O-SenseThe Nov. 3 municipal races are not drawing a lot of interest statewide. Many communities do not have the mayor on the ballot. One exception is Rexburg in the Upper Snake River Valley.
Rexburg’s big issue is coping with growth.
Last week, Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg announced that its fall enrollment jumped 8.4% to 17,562 total students (an interesting side note: 23.2% are married). That is roughly a doubling of the fewer than 9,000 students enrolled in 2000 when the LDS Church announced that Ricks College would be renamed BYU-Idaho and be boosted from a two-year institution to four years.
BYU-Idaho is now the second largest university in Idaho in enrollment, only trailing Boise State University. It is bigger than either the University of Idaho or Idaho State University by that measure. It also has over 25,000 students taking online courses.
This
phenomenal growth has turned Rexburg into one of the fastest growing cities in Idaho.
Its population has nearly doubled since 2000 from about 17,000 residents to over
30,000. It is now one of the 10 largest cities in Idaho. It also has the lowest median
age of any place in the United States (only 23.3 years).
That kind of explosive growth puts lots of pressure on a community, from zoning to infrastructure. Students help the economy, but the positive impact is focused on businesses like fast food, student housing, and such.
Scott Johnson, Rexburg's director of Economic Development, told Local News 8: “They [students] don't have the same spending habits as a normal family, but they still bring disposable income, they still bring the dollars.”
This year two candidates are running for the open seat of Rexburg Mayor: Chris Mann and Jerry Merrill. Both are current members of the City Council. A write-in candidate withdrew on Oct. 20. Current Mayor Richard Woodland did not file for re-election.
Mann, according to his
official city biography, attended Ricks
College and built his career with BYU-Idaho Food Services. He has been on the City
Council since 2005.
Merrill also attended Ricks. He is the owner of a landscape business and was elected to the City Council in 2011.
Merrill believes that the city needs to forge close relationships with Madison County, Madison School District and BYU-Idaho to handle the growth. His slogan is “Moving Forward Together”. In an interview with the BYU-Idaho newspaper Scroll, he specified, “I feel confident that I can bring people together to come up with solutions for problems and issues.”
Mann is campaigning on managing Rexburg’s growth by working closely with BYU-Idaho. On his Facebook page, he states, “BYU-Idaho needs Rexburg and Rexburg needs BYU-Idaho”. He told the Scroll: “We have to grow together. We need each other.”
Local media is giving considerable attention to the race. The candidates have debated several times, including before the Rexburg Chamber of Commerce, on Local News 8 and one hosted by EastIdahoNews.com. That last debate can be viewed here.
Overall, the tone of the campaign is pretty positive with each selling their individual strengths. Both are noting a few differences in approaches to particular issues, most prominently where growth in Rexburg should be concentrated.
So far neither has announced any prominent endorsements. Through Sept. 30, Mann had raised $8,787.86. Merrill is trailing in the money race with only $1,750.00 raised in the period.
Steve Taggart is an Idaho Falls attorney specializing in bankruptcy (www.MaynesTaggart.com). He has an extensive background in politics and public policy. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
