Vince Haley is running for the Rexburg City Council. In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, he explained why he is running, what he would bring to the position, what issues he would focus on and more if he is elected. For more information on Haley or to contact him, he can be reached on Facebook. Election Day is Nov. 4. Below is a transcript of the interview. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Hannah: Can you tell me a bit about your background and how it led you to running for City Council?
Vince Haley: Yeah. So, I actually grew up, born and raised in Rexburg, right in the middle of town. My parents came here. My dad was hired as Madison's head football coach a number of years ago. He actually was then hired at Ricks College and coached at Ricks College. So, I grew up going to all the sports teams at events on college and at the high school. Had a great growing up. Was very involved. My mom served on planning and zoning about the same time that BYU-Idaho was announced. And I saw her attend very late to long meetings where there's a lot of changes going on. And so, I grew up knowing the importance of community service.
Through that, I graduated from BYU-Idaho. I have a pretty unique experience in that I experienced Rexburg and Ricks College growing up, have the announcement of BYU-Idaho, but then benefited from the activities program on campus through the leadership, through that. So, I think I'm one of very few people in the world who experienced the athleticism of Ricks College but then benefited on the backside of BYU-Idaho. And I love that ability to speak with the natives of Rexburg, but also the newcomers and share with them my experience.
I served a mission in Minnesota, came back, married my wife here. And in recent years, I actually ran for City Council about 10 years ago, was not elected at the time. But in recent years, I have served six years, just finished six and a half years earlier this year on Planning and Zoning. Last couple of years, I was the vice chair of that committee. For seven years, I served on what's called the PFAC or the Patient Family Advisory Committee at Madison Memorial, giving perspective and advice to the hospital from an outsider's view of what's going on there. I just recently finished a yearlong training in Boise as part of the local leadership of the Upper Valley Association of Realtors, which I'm a full-time realtor by day. And that experience surrounded me. We were able to sit down and interview former Governor Butch Otter. We were able to sit down and visit with Governor (Brad) Little, Secretary of State Phil McGrain, many of these people in Boise. And I was able to just be surrounded and experience the government side of things. And currently I'm serving as the co-chair of the Citizens for Rexburg PD. So, a committee that we are trying to educate and bring forward the need for the new police station that's up for bond the same day as the election for City Council. So, I've been very involved in the community, and I want to see Rexburg continue to move in the direction that it's going.
So more than anything, you've got three seats open this election. You've got two that are wide open with Mike Walker and Robert Chambers not running again. You've got Colin Erickson, who's the only incumbent running again. So, you've got two seats that are wide open. And I'd love to fill that with somebody who loves Rexburg, knows the roots of Rexburg, and really wants to move it forward.
Hannah: You stated a couple of things that set you apart. What would you say sets you apart from the other candidates?
Vince Haley: One thing that I'm finding is very important to a lot of people in the city of Rexburg is my desire to sit down and listen, right? There's a lot of people that don't feel heard. LIDs (Local Improvement Districts) is a very big issue. It's a hot issue within the city of Rexburg. And I'll be upfront, I don't know the answer. I don't have the answer. I don't think anybody does.
But what I do know is that I'm willing to listen and I'm willing to have the hard conversations and I'm willing to really investigate and put forward my best effort in finding the solution. With that and just knowing the resources, knowing people, knowing how things work within the city, within the county, within the state now with my leadership, graduation in Boise recently, those have really elevated my desire and the need that I feel to serve my community.
Hannah: What would you say is the biggest issue facing Rexburg right now?
Vince Haley: I mentioned it earlier, LIDs. So we are, you know, for a number of years, people have been saying Rexburg is on the cusp of this growth, right? And we've seen that residential growth over the last 20 years or so. We've been 19, now 20 years or 25 years I think it is since BYU-Idaho was announced.
But we are now seeing the commercial growth start to happen. And there's a number of retailers that want to come in that could totally change the area. And I think the city has done a really good job of guiding that in a slow pace not to be overwhelmed and not to do it in the wrong way. But again, you've got to have people in there that are willing to have the hard conversations and really willing to investigate and listen to the citizens of Rexburg. The nice thing about this is that I'm not the only one making the decision, right? There's a council, and that's why we call it a council. There are six members on the council plus the mayor in the event that there's a tiebreaker. And that council discusses and makes a decision together after listening to the communications from the community and the citizens. And so that's the job of the council is to keep this going and to move our best foot forward and guide the city of Rexburg in the direction that the community would like it to go.
Hannah: You're addressing growth, and you've been working with zoning for the past six years. How would you address the housing crisis as a council?
Vince Haley: Yeah, so we've got to be really careful as a government entity not to guide the housing market. Now, keep in mind this is a national issue, right? This is not Idaho. This is not a Western region. This is not a Rexburg issue. This is a national problem. But what we can do without pushing or pulling the market, which is dangerous to do, you know, we've seen government entities try to do that. And in the short term, it works. In the long term, it’s a detriment to the community that they're doing that in. So, our job as a council, whether that's Planning and Zoning Commission or City Council, is to enable the growth that the market wants it to go. And not to be hard-lined in an ordinance that's prohibiting growth in a good way that doesn't intervene or cause problems to current property values, right? But, enables moving forward. So recently we've seen in Rexburg, we've seen a ton of twin homes and town homes. We've seen condos are now addressing the issues of ADUs, accessory dwelling units, right? The city is actually now currently looking at enforcing or enabling rather an ordinance that bridges the gap between ADUs and dormitory housing, which will enable without having to have the ordinances of duplexes separating utilities and HVAC systems that current ordinances do. But if you're going to rent out one room to an older student, you know, we see now the 25 plus single students, where are they all living?
And so, the city sees that opportunity for residents to house those individuals, but without the limiting ordinances that cause them to put thousands of dollars into their home to then just have this one room rented out. I think the city, when you look at Rexburg compared to Idaho Falls, to Rigby, to even some of these surrounding areas of Rexburg. Rexburg is doing a really good job at enabling these and letting the market kind of determine which direction to go without, again, forcing it upon anybody. So again, just keep that ball rolling. Understand that those ordinances can change once they're gone to the council and discussed in detail, right? I think that's the good direction we need to keep going.
Hannah: What are your thoughts on extending Fifth West?
Vince Haley: You look at any thriving community, and there's not just one road. And Rexburg has Main Street going East and West. We have Second East going North and South, which a lot of the commerce, a lot of the retails are on. We know that the growth is about to explode on the North side with the new temple and the development on that side.
And I believe, if I remember right, it's 2024 when they resurfaced the bridge on Second East right there going across the river and traffic was a nightmare going across that bridge so going across the bridge on Fifth West or going across the river with a new bridge on Fifth West as well as the new bridge out towards Barney Dairy Road it's just going to enable us to continue to grow in the direction we need to enable people to go around Second East if they don't want to go that direction. I'm 100 percent supportive of more access to different parts of the city.
Hannah: What message do you have for Rexburg as we approach Election Day?
Vince Haley: Yeah, so, looking at numbers and both I’ve done this for my own campaign as well as for the citizens for Rexburg PD. We looked at the last time Rexburg voted in an off general election year. And of the number of citizens that live here, there was 2,532 votes. That is all. So, as we approach Election Day on November 4th, take advantage of your God-given right within the United States and go and vote. Prior to that, do your opportunities to research.
Talk to your neighbors. Talk to candidates. Get online. I think there's a lot of people that get online. I Love Life in Rexburg website and voice their opinions but then don't get out and vote. And that is the worst thing you could do, right? Get out and vote and make your vote count towards what you want to see rather than being complacent and not doing what you're enabled to do.