struggled to get all the energy options that we really need for our city, which definitely again, affects the students as much as possible. But we’ve been finding a lot of new ways to bring electricity and to bring businesses that will really help our city that will be conscious of our environment as well. So we’re working on that, and then one of the new exciting things that happening is not only are we treating that water that’s going through, but all of our green waste and our biosolids are being composted, so Logan city just received a $4 million grant to build a state-of-the-art compost facility to compost all that waste. So as a city, we’re trying to be as conscious of our environment as possible and find ways to give our citizens, whether you’re students or homeowners that live here, all the options that you need for good utilities, for affordable utilities, which is really important, and trying to keep our environment as clean as possible. I’d like to work some more on recycling, and a recycling center. Covid kind of put the brakes on everything that we were doing, and we’d like to revisit that and try to get more recycling opportunities for our community as well too.  

What is one of the most important political topics students should be engaged with? 

There’s a lot happening right now in our community, and when it comes to politics, there’s a lot of noise that’s going on too, so it’s kind of hard to filter through all of that. The best advice that was given to me when I was younger about politics was that it’s very difficult for any individual to influence national politics. We’re one vote in millions, and it’s very difficult to make an impact there. But on the local level, one vote can really make a difference, and so it’s critical that our student population recognizes how important their votes are, that they really do have an opportunity to vote and for them to get out and vote for the people they think will represent them the best. When it comes to representation, I think there’s some misunderstanding that who you vote for is going to vote exactly the way you want them to, all the time, and that’s not really very realistic or very possible. As a member of city council, there’s a lot of times where my personal views are part of it, but I try and really listen to my constituents, the people that are reaching out to me and letting me know what they feel, what they think and what they like. If you’re voting and if you’re engaged and really participating, then your voice makes a lot more of a difference to me than if you’re just like, “Hey, I just want this” and it’s like, “Well, did you vote?” If they say “No, I didn’t vote” — your vote really does make a difference, it makes your voice more heard and you know, as a student, you need to get out there and participate because local politics is where you can get out there and really make a difference.  

What is your favorite restaurant in Logan?  

That’s an easy one — Le Nonne. I lived in Italy for three years. I was able to do a student exchange in Italy, and I spent a lot of time in Rome, in Florence and Siena, and so I have a great love of Italian food, and Le Nonne is about as close as it gets to the real thing in Logan. 

What is your favorite Halloween costume you’ve ever dressed up as?  

This was quite a few years ago, but my favorite Halloween costume definitely has to be Austin Powers. So I dressed up like Austin Powers in a blue suit, ruffly white shirt, glasses, teeth, the whole thing. That was a really fun costume.