Alisha Tietjen is running for the Rexburg City Council. In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, she says why she is running, what she would bring to the position, what issues she would focus on if elected and more. Learn more about her campaign on her Facebook. Election Day is Nov. 4. Candidate night will be Oct. 21 starting at 7 p.m. in the Romance Theater. Below is a transcript of the interview. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Hannah: Could you tell me a bit about your background and how it led to you running for City Council?
Alisha Tietjen: I came to Rexburg 23 years ago as a student to BYU-Idaho, and I married a local boy, and we raised our family here and we both graduated from BYU-Idaho. I graduated with a degree in history and political science and family studies, all kind of wrapped up into one big package. And we’ve just raised our family here and I love this town.
About 2016, I started volunteering at the Museum of Rexburg as a history research kind of person. And then after that, they hired me to do that part-time. I was made the curator and then, I've been the curator since 2019. And by doing that, I've learned so much about Rexburg and their history and their power of overcoming hard things and the resilience and just so many things that have just made me come to really appreciate Rexburg and all that they do. And because I work at the museum, I'm also under city staff. So, I've learned a lot about how the city budgets work and how the city staff meetings work and all those things.
As it came up to do the election, I just felt like I might have a very unique voice because I've been a student, been a full-time resident, city staff. I'm on a whole bunch of committees for the Tabernacle and the History Preservation Commission and historical buildings. So, I've had to do a lot of different things with a lot of different people, and I work really well with others. And so, I felt like this was a good move for me to be able to help better represent Rexburg.
Hannah: What's an issue you want to focus on if elected?
Alisha Tietjen: I really want to focus on the communication between City Council and the community. I hear a lot that people don't feel like the city council really knows what they want or what they feel is important and that they're not being represented. And that kind of makes me feel kind of sad. And so, I really want to be able to better communicate. I know city staff has tried really hard to push out the new app that they have, and they try and do Facebook, and they try and do emails and all these things. So, I would try to help promote that better and also respond to emails and things as quickly as I can and just try to be the voice of Rexburg.
Hannah: How would you address the current housing crisis here in Rexburg?
Alisha Tietjen: The housing crisis is such a problem. It's so difficult for people to be able to find homes and to be able to feel like they can grow. And having your own house, there's such an identity with that. And feeling like that you've arrived, right? That you can move forward and that you’re an adult now, that you're grown up, right? Like that you have your own house and your own place the prices are so high.
If I were to be on City Council, I would try really hard to make zoning changes and things that would help be able to bring in those smaller homes that people could afford. What's missing is called the missing middle-income homes. And I would try my best to zone so that we could have those come in. But unfortunately, City Council really doesn't have much say in housing prices. They can't know what developers are going to do. They can't know what businesses are coming in. They can only really make decisions based off of what they do know, and they can't know who or what is happening sometimes. And so, it is difficult. But I know that that's something that I would strive to do is to do what I can to bring those down.
Hannah: What are your thoughts on extending 5th West?
Alisha Tietjen: I actually live on 5th West. So, I think it's a great idea. I know that it's difficult to get out of town. I've lived here for 23 years, and I have been through all kinds of road changes. I was here when they redid Second East and there was no way out of town. It was very difficult. I've been here during the interchanges and all of those things. So, by expanding Fifth West, it gives us another outlet. It gives us another way to open up and to be able to take traffic off of Main Street and off of Second East and really help those areas to be able to not be so congested so that people can get to where they need to when they need to.
Unfortunately, that does cause some growing pains, and I know that people don't like that. But sometimes we have to grow in order to be able to continue to grow down in the future. Ten, 20 years from now, we need to figure out a problem now instead of 20 years from now.
Hannah: What message do you have for voters as we approach Election Day?
Alisha Tietjen: I'm really excited about Election Day and I just I would encourage people to get out and vote. Go vote and just do your research, listen, come to the candidate night that that's on October 21st. People can listen to the different views, get out there and research and find out about what people really are going to stand for. And so, I would encourage that. I just, I love this town, and I really would try to be neutral. I really feel that as a City Council member, I should be neutral on all the on all of the things that are coming up and then just represent what the city wants. It shouldn't be my pet projects that I want to have come forward. It should be more, what does the city want? What do the residents want? What things would they want to have go forward instead of just, this is what I think is best. It's what does the community want?