Council - Special Meeting

ring off. Mhm. We had to do these like random acts of kindness within our group and I was like, "Oh, I'll just throw it into one of those selection wheels." Yeah. Hey, Dennis. This is for not next meeting. And then it turned out really weird where all of us ended up with each other. I'll ask. You'll have to ask Kim. I don't know that. The weirdest random selection ever. We're like like I ended up with Courtney and Courtney ended up with me and No, it was really weird. It's for the next meeting. Okay, so [snorts] let's see. Night Monday. Okay. And whoever you guys vote on tonight, we'll swear them in next Monday, too.

Perfect. So, this is for Monday. Yes. Okay. All we're doing is third reading, right? It should be second. Second second, What's the picture? That bird [clears throat] thing. So that you remember the Autobon Society Dave? Yeah. They're proposing to put [clears throat] that up on one of those their little tracker thing. What's it look like?

Looks like this. Or I just wonder if it's up if it's up that high. Are we going to Is anybody going to Anyone notices at night when the star is actually noteworthy, they have the most superb eyeballs. True. [laughter] True. True. Like they all look really splintered to me anyway cuz like you'd see it next to it, but even from the interstate, I think it'd be hard to see. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. the more simple one. Gotcha. Will they give us like an update after a year or two of collecting data? Oh, I hope we can be interesting.

Yes, but it's all online. So, you can you can check it on going. We can you can I think that I think it would be very interesting. What do you do? I told him if we if we couldn't get a consensus to put it up on the on one of those polls that I put it on on my property. I'm just sitting up here for a few minutes. Let's do the Oh, sure. I don't know if they were thrown. Then I'll Are these the only poles we have up on top of the No, that's the ones they like. There's already a bird in the picture.

There is a bird. [laughter] It's baked. Looks like a robin cuz they never left this year. They never left. They never did. Uhuh. Cuz the weather's been nice. Crazy. Alex, I don't think is going to make it. He isn't feeling great. So,

he said if you guys need him, need him, you can call. We can call [snorts] Is the recorder all set to go? I'd like to welcome everyone to the Monday, February 2nd, Pine Bluffs Council workshop. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat]

Let's see. Do you have the the agenda looking? Thanks, Liam. The new business and action items are interview council member applicants, Mark Knots, Amy Curry, and Kevin Markort. I move to approve the agenda. I'll second it. All those in favor?

I opposed. [clears throat] Motion carries. Mark, if you want to come take one of these chairs.

Yes, please. You want to start with the the questions, please? Are we just going to like each asking kind of thing or what's Yeah, how about how about you guys ask them and I observe. I think you should ask. Yes, I do. Let's just give me a list and then [snorts] I'll have to share your share yours. Thank you. You don't have coffee? I do now. Oh, so we got we have extras. I

think they gave you some somewhere amongst your pile maybe. No, that was that was mostly There we go. Thank you. I would say we uh we go around. Yep. Sounds great. So, now we started. Sure. Mark, thank you for joining us today. Thank you.

And thank you for uh putting your name in. um for all of you who put your names in. This is not uh this is not a usual situation for any of us. So, thank you. Thank you for being willing to serve your community. Um I'll start with um asking you why you are interested in this position.

I grew up in a small community much like Pine Bluffs. Um, we lived in the country, but I went to a one room schoolhouse and then when I went to high school, then I went to town to to go through high school. Um, there was a lot of community support. Um, neighbors looked out for neighbors. Um, it was just it was a great environment. Um, two years ago, this April, we moved here after living in Cheyenne for 39 years. And, um, it we just love living here, back to a small community like I grew up in. Um, it just feels like home. And Pine Bluffs has a lot of really good things going for it. Um, your recreation department is, I think, just awesome. You have so many things to do. Um, you have the museum. You have a great school system. Um, and I just, uh, there are pros and cons to living anywhere. You're going to like some things, you're not going to like some other things. Um, I guess the question comes what you're going to do about it and I would like to be part of the solution of keeping the positive things here.

Thank you.

Thank you. Can you describe your understanding of the town council's role in local governance, including how it interacts with residents, staff, and other governmental levels? I think the majority of what you do is uh legislative. Um you make and approve policy. Um you also have oversight of um safety and um things like that. Um zoning requirements, all that all that kind of stuff that is in the weeds, I guess you would say. Um you're you're interaction with the public comes through public meetings like this. Um, and also just face to face interaction with your neighbors. Um, and that's about what I have. Thank you. So Mark, what are the three most pressing issues facing our community and what would be your plan to address them?

Well, from your perspective,

that's an easy question. No. Um, to be honest, I I think any community um has the same issues. budget, um, infrastructure and, um, in some small or large part wanting to attract businesses and families that would be a positive influence on the community. Um you're you're constrained of course by the amount of help that you receive from the state um and the county. Um so budget comes down to just being accountable and making sure that um the money is going where you appropriated it for. um infrastructure. Some communities all over the country, some of them are old and their infrastructure is crumbling and they don't have the money to fix it. And um I don't know about Pine Bluff specifically, how the infrastructure here is. Um, but I imagine there's some that needs replaced or upgraded just like anywhere. Um, then also if you're a problem with infrastructure comes if

you're a growing community having enough money to take care of um putting that infrastructure in. Um, and that's that's goes back to a budget concern again. Um and then also on on um attracting families and businesses. uh living in Cheyenne for the last 40 years, it was like recently there's a a gambling establishment on every corner or um racetrack betting, whatever you want. Um, also the the big data centers that are moving in there, it it's getting so that infra infrastructure is getting put under a huge uh load and uh it'll be interesting to see how that [snorts] all shakes out. But, um, as far as as far as me being able to answer those three issues, um, it all comes down to money. Uh, you you follow the money and you take take care of it and spend it wisely. And, um, When things get tight, you figure out a a way to make it make it work.

Very good. Thank you. Sure. Okay. This question has kind of two parts. So, I'll ask you the first part. All right. And then the other one ties to it. So, just be prepared. Ready? Okay. Uh, tell us about a time you had to make a difficult decision that was unpopular. How did you handle the backlash?

Okay. Um, I don't think most people in their employment rise to the level of making decisions for those down below them. Um, most people have decisions given to them and um, I was never in a position where I had to make a decision that affected those under me. um I was more of a mid-level person that um I was given direction and that's what I did and did my best to improve on it but it didn't affect the other employees around me. Um, my most recent tough decision that received a lot of backlash was, excuse me, when I had to make a decision to move my parents to an assisted living memory care facility. Um I took them out of their home that they had lived in for 31 years that they felt everything was just fine. We can manage this. Um I had already taken care of him for four years and um two full-time jobs was not good for my health. or my marriage. Um,

so I retired early so that I could continue to take care of them. Um, anyway, um, I made the decision to to move this to move them to a memory care facility. And um, the backlash was not fun, but understandable. And um after they had been there for probably six months, um they realized that it was the best decision and um I could go from um being a full-time caretaker of my parents to a son. which was good for both of us.

Um, so that would be my answer. Okay. Uh, here's the followup. Thank you. Are you comfortable making tough executive decisions that may not be popular? I don't have a problem saying no. [laughter]

I gathered from your story. Thank you. Um, sometimes I I may take a little bit longer to do that, but I I do not have a problem saying no because it's either an immediate that is not going to work or after some investigation into what I've been asked Uh, I'll come up with that. Thank you. [clears throat]

How do you plan to remain transparent and accessible to the public once you are in office? Did you catch my bug from last week? [laughter] I think maybe I did. Sorry. It's not fun.

It isn't fun. Um, transparency for a city council. [snorts] Um, I think you make goals. You make goals and you make policy and you publish them. um that gives the public a a start on accountability. Um then as you progress um through these goals and and and things um you have public meetings um you have social media that you can regularly update to let the public know what's going on. Um, and you know, eventually you you either reach your goal or or you re [clears throat] you rethink when it should be done. Um, those kind of things. But I think that's how you how you keep accountable and and open to the public and um and even amongst yourselves. Um, did you get that done on time? And so,

thank you. Thank you.

What in your life guides your principles or what is your north star? What is your what what guides you in your in your principles? my faith in the God of the Bible and the mor moral principles that are written in it. Um those are those are my constant um and if I'm living by those principles, if I'm making decisions that affect other people that I'm living by those principles, um I can't really hurt those people because I'm treating them as I would want to be treated. And um even just in my personal life um coming up with decisions or trying to make a decision um looking at those principles and and my prayer life um I think I usually come out on top.

Thanks.

Thank you. So Mark, what will be the deciding factor regarding decisions you you make on behalf of the town of Pine Bluffs or deciding factors? I think that comes down to [snorts] information that I gather for myself. um collaboration with the other council members. Um interaction with the public uh I'm not a big social media person that can that can have positive or negative effect. But, uh, I think I think keeping it real with the people that you work with on the council with input from the public. Um, and then going back to those guiding principles, um, you come up with an answer that you can live with.

Thank you.

Sure. Okay. Beyond formal executive sessions, council members sometimes receive confidential briefings, emails, or attorney client communications. How would you approach protecting the confidentiality of those materials in your role? [clears throat] In the question, you mentioned confidentiality. So that would automatically come up with I'm not allowed to talk about it. Um but if in the course of a conversation um you were trusted with with what may or may not be confidential information. You can always I think it's always appropriate to say would you care if I shared this with someone or is this a private or you know I think you can always approach things that way and um if in doubt say I'm I'm sorry I just I cannot I can't talk to that particular subject you're asking me about. And that's all you have to say. You don't have to give a reason. You just Sorry.

Thank you. Sure. Is there currently anything that you or someone you are close to is involved in that could possibly create a conflict of interest? No, not to my knowledge.

Thank you. On a scale of 1 to 10, how skilled do you feel you are at conflict resolution and why? I think I'm like a eight. Um, there's a couple of things with conflict resolution that come to come into play. there's two parties or more that want to resolve it in the first place. If that's not there, you're not going very far. But if they do want to resolve it, I think um listening skills are a huge importance. Um, and when you if you're given the opportunity to be um the person that that brings those two parties together, um, you kind of have to go into that with the attitude of I don't have a preconceived answer for what's going to go on here. I need to listen to both sides and then reiterate back to those people um what I hear them saying individually um and then they either acknowledge that that's correct or you straighten out how you think that's going. And um once you get that accomplished, then you can get the the two together to begin to collaborate on a on a solution

for whatever problem it is. Thank you. So Mark, do you stand to benefit from being on the town council? Yes. Okay. Could you describe that? How

I can I plan on benefiting in my personal character growth. Um, my listening skills, my collaborative skills with other members, um, people, the public, um, understanding better, uh, the community that I live in. Um, so yeah, I do I do believe that I'm going to benefit. Okay, very good. Thank you.

Yeah. Uh, what improvements do you believe are needed most in Pine Gloves? You're just reading it off the page. I am. [laughter]

Um, well, excuse me a second. I think Pine Bluffs is a great little place. It's not perfect. I grew up in western Nebraska and as a teenager I drove to Denver and Cheyenne a lot. Of course, that was 50ome years ago. um living in Cheyenne and traveling to Ohio or back to Nebraska to play golf or at on my home course, those kind of things. You know, Pine Bluffs was always just kind of a and you drove through and after 2016 you said, "Wow, that was a lot of hail. [laughter] Um, I was never I was never intrigued about what Pine Bluffs was about. It was another small town like Bridgeport where I went to school or any small town up along the North Flat Valley, Minitair, Baird, Moral, um, Oshkosh, just a small town. People live there. They they live their lives. Um, I never I never was intrigued to pull into Pine Bluffs and and see what was here. Um, now that we've lived here almost two years, um,

I just I love it. I love that in 35 minutes I have multiple options of hardware stores or restaurants or shopping or grocery stores, whatever, doctors, whatever. Um, but I don't have to live in that anymore. That's a plus that you have. Um, yeah, it there's not a lot of small businesses here because uh I owned a small business in Cheyenne and I know the struggle that it is to meet the market need and then have um a a company uh go online and take away 50% of your business um just because of their buying ability. And um you know, our customers still wanted to come in and take things off the shelf and open them and feel them and and get your knowledge about them and then turn to you and say, "Well, I can get this for $15 cheaper." Appreciate it. Um, there are things about Pine Bluffs in in in this age that we live in of being able to work from home. um

the ability to once a week go to Cheyenne or what four columns whatever you want to do. Um and do the shopping that you can't accomplish here. Um the little grocery store that we have, um the bowling alley, the pardon me. The restaurants that we have, um, the community center that you have and the things that you pull together as a small community for activities to do here in this town are just they're just awesome and and I'm very grateful for that. So coming back to your question, I think I think there could be some new focus on marketing of of Pine Bluffs and the things that you want to highlight. And it it depends too on [clears throat] how much you want it to grow or or that kind of stuff too because there are plenty of people that are happy with the status quo. Um then there's the if you're not growing, you're dying. um all of those different things that need taken into account. Um the community benefits here are amazing. Um the other so marketing is one thing. I don't I don't recall

very many billboards coming in other than the archaeology site. Um the distillery um always manufacturing had their marquee right there by by the by the business. Um but even like Baird and Bridgeport, um you know, they have Courthouse Rock and and Chimney Rock signs clear over here next to the border that are d and and we still got, you know, 40 miles off the interstate to get there, but they're they're reaching out and um Baird is where Chimney Rock is. Bar's pretty much a dead town. Um, Bridgeport, which is where I went to high school and stuff, it's 1,400 people, just a little few few hundred more than here. But, um, it's pretty vibrant. They have a they have pretty a pretty vibrant downtown. I mean, you know, shopping, a few clothing stores, shopping, um, restaurants, things like that. Um but but they're marketing themselves and um you know Scotsluff is 35 miles away which has again like Cheyenne multiple choices options for those kind of things yet Bridgeport is hanging on to its own and I think the people that live there understand that we either support what's going on or it's going to go away. One more thing. Um, as I drive around town, um, there are some beautiful homes here.

I think people take a lot of pride in their property. Um and then uh there are there are properties residential and business that really need some help. And either either either those need help um because they can no longer handle the physical effort to keep them up or they just don't care anymore. Um, and I don't know how you handle blight um, in a town on a town council type of uh, situation, but I think that's something that needs addressed. And I don't know if that can be through um, volunteer groups like um church ministries, um you know, things like that that can go around and paint a fence or pick up trash or just invest in your community through things like that. Um but I guess those are the two big things that I see.

Okay. Thank you. You bet. Pineluffs operates on a limited budget. How would you I should back up. This is a two-part question. Um, Pine Bluffs operates on a limited budget. How would you prioritize spending when resources are tight? I didn't get the last part of that. Um, how would you prioritize spending when resources are tight?

There are there are things that you have to spend for um personnel, insurance, safety, infrastructure. There are things that that in a business you would just call overhead. Um those are kind of non-negotiable. You got to you got to meet that payroll. You got to pay that insurance. You you know um sometimes on things like insurance you can shop around and look for a a better deal. Um personnel is pretty hard to shop around and get a

[laughter] I'll hire you for this for less than you make now. Yeah.

Um so there there are those kind of things that are are pretty set in stone. Um then there there are there are needs and wants. um wants kind of gets pushed clear off the table or later on. Um or um you try to push some of those things off for a while and apply for grants. Um try to get help from the county or the state or government. Uh it's just it's What are the things that have to be done? And you spend your money on that as as the best that you can and the rest is it's like your home budget. [laughter] Sometimes you don't [clears throat] get to do all the things that you want to do

for sure and it'll be at a later date. [laughter] If faced with a budget shortfall, how would you prioritize spending on essential services like public safety, infrastructure, and community programs? I think that would be a collaborative effort between the city council members. [laughter] Yeah. Um I don't know it, every scenario has a different answer. Um, but those are tough decisions and and sometimes you have to say no.

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

How would you respond if an influential person pressured you to make a decision you don't believe is right? I know what I would say. I'm trying to think of how I'm going to answer the question. Um, I would have to go back to my guiding principles and and just firmly tell that person that it goes it goes against my principles and I can't vote that way and it's not right for you to expect that you can influence a public official.

Thank you. Okay. Mark, give an example of a mistake you made and how you took responsibility for it. Just one. Well, I I disciplined my child once and I was wrong. I didn't have the whole story and I jumped in ahead. Um, before I had let him share his side of the story, I didn't listen. And it was a harsh punishment and I had to go ask him to forgive me and apologize.

Good. Thank you. That was the last question. Good. [laughter] You had great That was a rough honest answer. That was a hard one. There a couple in there, but thank you for your honesty. Thanks, Mark. Appreciate you coming in and taking fielding those questions. Oh, thank you. Appreciate it. [clears throat] Thanks, Mark.

Thank you. You can set either of those chairs up there. Hello. Hi, Amy. Thank you for coming in for this interview. Appreciate it. Okay.

We're we're going to go in order of Ally and then myself and Dave. Just pop and ask your questions. We'll make our way through the questions. Um thank you for being here and being willing to uh serve your community. Absolutely.

Um can you tell us why you are interested in this position? Um, I guess a lot of different reasons. I've lived in Pine Bluffs almost my whole life. I fourth generation in this town. So very committed to this town. I want to see the community continue to grow for my own children to be here as well as the business that we've built here and now the employees that depend upon us. So, I think serving on the council and helping the community and continuing to grow and face the challenges that I think are coming this way seems like something that I should do instead of just sitting back and talking with others about how we could do it. Like, put my money where my mouth is, I guess.

Thank you. Thank you. Can you describe your understanding of the town council's role in local governance, including how it interacts with residents, staff, and other governmental levels?

Sure. So my understanding is that we are here to represent the people of Pine Bluffs that were elected and our duties go from employment to coming up with a budget and managing the taxes and the funds that are gained as well as um continuing to help the town grow the infrastructure. all of the things that come together and putting the community first to make all of those things happen. Thank you.

Okay, Amy, what are the three most pressing issues facing our community and what is your plan to address them? Told Pat you guys were going to ask this one. There's two that are super important in my brain and I think one of them is something that our whole state is facing and that's like our kids don't stay. Our kids graduate and they leave. You know, it's and that's happening across the entire state. Nobody we're we're not a young state anymore. We're more of a bedroom and retirement community. So, I think we need to find a way to keep our youth here so that they continue to put in and stay and we continue to be relevant moving forward. And then um along with that, the growth and being able to support the growth to keep them here. We've got to have the businesses and the it's it's not the way that it used to be where you open a little shop and you can hire cuz people order from Amazon and we don't need [snorts] the storefronts and the stuff that we used to need. And so it's a very different world that we're all looking at and moving into and we have to figure out a way to keep revenue and children coming back in and maintaining and being in this area. So those are the two that are important to me. I think the third thing that's going to be really important is I think we're getting ready to face a lot of financial challenges and uncertainty in this area and not just this area across the board, but I think it's going to really affect us smaller areas that are dependent on the larger populations and how they vote for the taxes and for like six penny and for how stuff is split and divided. [snorts] And I think that's going to become very challenging in areas like this. So I think we're facing some probably budget shortfalls and some creative budgeting coming this way.

Thank you. Absolutely.

Okay. Two-part question. Uh tell us about a time you had to make a decision that was unpopular. How did you handle the backlash? When I read this question, the first one that came to mind is when I was the assistant director of the paramedic program at LC. Um, we had a class of about 18 kids. They were all very close. They had all gone through fire science together and gone and um, integrity is a huge part of the program and we made it. You're dealing with people on their worst day. Like it's very important to have some integrity. We caught three of the more popular kids cheating. Um they had a major final project that was due. The one didn't even bother to change the name on the cover page of the one that he was using. Um we spoke with the dean, the handbook, everything outlined that basically they were going to be thrown out of the program. So we followed through with that and it brought some horrible backlash not only from their classmates who wanted them to be forgiven, some of them who did not want them to be forgiven because they'd been um the the fire AMR world in Cheyenne was very small and tightknit at that time. And they had uncles and aunts and relatives that were working who had no problem calling us and telling us how horrible we were that they had put in 10 months of their time. I lost my best friend over it. It was very difficult decision to make and it affected us personally and professionally. I had to work with those same people and their relatives the next few. But ultimately we kept the integrity of the program together. Those same three people came back. They completed the program the next year and they're all wildly successful to this day and I wouldn't hesitate to trust any of them with something they learned a hard lesson that we paid a hard price for.

Good. Uh second question part of this. Are you comfortable making those tough executive decisions that may not be popular? Absolutely. Do you want me to expand on that or do I Yes, you want to. I think with healthcare and running a business and five kids, I make lots of uncomfortable decisions that are not liked. And I think part of being a parent especially is standing behind those decisions even when the ones you love the most are so angry at you. Thank you. How do you Excuse me. How do you plan to remain transparent and accessible to the public once you are in office?

I don't see that changing much from my everyday life now. I being medical in the small town like for years and years my phone has ring, hey, I have a sore throat or what does this rash look like? Like anybody who's worked EMS here knows they've gotten the picture of the cut on their finger and what do you think I should do about this? And now with the restaurant, my my cell phone goes like, can I have reservations for can I order? Can I have no problem being available? I think the key will be making sure that information is given at the appropriate times and that they're directed to the appropriate people to answer those questions. What in your life guides your principles or what is your north star?

My faith, um, who I am as a person, my family, how I see that, um, my God. I've I've rotated through several different churches here. Um, I grew up here. So, I've been through um finding my home, not only, you know, in the church, but with my family, with my friends, with my my group that I know I can rely on and that will call me out if I need to be. But ultimately, it's my faith. Thank you.

So, Amy, what will be the deciding factor regarding decisions that you make on behalf of the town of Pine Bluffs? I think ultimately you have to weigh how it's going to affect the people that we're representing. We have to put aside our own wants because sometimes what I want might not be exactly what is going to be best for the large population of the town and so we need to look at what is in the best interest of the majority of the town and how it will affect them. Thank you. Absolutely.

Okay. Uh, beyond formal executive sessions, council members sometimes receive confidential briefings, emails, or attorney client communications. How would you approach protecting the confidentiality of those materials in your role?

I I don't think that that will be an issue. Again, going back to my entire working healthcare, I've I've known for years and years confidential information about people and student I I knew my best friend's mom had cancer before my best friend did. I've been in a situation where I have to hold that confidence and that privacy and I sit on numerous boards where we have executive sessions and I respect the integrity of information that should not be released and would not have an issue keeping that stuff. Is there currently anything that you or someone you are closely involved with or close to is involved in that could possibly create conflict of interest?

I'm sure there's a town this size like I don't know how anybody could honestly say like no like there's nothing. Um, Pat is the director of EMS, so I guess if there became a personal issue, I would need to look at recusing myself from voting or discussing it. I can't see there being an issue with that, but I obviously I'm married to him, so he would have my alliance with something like that. Um, our house also, as you guys know, that we sold is still unsettled until the state land is gained. I can't see that being a conflict, but it is definitely something that is going to be before you guys that will take place over that and look into, but I don't see anything being a major issue, but there are definitely things.

Thank you.

Okay, Amy, on a scale of 1 to 10, how skilled do you feel you are at conflict resolution and why? I say 15. I have five kids. [laughter] Conflict resolution is literally what I do. Negotiating. And so, but seriously, I I have done we I was part of the team that started the surgical unit over in Kimble and that was nothing but conflict of who was going to move and how are we going to do it and hurt feelings over who got chosen to be back there and who couldn't be. And there was a lot of conflict with that. um five kids like they argue all the time about who gets what or how we're going to do it. And as they find spouses, that five has grown to closer to nine now, I think, that are at my house regularly. I have 34 employees that all obviously do not get [snorts] along on a regular basis. So, I feel like I'm very skilled at listening to all sides and weighing it in and trying to find the middle ground that works to keep things going and keep things moving forward. Thank you.

Okay, Amy, do you stand to benefit from being on the town council? [clears throat] I think ultimately that everybody would want to say no, we don't benefit, but I think we all benefit if we have a strong council and that makes a strong town and keeps our town moving forward. So, I hope that being on the council means that we're all going to benefit with the town continuing to grow and move in the direction we want it to. Personally, no. Thank you. Okay. Uh, what improvements do you believe are needed most in Pine Bluffs?

Peting back to where I've already said, I think we're going to have to continue to grow. Um, we've already seen it. The trailer park has monitors out there. We've got the North Main going. I would like to see us shore up everything that's currently going and get everything there before anything new is taken on. I I saw firsthand we've got some property line issues that are um my my house experienced it, but through this like I've learned that like the majority of the town actually has lots of things that we've got some issues with with that that maybe is an easy fix, maybe isn't maybe isn't something we have to look at until it's on an individual basis or curbs and gutters that have grown proper yet. I think there's definitely some stuff that's probably been not looked at or forgotten or put to the side while we've dealt with some of the bigger stuff or the fun stuff. So, I would like to see us maybe shore up all the stuff that's currently ongoing. This is a two-part question. Um, Pimluffs operates on a limited budget. How would you prioritize spending when resources are tight?

Such a hard one. I think they're going to get tighter. I think we have to put the needs of the town and what can be just like we do in our house. I mean, everybody's had a shortened budget or some difficulty. I think we've got to put the needs of what is a priority. What can be put off by tomorrow? What can wait? Will we seek a grant or maybe more funding or outside funding? What is the priority now? And what can't wait versus what could maybe wait or what could we band-aid to make slide through until maybe an easier time or an additional funding revenue source could be found. If faced with a budget shortfall, how would you prioritize spending on essential services like public safety, infrastructure, and community programs?

That's tough. That's where I feel that we're headed. I We've got, you know, fire and ambulance and law enforcement that, you know, everybody wants to pick up n pick up the phone and call 911 and somebody is at your house and can take care of you. Those are also some of the most expensive ones to operate and to keep going with equipment and staffing and stuff. The community pro like everybody wants their kids to be able to play wreck ball and to be able to do this and to do you want somebody show up at your house or do you want your kid playing basketball? I mean sadly those could be some of the things that we're facing and they're not going to be fun and they won't make anybody popular. But we really might have to weigh like what is life and death and what is not needed.

Thank you. How would you respond if an influential person pressured you to make make a decision you don't believe is right?

I would hope that I wouldn't be in that situation. However, if I am, um, I'm going to do what's right for me and for those who elected me because ultimately that's what I'm here for. Um, we live in a small town where every decision that's made can benefit this person or hurt this person if we're talking about funding or advancing something or so. I think that's where your north star, your fa like you have to be, you have to have your own integrity to know that you're going to do the right thing, be able to do regardless of who's putting the pressure on or what's threatened.

Thank you. Okay, Amy, only 10 more to go. [laughter] This is the last question. Okay.

Give an example of a mistake that you made and how you took responsibility for it. I made lots of mistakes. um back at the restaurant. Um I that's one that is every day, you know, like people won't get the right order out. They don't get the right food out. They don't get And it's one of the things that I preach to our servers that I don't care if the kitchen didn't read your ticket or you didn't put it in. Like it's important that you own it. You don't blame the kitchen. Oh, they're having a bad day or oh, they're you own that. Hey, like I'm your server. I'm responsible. I'm the manager. I'm the one coming to your table. I'm going to do whatever I can to make it right. I'm going to um give you the free dessert or comp your meal or buy like I think it's important that we all take responsibility for ourselves sometimes even when it's not on us if it's our place or our stuff. As a mom, I make mistakes all the time. As a spouse, I continually mess up. I think it's important to look at what caused that or how what led me to make that decision or not having all the facts around me to ultimately see where I can improve upon that. Have an honest conversation with whether it was my kid or my husband or an employee or wherever that's at. Um, and see how we can avoid doing it and moving it forward. That's kind of around the one that popped into my head. I It was hospital based and I couldn't give you and so my brain did not continue. So I apologize.

That's good. Thank you. Yes. Thanks Amy. Appreciate you coming and [clears throat] fielding all these questions. That's a tough Oh, you bet. Thank you for giving me the opportunity.

Okay,

everyone else picked the other chair. [laughter] Thank you for being here and thank you for being willing to serve your community. Um, my first our first question is why are you interested in this position? Um, I guess I'm interested uh because my family actually has really deep roots here in Pine Bluffs. Um, my greatgrandparents actually homesteaded some of the areas around here. So, we've had like four and five generations that have lived here. Um, I'm I would be a fourth generation. I grew up here, went to school here. Pine Bluffs uh really gave me a lot of life lessons as I was growing. Um and I guess I just feel like I would like to to give back to the to the town. Um I I do a little bit now as far as acting as a the uh airport manager. Um and that does give me a lot of satisfaction. I guess I would just like to to delve in a little deeper and and uh have the town retain its hometown hometown values. Uh still keep the small town feeling to it yet help it prosper and grow.

Thanks. Can you describe your understanding of the town council's role in local governance, including how it interacts with the residents, staff, and other governmental levels?

Oh, sure. Um, and I am going to use some notes on some of this stuff. As I get older, it's it's harder for me to talk off the cuff sometimes, so I need to to go back and look at things. But the the town council, it's actually a legislative body. Um, it will adopt ordinances, uh, pass budgets, will manage the the land that that is in the city, oversee it, uh, make policies, and allocate the resources for all the different entities in the town, the police, the, uh, the cities or the the, uh, streets, um, all all the the the garbage, all those different things. and it it uh legislates how to do that. Um it also makes sure that we're following all the federal and state regulations that go with it. Um I do know the council has changed in the years. It used to be that the the mayor was more of the took a bigger part in it. Pine Bloss changed that quite a few years ago and hired a town manager and so they the town manager oversees what the council uh prescribes to go to the to the town manager. So So you do not really have any any direct contact with the employees other than uh uh the town the town manager would be the one who would take care of all of those types of of things. um how I would be accessible um just through the email uh phone calls people can get my phone number I have my information on the website the town website uh social media and I would would really keep my keep it open just

with good old conversations I like talking to people you know uh uh continued to do all the things that I do and and uh I do get people that talk to me a lot about the town, the things they like, they don't like and and it would give me an opportunity to, you know, bring it back to the to the town. So, Kevin, what are the three most pressing issues facing our community and what is your plan to address them?

Uh the big one, and I'm sure everybody else has said it too, is is funding. Um it's kind of a hard to know what's going to happen um with the legislature, how they're talking about things with taxes, um property taxes, uh sales tax, all these things. And I think what we have to do one is think outside the box. Um, I I have to to to uh to do that in my my uh when I'm working with the the airport and those types of things. Um, I I try to think outside the box how we can make things work uh how we can fund things. Um, and I believe that to help with that is we need to, you know, keep lobbying the legislature, hold them accountable for what they're doing. Um, try to come up with different ways of funding. Uh, the the property tax is a is a huge thing right now. Um, and we, you know, need to educate people, learn how it works. A lot of people don't understand how all that stuff works. Um, and that's really it. Um, as far as that, thank you.

Okay. Um, two-part question here. Oh, did you uh I'm sorry, I just answered the first. First of all, you're asking for three things, right? Yeah. Whatever you can come up with. Okay. Okay. I was just talking about the funding was the first thing. I'm sorry. Defense funding. [laughter] So,

the second thing would be the the infrastructure, you know, the town infrastructure is just important. Uh you got the water, sewer, street, sanitation, electricity. Um staying on top of all those things. The maintenance. Uh if if you can stay on top of your preventive maintenance, it so much cheaper than having to go through let things go and having to replace. I do know some of our infrastructure is aging. The city's done a great job keeping that stuff up, though. Um and I would just want to continue doing what we're doing to uh maintain maintain it. Um it uh I I know there's going to be as the city grows there's going to be more and more challenges to that um adding new infrastructure and that'll be a a very important part also. Um the last thing would be the the the north subdivision. Um just the continuing the growth of it. um encouraging businesses and residents to come in uh come up with different ways to to uh to invite them in uh the businesses. There's already quite a bit going on out there. Helps the city in a whole with sales tax, property taxes, all those types of things. Okay,

very good. Okay. Again, two-part. Uh tell us about a time you had to make a difficult decision that was unpopular. How did you handle the backlash?

Um, so way back in the day, I was an assistant terminal manager for a trucking company. Um, we had probably six or seven employees at that particular truck terminal. Um, and it came down to the decision that we had to close it. Uh, and it was a really hard decision to do. We had people who, you know, worked there. Um, and it came down to it came down to that uh the terminal wasn't going to work. Uh, wouldn't be profitable and the company wanted to close it. So, we decided to close it. The backlash was you know, you have a lot of very unhappy truckers that don't want it. So, what we did is we treated them with empathy, you know, an understanding of what it is, but then shared the facts with them as why we had to do it. And most people understood, you know, what was going on. So, Okay. And then second part, are you comfortable making tough executive decisions that may not be popular?

Yeah. Yep. I've had to do make hard decisions in my entire life. So, okay. Thank you. [clears throat] How do you plan to remain transparent and accessible to the public once you are in office?

I just plan to continue doing what I do now. You know, I visit with people, see them at the post office. um plan on participating in in community functions, uh you know, trail days, uh any of the things that go on. Um make sure my number is out there. I I believe everybody's their emails at least are on the the website for the city. Uh would want to make sure all that's out there and just make myself available. [snorts]

What in your life guides your principles or what is your north star? That's an easy one. That's God. Uh I tried to to look at all the decisions I make. Um go take uh take them run them run them through all the different processes of my brain. And ultimately, I want to make sure that, you know, God is what leads me and and I try to do things in a in a in a godly way. Not godly way, but in a uh a Christian way and do what's right. Thank you.

All right, Kevin. What will be the deciding factor regarding the decisions you make on behalf of the town of Pine Bluffs? Um, ultimately it's it uh it's what is best for the town. Um, it may it may be something that is not that great for me. I mean, I like my trash trash to have to go up, but if it's the best thing for the town to make it uh make it work, that's what's got to happen. You know, it's not necessarily about what I want, but it's what is about the the the best for the town. Thank you.

Okay. Uh beyond formal executive sessions, council members sometimes receive confidential briefings, emails, or attorney client communications. How would you approach protecting the confidentiality of those materials in your role?

Um confidentiality is is very very important when you need it. Um on any of the boards or the things I've done, I've always taken it very seriously and take it to heart and and understand that um when you're given this information, it's not to it's not to go out. Um I also have completed the public officer training course and they had a lot of uh information on that. Um and that's if it's confidential, it's confidential. Is there currently anything that you or someone you are close to involved in that you could possibly that could possibly create a conflict of interest?

Um, being from a small town, I think, uh, it's hard to avoid conflicts of interest sometimes, you know, if you're in business or or doing anything. The only thing I don't believe it's a conflict, but if you guys decided to select me, it would be something I'd have to look at would be the the airport manager. I don't uh we would have to discuss that. And if the council felt that that was a conflict, I would give that up and and try to, you know, [snorts] find somebody that could do it. Um, I would definitely have those discussions with you, but um, right now I I don't feel like I have any other things that are a conflict.

So, [clears throat] Kevin, on a scale of 1 to 10, how skilled do you feel you are at conflict resolution and why?

Uh, I I guess I would give myself about an 8.5. Um, I'm the type of a person, and my my wife hates it, but I just throw out ideas. I try to to come up with a way to make something work, uh, rather than not to make it work. A lot of a lot of times people always like to throw up roadblocks, and I try to work around those roadblocks and come up with a different solution. Um, sometimes they're good ideas, sometimes they're not not such good ideas. Uh but uh in the continuing talk of everything, you know, we kind of just weed all that stuff out. But that's something I've done my entire life uh as being a sales manager, working with people, um always having to do all kinds of conflict resolutions on those types of thing and just try to to uh you just work it out.

Thanks. Mhm. So Kevin, do you stand to benefit from being on the town council? So benefit is kind of a loaded question. [laughter] Yes, it is. There's two ways you could take it. Um if if I'm going to benefit uh if I get on the council, am I going to benefit from that some way? Um no, I don't think so. Uh but yes, I will benefit from it because I want to keep our town uh keep the the small town values uh keep good growth going in and uh you know work with the the community. So yeah, I would benefit from it. Okay, thank you.

Okay. Uh what improvements do you believe are needed most in Pine Bluffs? you know, the really uh the only thing that I could think of that would be nice to work on would be the the downtown. Um, you know, the the and you you hear from from people all over that the downtowns are dying everywhere. Yeah. Some places they are, some they're not. My wife and I have done a lot of traveling, especially through Wyoming, and it's amazing some of the downtowns. The downtown is kind of the heart and soul of of the community. Um, and it would just be nice uh to be able to reinvigorate it a little bit, bring [clears throat] entice more businesses to come to town and get more people coming into the downtown areas. You know, there's some areas uh the apartments and things that need to it's it's hard to see towns when they turn them into apartments in a downtown um when we, you know, maybe could turn it back into a viable downtown. And I realize that's hard because you have Parsons over there. It's where everybody stops. But times [snorts] are kind of changing and and people seem to be getting a little more back to to old time values. So,

okay, Kevin, I have a two-part question. Um, Pine Bluffs operates on a limited budget. How would you prioritize spending when resources are tight?

Um, first and foremost is you've got safety. um you know, you have your your police. Uh that's probably probably the number one thing. Um and from there, you just kind of work your way out. Uh safety, then you have your your infrastructure, your water, your sewer, um electricity, those things are very essential. Um in the in the hard world, if you don't have the money, sometimes you got to shut down the things that aren't necessary. the, you know, swimming pool, um, those types of things. Okay.

Your infrastructure and safety are foremost. If faced with a budget shortfall, how would you prioritize spending on essential services like public safety, infrastructure, and community programs? Would you read that to me? Yeah, I think you already answered it, but we'll ask it again. Um, if faced with a budget shortfall, how would you prioritize spending on essential services like public safety, infrastructure, and community programs? Yeah, exactly in that order. That's how we would do it. Yep. Thank you. [snorts] How would you respond if an influential person [clears throat] pressured you to make a decision you don't believe is right?

I wouldn't make it because that's not the right thing to do. Thanks. Hey, Kevin. Last question. Yay. Give an example of a mistake that you made and how you took responsibility for it. A mistake that I made. I don't make mistakes and [laughter] I suspected. If you did,

um, [clears throat] uh, if you make a mistake, you just admit that you did it. I I right off hand I I'm I know I make a ton of mistakes, but everybody does. Um but that is one thing I try to do. If if I mess up something, that's one something my my dad always instilled in me. If you make a mistake, you you own up to it because in the long run, it's going to going to hit you a lot harder than if you just admit that you made the mistake. Then you can at least work through it. So good. Thank you. Well, Kevin, thanks for coming in and feeling those questions. You guys iced me. I was out there so long. [laughter] Yeah, I appreciate your time. You bet.

Expand the council with two more seats. So we I [laughter] I agree. This is this is brutal. Yeah, it was a really tough decision. Yeah. Which is a great problem to have. Yep. All I can say is I'm glad that we didn't have to do this. [laughter] Those questions are pretty challenging. Yeah. Um what's the mechanism? Can we like you? It has to be a roll call vote. Okay. So, if you want to just start say who you would vote for and then I don't think we shouldn't end up with a tie because why not? Oh, I guess we could.

We could. What do we do in the event it's a tie? I don't know. I guess you would discuss and one of you would have to change your vote. Kim might have a thought on this in the event of a tie. Well, at this time, you can all uh break away from the public eye to deliberate. Um and then when you come back, uh you should all be coming back with your roll call vote. And um during that deliberation process, you should probably work that uh tie piece out. Make sure you don't have like to do that.

Okay. Y I thought Alex wanted this to be Well, it is public. I mean, your vote is public. Your vote is public. The the deliberation does not necessarily need to be public, I don't believe. But we can reach out to Alex real quick if you want us to. I my personal feeling is the interviews were public. The decision is public.

Yes. I would know how how I would feel if if I were part of this process. Out of respect for our applicants, I would like to deliberate about this for a few minutes, not in public. I would also like to do that. And I need a minute or two. All right. To be excused. If you want to take a few minutes and we'll take a break and Yeah. Wait. So we're go into executive session. Second. All in favor? Hi. [laughter]

Okay, it requires a roll call vote, so we will proceed. And being the mayor, I'll cast my first vote for Amy Curry. I will also cast my vote for Amy Curry. I will cast my vote for Amy Curry as well. Okay, Amy Curry. All right, it is unanimous. Um, we can do the swearing in at next Monday's meeting on February 9th at 6:00. There's no workshop with that one, right? No. Are you good with that, Amy? Thank you. Yes. Okay. Congratulations.

Congratulations. That's it. All of our business, wasn't it? It is all of business to business. Um, make sure while he's looking, I just want to say thank you to all the candidates. Um, it was a difficult decision. All of them were phenomenal. Yeah. Um, and the town would have been lucky to have any one of them. I watched it for all three of them. So, thank you both to all everyone who put in their applications and then also those who interviewed. Thank you. You didn't make it easy on us. So, um the only other thing I have on

this specific topic related is that um Mayor Harrison's funeral is tomorrow at 2:30 at the Methodist church. for anyone who's tuning in and may be interested to know that. So, thinking of his family and I guess we covered that the under the announcements and meetings that the regular council meeting is Monday, February 9th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Do I hear a motion to adjurnn? Second. All those in favor? I motion carries. Perfect.