KPCW asked each candidate about their top priority for Heber City and what makes them suited to carry it out. Their responses are available below.
The Heber Leadership Academy will hold a candidate forum Oct. 19. The event begins at 1:00 p.m. in the city administration building.
The Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce is hosting a “meet the candidates” lunch event Oct. 24, where voters can get to know the candidates. To attend the event, RSVP on the chamber’s website.
Heber City is using ranked-choice voting for this election. Voters will rank as many of the 11 candidates as they wish.
Ballots will be mailed out at the end of October and election day is Nov. 21. The voter registration deadline is Nov. 10.
The candidates are listed in ballot order. Answers have been edited for brevity.
Casey Powers
Powers said addressing affordability is his top priority if elected to the council.
“I want to be able to make it so that my kids and future generations have the ability to afford to live here,” he said.
He also cares about preserving Heber City’s character even as the valley grows rapidly.
“We have the ability to maintain the small-town feel,” he said. “A lot of that is through our local small businesses, and trying to keep them in a position where they can hire and stay in business.”
Christen Thompson
Thompson said he’s running because he cares about how Heber City handles development.
“We’re not going to stop Utah’s population from doubling,” he said. “The question is, how are we going to grow?”
Safe streets are another of his major concerns because of recent pedestrian accidents.
“Most accidents come from bad street design,” he said. “We can do protected Dutch-style intersections, protected bike lanes – I think we’ve got a lot of opportunity there.”
Sid Ostergaard
Ostergaard’s top priorities include helping guide development in Heber City and facilitating affordable housing.
“We have a dire need for affordable housing, workforce housing,” he said.
He said serving on the city’s planning commission made him passionate about making government collaborative, internally and with the county.
“Everybody in the valley needs to work together to create something special here,” he said.
Jami Hewlett
Hewlett said a lifetime in Heber City has made her want to serve on the council.
“I feel like I can help make Heber a better place,” she said. “I just really want the people’s voices to be heard.”
She said one priority is curbing tax increases if elected.
“I’m fine with all the improvements, as long as we can find other ways to pay for those,” she said. “So our taxes aren’t rising, so we don’t have to find a new place to live.”
Danny Hill
Hill said he wants to serve a diverse and growing Heber City community without bias as a councilmember.
“Heber Valley has a long-standing sense of community I look forward to helping preserve as we grow,” he said.
His goal is to focus on infrastructure and walkability before greenlighting future development projects.
“The community feels we are only reactive and not proactive,” he said. “We need to ensure the community is safe and able to handle the future growth that has already been approved.”
Vaughn Eric Hokanson
Hokanson said his background in policy and education has prepared him well to listen to citizens’ needs as a councilmember.
“I really want to be a city councilman who can recognize the complexity of these issues… and come up with solutions that are holistically good for the entire community,” he said.
He said he cares about bridging the gap between longtime residents and newcomers to the valley.
“I have a lot of empathy for people who’ve seen the valley change dramatically in the past 15 or 20 years,” he said, “and I want to make sure that their voices are heard.”
Nick López
López said his lifetime of public service as a firefighter and in the Marine Corps has equipped him to serve on the council.
“I offer my life experience and devotion to duty,” he said. “My life, my undivided attention and my proven ability to lead and unite a diverse community.”
Challenges he wants to address include transportation, support for public safety officers, infrastructure, and the city budget.
“I will accomplish the mission with respectful civil dialogue with residents, business owners, outside government agencies, city and county department heads, and developers,” he said.
Paul Royall III
Royall said he wants to focus on growth and traffic issues as a member of the city council.
“We need to take a serious approach about traffic,” he said. “I mean, we’ve been talking about a bypass road for over 40 years.”
As a lifelong Heber Valley dweller, he said he’s excited to have the chance to share his perspective and give his time to the council.
“We need to be able to come together to do the right thing for the citizens of this community,” he said.
Aaron Cheatwood
Cheatwood said he’s running to engage the public better and increase trust through good communication.
He said he wants responsible growth and creative solutions to development in the valley.
With 11 candidates for three spots, Cheatwood said his character distinguished him in the crowded field.
“My commitment to the populace is that I will listen to the concerns, I will listen to both sides, and only once I understand will I make a decision,” he said.
Tori Broughton
Broughton said as a business manager on Main Street, she cares about downtown’s future.
“Heber deserves to have a place in the heart of the city where they can gather, have a conversation on the sidewalk, be able to park and enjoy the amenities that I know we could have if we had a little bit quieter, more personal Main Street,” she said.
She said she attends all the council meetings because she thinks it’s the best way to effect change. Though relatively new to Heber, she said she’s invested in the community.
“I knew it would be an awesome community,” she said, “and it has exceeded my expectations in every single way.”
Mike Johnston
Johnston said he is running for re-election because he cares about serving Heber City.
“I see it as important community service,” he said. “I want to make a positive difference in the future of this city.”
He said growth is both a priority and a challenge.
“We’re going to have growth,” he said. “We just really need to choose well-planned growth, and control that and make it sustainable and make our city resilient to the future.”
