Mayor Bradshaw endorses Ketchum incumbents because ‘We’re on a good track’
By Eric Valentine
A sitting mayor isn’t supposed to advocate—pro or con—for bonds before an election. So Ketchum Mayor Neil Bradshaw didn’t. But a mayor can state the facts. So he did.
A committee-recommended site, a 20-year city need, and a $20-a-year charge to every $100,000 of assessed property value are the three matters of fact that Bradshaw hopes voters consider Tuesday, Nov. 5, when they are asked—among other ballot questions—whether they support an $11.5 million bond proposal that would build Ketchum a new fire station across from the YMCA off Highway 75 and Warm Springs Road.
A two-thirds majority vote is required to approve the bond. If that happens on Tuesday, construction could begin in May 2020 and be completed some time in summer 2021. And that raises the question: If it doesn’t pass, what happens next?
“You can ask me that next week,” Bradshaw quipped. “In all seriousness, if it doesn’t pass but it’s close, we could go back to voters in May. If it’s not close, we’ll have to look into other options.”
Two candidates are running against two incumbents for the open Ketchum City Council seats that will be fundamental in solving the city’s fire protection challenges, regardless of whether the bond passes or not. The four are: incumbents Michael David and Jim Slanetz and challengers Mickey Garcia and Jen Smith.
Bradshaw was quick to say he could work with any of the four just fine. He was even quicker to endorse the incumbents.
“In my mind, I’d like to see the incumbents returning because we’re on a good track,” Bradshaw said. “We don’t always agree, but there is a deep respect for each other. We don’t make things personal. We make things about policy.”
Bradshaw went on to list more than a dozen accomplishments he and the current configuration of the council had spearheaded, and therefore justified re-election. Items included the hiring of a new fire chief (see related story pg. ?) , 100 new affordable housing units now being planned and/or constructed, updated conservation goals, improved sidewalks, and an uptick in the number of events held in the city.
But, par for the course, the mayor and council have had their challenges, too. Perhaps the most critical one: the failure to reach an accord with the City of Sun Valley and the Ketchum Rural Fire District to provide a unified first-responders organization to Wood River Valley residents, business owners, and visitors who have been petitioning for it for years. The most recent effort to unify Sun Valley’s and Ketchum’s fire, ambulance and policing services was nixed by the current Ketchum City Council. And that led to the rural fire district ending a lucrative, decades-long contract with Ketchum and opting to join forces with Sun Valley instead.
Tuesday’s voting could be a referendum on all of that.
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