Recap: Meet the Candidates Forum

Nearly 100 people gathered last week to learn more about those running for Town Council at the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce’s “Meet the Candidates” forum. The event, which was hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and SRP, focused on bringing to light the views, opinions, and thoughts each candidate has on topics that directly affect the local business community. The candidates, which include Cecil Yates, Mike Archambault, Dennis Brown, Art Tolis, and Tim Rawlings, gave honest and thoughtful answers about how, if elected, they would strive to improve Fountain Hills for local business. 

The forum got started off by highlighting the Town’s economic development, specifically what strategies each candidate would take to educate the town’s residents about Fountain Hill’s finances, as well as how they would handle the budget. First, Yates explained how since Fountain Hills operates under a consumption tax, and encouraged a sustainable revenue source. “If we buy enough in town, we can generate enough money to balance the budget”, he said, essentially encouraging people to shop local. 

Archambault also took this approach. “Sustainability is what we have to look at”, he stated, and also went on to say that Fountain Hills needs to look at where they can do better at saving, where they can economize, and where they can do joint ventures with other municipalities to work on balancing the budget more efficiently. 

“Budget is always one of the toughest subjects”, Brown opened with saying. He believes Fountain Hills is still recovering from an 8 year depression, and that new revenue sources are definitely needed. He ended his response saying, “It’s always difficult to say to the people…we are a full sized town, and everyone needs to come to the table and help us figure out what type of town we want to be”.

Tolis also touched on sales tax, and as 40% of the Town’s revenue, it needs to be sustained. He feels that if the town is educated about how sales tax is generated and how it is used to fund Fountain Hills, people would be more inclined to shop locally. “Try not to go over the hill when you need to shop, try to shop here in Fountain Hills”, he explained, as he pushed for a strong support for local businesses.

Rawlings started off by stating that he is a huge proponent of free market economics and limited government involvement. He stated, “We don’t want more fees, we don’t want more taxation”, and pushed for the government to lean out, privatize more services, and to grow the population of Fountain Hills.

Continuing with economics, the next question strived to examine how each candidate would support economic development in town. Archambault was first to answer, and said that this question comes down to people becoming positive ambassadors for Fountain Hills. He believes by doing this, affordable jobs that pay good wages are going to be coming to the area, so long as those who live there promote the Town as a great place to do business, raise a family, and simply live.

Agreeing with Archambault, Brown said that since Fountain Hills needs to encourage businesses to come here. “I am going to be a huge proponent that we attempt to set up a small business park on the state land”, he explained, as well as how he believes there needs to be room for new businesses to become established in town.

Tolis took a little different approach to the question, telling the audience that he believes Fountain Hills has a tough reputation when it comes to business development. He said, “We don’t want a reputation that it is difficult to do business in Fountain Hills, and we do”, and stressed that the Town needs to be much more customer service friendly and proactive in changing the current reputation. 

Also taking a different look at the economic development situation, Rawlings said it all comes down to population and housing. He simply stated, “There might not be a lot of businesses out here currently…but if we get more people in this town, more businesses are going to go up”.

Finishing up this question, Yates focused on job creation. “Arizona is number two in the nation for job creation”, he said, “But if you look at our numbers in Fountain Hills, we are stagnant at best”. He said to help this problem, the process to open a business in Fountain Hills must be improved, not by cutting corners, but by streamlining the process.

Moving on, the next topic of discussion identified how each candidate believes the Town can help local businesses during the slow summer season. Brown focused on all the good that the local tourism department is doing to bring exciting events to Fountain Hills in the hopes of drawing in customers during the summer months. He also believes that promoting the Town to outside communities will be very critical to help this issue as well. 

Tolis agreed with Brown, but also believes that the Chamber of Commerce could be a key attribute when it comes to bringing in people from other areas of the valley during the summer months. Tolis briefly touched on the sign ordinance, and how that should be looked at to help draw in new customers.

Rawlings identified that Fountain Hills is a seasonal market town, but stated “To sustain our economy and to grow, it is going to come down to affordable housing to draw young families to this town”. He believes that if there is a newer demographic of people living full time in Fountain Hills, it will sustain local businesses during the tough summer season.

Yates also agreed with Rawlings regarding population by saying, “There are two solutions; raise the day time population, and raise the full time population”. By increasing those that come to Fountain Hills in the day for seasonal events such as frisbee golf and the Ironman Competition, more people will be exposed to the town and could possibly move here full time. By doing this, he believes the struggle during the slow months could be relieved. Yates also touched on how there is the state trust land that could be a huge opportunity to create businesses and affordable housing for the future of Fountain Hills.

Even though Archambault also agreed that raising the population is needed, he said it won’t happen over night. “The tourism department will help bring events to the town, but it is up to the business owners to capitalize on those events”, he said, as well as encouraged a change to the noise ordinance to make it possible to build a down town entertainment area. By doing this, he believes an area perfect for outside summer events will be established, drawing people to Fountain Hills.

Next, the candidates were asked exactly how, as council members, they would prevent businesses from failing in town. Tolis’s response focused on encouraging the “mom and pop” type of shops. He discouraged  franchisees coming to town and said “I would hate to see a franchise come into this community and adversely affect the local businesses that have been supporting our community”. Like he stated earlier in the forum, he strongly will encourage people to shop local, seek out Fountain Hills businesses, to work with those local establishments to help them be successful. 

Rawlings also touched on what he said earlier in the discussion, having a short and sweet answer of, “We need to grow our population, as well as a business friendly government which in terms for me is a limited government that has very little involvement with the business because that is how the free market works”. 

As a small business owner, Yates believes that it is important to have a diverse business model in Fountain Hills, which includes franchise type establishments. He also explained how Phoenix has less than 10% vacant commercial space, but Fountain Hills is struggling with nearly 30% vacancies. He stressed that there is a strong need for new inventory of commercial space, because even though there are vacant places for possible businesses in the future, the space does not appeal to buyers. 

Archambault took a very different approach, explaining how the town can help businesses out greatly, but it is up to the businesses to work with the Town to promote economic development and success. He stated, “We have a lot of success stories in this town”, and used them to show that the Town has resources such as Scott Cooper, the Fountain Hills Economic Development Specialist, who can assist businesses if needed.

Brown started his response off on a positive note saying that as a town council, “What we have done in the last year and a half is exactly what needs to be done to attract businesses to Fountain Hills”. He goes on to say that he also believes the Chamber of Commerce should be involved with bringing new businesses to town, especially with the new retail space on the Avenue of the Fountains that will be part of the Park Place Project.

The Park Place Project was the main subject of the next area of discussion, specifically what possible opportunities, as well as challenges, Fountain Hills might have with the development. Rawlings was the first to speak on this question, and he voiced his support for the project, saying that he believes it will bring younger families to the area and grow the population. As for the possible challenges he said, “That is between the business owners, the property owners, and the consumers of those products”. 

Yates also is a supporter of the Park Place Project. He explained the idea of “Urban Core, Urban Village”, which a model that he pitches that is affordable and brings a new population to the area. He believes the project is right in line with what is going on in Fountain Hills, and that as a town, it cannot be afraid to take some chances.

Also in favor of the Park Place Project, Archambault is excited to see the empty space on the Avenue filled. He explained how at first, he was nervous about the high density that the area would house, but has become supportive of it since then. He believes this will be a vital part to the vision of having a down town entertainment area, and that residents should be positively promoting the project. 

Brown also was one of the council members who voted to approve the Park Place Project, and said that he will be promoting it. He also said, “It is time for the town to grow up”, and mentioned that now, after 40 years, is the time to develop the empty side of the Avenue. 

Tolis also is a supporter, but took a different approach to answering the question by focusing on the rental tax increases. “There is going to be a significant number of rental units…and the rental tax is a big component of the budget”, he explained, mentioning how that will be great for the Town’s income. One challenge he does foresee is that local businesses will have to prepare for a more vibrant down town area, such as hiring more employees.

Another topic that was raised to the candidates examined the need for young professionals in Fountain Hills. This question focused on how each of them believes the town should handle drawing a younger demographic to the area. Yates started his response by talking about how the average home price in Fountain Hills is out of many young family budgets, leaving them to move elsewhere in the valley. He encouraged rental properties, as well as using the state trust land to build affordable “starter” homes. 

On the other hand, Archambault disagreed and said that Fountain Hills does have affordable housing for young families, and that the problem is that people don’t want to drive nearly two hours to work each day. His solution would be to attract a high technology employer, so that young professionals can live and work in Fountain Hills, which will create a family-friendly environment people will support.

Brown agrees that there is a need for young families, and said that if this happens, it will support all aspects of the town. These aspects include creating more employees for the jobs needed, as well as creating more customers to support the local businesses. “I see Fountain Hills actually overcoming its need for the younger families, and I see it doing it in a big way”, concluding his response. 

Tolis explained how the local school district will be extremely important to bring young professionals and families to Fountain Hills. He said, “We need to have the best amenities, the best school district, the best parks”, in order to create buzz about Fountain Hills. By positively promoting the town, it will become known as the place people want to raise families and to move to. 

Rawlings said, “It seems like an echo; state trust land, building affordable houses, and I absolutely agree”. He went on to explain that he also believes diligent follow up from local government, as well as collaborating with the correct people will go far in successfully bringing a younger demographic to Fountain Hills.

The final topic brought forward to discuss was the sign ordinance. As an important aspect of businesses in town, each candidate was asked to explain any enhancements they think should be made regarding signage in Fountain Hills. Archambault believes there should be more meetings for the council to look over the ordinance, in order to keep up with new technology (such as LED signs). Brown showed that he believes that the ordinance is an overreach of local government, but that it should be looked at again. Tolis said that he believes signage is important, and that everything that can be done to help local business should be done. Rawlings explained his stance that public property can be voted on, but anything on private property is up to the owner. And finally, Yates simply said that the more people there is in Fountain Hills, the less of a need for a sign ordinance there will be. 

We hope that if you missed the “Meet the Candidates” forum, this recap let you in on the great insights everyone was able to come across after hearing all of the candidates’ thoughts, opinions and views. We would like to thank the event sponsors, SRP and Fountain Hills Hearing Health, for supporting the event, as well as each and every candidate for speaking.