Jean Krause
Mayor
My husband Niles and I have lived in Virgin for 15 years, moving here from California. I was raised in Louisiana and Texas, living in a town slightly larger than Virgin. In California I practiced law, but eventually decided that litigation created more stress than it was worth. I decided to return to school, to pursue a Masters in History. Much less stressful, I must say! After moving to Virgin in March 2010, I served on Virgin’s town council from April 2013-December 2017. During that time I obtained a Masters of Public Administration from SUU in Cedar City. I have had the privilege of serving as the Mayor of Virgin since being elected in January 2022. I look forward to another term as Mayor in order to finish the work that I began.
For the past 100 years Virgin, like most small towns in Utah, has been run by the Town Clerk and the Town Maintenance person under the supervision of a part-time Mayor. With the growth of businesses operating in Virgin along with the increase in the number of town residents, those days are pretty much over.
This growth has raised a need for more professional staff to help run the town. There is an increased demand for services asked of the town staff, increased pressure on our limited infrastructure, and increased risk of fire and storm damage in town as more buildings are constructed. We need staff that is experienced and knowledgeable in order to address these increased demands.
A Mayor that potentially changes every 4 years as a result of unpredictable political swings is no longer appropriate to manage the town’s executive and administrative functions. Elected officials are rarely experienced in municipal management and instead are largely motivated by politics.
In the 15 years that I have lived here in Virgin I have seen wild swings in the politics of the town management. There has been constant controversy. There have been political decisions that have split the town in half with bad feelings developed on both sides. Since I moved here, each election has been a reaction to these bad feelings and each incoming administration seeks to undo everything done by the previous administration. Our elections have been nothing but a pendulum swinging back and forth out of control without a long-range view. Thus we end up with town staff making decisions at the direction of the newly-elected mayor and with those decisions based upon politics. This has to stop.
Virgin needs a town staff that is not political, so that its citizens can rely upon them to be neutral, steady, experienced, and consistent with their decisions over time. A Town Manager will be a huge step in this direction.
Our Town Manager will perform both executive and administrative duties of running the Virgin government.