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Show Candidates vie for District 14 post Rogers aims at Senate seat I Challenged by Ernest Dean, State 1 Rep. Paul Rogers says he has specific ; plans for change if he is successful in making a move from the House to the Senate. "We have a Central Utah Water project that is flawed because it is a : system run by an appointed board, ; ; appointed by district judges. It's time ; to change that,"concludes Rogers. ;' "And we now have a draft, approved ; - by the local mayors, that we think has ' potential." Rogers proposes three ways to elect the water board; direct election, county commission appointment, and gubernatorial nomination. He says the area mayors, favor appointment by county commissioners with jnayoral right of nomination. ., "We would then have the ideal check and balance," says Rogers. j 'This has been presented to Tim-panagos Tim-panagos Planning and Water ; Management Agency and approved unanimously by them. If I am elected, I will be the chief sponsor and introduced in-troduced the proposal simultaneously to the Senate and the House. It will be good strategy and have a good chance of passing." r Rogers says work began on finding a new plan for water board selection two and a half years ago. Some legislation was even introduced and then withdrawn because of threatened legal action. Rogers says iiow the climate is more favorable and the proposal will come in clean Iwith no history of rejection. Introducing the bill in a budget session, such as the 1982 session, required it have a two-thirds majority to pass. Rogers says that looked to be "too great of odds" to risk. Rogers feels the water board is ignoring Northern Utah County wishes for the single conveyance and says personally "we'd really be foolish to not use the Murdock Canal. It's already there, it is a menace, a health hazard that really should be covered. And it creates a lot of basement seepage problems here in Orem. It's right here, why not use it?" "Even those more concerned with dollars and short-term goals should still realize the value in utilizing something that's already in place and in need of some alteration," he said. Rogers has high praise for the Utah Housing Finance plan currently on the market in the county. He says it is a good program which invests 6 to 8 million State dollars towards a return of many times that amount in tax revenue. Rogers says he enjoys the support of U.S. Steel and they've endorsed his candidacy. When the EPA began enforcing tough clean air standards on Geneva, Rogers says he worked through his appropriations assignment assign-ment to remind EPA officials that they were chartered to "see to the best interest of communities." Rogers sees Geneva Steel as "an extremely valuable asset to Utah County. The jobs it represents are critical." And he intends to do what he can to preserve the company. The Representative regrets legislative action that "cut away the fringe of American Fork and Lehi and moved it into Tooele." He says there will not be a redistribution change for 10 years. He resents complaints that the legislature changed school district voting boundaries, says "we have nothing whatever to do with those. Complaints should go to local boards." Dean hopes to regain position Veteran legislator Ernest Dean says it is critical that voters elect him to the Utah State Senate or American Fork loses it's voice. "I think the last legislature did a total disservice to our area. What they've done is chopped American Fork up to where Orem can have two senators and there will be none from our area if my opponent is elected," charges Dean. "That is one of the items that needs to be taken up this coming session." Dean says it isn't necessary to wait for the next 10 year census before reallignment is made. "It is not limited in the constitution. It can be taken up anytime." Dean suggests that the system employed 10 and 20 years ago whereby each political party chose two delegates who in turn selected a fifth. This committee then decided local voting districts utilizing their expertise of the local situation. "Instead of the legislature sitting in their ivory tower and making the decisions, the local citizens had input. That's what we need to return to," offers Dean. The past Senator has vast experience ex-perience dealing with legislative issues. He served both as President of the Senate and Speaker of the House in his tenure. He has been minority leader for both bodies, as well as majority leader for the House. "I have a unique working relationship with the Central Utah Water Conservancy District that I've developed over the years. Hopefully, I can influence them. I think it's almost a must that we have a single pipeline in North Utah County. We can't chop up that much property. If we have two there has to be a maintainence and a right-of-way on either side. We Just as well have one as two." Dean notes that he initially made contact with Mayor Ted Wilson and feels he was instrumental in influencing in-fluencing the Salt Lake mayor's opinion of the single conveyance system. As the executive officer for Homebuilders in Utah, Dean is helping to stimulate the housing industry in-dustry in Utah County, he says. "There is nothing more important than doing things to create jobs. I'm working right now to get the lion's share of the $100 million available through the Utah Housing Finance Agency for our area," explains Dean. "Finding jobs and doing everything I can to help the young married population find homes are my two top priority items this year. Then we must make sure Geneva Steel is secure, make sure we're not allowing the dumping that is currently destroying the steel market." Dean has a long list of high priority items, all of which he says are important. im-portant. He maintains, however, that representation is a key factor. "American Fork must have a voice in the Senate,"insists the candidate. |
