Price City Mayoral and City Council candidates met with the community Thursday evening for the Price City Political Debate at the Tuscan Events Center. The event was sponsored by the Tony Basso Group, ETV 10 News and KUSA.
Price City Council candidates were the first to take the stage, answering questions about their viewpoints on various issues concerning the city. Candidates running in this year’s race are Joe Christman, Amy Knott-Jespersen, Jesse Sloan and incumbent Terry Willis.
To open the event, the candidates were allowed two minutes to introduce themselves.
The debate began and the questions began to flow. Many of the candidates agreed that economic development is currently a critical issue facing Price City. Jespersen shared the importance of strengthening existing businesses in the area, as well as the creation of new businesses.
“If businesses are started here, they will stay here,” said Jespersen.
Sloan discussed the issue of roads throughout the city and the need to fix them. He also touched on moving away from non-necessary spending.
One of the questions given to the candidates concerned the opioid epidemic in the area, seeing as Carbon County is the leading county for opioid related death in the state. The candidates were asked how they would help the problem. Christman brought to attention that measures have been taken to resolve the issue, but it is still happening.
“You can’t arrest your way out of it,” he said as he explained the need for treatment and rehabilitation in the area
Willis took the time to address the need of active members in the community at this point. Through their support in finding ways to help people get treatment and look at more options, this would help make different decisions.
Following a short break after the council candidate’s debate, Price City Mayor candidates were up next. Michael Kourianos and Rick Adams are this year’s Price City mayoral candidates.
One of the questions asked of the candidates was “Do you believe that Price City is doing everything it can to create a beneficial relationship with Utah State University Eastern?” Both Adams and Kourianos had a smiliar standpoint on the relationship between Price City and USU Eastern. Adams would like to work closely with USU Eastern to bring more students to Price for their education.
“They don’t know what Price is all about,” he said. “We need to bring more people here, it’s a great place to live.”
Kourianos expressed the need for change in the area. USU Eastern has begun to bring change by expanding its sports programs and graduate programs that are available at the Price campus. He agrees with change, stating it could hurt the area if we are not willing to change. He would like to see the college expand and would be willing to help through Price City.
Kourianos and Adams both had similar standpoints on building and maintaining a relationship with Utah governor Gary Herbert. Kourianos brought to attention the governor’s 25K Jobs Initiative. He expressed that he would like to speak with the governor about using the relationship between the college and the city to to bring more jobs to Price.
Adams agreed with Kourianos on the matter. He believes that the Price City Mayor should be in regular meetings with the governor to build a relationship. This, he stated, would help bring the resources he hopes to provide.
The debate continued with similar questions for all candidates, and ended with closing statements from each candidate after both sessions. The event was live on ETV Channel 10 and will be re-broadcast at a later date.
