Candidates Gather Support In Meet and Greet Event

By BOBBIE GREEN

The Progress

The 1880’s Grille Room at the Conestoga Golf Club saw a packed house on Tuesday evening, Oct. 18, at a Meet and Greet campaign event.

In attendance was incumbent City Councilwoman Sandra Ramaker, incumbent City Councilwoman Karen Dutkowski, and political newcomer Pattie Gallo who is running for Mesquite Council Seat 3. In addition, Clark County Public Administrator candidate Patsy Brown was also present and addressed the crowd.

Mayor Al Litman gave strong endorsements for each of the four candidates at the event. Litman introduced each of the candidates and praised them for their accomplishments. Each candidate spoke followed by a question answer period.

The hot topic of the evening was affordable housing. “Affordable housing is important for Mesquite to have, not only for the workforce but for the senior population too,” said Dutkowski. “We need to have diverse areas for the affordable housing not just in one section of town”

Ramaker confirrmed that the council is working very hard to bring housing for the workforce. “Developers are private companies and we can’t force them,” she said. “But the city has useable land and we want very much to get affordable housing here.”

Ramaker added that concerns of rising crime coming with affordable housing are unfounded. “Those of you who are afraid of the crime rate going up with lower income housing should remember when you first started out,” she said. “Think of the time before you could afford to buy a home.”

An attendee asked Ramaker about how the city could bring more shopping options here.
“We only have a population of 24,000,” Ramaker said. “Many of those are snow birds. Many businesses want more year-round population before bringing their business here. After all, St. George doesn’t even have a Trader Joe’s yet and we are smaller in size.”

Health care service was another topic brought up by the audience. One person asked about getting another hospital here.
“We are a rural community and governed by rural rules,” Ramaker replied. “We cannot have another hospital here.”

She went on to say how Mesa View Hospital is trying to improve services with new lab equipment, working with Southwest Cardiology, bringing more providers to town and getting a new cardiology lab.
Gallo told the audience she is a critical thinker. Her background includes working for a multi-million-dollar company with 25 district managers under her located throughout the company. She proudly announced her local supporters including the Mesquite Police Officers Association (MPOA), the two council members there with her, the mayor and Councilman Wes Boger.

Gallo also talked about education. She is a member of the Virgin Valley Community Education Advisory Board (VVCEAB). She also expressed strong support of the new STEAM Center and would like to see a tech school in Mesquite.

“I am a team player” she said. “I want to see our great police and fire departments fully staffed. And that the city is fiscally sound, that council is good stewards of taxpayer’s resources.”

Finally Patsy Brown explained her outlook on the Public Administrator’s duties. She is most concerned educating the public in how to safeguard their property from government seizure, probate court, and guardianship. She said that she has sponsored a program, free of charge, to help members of the public protect themselves working with the Armed Forces Chamber. She urged people to check www.legacypreppro.com and make sure they have all that is needed in place.

To close the evening, Councilman Boger thanked everyone for attending. He talked about the impact COVID shutdown had on the schools and local children. He reaffirmed that Gallo consistently voted to put our schools back in order, and to put the school resource officer back at the middle school. She voted to fund money for tutors, and the Hope Squad to prevent suicide, using grant monies. Boger said that he whole-heartedly endorsed all four candidates.