HOOPER — Those running for City Council in Hooper City are seeking to maintain a small-town feel to the community.

This was the main theme as four candidates gathered at the Hooper Civic Center on Tuesday evening for a forum hosted by the Weber County League of Women Voters.

Incumbent Cindy Cox was unable to attend due to a prior engagement, but a statement from her was read to the crowd before the forum progressed.

“I have served with every mayor since the city was incorporated in some capacity,” the statement read. “I have a strong working knowledge of how city management and governance functions. Based on my cumulative experience, it is vitally important to manage growth and development now more than ever to ensure a strong and sustainable future for Hooper City.”

Candidate Kamie Hubbard was also unable to attend Tuesday and submitted a statement to be read to the audience.

“The biggest challenge that Hooper has is the huge growth that we have experienced,” the statement read. “We need to have good planning to enhance our way of life while maintaining landowner rights. We need to figure out and correct the issues with the sewer system and make sure that we have the infrastructure in place to handle the growth. We also need to attract commercial development in order to bring in the needed tax dollars to help fund our city and maintain the amenities that we currently enjoy.”

Candidate Wes Davis was reportedly expected at Tuesday’s forum and a placard was set out for him, but he never showed up to the Hooper Civic Center. Candidate Chris Paulsen reportedly never responded to inquiries about the debate. He is still listed as an active candidate on the Weber County elections page.

Managing growth

Candidates were asked about their plans for managing Hooper’s growth as the region sees an influx of people and development.

Michael Elmer said the city needs to follow the guidance of the newly adopted general plan carefully.

“The Planning Commission did just adopt a brand new general plan,” he said. “We need to be careful and try to adhere to the plan that was set forth. What we need to not do is start rezoning things and getting things more dense. We need to keep Hooper rural. We need to keep it the way that it is.”

Current Hooper Mayor Dale Fowers, now running for a council seat, said efforts are being made to bring in businesses in certain areas.

“As part of economic development that would encourage Hooper to bring in more businesses, we opened up a mile and a half of business corridor that runs down 5500 South. But oftentimes where we’re located in Hooper, it can be very difficult to invite businesses here.”

Incumbent Ryan Hill said the general plan’s passage didn’t come without sticking points.

“We talked about a general plan for well over a year on the current City Council and we approved that general plan,” he said. “I will say that only three of the five council members approved the current general plan as it was written right now.”

Jennifer Stanger said she isn’t opposed to having a downtown district, but the businesses must be sustainable for a rural community.

“It’s going to have to be businesses that people in Hooper will support,” she said. “I don’t feel like Hooper is going to be a destination city, nor do we want it to be a destination city. It has to be something that we can sustain. Those businesses have to understand that we’re probably going to be their only customers.”

Tax base

The candidates were also asked about the thorny issue of taxes and how to raise money for the city’s continued operation.

Elmer said maintaining a tax base comes down to having good people in government.

“This is where, I believe, having a good city council member will do a lot of good,” he said. “The community can reach out to their council members, and if he’s a good council member, he will listen, take advice and act. That is what I plan to do. Working together, I’m sure we could come up with some great ideas.”

Fowers said the reality is that Hooper, by design, doesn’t have a huge tax base.

“Where we live in Hooper, we really don’t have much of a tax base,” he said. “We don’t have the type of tax base that creates revenue consistently, year after year. The tax base that we do have we kind of inherited. Before Hooper City became a city, we had a park district and that park district, when we were an unincorporated part of Weber County, collected a tax. We also had a cemetery district. … In the last two and a half or three weeks when all of us received our property taxes, you’ll have noticed that there’s just a sliver that comes to Hooper, and that’s because of those two taxes we inherited as an unincorporated part of Weber County.”

Hill said this is where Hooper is unique compared to other cities.

“We don’t have a lot of commercial revenue which generates a tax base,” he said. “We don’t have a property tax other than what the mayor talked about, which was grandfathered in from years ago. That’s the big question in Hooper City — how do we pay for things at an ever-increasing rate of inflation we see day after day after day? We just implemented a 6% utility tax a month or so ago on power and gas — which I actually voted against because I felt that that tax was not equitable with all citizens.”

Stanger said there may not be many alternative avenues other than to raise taxes.

“Unless residents want a property tax increase, I don’t see the other option other than, like was mentioned, the energy tax or bringing in businesses,” she said. “I feel like most people in Hooper want a small business base and unless we’re willing to pay the prices of our property taxes, I just don’t see any other option.”

Candidates were also asked about lot sizes, water and sewer plans, keeping up pay for city employees, diversity, plans for tackling speeding violations and the state of the city’s horse arena.

A replay of Tuesday’s forum can be found on the Weber County League of Women Voters Facebook page.

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