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Idaho Enterprise

Capital for a Day!

Mayor Hawkins receives the "City for a Day" proclamation from Governor Brad Little

Malad City was honored by the Governor’s office as Capital for a Day on April 27.  The Oneida County Event Center hosted the public meeting of the governor and state officials, while the high school hosted a question and answer session with students from the school district.  Governor Brad Little was joined by a number of state officials, including Lt. Governor Scott Bedke, Secretary of State Phil McGrane, Idaho Supreme Court Justice Robyn Brody, Department of Water Resources Manager Gary Spackman, Lottery Commissioner  Larry Polowski, Idaho Transportation Department Commissioner Dan McElhinney, Lt. Colonel Bill Gardiner, Chanel Dewalt from the Department of Agriculture, Jani Ravier from the Department of Labor, Ryan Cantrell from the department of Education, Kim Guneski from the Department of Commerce, and Dave Jeppsen from the Department of Health and Welfare.

Capital for a Day is a tradition in Idaho, wherein smaller, rural towns are given the chance to serve as the temporary seat of administrative duties for the state government.  Malad was last named the Capital for a Day in 2012.  This year’s honor occurred in part due to the efforts of Mary Alice Telford, who had contacted the governor’s office about the possibility.

Following a flag ceremony by the local chapter of the FFA, Mayor Joan Hawkins took the stage to introduce the governor and his team.  Mayor Hawkins also introduced Representative Clay Handy and Senator Kelly Anthon, who were in attendance.  “We’re so happy to be one of this year’s capitals for a day.  Thank you so much,” Hawkins said.  The mayor also took the opportunity to recognize the Lions Club for its 100 years of service to the community.  Don Schwartz, President of the Lions Club, presented the governor with an Idaho edition of Monopoly.  “He can play that in his spare time,” the mayor said.

County Attorney Cody Brower introduced the governor.  “It is an incredible thing for Malad City to welcome the governor not once, but twice in one year come down here, and I’d just like to say thank you.”  

Superintendent of district #351 Jon Abrams spoke to the audience first.  “I had the privilege of serving in the Idaho National Guard for over 20 years.  During that time, my son received the call that he was going to Iraq.  I can’t explain how difficult that was for me.  I asked him to explain the lessons he learned from his service, and he told me that it was a life changing experience.  He said it was a time where he had learned to expect the very best from himself, and those that he served with.  It was a sacred experience.  It set the tone for my entire life.  His last responsibility was to facilitate the first vote in Iraq.  He sent the pictures home to us of the ink stained fingers.  We live in an amazing country.  We live in a country where the freedoms are second to none.  And yet at times I think we take them for granted.  It’s my prayer that we can treat people with a different opinion with the same dignity and respect that we would want them to treat us with.  That we can disagree without being disagreeable.  And most important that we take advantage of the God-given freedoms we have in this country.”

The governor then took the stage, and introduced his staff and colleagues.  “The whole goal isn’t for us to talk, but for us to listen to you all,” Little said.  

The local FFA chapter asked the first question, which was “What are currently doing to keep agricultural education in our high schools?”  The governor mentioned some of the programs in career and technical training that were being supported by the governor’s office, as well as additional funding for training recently approved by the legislature. 

Ryan Cantrell, from the Department of Education, stated that, “I like the question.  And the reason I like the question is that I really do believe that FFA is a lifeblood for a lot of our rural high schools.  You have both a friend and an advocate in me and Debbie Critchfield.  I can assure you that we are strong supporters of CTE programs, especially FFA.  FFA is one of the most successful student organizations in the country—you’re the best speakers, the best students, and we support you fully.”  A number of other speakers joined in to express their affection and appreciation for FFA students, and especially those in communities such as Malad.

A question was asked about the prevalence of out of state campaign materials sent to Idaho to affect the outcome of elections.  The governor expressed sympathy for the complaint, but suggested that constitutionally there was no way to stop issue advocacy from out of state as a matter of state law.  Secretary of State Phil McGrane added, “I think everyone in the room can relate to the junk mail you’re talking about.  Transparency is often the best cure.  Our state is growing, and so is the amount of money in politics.”  McGrane asked the audience who they thought the largest contributors to political advertising in Idaho were last year.  The answer was the Democratic party of Georgia.  “That wasn’t dark money, though, that was publicly available.  But there are ways we can make that information clearer.  What we’re seeing is more and more money.  I know there’s a lot of support among legislators to close those loopholes.”

County Clerk Lon Colton expressed his appreciation for the communication from the Secretary of State’s office, and asked about House Bill 292.  “You probably figured that might be coming,” he said.  “But I think it would be helpful for people to hear.”  The governor responded that “I had a real concern about what that bill did to some of our ability to bond.  And public defense funding was somewhat affected.  We had some issues with public defense in the smaller counties.”

Supreme Court Justice Robyn Brody explained that “this is a vital issue, not just in Idaho, but across the country.  The courts decided a long time ago that when people are charged with a crime they have a right to an attorney.  The states have the obligation to provide that attorney, and it trickles down to the counties.  At the present time, there is a lawsuit that challenges how those services are provided.”  Brody went on to explain some of the implications of the financial issues related to public defense.  As she explained, the financial burden is extreme, but is also necessary under the constitution.  

The bill itself creates property tax relief by creating School District Facilities funds and   Homeowner Property Tax Relief Accounts to reapportion funds through state funding.  Representative Clay Handy spoke out against the riders that had been added to the bill since its original creation.  The bill also eliminates March elections from the Idaho calendar.  

Colton also expressed appreciation for the state funds used to help in the improvement of the airport runway projects.

Questions were asked by the audience directly, as well as through comment cards.  The first comment card was a question about the lottery revenues, and why Malad did not receive a higher portion of the receipts from lottery sales, despite its status as the highest county in the state as far as sales.  Commissioner Polowski explained that Malad is responsible for 9% of the total lottery sales in Idaho.  But the distribution of those funds is a function of the code governing the process.  Polowski stressed that it would be possible to change the monetary dispersal of funds through legislative means if there was a will to do so.

Superintendent Jon Abrams raised the issue of mental health as an important issue within the school district, as well as the community in general.  “I don’t think we’re going to fix this as a school, or a home, or a legislature right away, but it’s a serious concern,” Abrams said.

“I am all in on what we can do for these kids,” Governor Little said.  “I’ve been in communication with [Utah] Governor Cox about what we can do.  We are neither one of us proud of our teen suicide rate, and we’re very concerned about it.  Years ago, the way we handled mental health in the state was very top down, but we realized it needed to be more community based.  Early on in the Otter administration, we put in seven crisis centers around the state.  Then we realized we also needed recovery centers.  Now we have community based recovery centers.  I think the next big recommendation we need is what can we give to communities to help with these issues?  The problems get worse faster than we can fix them. I wonder what would things be like if we hadn’t built those centers?”

“One of the things we’ve done is put out $59 million dollars for remediation, and Dave can tell you about where we are with that,” Little said.  Dave Jeppsen, from the Department of Health and Welfare took the podium to discuss some of the issues in mental health care in Idaho.  “I suspect everyone in this room has known somebody that has suffered from a behavioral health issue, whether that’s from substance abuse or mental health, and you know how difficult that can be.  And that’s particularly challenging with our youth.  It’s been a real focus over the last couple of years.  It’s going to take whole communities coming together to solve these problems.  The legislature has funded youth crisis centers, and teen assessment centers around the state.” 

Jeppsen discussed the rollout of the new suicide crisis line 988, which replaced the former number.  The number can be reached in the same way as 911, and is a dedicated, anonymous line to assist those in need of immediate assistance.

“We want to build this safety net and scale it up through our communities,” Little said.  

“Frankly,” Supreme Court Justice Robyn Brody said, “if we were able to solve mental health and substance abuse problems tomorrow, Judge Hooste and I would be out of business.  Mental health services is the one place where one branch of government is absolutely on the same page.  If you want to see an amazing program in action, it’s our treatment courts and this one here is excellent.”

“If you have any ideas for how we can provide better services here, I’m definitely a point of contact for that.  Please, anyone, let me know,” Judge Hooste said.  “I really do believe this is one of the times when we have all three branches of government working together toward the same end.”

As the afternoon progressed, a number of local citizens had their chance to ask questions of the governor and other officials.  Questions ranged from the implications of a number of current and pending state laws to the potential impact of national issues on Idaho.  Little and the state officials took questions until noon, after which lunch was served.  The session reconvened at the High School at 1:15.