Nick Gosnell (00:00):
Marla Jean Booher gets to start off. She is running for the at large seat on the Hutchinson city council. Good morning, Marla Jean, how are you?
Marla Jean Booher (00:07):
Good morning. I'm doing Well. How are you doing?
Nick Gosnell (00:08):
Good so far. She hasn't seen these questions in advance, which is probably going to be, I would bet you that the other six candidates are all probably listening this morning because none of them have seen it. My intent is at least as much as possible to ask initial questions that are the same, but based on your answers, we'll see what we follow up with. That said, to lead off, everybody has an issue that is the reason that they decided to run for city council, so what city policy was the reason that led you to run for this seat?
Marla Jean Booher (00:43):
It really wasn't a policy for me. It was engagement. I think we saw a lot of interest spiking in the past couple of years and maybe a little bit of fracture between the city and the community. And I, when I moved back here in 2009, I did so because where I was at in a big city, I was not feeling as engaged where I was. So, I have spent the last 12 years getting more involved in my community. So I could just be here today, doing exactly what I'm doing, and that is trying to impact our community to engage everyone in the decision making process at this level. And making sure that all voices are heard when decisions are made at the city council level.
Nick Gosnell (01:32):
All right. Second question. Do you currently owe any obligations to any tax entities for any years prior to this one? Obviously folks haven't paid for this year yet. Maybe in some cases, but, but anything that's outstanding from the past?
Marla Jean Booher (01:46):
No, I do not.
Nick Gosnell (01:47):
Okay. Did you vote in the last city council election in Hutchinson?
Marla Jean Booher (01:51):
Yes, I did.
Nick Gosnell (01:52):
Okay. What can be done to reduce regulation on businesses coming to Hutchinson?
Marla Jean Booher (01:59):
Well, that is something I'm learning more about. I do think that that's gonna take a lot of collaboration and delving into, I know that some of that stuff is set higher than the city council. So, I'm not sure how much of that is gonna be able to be changed. ButI do know that there are processes in place that are currently being used. I think we're seeing thatwith Mr. Cooley and the Stevens building, where they have appeals processes and things like that. I do know there is some wiggle room, but there is, there are some things that are, they just law, so...
Nick Gosnell (02:37):
Sure. So, what's a proper level of bonding for a city Hutchinson's size. In other words, how much debt should a city carry on a year to year basis?
Marla Jean Booher (02:47):
That is something that I would have to educate myself on. I don't know that answer.
Nick Gosnell (02:52):
Okay. So, then if that's so, if you don't know what the amount of debt service potentially should be,obviously most folks don't, I guess I'll say it that way, but it seems like at the city level, a lot of the things that are planned,that's a big part of the budget is that they say, well, we have, we're planning to bond these projects. We're planning to borrow money, even if it's at low interest rates for this purpose. So, what's your position on saving for projects as opposed to bonding projects and, and it's, there's not necessarily a wrong answer here,especially in the inflationary economy, we have the dollars today probably cheaper than the ones tomorrow.
Marla Jean Booher (03:40):
Yes. So I think that's obviously optimal to save rather than bond. I also think that if we are planning a project like that, it, it would be something that we'd be looking out in the future to. And that it would hopefully be something that we would have feedback from the community on. And that way we would have buy in and hopefully investment from the community, which then would not require bonding or maybe as much bonding. So it would be my hope that we could minimize bonding if not alleviate it at all, by planning ahead, rather than trying to do something more impulsive.
Nick Gosnell (04:16):
All right. So with that said, one of the things that gets bonded the most is street maintenance. So what length should the city's street maintenance program be? In other words, how many years should it be between times that folks see a crew on their individual street?
Marla Jean Booher (04:33):
So I, we already have a plan in place. I think it's a rolling eight years for street maintenance. That's just now going through the first iteration. I think we give that time to play out and see how that's workingand how that goes. And if that's a good set time and, and the streets last that long, then I think we stick with it. You know, that is one thing I've noticed is we don't necessarily follow through or stick with something once we've put it in place. So let's let something play out that's been decided.
Nick Gosnell (05:03):
All right, Marla Jean Booher is running for the at large seat here in the Hutchinson city council, more with Marla Jean coming up.
Nick Gosnell (05:09):
This is maybe the most specific we will get with policy just because it's been such a big issue for the city over the last while, but are you for, or against taking the money from the federal government to put roundabouts in at the Woodie Seat Freeway? That issue has been up here for a couple of years. They've been trying to get federal grants to help with taking care of the issue with the bridges there, but at least according to engineering staff with the city getting it designed as a pair of roundabouts, rather than replacing the bridges is the best way to get to the federal funding. And so that's what the application was. They put an application in for that, it's not back yet, should be back shortly after election day and before the first of the year. But then the city has to decide if they're gonna accept the money or not. So what do you think about that issue?
Marla Jean Booher (06:08):
Well that's kind of a loaded question, Nick. So, of course I think that any way we can alleviate taxpayer responsibility on that is great. I wish that we would have, again, engaged the community in the decision making process. There seems to be a lot of feedback that I have gotten in my campaigning that there just wasn't a lot of transparency in this and a lot of involvement in how this was gonna be addressed, how it was gonna be approached, what the timeline was. You know, I think whatever is decided, moving forward, the community has got to be involved. That is a must. It is a must.
Nick Gosnell (07:10):
If there's been a theme for current mayor, Steve Garza, since he took over as mayor, that's been itI suppose, is that the community just needs to know more about what they're doing with their government. That again is a, it's a hard thing because at least based upon the framework that has been available to us in public meetings, and that doesn't necessarily mean that that's everything that was said to everybody, but it's what I can talk about that it is according to engineering staff, much less expensive to put in the roundabouts than it would be, to put the bridges in because you wouldn't win the federal grant just to replace bridges. At least that's the, that's the theory now, practically speaking, I don't know whether that's true or not, but that's the reason why it's an issue for the city council.
Marla Jean Booher (08:20):
May, I speak to that last point? Go ahead. I'm sorry. That very well may be. I do, I do feel though in my own experience that even if that is the outcome had that conversation just been had up front, and honesty and openness been had, I, that there could have, there just, would've been a lot more comfort in what's happening. I, I think it's a lot easier to accept a decision when the expectation is laid out from the very beginning.
Nick Gosnell (08:51):
Sure. So moving on, how do we fix the infrastructure under the city's streets? A storm water utility fee is in place. We've got that large drainage project that they're still waiting on approval for from the railroads to try to figure out exactly what the route is going to be. How do you pay for those long term infrastructure projects in the city?
Marla Jean Booher (09:15):
Listen, we have to invest in ourselves. We just do, we have to, and we have to accept that when we talk about attracting businesses, that part of that is making ourselves move in ready, you know, a business doesn't wanna come in here and clean up something that we haven't been taking care of. I know it's not a popular opinion, but it was something that we weren't taking care of for a long time. And so it's kind of like the roof on your house. If you haven't been maintaining it for 25 years and you, and you get a hole in it, it's gonna cost you a lot more to fix it. If you just had been maintaining it for that 25 years or what have you. So hopefully we get to a point where the fee becomes more and more nominal and it just becomes a maintenance situation. But until we get to that point, we are, we are back maintaining at this point. And the first iteration of that fee I believe was used to build up our what's it called around the river, the levee. So, you know, we had to do that first before we could start in on the actual infrastructure, so...
Nick Gosnell (10:32):
Sure. How will you build consensus with the other members of the council? When you disagree, will, will you do it behind closed doors or in the public meeting?
Marla Jean Booher (10:42):
So, first and foremost, I think you have to build a relationship with each one individually that builds trust that builds confidence and respect. And I think those conversations that you're referring to should happen in private, but then when you get out in, in public, you are to be professional and a unified front. And you could probably respectfully disagree, but to have further conversation should probably respectfully be also done in private.
Nick Gosnell (11:22):
Is more government or less government generally better. And why, and that's the last question this morning.
Marla Jean Booher (11:28):
Well, that probably depends on what we're talking about. I don't think that's a universal application. If I had a specific, I'd probably have a better answer for you, but I think to universally apply that across the board is probably irresponsible.
Nick Gosnell (11:44):
Marla Jean Booher, running for city council at the at large seat and she joins us here on KWBW, Hutchinson, Kansas.