Moscow’s newly elect reflected on their goals and priorities before assuming their positions.
The local elections saw a win for a new incoming mayor, Art Bettge. The elections have also brought in Hailey Lewis and Julia Parker as new city councilors. Incumbent Gina Taruscio will be joining them in city council after being reelected. These newly elected officials will be sworn in early January.
Art Bettge
Moscow Mayor-elect Bettge says that the first thing to get done is to fill the vacancies on current city commissions.
“There are appointments that are critical to the operation of the city, like the Urban Renewal Agency,” Bettge said. “Two members have fallen off, and so we have two slots that need to be filled.”
Bettge also wants to be sure to achieve funding for the airport expansion, as discussed in the Nov. 15 city council meeting.
“The poor terminal is far too small to accommodate the amount of passengers running through it now,” Bettge said. “And certainly not a second airline.”
Federal funds for the project expire in 2024, and Bettge is adamant that the city not lose that money.
Bettge also wants to work with staff to develop a sustainability plan for city buildings so that the city can “lead by example.”
Bettge was overrun with emotions upon receiving the election results. Anxiety from the campaign morphed into intimidation with such big shoes to fill from current Mayor Bill Lambert. Bettge also had to change his focus from being a member of a team to the leader of the pack.
“The mayor is like the CEO of the city,” Bettge said. “He follows the policies and directions of his board of directors, the city council, to guide the city and get stuff done.”
Hailey Lewis
First-time Moscow City Councilor Lewis said that she has three immediate concerns as a new member: the Moscow-Pullman Regional Airport, electoral engagement and the City of Moscow’s Climate Action Plan.
“It sounds like the airport board voted to move forward with the planning for a terminal that was $10 million beyond what they had cash in hand with the hope that some of the local partners would come in with money, with two of those partners being the City of Moscow and the City of Pullman,” Lewis said. “It will likely happen before I’m council, but that is something that I’m watching.”
Lewis said that her history of working at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories would bring professional experience to her position that would be valuable to the council’s efforts to pursue a climate action plan focused on sustainable energy.
“One other thing that I’m excited to work on is being more creative about how to create more engaging citizens,” Lewis said. “I think there’s some better strategies they can deploy rather than relying on an initiative to make a headline in the daily news and catch everyone’s attention.”
Addressing her perceptions of voter turnout, Lewis said that she hopes to see a greater degree of political participation from students at the University of Idaho, feeling that Moscow is starting to see an encouraging generational shift as more and more young people come to understand the importance of local elections.
Julia Parker
Elected Moscow City Council Member Parker said her immediate priority would be determining how to allocate the city’s federal COVID-19 relief funds.
“We’ve got CARES Act funds from the federal government and now we’re getting the ARPA funds, so I really want to make sure that we are using that money for things that people really need, like affordable housing, supporting locally owned businesses, making sure that Moscow is environmentally friendly,” Parker said. “I think we can use that money to help balance some of our problems and (address) those overarching goals.”
Parker said that this election was unique to her specifically, since she was involved as a candidate, rather than being involved through working on a campaign. While this year’s elections brought a degree of added pressure for Parker as a first-time candidate, she said that she was happy to see the Moscow electorate continuing to support “forward-thinking” candidates that seek to make Moscow a welcoming place to live as well as a place that continues to show support for its local businesses and organizations.
Commenting on this year’s voter turnout, Parker said that while the turnout was relatively positive for a non-election year, she hoped that a greater number of Moscow residents, especially the students, would come out to vote in future elections.
Gina Taruscio
The only incumbent running for her position, Taruscio discussed her feelings about being re-elected to serve the city of Moscow.
“Just like the first time, always kind of excited to be able to get back to work. You’re involved in so much that the potential of not getting to continue with some of the really good things you get to do makes you kind of nervous,” Taruscio said.
Discussing the difference between the past election and this year’s, Taruscio stated that the biggest difference was not being able to go door-to-door to talk with voters.
“This time I didn’t do that out of respect for the whole COVID situation and how people are wanting to control germs and contagion and stuff like that. So that for me was a real difference,” Taruscio said. “I will tell you; I didn’t enjoy this campaign nearly as much as the last one.”
The other difference was the topics that were discussed in the past. Taruscio stated that the Third Street Bridge and its extension was the most discussed issue for Moscow.
For her goals going forward, Taruscio is looking for ways to make the public involvement in issues more accessible. She is also dedicated to helping Moscow become a co-owner of the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport.
“I think citizens need to be informed and take it in their own hands, figuring out what they find. But I do believe that government needs to make it as easy as they can for citizens to be involved.” Taruscio said. “I want us to continue plotting the course, for support of and becoming owners of half the airport, it’s really important for us as a region, and really important for Moscow to take the ownership that it has earned over the years.”
Abigail Spencer, Royce McCandless and Daniel V. Ramirez can be reached at [email protected]