Eight Heber residents are running for three city council seats opening up in 2020. A Primary on August 13th will narrow the eight candidates down to six before the municipal general election November 5th.
Rachel Bowthorpe Kahler is a Wasatch High Alumni who also graduated in public relations from the University of Utah. After moving back to Heber with her family Kahler worked as the marketing and event manager for the chamber of commerce for six years. She now works marketing for the Midway Ice Castles. She says her vast involvement from growing events such as the Unplugged Program and Cowboy Poetry to being on the Heber Envision 2050 Steering committee help qualify her to be on the council.
“Beyond building events that are happening within the community, it's going to the meetings, being passionate about different programs,” Kahler continued. “Working with the chamber and working with businesses and seeing the need for that shop local feel. Communicating with the citizens that this is your town. If you don't support local what are you supporting? I'm a part of the envision 2050 steering committee. We've been looking at annexation and what is it that is Heber City. The three things that we learned was there is a desire for open space, there's a desire for trails and there is a desire for livability.”
Kahler also says that her time living in Heber and relationships she has with other government and business leaders will help her while serving on the council.
Kahler says planning the infrastructure to meet Heber City’s growth is her top priority.
“Currently we are working with the state of Utah on the Heber Valley Parkway which I think is essential for the growth of Heber,” Kahler said. “I think we need more than one road. We need to work the city so that we don't have the traffic congestion that we've seen in other cities. We need Heber City to grow, and develop, and plan out so that we can get around our own community.”
Kahler also says planning for the long-term is important for the council to consider.
“We need to look at it in its entirety so that we’re growing in a very balanced way,” Kahler explained. “Affordability, livability, but also including that open space. There are so many people that want to breathe and that's why they moved to Heber City. The beauty of Mt. Timpanogos but they don't want to be so close to their neighbors that they feel tight. I think that's a real challenge that we have as we go forward. Making sure that we can afford our homes, but that we’re not creating a problem down the road where we've overbuilt, and prices are still sky high.”
KPCW has reached out to the eight Heber residents running for City Council. You can find previous and future profiles of candidates on this website.
