In less than two weeks, Tooele City voters will be asked to choose three city councilmen.
There are four candidates on the ballot: Dave McCall, Brad Pratt and Steve Pruden are each seeking re-election while Jay E. Collier is running for a first term.
Each candidate was asked about two issues: the appearance of the downtown business district and the use of city redevelopment agency funds to purchase land to reserve for future development.
Attempts to contact Collier for this story were unsuccessful as of press time today.
McCall was first elected to the city council in 2007 and is seeking a third term on the council.
He said several years ago, the city offered a facade grant to help downtown businesses redo their facades. The grant would pay up to a certain amount to each participating business. Although not every business owner took advantage of the grant at the time, it’s possible the city could offer the grant again in the future.
However, restoring parking on Main Street isn’t an option, since it’s a state highway, he added.
McCall, Pratt and Pruden agree the key to improving the appearance of downtown is to gain property owners’ cooperation.
Elected officials should also understand that as the city grows, the business center moves and historic business districts, such as downtown Main Street and New Town, may evolve into something else, Pratt said.
Pruden, who is running for a fourth term, added the council has been able to make several improvements to help drive people to the downtown business district, including: the organization of the Downtown Alliance of Businesses; the introduction of flowerpots and benches; the renovation of Tooele City Park located two blocks west of Main Street; and the renovation of a couple shop spaces.
“The truth of the matter is that some of those owners live out of town and after making repeated contacts with them, we found that they were not interested in improving their properties. They prefer to use those properties as a tax write-off,” Pruden said.
In answer to the second question, McCall said the RDA’s recent purchase of a commercial lot on 1000 North and Main Street was motivated by a desire to create a major retail center, which several citizens have asked council members to do.
When asked why he believed he should be re-elected, he said, “I enjoy helping and working in the community and talking with the citizens about the direction they want the city to go in. … We want people in Tooele to be able to work, live, dine, and shop without having to go around the mountain … and we want to be ahead of the [growth] curve.”
Pratt agreed with McCall that the use of RDA funds to reserve properties for future development is appropriate. He said RDA funds help Tooele compete with larger cities to incentivize new businesses to come in, and the practice of purchasing properties to reserve them for development gives the city more enacting power to fulfill its vision of growth.
When asked why he should be re-elected, Pratt said his experiences growing up in Tooele give him a perspective no other candidate has. For example, he remembers when the shops on downtown Main Street were all residents had for local shopping, and he’s close to Mayor Patrick Dunlavy partly because Dunlavy has known Pratt since he was a boy.
“I love Tooele,” Pratt said. “When it comes to making decisions for the community, it makes it very easy. … My wife and I chose to live here and build our business here, even though we had opportunities to go elsewhere.”
Pruden gave a similar response to McCall and Pratt, saying that the recent land purchase was completely appropriate because by definition, RDA money is tax money that can only be used to redevelop parts of the community from one usage to another.
When asked why he believed he should be re-elected, Pruden said, “That fact is this: Experience does matter! In times like now, financially and legally, it is beneficial for citizens to have people who understand how to make the process work for the benefit of the whole community.”