Get Connected

The days of a close-knit group of buddies making decisions for Hideout must end.

I moved to Shoreline in Hideout from Connecticut in Oct 2022 with my wife, Judy. We have been lucky to have met wonderful people and are proud to call this home. I am running for town council because I believe my experience in town government; municipal budget planning and oversight; and board communication can add necessary skills to our town’s future. 

My public experience with municipal finance, including capital projects, should help the town be more fiscally responsible and transparent. I served as the Chair of the Budget Committee for the Ridgefield (CT) Public Schools and Vice Chair of the Board of Education for 5 years and its $90+million budget. I represented the Board of Education in public testimony with the Board of Finance and open town meetings before annual votes. Every budget won approval by town vote. I was elected twice in town-wide elections. 

I am recently retired from a diverse career in education, first as a teacher (10 years); then district administrator; publisher; and researcher. I co-authored two nationally published research studies on how to make public education more effective and efficient.  

In 2013, I founded an educational technology company that was acquired by Macmillan Learning in 2016. I led their English product development team for 5 years before coming to Utah.  

Prior to my education career, I was a chef/owner of a restaurant in Boulder, Colorado.

I was educated at the University of Colorado (BA), Columbia University (MA), Southern CT State, (Post MA Educational Leadership )

In my opinion, the council priorities should include improving the relationships with our county, neighboring towns, and residents as we look to lower costs and improve services. Regional cooperation on town projects, transportation, and administrative costs that could be shared are all opportunities. A lot has been said, not enough has been done.

We all see how the town is evolving from a development to a community as more people live here. The council can help improve the coexistence of construction and resident’s quality of life. Maintaining roads, pedestrian paths, and other town owned assets are long term commitments that need a fiscally responsible strategic plan. For too long, our council has partnered with developers at the expense of developing our community responsibly.

The current review and development of an updated document "Engineering and Design Standards" has brought many of the issues that residents want addressed to the council table. Unfortunately, too few residents are aware of how connected this review is to their experience. It is a clear example of a gap that the council and the public need to close together.  No coherent strategy for enforcement or monitoring has been implemented. The result: damaged roads, litter everywhere, construction rules violated, and a general disregard for people who live here.

Opportunities to improve how our council works include being more communicative about existing and proposed projects. The council should exercise its oversight authority to ensure projects are effectively and efficiently administered. Eliminating single bid projects, restricting the use of capital budgets for recurring costs, and being transparent about budget activity are the responsibility of all council members.

The most important thing the council can improve is the relationship with its residents. Public meetings, regular scheduled access to elected officials, and ethical, transparent governance should be the rule. Our elected officials must be accessible. 

Adopt ethics standards for council members and the mayor - A recent 3-2vote by the council enabled council members to request private meetings with town employees out of view of the public. This move is the opposite of transparency and should be rescinded.

Bring Back Ranked Choice Voting - By a 3-2 margin, the council voted to force primaries for our town mayor's position and council votes. This vote costs taxpayers money for seats that are already non-party affiliated positions. 

Budget lines need translation for the community - take a look at our town budget and see if you can recognize spending and priorities. A town's budget should have a version made specifically for taxpayers that avoids the large categories that hide projects and special interests. 

Emergency planning Our mayor and council are responsible for ensuring that the risks of an emergency are mitigated. To my knowledge, no emergency drills have been conducted that test the egresses or public safety response. Imagine fire trucks and emergency vehicles rushing down N. Shoreline Drive while residents' car are parked on the road, a speed barrier is in the median, and residents are trying to flee the danger. That's the current reality because emergency preparedness has not been prioritized.

Outcome-based legislating - Ever wonder why council goals and committees such as the Economic Development Council can't show tangible results? The current model does not emphasize measurable outcomes for spending or committee priorities. Instead, we just muddle along without objectives, incremental timelines, or deliverables.  

Manage Growth - view the pictures below. Developers and their contractors treat their land and projects as immune from being responsible neighbors. This behavior may have been fine when no one was living here, but shouldn't be anymore. Is there enforcement? How many fines have been issued, paid? Any stop work orders issued for excessive non-compliance? These should be made public.

Monitor development - Limit construction staging areas to a reasonable amount of land either within the lot boundary or adjancent lot . Require main staging areas to install decorative fencing;