ST. GEORGE — Two Town Council seats in Springdale are opening up in the new year. During a public forum held Tuesday, candidates answered questions about their top priorities and the qualifications that make them the best fit for the seat.
The Town Council vacancies are for four-year terms and replace council members Suzanne Elger and Lisa Zumpft, whose seats will be vacant in January 2024. Among the Springdale residents who have declared their candidacy are Kyla Topham, Pat Campbell and Noel Benson.
Tuesday’s public forum questions were submitted before the event by the community, and Virgin Mayor Jean Krause served as the moderator.
Krause asked the candidates what they would prioritize if elected.
Topham said the council needs to fight to keep residents and ensure there are quality places to live.
“We need to make sure we have quality housing; we need to house the people that make up the community — the singles, the workforce, the families, the seniors — they all need a place to live,” Topham said. “I don’t want to see Springdale turn into just a shell of a tourist place where it’s all just second homes and nightly rentals. That would be heartbreaking to me.”
Topham also addressed quality-of-life issues, like ensuring residents have good cellular and internet service. She said some businesses and tourists get better internet service than residents. Topham also noted health and safety issues as her priorities.
Campbell said housing would be a top priority for him as well. He said the challenge of housing has to do with a limited amount of buildable property. Springdale is only 4.62 square miles, he said, and two of those miles are within Zion National Park. Three-quarters of a square mile is unbuilt, which means there are only 2 square miles of buildable property in Springdale, he said.
Also on Campbell’s radar is improving the town’s infrastructure, such as cellular service and fiber optic internet for all residents. He added that the citizens of Springdale should come first when making decisions regarding land use, water, waste management, transportation and safety.
Benson discussed issues with the sewage treatment and water plants as his top priorities due to the state of the current sewer system.
“Even with the upgrades that we’re going to be doing in the near future, (the current sewer system) can’t handle the full build-out that we’re anticipating,” he said. “It absolutely cannot handle it.”
Krause asked the candidates what skills made them qualified to hold the positions on the Town Council.
Topham talked about her time serving on the Planning Commission and volunteering at the Springdale Elementary School and for community events. She holds a degree in K-12 Special Education from Northeastern State University, where she graduated summa cum laude.
Before moving to Springdale in 2017 with her husband and two children, Topham was a special education teacher in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She said her husband, Tyler, wanted to be closer to his mother and aging grandmother and raise their family in a close-knit community, which is what prompted their move to Springdale.
Campbell serves as a member of the Planning Commission and Springdale Housing Committee. He is also a bike ambassador for Zion National Park. Prior to moving to Springdale, Campbell was a police officer in Beaverton, Oregon, for 33 years and served in numerous assignments, including uniform patrol, detective investigations, undercover drug enforcement and several federal task forces.
He said his decades of police work with a decorated service record would be an asset as a council member.
“80% of what police do is listening to people, and I listen. I pay attention,” Campbell said. “I believe in doing the right thing, the right way, at the right time, for the right reason. As a police officer, this is how I successfully engaged in ethically challenging situations and made the hard decisions.”
Benson also currently serves on the Planning Commission and moved to Springdale in 2019. According to his bio on the town’s website, he grew up in Pasadena, California. His family has been visiting Springdale since the ’70s. Benson worked with developers as a real estate appraiser in North Carolina for 13 years.
“I learned how developers operate. I not only got to understand valuation but would occasionally work as a consultant for builders and land developers,” Benson said. “This allowed me to learn about their processes and expectations.”
Benson also managed a comedy club when the real estate market slowed in the ’90s.
“I’ve managed people and different types of people with different personalities,” Benson said. “So I think hopefully I can bring a little bit of culture change to this job.”
Benson operates a business in Springdale that is dependent on tourism. He said he understands the idea of increasing the visitor experience but has seen firsthand the effects overdevelopment has had on residents.
To view the candidate bios, click here. To view the candidates’ forum, click here. The general election is Nov. 21.
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