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| Scott Phillips |
Sean: What inspired you to get involved with the City Council?My general impression is that Scott Phillips is a practical, down-to-earth kind of guy. He values work, likes to know how things work, and likes to fix things that aren't working. He knows how the city works in a very practical sense. The theoretical issues of government, liberty, and the nature of authority with its natural proscriptions don't seem to be concerns he worries about much. In this way, I see him as being very similar to Taresa Hiatt, though he is more experienced, and his focus is more on public works, and her focus is more on the business climate.
Scott: Hmm. Probably at first, wanting to improve on our roads, I guess, has been one of my biggest - the roads,the infrastructure, seeing where the money has been spent, I guess. And I've learned a lot in the 12 years that I've been there, you know. But, we're gaining on the roads, we have bought equipment in-house, so now we do it in-house rather than hire it out, so now we're getting close to 3 times the amount done. Now, I'm not saying that it's the perfect scenario because the problem we have is that in the older parts of town, the infrastructure is pretty much shot, all we're really doing is making the roads drivable so that the residents aren't spending most of their time at the tire shop getting flat tires fixed, or bent rims, or alignments, you know, on a continuous basis. Depending on the winter, I mean, if it's a bad winter we end up having bigger issues. We're gaining but we still have a lot to go. But, you know, because we run out of money, the B&C road funds, umm, we go through 'em so fast. Without going to the residents and asking for, a road fee, if you will, to help pay for roads, but I'd rather, if it come to that, I'd rather the people vote for that on a ballot than me trying to force a tax on another person. Because they already have a storm drain tax, fee that I'm not really - I think that they've done that for 20 years and I don't really see that we've made a lot of headway. In '18 it'll be 20 years, so it's 19 years. And it's 400-and-something thousand dollars a year and so, in 20 years, that's a lot of money, and I don't feel like we've spent it where it should have went, so...
Sean: How would you describe the job of a City Councilor?
Scott: I feel like I'm a hands-on guy. Some of them have other jobs. I'm here local, so I'm able to dedicate a lot more time and get pretty involved with, like I said, the road crew, water crew, you know, the inner working of our public works, I guess, per say, sewer plant, electrical somewhat. I like having a good rapport with the staff. Like I said, anybody does their job, I don't have a problem with, but if they're lazy, I have a problem. You know and I do think that they should be, maybe given a chance, but at some point if their not going get better they need to be moved on and replaced.
Sean: And, working with them closely, you probably get a pretty good idea how it's going.
Scott: The problem is if you don't take care of the less productive employees then it can snowball on you and then the rest of them say "well he's gettin' the same pay I am. I don't have any incentive to - he's getting the same pay I am, why should I bust my butt?"
Sean Do you have a lot of roadblocks to getting rid of the less productive people?
Scott: Mmm. It's not that easy. They have Utah Public Employees Association. UPEA they call it. And it's, there's a process. The mayor can't go out and fire 'em. The City Council couldn't go out and fir 'em. It has to be done through our city manager.
Sean: Now, is that a state mandated thing, or is that a county mandated thing? Do you know where that comes from?
Scott: It depends on the style of government that you have; If you have a strong mayor or a weak mayor. That's the deal. So, we really have a weak mayor. Probably 16 years ago they voted to make him a weak mayor. So, they don't really have the power to hire and fire.
Sean: Oh, OK. Is that the city that decided that then?
Scott: It was the City Council. There was a mayor in place who didn't like the next mayor coming in and so they...
Sean: So, on his way out he said "well, maybe we should make this position weak"
Scott: And it stuck, and I guess I have an issue with that. If the residents want a weak mayor they should vote on it. If they want a strong mayor they should vote on it. That's what I think.
Sean: What responsibility do you see individual citizens as having in promoting their own welfare and the welfare of society and what kind of limitations do you see to that responsibility.
Scott: What do you mean? Like, give me an example of what you mean. I think people should take care of their yard. I really do. I think that you shouldn't have to live next door to a dump, or somebody that doesn't have the ambition... Now, that being said, if they're disabled, I think, you know, go out and do goodwill or go help them or get a group or a non-profit organization to go help the people, I think.
Sean: If you're elected, how might you be able to act like a check against abuses perpetrated by other government officers?
Scott: As in other councilmen or ...
Sean: Other councilmen, the mayor, judges...
Scott: Like I said, I pretty much got it figured out after 12 years. So it don't take you long to... I don't think we've had any in the past that I know, that any council members that I've worked with. Because, I've got to know them all. I don't think there's any of some of the stuff that goes on in Washington by any means. I don't think we've ever had conflict of interest or found out that somebody's you know on a board, and that there's, you know, a conflict and there might be sha- I've never seen any of that stuff. And I've been with, let's see, this is my, second mayor. Second mayor, I guess. And, we have a turnover of council members every two years. It's on a two year rotation. Yeah, it's a four year term, but three come up and then two councilmen and a mayor come up. This year is two council members and a mayor.
Question 1: 2 points (Expresses issues that he wants addressed and does not seem to be playing politics for his ego. ie. the position doesn't seem to be a trophy to put on his shelf, or a step on a career ladder.)
Question 2: 1.5 points (Covers some practical aspects of the job, especially he gives a good idea how he executes the position. He identifies concrete responsibilities, powers, and limitations, based on his practical experience. It leaves a little to be desired in the philosophy of what a city councilman should be.)
Question 3: 1/2 point (Covers inter-citizen responsibility, and personal responsibility, which is a novel direction. Doesn't cover the relationship between the citizen and government at all.)
Question 4: 1/2 point (Identifies that authority can be abused due to a conflict of interests. Does not show recognition of the types of abuses that can stem from good intentions, or, perhaps, self-interest. Seems to lack recognition of the potential for abuse that exists outside of today's popular ethics and doesn't identify ways in which he would be positioned to prevent or combat such issues.)
So, again, we have 4.5 points. I was tempted to give 3/4 points instead of 1/2 for question three, but I wasn't certain it made sense to do that, and decided there wasn't any practical cause to split hairs on that point any further. I somewhat suspect that the oral presentation of that question is not the best, which may account for his response, which really is quite novel. For future interviews, I should probably try to restructure that inquiry.
Positives: He is experienced, knowledgeable, practical, and down to earth. He has actual work that he wants to accomplish, and he knows how to get that work done. I really like how involved he is with public works. That involvement, I think, makes him a valuable person to have in the City Council. He seems to genuinely care about making Payson a safe and comfortable place to live.
Negatives: With all of his focus on the practical, I think he misses some of the potential that exists for problems. Sometimes the practical thing to accomplish a good goal, is not a thing which one has any right to do, and I don't gather that he really grasps this particular root of much government abuse, which is likely to get worse as the city grows.
As with Taresa, I'm inclined to give my support to Scott Phillips. He seems a useful person to have on the council. As I also noted with Taresa, it would be nice, in the future, to find a candidate who is not satisfied with the usual ways well intentioned cities overstep their bounds, but that candidate is not to be found in this election. A hard working individual, who is not motivated by self aggrandizement, can do a lot of good.
Apart from my standard questions, I also picked Scott's brain about planned developments, gang activity, and a little more about his background. I found his responses very informative and enlightening. See the full transcript for details.
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