3/11/2010 6:00:00 AM
Candidates balk at low turnout
Vice mayor says she’s grateful for strong support
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JC AMBERLYN/Miner
Allen Mossberg (left) and Richard Anderson (right) were among the City Council candidates at the Mohave County Administration Building Tuesday evening.
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KINGMAN - There were three big takeaways from Tuesday's City Council Primary Election.
The first is that Vice Mayor Janet Watson will continue to serve for a second term. The second is that no distinct favorite emerged from the remaining four viable candidates. And the third is that voter enthusiasm in Kingman seems to have bottomed out, with barely 10 percent of the registered electorate coming out to the polls.
That last point was perhaps the biggest surprise among the candidates themselves, many of whom lamented the poor turnout.
"It was a major disappointment," said incumbent candidate Ray Lyons. "I've never seen an election with that few voters turning out to vote, and it means 9 out of 10 people don't care who's on the City Council."
While candidates placed some of the blame on Tuesday's dismal weather, that still doesn't fully explain Kingman's worst turnout in recent memory.
"I'm used to Kingman coming in closer to the high teens, almost 20-ish," said county Elections Director Allen Tempert. "The weather I think had something to do with it, but not totally, because the early vote was also very low."
Tuesday's results fell far below the 25.17-percent turnout in the March 2008 primary, as well as the 28-percent turnouts of 2006 and 2004. The lack of voter enthusiasm may stem from the fact that Mayor John Salem was running unopposed, though Watson noted that, in general, the tone of city politics has tamed considerably from the contentious election cycles that marked Kingman's boom years.
"I remember when I ran four years ago, things were more heated," she said. "Two years ago, it was the same thing. But this time around it was much more calm."
Watson said she hoped the low turnout was more the result of satisfaction with the current Council rather than voter complacency. But several candidates claimed that many potential voters didn't seem to realize that Tuesday was Election Day, despite repeated reminders in the local media.
"I had a lot of people say when I was calling, 'I didn't even know there was an election today,'" said candidate Erin Cochran. "We've got to make people more aware. It's our civic duty to vote, whether you vote for me or somebody else. We have people dying overseas to give people the rights they have, and they aren't even using them."
Cochran added that a larger turnout could have had a profound effect on the final percentage totals, since only 100 votes separated the second highest vote-getter from the lowest.
"I think that makes people realize how important it is that they get out and vote," Cochran said. "When it's that close, people need to know that every vote counts, especially in the local elections. Things could have been drastically different for any one of us had everybody come out and vote."
Fortunately, turnout for the May 18 General Election is likely to be substantially higher due to a controversial 1-cent sales tax ballot initiative championed by Gov. Jan Brewer.
But with Tuesday's totals so close, it's anyone's guess as to who will win the remaining two vacant Council seats.
"For everybody being as close as we were to each other, that's amazing," Mossberg said.
"I thought there were going to be some bigger gaps."
Mossberg said he felt that part of the reason the vote was so close was because candidates frequently agreed with one another on many fundamental issues such as tax increases and downtown revitalization.
With two months left to campaign, he suggested that now is the time for candidates to begin exploring individual issues more in-depth so that voters have a better understanding of how they differ from one another on the matters most important to voters.
"I think one we've still got to address is the impact fees," he said. "We need to get feedback from builders and the Realtors on what they have to say - are they all out there wanting to do away with them completely, or are they willing to take a certain percentage of cuts to get things motivated?"
Lyons agreed that candidate forums would benefit from a change in format. He argued in favor of direct debates between candidates, which he said could better show each candidate's stance as well as their informational grasp of an issue.
"I'm sure we'll be having more forums, and I think at this point, every question on our ideas for the city have been asked an answered," he said. "I think it's still a toss-up and an eye-opener for me, and I'm going to have to work harder the next two months."
Watson said she was very grateful for the support she received, adding that she would continue to represent citizens to the best of her ability.
"You know me, I'm going to try to look at any of the issues that come up, study them thoroughly and welcome input from people to make the best decisions for our community as a whole," she said, adding "I don't take myself that seriously, but I take this job very seriously."
Voter registration for the May 18 General Election runs from now through April 19, with early voting beginning April 22. For more information, call the Voter Registration Department at (928) 753-0767.
Repeated calls to candidate Richard Anderson for input on this story were unreturned as of press time.
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Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Article comment by:
V Stokes
@joe joe..
Clearer..thanks..never heard of such a thing. Thought it was if you were registered to vote...not if you actually have. Since my wife was called last year and had never voted locally, that seems more accurate. Whatever..
Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Article comment by:
kingman wisdom
I can understand a low turnout...."Show me a Politician an Ill show you a crook"
My fathers words become truer everytime I think of an election.
What was ANY council member done for US lately?
Raising taxes an gettin friends city jobs doesnt count.
Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Article comment by:
joe joe
@ V Stokes
I wasn't in court. I said that jury duty roll call is based on your voting. If you don't vote, you'll never get called to jury duty. If you do vote, you are placed on the jury duty roll call list...Capiche?
Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2010
Article comment by:
Bill Goodale
Spring elections produce low turnouts. Cities such as Lake Havasu have 50 to 60 percent voter turn for City elections as they hold their election on Primary and General election day. Several years ago the Kingman City Council voted to move election day from the spring to the fall election only to be reversed by the incoming Council. A City election on primary election day would increase turnout for that election. Higher turnout in the primary will increase Kingman's power in County and State races and issues. Hey! Do you think we might save some money by holding elections on the established election days.
Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2010
Article comment by:
Vock Canyon
While I don't live in the city I do talk to folks. Most of them are so dismayed by the rattlesnake wash issue that they saw no reason to vote. Clearly the majority voted against it and it is still on the table. The council itself is to blame for a lack of voter turn out. Voting does no good.
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Article comment by:
City too Busy Paying Salaries and Nothing Else
I would like to know what the salaries are for the department heads.
I recently saw an ad in the paper for someone to manage the city pool (tough job). Starting salary was something like $53k up to close to $80k. Not to mention the great benefits that would put those salaries well over $55k and $85k.
Come on now. That job could have be posted for half the salary and in this job market there would have been several hundred qualified applicants.
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Article comment by:
If You're Going to Correct Someone, Be Correct Yourself
Let's correct Getting the Facts Straight. The fact that P&Z has less employees now than 20 years ago is just not correct. I know I was there 20 years ago.
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Article comment by:
Some Just Want to Grip
V. Stokes, don't worry about joe joe and the likes. It is obvious he doesn't want to vote, doesn't want to help out on jury duty, doesn't want to volunteer to make a better communtiy, - another words he just wants to grip.
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Article comment by:
Stay on Subject
Liberal Lion, try to stay on the subject. I am a liberal as well and feel you're embarrassing the cause.
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Article comment by:
Sick and Tired
I, too, would like to know what the "community development" department employees do all day.
There's very little building going on yet they haven't had the time to update the community prospectus, or other reports. Any time there's a transportation study or a retail study or anything else we are told the staff doesn't have the "expertise" and/or there isn't money to do the work. Yet they end up farming out these reports and we have to pay an outside firm to do the work that the city staff should be doing.
Janet and the other council members shouldn't brag that there have been no layoffs. They need to stop taking everything hand feed to them by the city manager and staff and start to pop into these offices to see exactly what our tax money pays for.
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Article comment by:
Need 3rd Party
Yea, what a wasted seat Deering's has been.
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Article comment by:
Need 3rd Party
Tea baggers didn't really get involved in this election. However, it should get organized and run its own candidates. I think most would be surprised.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Loyd Opines
@ Getting the Facts Straight --
I think you just made a significant point for me. Where the rubber meets the road is in the fact that city budgeted staffing reductions have only been reduced by four bodies since the 2006 phony boom peak. Shuffling bodies to cash flush departments while maintaining budget slots for them is not my idea of any downsizing whatsoever.
If the city wants to get serious about downsizing city government and creating funds for badly needed projects then they need to permanently remove unfunded and vacated positions and weed out those shuffled positions that I know for a fact bring new meaning to "make work".
The city is not so inclined since even while crying poverty they manage to raise starting fund balances year after year. The state will likely provide the "incentive" very soon and what we the taxpayers will get is pot-holed roads (already started), threats of police and fire protection cutbacks, and every other scare tactic they can muster to justify a tax increase.
Nearly across the board, council candidates are parroting the developer and building lobby's call to roll down or abolish impact fees. If the subject doesn't hit a city work session before June 15th, I'll be amazed.
Plat approvals create an infrastructure contractual obligation that the city is legally obligated to fulfill -- that means the taxpayers of the city -- no one else. Without impact fees who do you think is going to get stuck with the bill? Looked at your water and sewer bill lately? Be sure and look at it again a year from now.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Getting The Facts Straight
Correction: I meant to say that Planning and Zoning Division has fewer employees now than it did 20 years ago and Kingman is more than twice the size in population than it was back then.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Getting The Facts Straight
Loyd, perhaps you don’t know, but the Development Services Department has gone from 20 employees at the peak of the boom four years ago to 12 today. That includes a loss of three planners, three building inspectors, one plans examiner and one secretary. This has been accomplished through a combination of keeping positions unfilled when people left for other jobs or retired, and by moving several employees into other departments. The Planning and Zoning Division of that department has fewer employees now than it did 20 years ago when Kingman was more than twice the size it is today. The Development Service Department represents a miniscule portion of the city’s overall budget and has seen probably the biggest downsizing of any department during this long downturn in the economy.
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