City Council Candidates Showcased By Chamber

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite Chamber of Commerce showcased this year’s City Council candidates at a membership luncheon held on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at the Casablanca Resort. The large hall was nearly filled with Chamber members eager to hear what the various candidates had to say.

In attendance were candidates Karen Fielding, Joey Bowler, Karen Dutkowski and Paul Wanlass. The two remaining candidates on the ballot: Sandra Ramaker and Pattie Gallo, were unable to be in attendance. Both sent letters of apology for their absence. Ramaker was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict and Gallo was still recovering from an illness.

Fielding and Ramaker are running against each other for Council Seat #1. Bowler and Gallo are in a race for Council Seat #3. And incumbent Dutkowski is defending her Seat #4 against Wanlass.

During the forum, questions were posed to the candidates by Chamber moderators. Each candidate had a short period to answer each question. Then candidates were allowed a brief rebuttal period if they wished.

All of the questions had been submitted by Chamber members specifically for this event.

Regulation on business
One of the questions asked how the candidates would address the problem of city regulations on business. The question stated that these regulations were often overly costly and inconvenient.
In response, Bowler said that he believed the city should make it easy for new business to come here. “Because of the recession and the pandemic now, businesses are struggling out there,” Bowler said. “I don’t think that we should make it harder for them. In fact, we need to make it easy for businesses to locate in Mesquite.”

Dutkowski pointed out that there is a reason that rules are put in place to protect the people of Mesquite. But she expressed a willingness to help business owners who were having trouble getting through the process.
“Those who encounter difficulty should come forward and discuss it with the city,” Dutkowski said. “I can tell you that everyone who comes to me with an issue, I will listen to them and help them.”
Wanlass agreed with Dutkowski that rules are in place for a reason. But they also should be kept up to date, he said.

“Just because a rule has been in place for 20 years doesn’t make it right for people and businesses today,” Wanlass said. “I think that we need to revisit everything that people are having problems with and find out: maybe the city could change something to help all of you here do better.”

Conflict of interest
Another question was focused on council ethics. It asked if it would be considered a conflict of interest to serve on a local governance board while on the payroll of, or taking campaign contributions from, a company who in litigation with the city or with Virgin Valley Water District (VVWD).

This question apparently referred to Ramaker for supposedly working for Wolf Creek Golf Course and then serving on the board of the VVWD several years ago. The two entities were in the early stages of a litigious conflict at that time which has continued to the current day.
Dutkowski objected to the question because it seemed to target a specific person. “I don’t think that it is appropriate to this debate,” she said.

However, she added that she was a proponent of transparency. “If I had a conflict of interest I would certainly say so,” she said. “And I would abstain from any votes in the conflict.”
Wanlass agreed that anytime there is a conflict of interest with a council member in a decision, that it is a problem.

Bowler observed a simple way for council members to deal with possible conflicts of interest. “There is a city attorney,” he said. “You just go to him before you vote on something that might be a conflict, explain it to him and take his advice.”

Fielding pulled no punches with the question, stating that she believed that the situation with Ramaker was a “huge conflict of interest.”
“That issue will have a huge effect on every person living in this community,” Fielding added. “And I don’t know how anyone could not recuse themselves on these issues in that case.”

In a telephone interview with The Progress later in the week, Ramaker contested the idea that there had ever been a conflict of interest in this situation.

“I was not an elected official at all when I was working as an independent contractor for Wolf Creek,” Ramaker said. “I was just reporting whatever I heard at meetings that I thought was important to them. But as soon as I started running for election, I stopped working for them.”

In her role on City Council, Ramaker said that she had never voted against the city regarding the brief lawsuit involving the city. “The city put themselves into (the lawsuit) and they took themselves out of it,” she said. “I never attended any of the meetings at the city that was involved with that.”

Ramaker admitted that she had received campaign contributions over the years from Wolf Creek going back to when she first ran for VVWD board. But she denied that these contributions had bought any votes from her.
“No matter what people say, I mean, I am one person,” Ramaker said. “I can’t promise anybody anything. And I never have.”

NIMBY & workforce housing
Another question touched on the common fear of residents about putting affordable housing and workforce housing projects in “their own backyards.” The question asked how the candidates would handle working with both sides on such proposals.

Fielding emphasized that workforce housing is desperately needed in the community. “It will help build our workforce and it will also help many of our retirees who are on a fixed income,” she said.
Fielding added that she would keep an open door to talk with people on all sides of any issue. “But even that doesn’t give the full picture,” Fielding added. “We have a great need for affordable housing here and so we have to look at the big picture which includes that need.”

Wanlass agreed. “Last I looked the city was reporting that we are short 1,800 units of workforce housing,” he said. “And that is before the business growth that is coming. Are there better places to put this type of housing? Yes. But we do need this housing and we need to find the places to put it.”

Dutkowksi acknowledged that most people don’t want to have affordable housing projects built next to them. But such an attitude is unfair to the businesses who are desperately needing employees in the community, she said.
“Our community also has diversity needs with more choice in our housing inventory,” she said. “This idea that this type of housing will bring problems to our neighborhood is not the case. Affordable housing is not always beneath our existing preconceived standard. It doesn’t have to be that way. We need this housing and I won’t be swayed by people who are just going to complain about everything.”

City support for business
Another question dealt with a perception that there is a lack of support for business, and the Chamber itself, from the City and the council. The question asked what the candidates would do to change that perception.

Bowler emphasized that the city should be working in coordination with the Chamber. “My grandfather started the Chamber,” Bowler said. “He believed in it and so do I. The city and the Chamber need to work together. We need to partner up to bring more businesses here.”

Fielding agreed. “Our city thrives on its business community,” she said. “And that starts with the Chamber. The two should be working well together in cooperation.”

Dutkowksi reiterated that if business owners had a need they should come forward and express it to city staff or to council members. “The city is not intending to make problems for businesses,” she said. “We want to know what can be done to help. But businesses need to come to us when they need something.”

Wanlass disagreed with this. He said he had spent a good deal of time speaking with local business owners while on the campaign trial to find out what they needed.
“The city should do that too,” he said. “We should be coming out to you to find out how to help, not expecting you to come to us. I will continue to do that.”

The Mormon mafia?
At the end of the forum, chamber members of the audience were allowed to ask miscellaneous questions of the candidates. One of these questions touched on a controversial subject arising in the last few weeks.
The questioner asked the candidates their views on something called the “Mormon mafia.” Candidates were asked what this was and what their relationship to it might be.

This term had allegedly been used by Gallo in a candidate presentation at a meeting of the local “Truth Seekers” organization on Saturday, Oct. 1.

At the meeting, Gallo reportedly said that Bowler, Wanlass and Fielding were all part of the “Mormon mafia.” This was supposedly in reference to an old style of local politics when members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were in the majority in the Mesquite community. It has been interpreted as a negative term toward Church members.

Dutkowski and Wanlass both declined to answer the question, stating that they didn’t know what the term meant.

Keeping the mood light, Fielding responded that she was surprised to be associated with such an organization. “I am a lifelong Lutheran,” she said. “So when I heard that I was being implicated with the Mormon mafia, my first thought was that someone needs to have their facts checked.”

Bowler laughed it off at first. “I am a member of the Church and I don’t even know what it is,” he said.
But then he changed his tone. “I have always believed that in politics you should never talk about gender, race or religion,” he said. “Those things are off limits. So on this, I choose to take the high road.”

Gallo has since made a statement to The Progress that the reports about her comments at the Truth Seekers meeting were “inaccurate and misleading.” The accounts had made “embellishments and (set) a tone (which were) hurtful to many people and were taken out of context, which is very unfortunate for all involved,” Gallo added.

“People who know me, know that I am a kind and loving person,” Gallo said in the statement. “I do not discriminate and I have a heart of volunteer service and of helping others. I do not want to be drawn into the negativity of gossip.”