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The letters below were submitted to GoBurley and no editing has taken place.  In order to remove GoBurley.com  from a bias role, we determined the best way to present Burley Politics was to allow the candidates to represent themselves. We are listing the information in alphabetical order. Comments on the letters have been deactivated, but you may leave comments on the post from yesterday entitled…City Candidates Reach Out On Go Burley To Get Their Message Heard

Major Jon Anderson

Welcome GoBurley to our community. I relish an opportunity to have voices heard that have not been allowed to be published unless promoting a theme or goal of only one voice.

Perhaps County Commissioner Clay Handy said it best at a recent city council meeting. He said he did not know how Mayor Anderson could possibly be re-elected this year after the unsigned, malicious accusations made against him in the local Weekly Mailer and Weekly News Journal. The ability to say anything you wish about “public figures” without proof or fearing retaliation of any kind is not fair to those about whom lies and accusations are being made. Lies have been told by persons who knowingly or unknowingly have not only told them but also seem to relish in the fact that the lies are being retold. If the only things I knew about Jon and Susan Anderson were the things I’ve read about them in the Weekly Mailer and the Weekly News Journal I would not even allow my kids to visit my house. (They are 26 and 37 years old and no longer live in Burley.) I would be fearful that the Jon Anderson I read about would curse and swear continually, would steal any money that they may have had to travel home and they could not trust me in any way because all I do is lie and plot against everyone.

However I know the real Jon and Susan Anderson.  We are a God fearing, praying, church attending couple. We have lived in Burley for almost forty years and in the Magic Valley all of our lives except one year when we lived in Utah or when Susan attended school out of state. We both graduated from Idaho State University in 1968, Jon with a degree in business and Susan a degree in French with a teaching certificate which she used for over thirty years mostly in this area. Jon has a background as a banker, a local company treasurer for 17 years, an automobile salesperson and currently as a credit union manager. All of these occupations would not have tolerated an employee with an attitude as painted in the local papers. In all of these occupations I have helped people. I continue to help people. In helping people you are only able to do what you can do with the resources you have. This is true as an individual and as a city elected official. For instance I have a neighbor that drives an older vehicle with lots of miles on the speedometer. I would love to buy a better vehicle to replace that one but there are very few vehicles available in my price range so I have not been able to accomplish that goal.

This is true in our City of Burley budgets too. There are many obvious things that need attention but budget constraints allow us to only attend to some of them at a time. For instance, our city streets need attention. Many of the arterials that service high volumes of traffic have been chip sealed so many times that they need to be ground down and re-done. A recent bid for Washington Avenue, being paid for with grants and urban renewal funds, showed us that it costs almost $900,000.00 for about a mile of street. This street will possibly be a thicker street than some in the city but is a good example of why things can not be done when they need to be done. I fear that if things do not change in the future your grandchildren may have to drive on some gravel streets in the city of Burley.  Our roads can not be maintained with the current State distribution of the gasoline tax which is a major component of our street funding.

The citizens of Burley, with great foresight, allowed long term financing to build a state of the art  waste water treatment plant in 2006. This facility, one of the finest in the State of Idaho, gave us the infrastructure to recruit and serve nine new businesses (so far) in our city since the plant was finished. Our unemployment rate has gone from the highest in the State of Idaho to one of the lowest. This rate is not impressive if you do not have a job or if the job you have is in jeopardy but it is a real measurable component of what has happened while I have been mayor of the City of Burley because of the years of focus of the council to accomplish good things for the City. We also improved the water system of the City in the North East section of the city with a new well and 2 million gallon storage tank and the piping to deliver the water to improve fire service and residential water delivery. I am also proud to report that our “fund balances” or money in reserve have increased while this work has been accomplished.

Serving a diverse population as we have in Burley means that you never do everything that is right for everyone. Hard choices sometimes need to be made. I have never avoided those hard choices. This has not always made me popular with some groups even though my vote is always only a tie vote breaker. I have found that once the mayor votes it is his decision, it is not a 4 to 3 vote of the council and mayor.

I have been continually accused of being vindictive and unprofessional. A vindictive person would certainly never have made two appointments to the council of individuals that are strong willed with strong personalities and strong opinions, as I have. A vindictive person would have appointed someone that would have agreed with decisions of the mayor appointing them. I feel that the city is best served when the council members have open discussion of issues from varying points of view. I have said and I really feel that the State of Idaho open meeting laws limit good government because issues cannot be discussed prior to meetings that are open. This takes away the ability to discuss items in small groups as those discussion lead to action taken by the whole group and are illegal. One of my most obvious detractors is a self avowed agnostic or atheist who attends council meetings and takes wonderful notes. He will not stand with the council while a prayer is offered nor will he voice the words “Under God” when repeating the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States. He could not possibly like or support me as I am proud to pray for guidance to make decisions for the city and am proud of this nation’s heritage “Under God”.

I penalized one council person whom I felt was incorrect in his actions. The other members of the council have evidently chosen to not support my action and some have voiced disapproval I understand, when I was absent from the meetings this summer. My action was a tough one to take and brought strong opinions from the public as to whether it was appropriate or not. I stand by the action I took and promise you that it is not fun or comfortable (VINDICTIVE?) to get up every Tuesday and most Thursdays to see what you and your wife have been accused of now. It has toughened my skin to take criticism both signed and unsigned. Denton Darrington reminds me that the longer you serve the more enemies you make because you are forced to take action that you deem appropriate.

I have said for the past year that if someone would run for mayor that I would like to vote for I would not run this year. My opponent and I have talked several times. He is a formidable opponent and will run a campaign much better than mine because he is able to devote all of his time to the effort while I am working my two jobs. In studying the history of the City of Burley I can only find one mayor that served three consecutive terms. This is a difficult task to accomplish. My only observation of Mr. Greenman’s actions was at a city council meeting earlier this year.  A public hearing on allowing the bars located in the City to sell hard liquor in addition to beer and wine to be able to compete with other Cassia County and Minidoka County bars was being held. Mrs. Greenman had felt strongly that if the sale of liquor was allowed the area would no longer be blessed with water for the crops. Mr. Greenman advised that the morals of the city would be affected by the decision and one of the people in the audience asked if it was time to take a collection. Mr. Greenman and the person that asked the question had to have the Sheriff step between them. I thought at that time that I would not want to vote for someone that reacted to the public comment in that manner. I would like to have the community represented by someone that represents the whole community. Despite the Sound Off’s Sound Off asking everyone in Burley to run against me, the choice of Mr. Greenman is not one I would like to step aside for. I am proud of what has happened in Burley while I have been mayor these past 8 years. I easily ask the citizens of Burley for their vote to keep me in as your mayor for an additional 4 years.

Terry Greenman

What I believe in:

1. Principled leadership
2. Finding common grown with others
3. Building relationships on trust
4. Inviting differing views
5. Building bridges not walls between others

My values are:

1. Principle over personalities
2. People over politics
3. Fairness over favoritism
4. Transparency over concealment

Over the seven plus years that I have lived in Burley I have seen tremendous growth of new industries.  We are in an enviable position. More growth is coming which will help us over this challenging economic time. Many wonderful things have been accomplished.  Burley’s future looks bright. There is more to be done. Now is the time for principled leadership. I believe in building bridges of cooperation by finding common ground first then fostering relationships of trust. As a consensus builder I invite differing points of view. Let us move forward by joining together in making a better Burley.