These 4 candidates are running for Rigby City Council

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is second of two articles covering the Rigby City Council race in November 2023. To see the remainder of the candidates, click here.

RIGBY – Incumbents Douglas Burke, Aliza King and Roarke Burke are facing five contenders in the race for Rigby City Council.

The five challengers include Timothy Howe, Tonya Hillman, Theron Andrus, Reed Stone and Roger Stone, who are related. Roger is Reed’s father.

EastIdahoNews.com made the same eight questions available to each candidate. Each response was required to be 250 words or less. The city provided us the wrong number for Aliza King. We have reached out to her again and will include her responses when they are complete.

Roarke Burke, along with Theron Andrus, Reed Stone and Roger Stone’s unedited responses are included below. The other three candidates’ responses were published in a separate story here.

Election day is Nov. 7.

Tell us about yourself — include information about your family, career, education, volunteer work and any prior experience in public office.

Roarke: My name is Roarke Burke. I am married and have three children ranging in age from high school to elementary. I was born and raised in Rigby and have a lot of pride in our community. I have seen it grow over the last 40 years and it has been a privilege to be apart of the City Council the last 4 years. I am an entrepreneur and a business man, including being the CEO of two successful businesses. My education was focused on Business Administration and Accounting. I come from and married into a family with strong political backgrounds which has taught me the importance of doing our part and being involved.

Andrus: I was born and reared in Idaho Falls, attended local schools, and ended up with a Bachelors in Information Technology from Western Governors University. Married with 3 children. We moved to Rigby in 2006. I currently work at the Naval Reactors Facility.

Reed: My most important role is that of a father and husband. I have six children, many in their teen years, who are involved in sports, music, and dance. My wife is a Teacher, dance, and fitness instructor. She also volunteers in the community and with the youth in the area. She is my biggest supporter. Nothing I say could convey how wonderful she is. My oldest is serving a mission and experiencing the profound growth that comes with that. I also have children in Rigby schools. My Senior is in the orchestra, a local dance studio dancing ballroom, and on the Rigby mountain bike team. Our high school Junior is on the cross country team and mountain bike teams and can yo-yo at a competitive level. Another participates in the Rigby Jr. high band and mountain bike team. My youngest is completing 5th grade and also dances. Professionally, I have worked in IT security for over 15 years and have received awards for my contributions to nuclear security and contributed to security standards published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as the Institute for Internet Security. In my community, I have served as a foster parent, scoutmaster, leadership in my church, volunteered in community fundraisers, and coached the robotics team at my children’s school. I am currently coaching student-athletes on the Rigby mountain bike team. This is my first time seeking political office.

Roger: I am a grandfather of 12 boys and 2 girls. We moved from the Houston, Texas area to Rigby in June of 2016 to live close to family and enjoy a more rural uncongested life style. I graduated BYU Provo Magna Cum Laude with a BS degree in chemical engineering. I retired from Exxon Mobil after over 37 years of service. I worked in several different capacities; research, production, customer relations, major projects and process control. I patented a process associated with the production of thermo plastic composites. I was known for innovative and cost effective solutions for the company’s needs.

I have served as a scout leader for about 30 years. Specializing in high adventure activities; white water canoeing, long term canoe camping, cycling, rock climbing and back packing. I earned my wood badge in 1978. My daughter and I completed the new wood badge training in 2022. Recently I helped the local council with their recruiting
efforts in 2022.

When we were deciding where to retire, we attended the Rigby Bed Races. One of the benefiting organizations was Camp Magical Moments, cancer camp for kids. Having lost a son to brain cancer I knew the importance of camp for kids. My wife and I volunteered.

I have been a cancer camp counselor for the last seven years.

I have not served in public office. However, I was just nominated and the city council appointed me to the Rigby planning and zoning board.

What is your proudest accomplishment?

Roger: There is nothing that surpasses the accomplishments of parenting. We raised 5 successful children. Maybe I should say 6 children. Our third child Brian did not live to maturity. He was diagnosed with brain cancer on mother’s day weekend when he was 15 years old. At the time we were living in Virginia and he was a life scout. In addition to fighting a brain tumor he wanted to finish his Eagle Scout award; which we helped him accomplish. He left a legacy for his siblings that has drawn our family closer. All four of our boys earned their Eagle award. Our sons and daughters have all graduated from college with meaningful degrees; Mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer information systems and early childhood development. They are all contributing members of society.

Besides helping dozens of scout age boys learn life skills I have dabbled in several pursuits that have enriched my life; Nature photography (winning judges choice at the Jefferson county fair), awarded a black belt in Isshinryu karate, participated in the YMCA triathlon team, and I am learning violin after I retired.

Reed: In my career, I have had the opportunity to contribute to projects, reduce overhead costs by over 80% on a multi-million dollar annual budget, and receive accolades for various accomplishments but the most rewarding thing I have done is with my work with youth. Seeing others being able to accomplish what they previously thought was impossible. I see this most clearly with my coaching experience and as a scoutmaster. I experienced this most profoundly when helping foster children. Seeing and being able to help our youth expand their sphere of competence is humbling. I think I would use the phrase “deep satisfaction” rather than pride.

Andrus: Thus far I’ve led a fairly quiet life, so perhaps that is my proudest accomplishment.

Roarke: My proudest accomplishment is my family.

Why are you seeking political office within your community? Briefly explain your political platform.

Roarke: I am seeking office because I have the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions to better our community. My background in business gives me a powerful insight when it comes to what it takes and what needs to be done as a member of the City Council.

I am a Constitutional Conservative. I am a firm defender of the Constitution and the protection it gives the people. I believe that the government from federal, to small communities should have limited power. Our right as representatives is to protect the people, our freedom, and our community. We create the world in which we live and we need representatives who know how to be professional and make informed decisions to create that world; our community in which we want to raise our families.

Andrus: I’ve recently adopted a new quote to ponder and live by, “Do what is meaningful, not what is expedient” (Jordan B. Peterson, “12 Rules for Life”). I can’t help but feel we’ve had too many years of our community just passing what seems to be the expedient thing and not looking for meaningful ways to grow the community.

Reed: I see many good people involved in local government. However, when I attend city council meetings I see room for improvements such as:

• Maturing our processes of evaluating proposals,
• Analyzing the safety, risk, costs, and benefits of projects, and
• Making sure we don’t lose sight of good ideas that just landed at the wrong time.

I also see a need for people to be and feel like they are heard by city counsel. Sometimes the people are upset with a council member’s decision and I find that it is usually when that council member was not able to communicate their position in a way that they were easily understood. This is not always the case but being clear, articulate and able to discuss ideas and being able to adapt and change positions when learning new information is important.

Roger: I learned of a developer’s plans to request rezoning from my neighbors. The developer wanted to change single family housing to much higher density housing. As neighbors we commented at city council and brought up our concerns of loss of property value, increase traffic, cost of needed utility expansion, need for increased police protection, and changes to roads which seemed to all be a burden on the citizen tax payer’s for the developers gain. We are not willing to subsidize the developer’s project.

Later there was a proposal to straighten 5 th West, a half million dollar expense for “safety” reasons. Again we went to city council to express our concerns. Most of us thought this was a back door way to make the citizen’s pay for road improvements that could make it easier to change the zoning at tax payer’s expense. After looking at the police reports over the last several years there appears to be no legitimate reason for spending a half million dollars on straightening the road.

One of the city council members who is sympathetic to the citizens’ concerns encouraged those present to run for city council against the incumbents seeking reelection and noted the dead line was the next day.

I decided to run to give a strong voice for the citizens’ concerns to protect property values and not burden the tax payers with expenses that are required to support the developers.

What are the greatest challenges facing people in your community? What is your plan to meet those challenges?

Roger: Rigby is experiencing unprecedented growth. Over 30% growth since 2010 compared to Idaho as a whole at nearly 19%. This presents many challenges to meet the needs for this growth. I want to make sure property values are protected, the charm and life style of Rigby is maintained, the infrastructure is not out paced by development, all while property rights are respected. I don’t want to burden current residents to pay for additional infrastructure to support developer’s plans.

I want to develop a screening frame work to make sure tax payer’s funds are used for the highest impact needs of the citizens thereby making sure needed projects are not superseded by new lessor priority projects.

Reed: The largest problem is the explosive growth Rigby has seen. This has caused rapid development and sometimes conflict between current residents and developers. Some of these conflicts have escalated to the courts. It is my belief that if we had clearer expectations for handling growth set in our city code and criteria based procedures for evaluating developments these conflicts could be minimized.

Andrus: Rigby has long since been a “bedroom” town, and it will continue to be if we don’t take care to plan how to grow at a pace and with proper balance. In fact, it just may be that the people who live here, who have invested in their own homes, would like it to stay a “bedroom” town. That’s something they might say if given the chance to say it.

Roarke: Some of the most difficult challenges facing the community is mis-information. There is a lot of mis-communication and false facts that circulate. This can make the role of those who represent very difficult.

How will you best represent the views of your constituents – even those with differing political views? How will you communicate directly with constituents?

Roarke: I respect different opinions and different view points….I think we can make informed decisions when there is a variety of views, backgrounds, and demographics represented. When I am faced with a difficult decision I go back to the moral basics of the Constitution. I have strong convictions of personal and private property rights. It has always made my decision-making ability very clear.

Andrus: The voice of the people should direct every action the council makes. The people need to be present in the town hall and make themselves be heard. That’s also the place where the city council is able to share what they perceive the will of the people to be. Letters, e-mails, and newspaper articles are great, and serve their function,but in the town hall is where ideas should be put on paper and recorded.

Reed: In the city council meetings I have attended as a community member I have been able to bring a more data driven and law backed argument to support my fellow citizens and Neighbors. I am very appreciative of other points of view, particularly when well crafted and founded in sound reasoning. Keeping an open mind and being willing to change positions in light of new data is part of who I am.

Roger: I will listen carefully during public comment at council meetings. I find that most people have similar desires but differ most in the way to fulfill those desires. Often solutions don’t have to be a win lose proposition but can be of benefit to all involved.

Letter writing is a great way for constituents to communicate with council members. Writing helps communication to be concise and clear and can be easily shared in the public meetings.

I will let constituents and other interested parties know I will not have private conversations about matters that are to only be discussed in public meetings.

What areas in your community need immediate improvement? What actions will you take to address those needs?

Roger: There seems to be a desire of the citizens to have more recreational facilities such as
ball fields and soccer fields. This is a difficult challenge because the use of these facilities includes participants from outside the city. Cooperation with the county and school district presents an opportunity to have shared facilities that may meet this need.

I can seek involvement of teams and other groups to plan and carry out service projects to improve our recreational facilities.

Reed: I think Rigby does a decent job meeting immediate needs. However the greatest need I see is in the less flashy side of government. I will be formalizing our methods for evaluating proposals and deliver transparency on each proposal’s outlook.

Andrus: Most things can be given time to properly investigate and plan for. As far as “immediate” goes, infrastructure may very well be it.

Roarke: I believe that we are on the right track. We are doing a good job at preparing our city for the future and fixing the issues that arise. Every scenario comes with it complications and as a city and as representatives it’s our job to work through those issues one at a time.

What parts of the city budget could use more funding? Where are places in the budget that cuts could be made?

Roarke: I believe that the current Treasurer does an incredible job at keeping the council informed. He is conservative and detailed in his accounting. The City Council is presently a conservative council, and has made conservative funding decisions.

Andrus: I feel the budget anywhere always suffers from the same crux: sources of revenue. We should start there and see what we can do to make the city more-so if not totally, self sufficient.

Reed: I expect to be contributing small tweaks to the budget as needs arise but am not advocating for massive change in this area. Rigby is generally focused on essential services where the needs are largely undebatable we all want roads and sewers to function as they should. Sometimes I see proposals that shift the focus away from that and my job will be to keep the government on essential tasks.

Roger: I plan to review the budget and the needs of the city to make sure funds are properly allocated. I believe in maintaining our current facilities and not let them deteriorate which often costs more in the long run.

What is the role of local media in your community? How can city officials work to have a better relationship with the media?

Roger: Local media can be helpful in communicating actions that are taking place. As time progresses people have grown less dependent on newspapers and radio. More people look to social media to get their news. The city council has a face book page and is developing a web site to communicate with constituents.

Reed: A healthy working relationship with local media is key to being able to build a healthy relationship with the people. Many people rely on local media to understand what is happening in local government. Likewise the media helps communicate to local government the issues important to the people.

Andrus: The local paper tends to keep on top of all things Rigby. The television news does alright as well. The city website might need a bit of updating. As far as other social media goes, I don’t use it myself, so I have no idea what its impact truly is.

Roarke: The media role is to keep the public informed. There is a lot of mis-communication amongst our community and I would like to see the media assist in that clarification and communication. The power of the media is great, and should be treated with respect. I would like to see the media ask more questions to the City Council members and the members be willing to explain and breakdown current issues so that the community is basing opinions and assistance appropriately.