From: Jimmy Thompson

Sent: Wed May 16 08:59:45 2018

To: Dan Huff; Gerald Fisher

Subject: Street Maintenance Fee

Importance: Normal

All (Council is blind copied to discourage any deliberation on the issue via email),
As you may now know, the Street Maintenance Utility Fee did not pass. I have replied to a few posts on social media, and spoke with the Pioneer last night. I have also really had the opportunity to consider the situation.

There are a few ways to look at it. We can take it as a defeat; or, we can stop and consider that 30 people came to those town hall meetings, yet nearly 400 voted in favor of the measure. Almost 30% of voters casting a ballot were in favor of the street fee in spite of actual organized opposition, and without a real effort in support of the measure. The only two bonds that have passed in the last 20 years other than for a high school following an earthquake were during a May primary (the recent bonds for Fire), due in large part to the low voter turnout, and higher turnout for those with a particular interest in item(s) on the ballot.

Only 1,402 voters have cast ballots as of the most recent count. 2,305 people voted for me in the 2016 general election. We had 4,962 registered voters in the city in November 2016. So in fact we have only heard from roughly 28% of the registered voters, many of whom were predisposed against a street fee with often wildly inaccurate or untrue information, such as we are apparently supplementing the budget while giving the city manager astronomical salary raises every few months, and the $35 of compression somehow has something to do with the lack street maintenance.

People are skeptical. Given the city's history before us, and plethora of inaccurate or false information put out there, I don't blame people. The way the city runs today versus how things were when I was appointed to Council in July of 2010 is not even comparable. Everyone pays attention when there is a screw up, but people often turn a blind eye when good things happen.

We have made good decisions. We have brought the city back from the edge of financial disaster, and managed to significantly clean up what is probably 10+ years of mismanagement. We may still have a little ways to go before we regain the trust we need, but there has been substantial progress made.

And in truth, on this issue at least, we did not hear from voters. Over 70% of them have yet to weigh in.


Best Regards,

Jimmy L. Thompson