Councilmen try to hold seats
Shaun Mahoney and Chris Koch want to do more with time on Bellevue's council
By SUSAN BAILEY
Wood River Journal
Bellevue - Chris Koch and Shaun Mahoney want to serve again on Bellevue City Council with an eye to expanding downtown businesses in the city.
“We need to lure more small business to Bellevue,” said Koch, 40, a resident since 1996 who has served four years on the Council after more than a year on the Planning and Zoning Commission. “We want to invite businesses down here. I'm not saying waiving fees so they don't have to pay anything but maybe tweak a few things.”
Mahoney, owner of Mahoney's bar on Main Street, said economic vitality is important and something he works on.
“Bellevue has a nice little downtown,” said Mahoney, 48, a resident since 1992 and a Council member for five years. “I'm part of that.”
Mahoney thinks Bellevue's biggest challenge is fixing the infrastructure, especially on a limited budget. Many streets need repairs, and after the city sewer was improved, he wants the city to upgrade its water service.
“We need to work on water, check our wells, put in new pipe,” he said.
Koch thinks Bellevue's Main Street was ruined when the Idaho Transportation Department widened the highway and needs to be changed with narrower lanes to slow traffic down.
“You might see the cute little store you never noticed before,” Koch said.
Koch and Mahoney favor consolidating the fire department with another fire service in the area with an eye on bringing the entire county into one consolidated fire department.
“I think there should be one huge deal, maybe north and south stations,” said Koch. “No matter which way you go, feelings are going to be hurt. Still, something needs to be done.”
Mahoney agrees.
“What we need to do is consolidate all departments,” said Mahoney. “We need to think about consolidating all our resources. This is very idealistic, I know. If nothing else, it makes sense for Hailey, Bellevue and Wood River Fire & Rescue to work together. We consolidated with the Sheriff's Department and it's working out really nicely for us. We need to do the same with fire. It has to be all three departments, though. It makes no sense to do one or the other.”
Mahoney's top three action items are securing water sources and water distribution infrastructure for future use, starting road repairs, and the continued upgrading of city parks Memorial Park, O'Donnell City Park and the Howard Preserve.
Koch agreed about repairing roads and said he thinks Bellevue's parks are underappreciated. He wants to change that.
“A lot of people don't know Bellevue actually has a walkable path along the whole river for fishermen,” said Koch. “You don't have that in Ketchum.”
He wants to work with the Chamber of Commerce to create a greater awareness of recreation opportunities in Bellevue. Mahoney said his bar and grill gets plenty of fishermen and he knows tourism is important to the city.
“We're the first place they hit,” Mahoney said. “We get a bang. It's a big deal for us, tourism. I want to support it as much as possible. Without tourism, we're dead. As much as people want to say it doesn't matter, it does. Everything trickles down to Bellevue. How Sun Valley and Ketchum thrive and survive trickles down here.”
Koch said younger people moving to Bellevue are enjoying hiking and other outdoor activities.
“It's not just sleepy guys who drive to Ketchum every day and come home,” he said. “People recreate, mountain bike in the canyon, they cross-country ski on the bike path.”
The big issue of the year, paying for Blaine County consolidated emergency dispatch services, has a clear solution to both candidates.
“The fairest way is everybody's taxes, not each city individually,” Koch said. “If you charge each city, the smaller towns like Carey and Bellevue just don't have that kind of money lying around. What I don't understand is, why didn't the county come up with the money before they built the dispatch center? They said all we're going to charge you is $1 off your phone bill and people went, ‘Woo hoo,' great. Then they tell us that isn't enough.”
Mahoney favors the property tax override levy on the ballot for Nov. 4.
“It's the best way to evenly divide the burden in the whole valley,” he said. “Sun Valley and Ketchum have been carrying the burden for a long time. The taxpayers won't want to pay for it but they're paying for it anyway. You can't have two levels of service, one for the poor people down south and another for the rich people up north. It makes sense to me that we have a centralized center because we are one community.”
City Council members earn roughly $34 a month for serving, making it obvious they aren't in for the money.
“You really have to love what you're doing,” said Mahoney. “I get frustrated there aren't more people running for Council and more people involved. We got the best work done on issues where people were involved, like Safe Routes to School.”
Council members recently cut their salaries in half to help balance the budget.
“What we truly need is money,” said Koch. “More business would bring more money. I love Bellevue. I think it's a great little place with a lot of character. It just needs to grow in a smart way.”
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