Steve Wood

Tell us your name, what you like to be called?

My name's Steve Wood.  I like to be called Steve.


Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born in Cedar City.  I was raised here, went to school here. I came back after school, started an accounting and tax practice, of which I've retired.  I served on the city council and I'm two years into my fourth term.

Why do you want to run for Mayor?

I want to run for mayor, frankly for two reasons; one, having served on the city council for 14 years, I've learned the process of municipal government, especially in Cedar City.  I've sat through 14 budget sessions where we set the budget and match that budget for the following years.  I think that's really important.  The most important thing I think about Cedar City is, I think Utah being the fastest growing state in the nation this year, faster than any other state, Cedar City is in the southern end of that state.  We're not part of the Wasatch Front, we're more like part of the I-15 corridor that stretches from Los Angeles through Las Vegas into southern Utah.  It puts us as one of the most important, vital cities in all of the United States, especially for our size.  And I think that the coming years are going to show that Cedar City is a prime location, both for business, and for people looking to move into an area that matches their hopes and dreams.

Who are three people that you really admire?

The first person would, fortunately be my father who taught me, I think, the work ethic that whatever you want in life, if you work hard and stick to it, that most things that you strive for, can become part of your life. My father was probably the best model that I could have had for that.  He was postmaster in Cedar City for a lot of years, He also had a ranch on the mountain.  He did both professions admirably and worked really hard.  Second person is, I would say Bobby Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy was important in my life because at the time that I was going through college and first got introduced into any type of public political service, it was working on the Bobby Kennedy Campaign.  And what I thought he exemplified more than any of the other Kennedys, as a matter of fact, was he challenged people for public service, and I think he drew people into working for a better good.  The third person I think I admire in my life would be President Hinckley.  President Hinckley because he was such an exemplary person, kept a sense of humor and really practiced what he preached, and was always a gentle stable person.  I'd say those three people.  

What do you think are the biggest issues in our community right now?
The biggest issues are the issues that really don't change much from good times to bad times.  That's really living within your budget. Following through on the projects that you have at that time, and making sure they come in.  Right now we're dealing with the construction of the Aquatic Center.  We have an issue of making sure the contractors who have subcontracted with the city stick to both their timeline and especially the budget that they promised the city.  I think the city's role in that is we're always faced with doing what we promised to do in the budget without raising especially property taxes for people.  I think that becomes the most important issue currently facing the city. I think the lesson to be learned from this particular project is to expect and demand early accountability of those who contract and work with you so that you know early on where you are without extensions and increases in budget.  I think, in general, the issue of budgets and subcontracts and development, those issues are always the same and continue to be the same, so I think those are important concepts for people who work in municipal positions to constantly master.  

When you think of Cedar City 5 or 10 years from now, what do you see?


Once again, the reason that I would run for mayor, I think the thing that's exciting about Cedar City is we are such a prominent city in a number of ways.  Some cities are lucky to have a university, some are lucky to have something similar to the Shakespearean Festival or the [INAUDIBLE] or the development we have, especially the economic development. What I see in five to ten years is the fact that we have all of these fronts which we can grow and make better for the citizens.  What I really see in five or ten years is that we're going to have a city that has citizen participation in all of these areas and especially on a volunteer basis, and I think we'll be an exemplary city, not just for Southern Utah, and not just for Utah, but for the nation as a whole, because we have so much to draw upon.

What would you like to see more of in Cedar City?


Once again I'd like to see more, first of all, the average citizen being able to participate in the municipal projects, or a task force or commissions or whatever.  I'd like to draw upon people who may not have worked in city government before, that have had an interest for a long time, I'd like to renew that. I think especially in the area that is going to be prominent in my platform and that's economic development, I would like to see citizens who haven't really had a chance to really work in economic development to become part of the commissions and task force that help to showcase our city, if you will, to companies that I would like to go out and target to locate here.  And those companies would be companies of 20 - 30 employees of high paying jobs that should they come here, and happen to leave in the future, they don't wreck your economy, because they are small in nature.  I would like to see a number of those types of companies locate here, because I think they offer, in total, higher paying, more promising jobs to the people that work for them.  I think we can target specifically those companies, and I think it gives the people in Cedar City a chance to promote and draw those particular type of companies that we target. 

What would you do as mayor, to help that happen?


You know, I think the important thing is that we do a better job on targeting especially the companies that would be ideal to be here. Once again, I think those are high-tech small companies that are supporting companies for the other industries that we have or might have.  As an example of that I think I would like us to target companies that are going to be able to use the broadband service that we completed, the redundant fiber-line.  We have the railroad spur, we have Port 15 which is just beginning to attract companies and industries that use the railroad and that railroad also being a point that trucking companies can pick-up and distribute because of our location.  I think we have the airport which figures greatly into any one of these economic bases and I think the point is, we need to target those businesses that are specifically suited to Southern Utah.  Some of which are all of the businesses that have to do with the growing 'green' industry; wind farm, solar energy and anything that has to do with renewable energy sources.  We have been picked as an ideal point, especially Iron County, and I think what we need to do is we need to aggressively go out, target those companies, especially those companies that are unhappy with the tax structure in California and may also be unhappy with Nevada.  I think we can target those specifically and I think we can bring them here, show them what we have and have a task force of citizens that we don't normally have participate in these kind of processes.  I'm going to appoint a board of volunteer citizens that would be here to show those people exactly what we have, specifically, for their type of businesses.  And that task force would be made up of people that have specific attributes that help the type of businesses that we're going to target.

If a conflict of interest were to arise between city interests and your own personal or business interests, how would you handle it?


Well, I think any time you have a conflict of interest, be it perceived or real conflict of interest, you have to not only morally, but you have to because of the possibility of litigation, remove yourself from all discussion that has to do with that conflict of interest.  Which means, conflict of interest being defined as, any time that you deal with an issue that might specifically have a financial benefit to you or to somebody close in your family.  Or if you sit on a board for companies or if you have any kind of business dealings with a company that can specifically benefit from some issue that's being discussed with the city.  What you have to do is remove yourself, both physically and discussion-wise from that group because litigation always comes back and says if you have a financial interest in the outcome of that decision I think even the fact that you sit-in on the discussion and people read your body language, it shows how you might react to that.  Secondly, I think it's important to say that, in my case, having been on the city council for 14 years and having retired, I've learned that the best way to deal with any possibility of either a vested interest or a conflict of interest is simply to remove yourself from serving on boards, remove yourself from having an interest in public or business and then you simply don't have to really worry about conflicts of interest because you don't have any.

What do you see as your top priorities if you are elected?


I'm running really on a platform that has two main areas.  The first area that I've talked about is economic development because I think what we need in this city is secure jobs and I think we do that by putting in place a really aggressive marketing plan that targets.  We go out and ask to be looked at by businesses that we think are specifically well-served for our area, be it in renewable energy, be it as some kind of support for the industry we have, be it businesses that are looking for broadband, railroad spur, airport service all of those things that we have along with the quality of life.  I think we're just ideal, that we go out and get the businesses that are going to come in and be strong.  Those type of businesses always tend to be businesses that pay a better wage scale and I think their people are happy because they can live here, they don't have to commute, they can enjoy the lifestyle we have, be it the National Parks, be it the Shakespearean Festival and all the things that we do enjoy here.  So I think we're just an ideal place to look at.  Secondly I think the most important thing the mayor has to address in the coming administration is I think it's time that we take a really close look at the infrastructure in the part of the city that's aging.  We have aging infrastructure that is said to take 63 years to build out and improve upon.  I think it's time that we, first of all, need to do a rate study and determine how we can fund improvements in aging infrastructure.  We have had studies on the water system, we have found out we're losing a great deal of water when we pump it out because we have old and deteriorating pipes and sewer.  We need to determine exactly what the process is and how we address and fund the parts of town that have aging infrastructure.  We have the new parts, everybody knows the new sections of town that are fine and up-to-date.  I'm not talking about those.  I'm talking about the parts of town that have aging sewer and we have it all the time, we have sewer leaks and water leaks.  The second part of my platform after economic development, would be addressing and funding the infrastructure that has aged and I think that it's time that we address that because like I said, it's said that that  plan would take 63 years to build out.  So I think it's time that somebody takes the responsibility to look really close at that.  

Why should a person vote for you?


First of all, I think experience is really important especially in these times of uncertainty.  We need someone who's conservative, who worries a lot about the taxpayer.  Having been in an accounting and tax practice for 30 years, I think I understand really on a personal level thousands of people and what kind of stress they have both in their jobs and in paying taxes.  I think it's really important to say that we're going to look to keep property taxes as low as possible.  I think Iron County suffers from a wage scale that is way below minimum.  It's below other areas and other counties in the state of Utah and my feeling is I'm going to work full time.  I think that the mayor in Cedar City has changed from a part-time position to a full-time position if you want to accomplish attracting the businesses that are going to come here.  If you want to have the experience and you want a hands-on mayor who's willing to say "I'm going to take responsibility for our infrastructure, I'm going to take responsibility for the budget and I'm going to set an example by being in the office full time to work on these issues everyday and be an example to the employees of Cedar City as well as the citizens."  I'm going to ask the citizens for their participation and input and in order to do that you've got to be a full-time mayor.  I think both experience and the fact that I'm willing to give of my time full-time and can give of it because of being retired that's why I'd ask people to vote for me.

What is the best way for people to learn more about you?


A couple of ways, I think people can always call me directly.  Having lived in Cedar City for my whole life, I think a lot of people know me, see me and talk to me.  I welcome people to talk to me on a personal level.  I have a web page, stevewood4mayor.com.  You can look at that web page, it gives you information and some of my platform.  That web page gives you the chance to e-mail me at two different e-mail addresses.  It also has my telephone number.  My e-mail is slwood@netutah.com.  You can see me on the city web page.  I think any kind of personal attention you want to contact me with is more than welcomed.  I love to talk about city projects and politics.

What's your favorite dessert?


My favorite dessert would be chocolate fudge iced cake, without the cake.