Ed. Note: Below is the transcript of the interview with Darrin Truan. Truan is running for the at-large position on the Hutchinson City Council.
Marc Jacobs: We are talking with the candidates from the that are running for the at large position on Hutchinson city council, and right now we're with Darrin Truan Good Morning, sir.
Darrin Truan: Good morning. Marc, thanks for having me.
Marc Jacobs: So, tell us. Tell everybody a little bit about Darrin, where you're from and what you stand for.
Darrin Truan: Okay, yes, my name is Darrin Truan, and I've lived here in Hutchison for about 25 years. I actually moved here in April of 2000 when I applied and was hired by the Hutchison Police Department. Like I said, I worked for them for 24 years and retired last July as a sergeant. I'm married. I have a son and a daughter who both attended Hutch high. Graduated from Hutch high. I now have two granddaughters, one 17 months and one five months. I own some investment property here in town and manage other investment properties for some other people. And I just feel that with my experience working for the city, that gives me knowledge on how the city works, and I would like to continue my service to my community by running and getting on the city council.
Marc Jacobs: All right, we'll get things started off. Little bit about economic development. How should Hutchinson balance attracting new industries like Renewable Energy and Advanced Manufacturing while also supporting the downtown small businesses and the local small businesses.
Darrin Truan: Well, we definitely need to need more jobs in our community. We need higher paying jobs. I'm going to give the city, current city council credit. I think they've done an excellent job with this. They've been trying to recruit jobs, and like everybody knows or it's been put out. We are in the process of getting the Evergy energy plant that'll be coming. They'll start construction. I think it's in a year or so, but I think at same time, we can we definitely need to support our local businesses. We need to go out. We need to figure out what their needs are, how we as a city and a community can help them better and thrive. You know, we have a excellent college here that I believe can be set up, and so if a new company comes in, we can go to that new company and say, what type of training you need. And I believe the college can will do that and can do that. You know, the city has a good relationship with the chamber, and I think we need to continue that relationship. One thing I do want to say is if, if we give these companies that come in incentives or tax breaks, yes, we need to be concerned about their needs, but we need to make sure we're getting a good, conscious, solid contribution back to our tax burden, and make sure we're getting that it's worthwhile having them come in.
Marc Jacobs: All right, so this kind of goes along, hand over, you know, hand over fist with economic development. But what specific steps would you or would you have the City Council take to address the city's housing shortage, particularly affordable and workforce housing, and how should the city partner with developers and or nonprofits to develop those housing issues?
Darrin Truan: Okay, again, I give the current city council credit. They've done an excellent job with this. Right now we there's three projects that are underway for housing. They just signed a an agreement with a company to develop houses there at that 11th and Hendricks area that the city purchased. There's another developer at 36 and Monroe. And then we know that we have a local contractor that's going to be building houses out on Plum Creek off of 43rd that contractor has, as we know, is secured several incentives, one lower specials, which I heard the other day, could save a homeowner $90,000 on a 20 year note, which that's a lot of money. The Community Foundation just secured a $2.46 million grant and low interest loans. I think what we as a council, we need to continue to work with those. When a developer does come in, we need to make sure that we're finding out what they need and do what we can to help them. What I want to see is that we make people want to come to Hutch and build and help develop our community so.
Marc Jacobs: All right, one, one last question before we go to a break, Hutchinson faces a lot of aging infrastructure and limited with the limited budgets, how would you if you were on city council prior towards your spending on like, say, water systems, public safety and other core services?
Darrin Truan: Well, I have an acronym. It's called. I call it the three P's, which is public safety, potholes and plumbing. Public Safety basically deals with fire and EMS. I believe, right now, our fire and EMS is in pretty good shape. Our police department is, I believe, almost, if not, at full staff. They've got a lot of officers to train Fire Department, the way I understand, is in pretty good shape. They may be down a few so I'm not sure that we need to worry about that a whole lot. We still have to fund them and take care of them. We do need to, we've got to work, continue to work on our roads, and that's one of the biggest complaints I hear, is the potholes and we need to make sure we're spending our money there. The other issue we have is, is our water and sewer needs. The it's been brought up that our water sewer treatment plant needs lots of work. At the last Council meeting, the Council voted to apply for some loans for that, and unfortunately, it appears that we're going to have to, or they're going to have to raise our water and sewer rates. Now, I did do some research, and it's it appears, even if we raise our sewer rates and water rates, Hutch is still below average. But we just need to, we've got to maintain the current infrastructure we have, and just try not to let it get in the situation we're in now.
Marc Jacobs: What role should the city play in supporting like parks and parks and arts and community services, and how can the city make those amenities better available to residents.
Darrin Truan: I definitely think we do need to support our current parks. I do have concerns about trying to take on more parks. You know, we I have actually talked to some employees in the city, and one of their concerns is, I feel like maybe we are taking on more than they can handle. So in a financial situation, I think we need to worry about that, make sure that once we take on a new infrastructure, we have infrastructure we have the ability to support it. As far as promoting downtown, I'm excited with Memorial Hall and the $2.5 million star bonds that we've received, I would just like to see more entertainment brought into Memorial Hall. And I think if we can do more down there, that can bring more to downtown, and we'll go from there.
Marc Jacobs: All right, this is one that everybody talks about, because you're spending basically the city is spending their money. How would you ensure that taxpayer dollars are efficiently spent and that residents have a clear understanding of how those decisions are made by the council and at City Hall?
Darrin Truan: Well, as far as the spending, I go back to my three-p acronym. I think we need to I've said it before, I will treat their budget like my household budget. We need to pay for the necessities. First, take care of what we have to take care of. And then if we have what I call fun money left, we then we use that for other stuff. But I believe we have to take care of our necessities first. You know, I'm not sure, or, you know, if we can try to, by doing that, lower our tax base, that's what I will try to do. As far as getting the information out to people, this is one of the big things I really I've learned since I've announced my candidacy and went to all the city council meetings. I've learned so much, and I encourage people to they have the meetings in the evenings on 5:30 the first and third Tuesday of every month. I encourage people to go to the meetings. But if you can't go to the meetings, if you're not aware it's on YouTube, you can watch it live, or you can go back and watch it later. And I encourage people to do that also. I believe if you give your email to the city, they will send you a newsletter. I've been getting newsletters recently, and they're pretty informative. One thing if I'm elected, I would like to promote is, and that's one thing I want to try to do, is figure out a way. To get information out to all aspects of people. You know, there's they, there's stuff put out on Facebook, there's stuff put out on email, but there's a lot of people that don't do Facebook. Maybe have a answer questions or question answer session with the local radio station, and where people can call in. I just I think the more informed people are, and the more questions people ask, the more they're going to understand what's going on.
Marc Jacobs: All right, we’ve got a couple minutes left here in 10 years. What do you hope to see? Where do you hope the city is? What the city looks like? And how can you help get us there?
Darrin Truan: Well, I think we continue with the momentum we have right now. I would like to see a thriving workforce, beautiful homes and a city that's worth investing in. I want a community that my kids, grandkids, and down the road great grandkids would be proud to stay here and want to stay here and live in.
Marc Jacobs: All right, any part, any final words before we get out here.
Darrin Truan: I just want to ask everybody or thank everybody for the support I've got so far. I just feel that my experience with the working for the city has gave me knowledge that I can use for this. I want to bring a common sense approach to the city council, ask questions and make sure that we're making all the right decisions. And I would ask for you to support me and vote for me on November 4.
Marc Jacobs: All right, we have been talking with Darrin Truan, and he is running for the at large position on the Hutchinson City Council. The election is on Tuesday. Polls open at seven, and so everybody get out and vote. Thank you for coming in this morning.
Darrin Truan: Thank you for having me.