Victor Iverson
Commission Seat B · Incumbent
Will you recuse yourself from votes touching personal, family or associated businesses?
No selection indicated on the submitted questionnaire.
Have you ever had a direct conflict, or personally benefited from public office?
No.
Three commissioners or more?
Yes, there are nine elected officials in county government. Every county in Utah with an expanded commission form of government has higher taxes and is less responsive to the public.
Are you in favor of or opposed to the Northern Corridor?
Yes, it is needed to get citizens from the East to the West side of the county. St. George Boulevard will not be able to keep up with the traffic demand.
Transparency, proactive disclosure, and public comment in open meetings.
Yes, we do everything possible now to make public records, meetings and actions public. We have an open forum before every commission meeting now and we are going to expand a comment period in the official meeting.
GRAMA is handled by our Clerk/Auditor's Office and the County Attorney's office. They do a good job following law and advising the chair of the commission.
Share one area you've exceeded in — and one you'd like to improve.
Washington County is the lowest taxed county in the state and what we have been able do by building the Administration building, Jail expansion, Emergency Operations building, Grafton building at Legacy Park, the stabilization center, without bonding while keeping up with wages during an inflationary period has never been done. I believe in always trying to improve, so communicating to the citizens is an area I could do better at.
Investigation, severance, the new sheriff, and the Tyler Robinson video.
Sheriff Nate Brooksby served this county for 30 years and did many good things as a sheriff. The County Commission was prepared to do an investigation but, Sheriff Brooksby resigned. The severance paid at his resignation was much less than the salary he would've collected had he chosen just to stay in the office. In addition, the county sheriff's office will not backfill the under sheriff position during this transition, saving the taxpayers money.
As far as the County Commission is concerned, the issues regarding Sheriff Brooksby have been resolved. Of course, I will work very closely with the sheriff's office. They are a major part of our budget in our county operations.
I cannot speak to the Tyler Robinson video situation other than to say that the Sheriff's Office should've known that that piece of video evidence would be needed, and they should have saved it.
Hours, public access, epoxy floor, pickleball, and "ours not yours" perception.
The parking garage was built to accommodate the county administration building and its uses. If and when it is needed, it is left open for longer hours to accommodate events. It is closed for security and to prevent vagrancy and vandalism. The top deck of the parking structure does have pickleball courts on it and a walking track. We do not have a parks department. County government is very reluctant to expand the county government bring on additional staff to monitor. The top deck of the parking structure was built for three reasons: one because we wanted the parking structure that was in the historic district to look nice, as a wellness deck for the 500 employees that work at County administration building, and for occasional public events as a venue.
The drag show federal case against St. George has given us pause on scheduling it as a public venue. We are working with several organizations to find a way to open up the pickleball courts for the public to use. There are safety concerns that will require staffing and monitoring during use.
The loading area in the parking area under the administration building has an epoxy floor for the longevity and appearance. It was debated and frankly I was opposed to it, but I will say that I have been very impressed that it both facilitates the upkeep and helps when items are being loaded and unloaded in that area.
Would you support a 3- or 5-year moratorium on building permits tied to water?
No, it would be illegal and the County Commission does not have the power to do that. But if water is not available, building will have to stop.
Why aren't hotels and resorts held to the same standard as homeowners?
Conservation measures are required for new hook ups, but not for older homes. Each meter size comes with an expectation of the amount of gallons that are needed. For example, residential, commercial, and industrial all have different needs. Overage surcharges are charged to a meter hook up that exceeds that expectation.
The County Commission does not control all things in regards to water rates. This is done at the city utility level.
For or against a full or tiered exemption for seniors?
This is controlled at the state level. The state has passed multiple deferment programs to help seniors. I do know that Washington County does everything possible to help people that are struggling. To my knowledge, we have never sold a house that has fallen behind on their property taxes. The real responsibility of County government is to make sure that the property tax code is administered fairly to all. There is very little if anything else we can do.
This question is better suited for legislators.
Affordable Housing, TRT, Traffic, Public Safety.
Affordable Housing: Housing is a difficult issue and probably one of the biggest issues we face. Government has a hard time solving this problem. While I've been in the County Commission, I did form the housing action coalition that I believe has done a good job at facilitating conversations, and bringing people together for some good projects.
TRT: TRT is partly governed by state code and partly governed by the tourism tax advisory committee that makes recommendations to the County Commission. I believe we have done an exceptional job at using those monies as the state law allows. Washington County has done something that no other county in the state has done by working with the cities and communities on important projects. The county has invested over $70 million back to the cities.
Traffic: Traffic will always be something that we're going to need to work with our city, state and federal partners to solve. The Metropolitan Planning authority that the county facilitates has done a good job of putting together transportation plan needs. Unfortunately, growth has outpaced our plans, but we will continue to meet the needs of our community.
Public Safety: When you add together the sheriff's office that includes patrol in jail and the county attorney's office that prosecutes criminals and brings justice to the system, that includes 67% of the County budget. Public safety is at the top of my priorities because we all want to live in a safe community.