Today, of course, my goals are different. Many changes occurred here in Virgin over the past 4 years and consequently my goals have changed. The focus now is how to manage the changes in Virgin.
Set Town Identity
Historically, Virgin was a rural, farming community. Many town residents have said that maintaining the rural, farming community character is very important to them. Unfortunately, the majority of the farms in town have been sold off and converted to subdivisions or tourism developments. The demographics of Virgin changed as more people arrived to fill in the subdivisions and tourists arrived to take advantage of Virgin’s proximity to Zion National Park. With the imminent paving of Sheep Bridge Road and the expected development on the county lands fronting Sheep Bridge Road (both of which are beyond our control), even more change is headed our way. We need to get out in front of that change and the first step in that regard is to address the question of town identity. If we want to maintain our identity as a rural, farming community that just so happens to sit near a highly popular national park, then we need to take steps now to make that happen before we get run over by out-of-control growth.
Set the Future Course for Virgin
Setting the future course for Virgin means more than how to maintain our identity. It means planning for and managing the future growth that is inevitable, both residential and commercial, making sure that growth happens where we want, how we want, and that we get what we want.
First, we need businesses that serve the residents of Virgin instead of just the tourists. I am aware of three different business owners who want to expand their already successful businesses to Virgin. These businesses are not focused on tourism, but are the kind of businesses that our town residents will use year round. I cannot say more, because it is not my place to reveal these business owners’ plans. But these businesses will make our residents happy and will be good for Virgin’s future.
Second, our future town hall will have room to expand as need for more employees and more services grow, as well as room for community events, social get togethers, parks and recreation activities, a conference room that local residents can use when needed, and more. The hope is to make the new town hall, the town park next door, and the property across the street to all meld together into a town square that becomes the center of the community.
Third, the recent growth of Virgin has made it impossible for a just a town clerk and a single public works person to handle. With the arrival of Virgin’s first-ever town manager, it is my goal to take political ideology and political favoritism out of administrative decisions. My profound hope is that this will solidify the growing sense of calm in town and help heal the previous political divide.
Help Town Residents to Thrive
One of the main purposes of a mayor is to help create/maintain a nice place for residents to live and thrive. By this I mean to make it possible for residents to find work, meet other people and socialize, find meaning in their lives, and have fulfilling life experience. Of course, no mayor can guarantee any such thing to his residents. But the mayor can do his/her best to set in place the opportunities and advantages for town residents to achieve this for themselves.
I believe that by creating a town center, instilling a sense of identity and community in town residents, and bringing businesses to town that will serve the long-term economic interests of our residents, will go a long way to help town residents to thrive. Those are my goals for Virgin today.