Eric Erickson is running for a seat on the Rexburg City Council. In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, he spoke about his drive to run, his solution to biggest issue facing Rexburg, and more. To find more about him and his campaign, go to www.erickson4rexburg.com. Election Day is November 7. Below is the transcript of the interview. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Chandler: Let's get down to brass tax. Why are you running?
Eric Erickson: Well, good question. I've always been interested in local politics. Well, politics in general, I guess, but, we had a local business here in town for many, many years and though I had an interest in politics, it was kind of hard to get involved because of just the business aspect of things. And so, we sold the business a few years ago, retired, and gave me a little more time to be able to devote to things like this. I don't come into this with any kind of a personal agenda. There's no big issue out there that I'm overly concerned about. But it is an opportunity to participate in kind of helping make some decisions for the city going forward because I think we're really going to have some interesting issues come up in the next few years and so I just feel a desire to participate in that.
Chandler: And what would you say that you have that other candidates don't quite bring to the table?
Eric Erickson: Well, I think mostly my business background, my degree is in Business administration and Finance. We had a business here in town that grew along with the city over 50 plus years here in Rexburg. And we grew it from a very small automobile dealership to a fairly major employer here in town. So I've had a lot of opportunity to participate in the growth of Rexburg and to provide good living for a lot of so that business background, I think, will be a big plus to be able to understand the budgeting process, where all the funds come from and how they're spent. And having had to live within a budget over some fairly tough years in the automobile business, I think I can bring that little bit of frugality to the city government.
Chandler: And if you were elected, what would you focus on?
Eric Erickson: Well, there are a couple of issues that I see transportation is a big one here in town. We're going to continue to grow and there's going to be some pressure growing out north of town. We only have one major thoroughfare that crosses the Teton River. And so, we have to funnel all the traffic on that one street north and south. We've got to figure out a way to get another route across the river to service that area also, the growth in the past number of years has kind of gone to the west. And so, there's a lot of individuals over there, and they're funneling into either Main Street or 7th South, University Avenue. And that's caused some real bottlenecks. So, there may be a possibility of looking at other options of getting across the freeway so that we don't separate the city into three or four distinct kind of areas, but do we have ways to bridge those areas and bring them all together in one big city?
Chandler: And you probably already touched on this, but could you expand on it a little bit more? What would be the biggest issue that you see facing Rexburg right now? And what would you do to combat it and propose a solution?
Eric Erickson: Yeah, well, growth certainly is the biggest issue. There's going to be pressure to grow. There's going to be more and more people. People are attracted to Rexburg. It's a wonderful place. It has been, I've experienced that over 50 years here in Rexburg. It's a wonderful place to come to live, to raise a family, to work. And we're being discovered, and people are coming to town. The school continues to grow, the city grows. Along with the school — BYU-Idaho. And so, with growth comes a lot of issues that the city has to deal with. Infrastructure is a big one. Roads, sewer and water, those are all big issues that have got to be looked at. Police and fire, those are areas, again, that we need to provide the manpower there to continue to provide that safe environment that we've experienced here in Rexburg over a number of years. We want to grow, but we want to grow smart and we want to grow and not grow faster than we're able to keep up with all of the infrastructure. So, those are things that we're going to have to deal with over the next little while.
Chandler: And what do you see as a solution to, as you said, growing smart?
Eric Erickson: Well, that all comes with planning, having a good vision of what we want Rexburg to become and where we want it to go. Areas where we want to continue to build single family homes and neighborhoods that we all love and enjoy but also providing safe and affordable housing for both students and those who graduate here at BYU-Idaho, but want to stay and raise their families. So, starter homes, those sorts of things, so I think providing a vision, I kind of see the city council as like the board of directors of a major corporation. We take the vision from our shareholders, the voters, the citizens of Rexburg. And we then interpret their needs, their wants, their desires, and form a vision. And that's our challenge then, is to communicate that vision to the city employees and to those who guide and direct the day-to-day operations of the city. And if we can get them on board with the vision of what we want to see Rexburg to become, then as people come to town and with proposals, developers, those kinds of things, we can direct that under that umbrella of the vision that we have for Rexburg.
Chandler: And what would be a message to voters?
Eric Erickson: Well, get out and vote. That's the biggest thing. This is not a presidential election year. The only issues on the ballot at this time are city council and mayor, the mayoral race. So, it's sad, but the turnout to our elections has not been great. We need to participate more in this. That's how the voter can help, can participate in the issues that are facing Rexburg by getting out and voting for those that they think will provide that vision and give the direction that they want the city to go.
Chandler: And where can people find more about yourself and your campaign?
Eric Erickson: I have a website out there, erickson4rexburg.com, that's erickson4rexburg.com. On there, there’s ways to get involved in my campaign. There's ways to communicate directly with me, either through email or through forms on the website and a little bit more about me and the family and some of the experiences that I've had here, raising my family here in Rexburg. So that's a good place to go.
Chandler: Is there anything else that you would like to talk on before we wrap it up?
Eric Erickson: Well, just the fact that, one of the driving forces for me serving is that we need to have good people governing our city. And, not that I'm an overly wonderful individual, but the experience that I've had, I think I bring some perspective to the issues that the city needs right now. We need to be more involved. We need to get citizens out to city council meetings, to planning and zoning meetings, county, commissioner meetings, because that's the way you can participate as a citizen in the vision for Rexburg. So, if that's one thing that I would put out there is please do everything you can to get involved and stay involved, and that way, we can all grow together, make Rexburg what we all want it to be.
———
To view the Candidate Q&A for another candidate, please select their name below:
City Council:
Brian Thackeray
Mayor:
Jerry Merrill