‘Hope in the future’: Outgoing Idaho Falls and Ammon mayors reflect on tenure, runoff election and future
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IDAHO FALLS — As the runoff election was underway, the mayors of Idaho Falls and Ammon spoke at the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday about their time in office and their outlook for each city as it prepares for new leadership.
During the event, Idaho Falls had a runoff election between Jeff Alldridge and Lisa Burtenshaw, which Burtenshaw won. In Ammon, the race for a new mayor was won by Brian Powell in November.
RELATED | Lisa Burtenshaw wins runoff election to become new Idaho Falls mayor
Ammon Mayor Sean Coletti
Reflecting on his tenure as Ammon’s mayor, Coletti said he appreciated the relationship that Ammon has had with Idaho Falls over the past years.
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He said during his time on Ammon’s City Council, the two cities had a strained relationship.
“I had a city council member say, ‘Sean, don’t be so naive. Idaho Falls will never change.’ I was taken aback,” Coletti said. “A few years later, there was an election, and who became the mayor of Idaho Falls, Rebecca Casper, and things changed.”
Looking back on those he has worked with and served, Coletti said that many of them did so with the city’s best interests at heart. While there were times when they may have disagreed on what was best for the city, none of the decisions were ever made to further their own interests.
Taking this thought, Coletti said it’s why elections are vitally important for residents to participate in, to ensure a qualified candidate is elected.
This falls into two schools of thought: either electing someone to vote on what people say you should do, or trusting their judgment to do the right thing.
“The real answer is that it’s often a combination of both. … Those who haven’t voted, make sure you vote for someone with good judgment, because you want someone who will listen to you. But you also want someone who, in the heat of the battle… will make the right choice, even if your desire may not be the right choice as a voter,” Coletti said.
However, aside from relying on elected officials, Coletti challenged the residents of Idaho Falls and Ammon to take action rather than wait for problems to be fixed.
He highlighted that, within the county, many nonprofits and organizations help residents rather than waiting for the government to step in.
“We are not reliant on government at any level. We have the power as citizens to act and do good things and improve our world, and don’t need government to do those things,” Coletti said.
Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper
Reflecting on her 12 years as mayor, Casper said she has always been a policy wonk, or nerd, and that serving as mayor was a way to teach others on how local government actually works.
An issue for her in seeing the runoff election is that a lot of misinformation has been spread about what mayors do or how cities work.
“I’ll be honest, this election season has been a little bit painful to watch — the attacks, the misinformation, the snotty online personas. There were moments when I questioned our ability to conduct civil discourse again,” Casper said.
However, despite the noise, she finds hope in the community coming together and helping one another.
“I would think community and the work that goes into it continues, community continues, regardless of election noise,” Casper said.
Using an analogy to compare Idaho Falls as a business with each resident being a shareholder of said business.
Looking at the Nov. 4 election, Casper said only 27% of residents voted in the race for a new mayor.
“If Idaho Falls Corporation were a real for-profit corporation, where you held stock, (you might be more) invested … as you think about your community,” Casper said. “Government doesn’t yield monetary profits as a corporation does, but a well-managed city absolutely yields returns in efficiency, in safety, in modernization, in low fees, in quality of life, and the dividends that you’re going to see just look different.”
She said these are the things that make a community great and what should be the driver behind voters choosing a qualified candidate over an unqualified one.
Speaking to high school students in attendance, part of the Chamber of Idaho Falls Emerging Leaders program, Casper said that anger should never be allowed in governance. Anger is a good motivator, but love for one’s community is what drives things to get done.
Casper told the students that her main motivation for getting involved in public service was due to her children, who she wanted to have good experiences in school. This is why she volunteered in schools and what led her to this point in her life.
“The American dream is that we have hope in the future for the young people that are our future,” Casper said. “It’s always wrapped around the beautiful faces of our young people.”