Record on the Cedar Hills City Council

Some of my opponents closest supporters are circulating rumors that I had a poor attendance record when I was a member of the Cedar Hills City Council. I am happy to respond.

1. Attendance Record. I attend 35 of the 39 Regular Meetings while on the City Council, for an attendance record of 90%. The evidence is here: http://cedarhills.org/government/city_council/minutes/index.shtml#2006
These are the actual meetings where city business is conducted. All the other meetings are for information only. While I attended the vast majority of the other meetings, I frequently was conducting City Council business that I believed had a higher priority, and I knew my other City Council members could transmit the information from the informational meetings to me. I frequently remember missing information meetings to meet with residents so I could directly address their concerns.

2. Salary Increase. When I was on the City Council, we increased the monthly salary for City Council members from $200/month to $300/month. I still believe it was the right thing to do, and would make the same decision again. At the time Cedar Hills had the lowest paid City Council members of any major city in Utah County, and we still had about the lowest salaries in Utah County. We had had two City Council members resign mid-term, and were struggling to get anyone to run for office. I did jokingly propose "tripling" the salary, with the increase held back until the City Council fixed the golf course problem, since our golf course was losing $30,000/month at the time.

3. Other Allegations: The other allegations have no proof, so I will not respond to them.

4. Re-election: I did not run for re-election to the Cedar Hills City Council in 2007 because I had two other volunteer jobs at the time (State Charter School Board and Republican Legislative District Chair) and I believed I had accomplished what I wanted on the City Council (Wal-Mart started, Golf Course breaking even and plan to eliminate the debt). I don't enter public service to just be there, I enter to contribute what I can and then move on. However, note that my wife ran for the City Council in 2007, and won. I don't think she would have won if the majority of residents didn't approve of the job I had done on the City Council, but you can draw your own conclusions.

5. Unanimous Support from other City Council Members: During my time on the City Council I served with five other City Council Members. All five are supporting my candidacy for County Commission, and have yard signs up for me. They know my record, and they are supporting me. You are welcome to contact any of them to learn more.

Finally, ask yourself this: Why are Gary Anderson's supporters releasing this information only via email in the last week? Because they know it is wrong, and have no other strategy.