March 10, 2025 • 43 mins
Caldwell, Idaho, is experiencing a remarkable transformation, and in this episode, we dive deep into the stories and insights shared by Mayor Jarom Wagoner. From a population of just 20,000 to an impressive 75,000, Caldwell is a shining example of revitalization as it navigates new opportunities and challenges. Mayor Wagoner reflects on his own journey as a lifelong resident and city planner, providing a personal touch to the discussions regarding the city’s growth.
We explore exciting developments in the Caldwell area, including the AHLQUIST project, North Ranch Business Park, a major project that has brought new businesses and opportunities to the community. This commercial hub is home to D&B Supply, Fat Guys Deli, Idaho Central Credit Union (ICCU), Baskin Robbins, and more, providing residents with expanded retail, dining, and financial services. As Caldwell continues to attract businesses and investment, North Ranch plays a crucial role in shaping the city’s economic future and enhancing quality of life.
Mayor Wagoner’s “Caldwell Season of Caring” initiative highlights the city’s commitment to fostering positivity and community engagement. This annual effort, held every February, encourages residents to show how much they care about their community, strengthening the heart of Caldwell.
Additionally, we discuss “Minute with the Mayor,” an initiative launched in 2024 that provides regular updates on city developments, upcoming projects, and important community news. Listeners will also get insights into the exciting new businesses coming to Caldwell and how the city’s leadership is shaping a thriving economic future.
Join us as we uncover the heart of a city in transformation, led by a mayor devoted to creating a bright future for all residents.
About Mayor Jarom Wagoner:
📍 Caldwell Native: Born and raised in Caldwell, graduating from Caldwell High School in 1995.
📍 Professional Background: Prior to being elected mayor, he worked as a planning consultant, city planner, transportation planner for ACHD, and a planner with Canyon County.
📍 Public Service: Served in the Idaho State Legislature, Caldwell City Council, and also owned a small business.
📍 Mayor Since 2021: Passionate about community growth and success.
📍 Personal Life: Married to Lisa for 20 years, with three sons. Enjoys basketball, hunting, golfing, and camping.
Follow Mayor Wagoner:
• Instagram: @mayorjaromwagoner (https://www.instagram.com/mayorjaromwagoner)
• LinkedIn: Jarom Wagoner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaromwagoner)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on the Ever Odd Word podcast, we have Mayor
Wagner from the city of Caldwell.
Caldwell is exploding withgrowth.
He is in his first term.
Fourth year of his first term.
It's going to be really greatto catch up with him and hear
about all of the exciting thingshappening in Caldwell, idaho.
He grew up in Caldwell, workedat ACHD, then the city of
(00:20):
Caldwell, he was in thelegislature so just an
incredible history beforebecoming mayor four years ago.
It'll be fun to catch up withhim and talk about all the
wonderful things happening inCaldwell.
Before mayor comes on todaywe're going to hear from Kakoa
Nawahini and Mark Cleverley andthey're ironically going to talk
about Caldwell, our ProjectNorth Ranch.
So first Kakoa and Mark andthen Mayor Wagner.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Good morning, mark Cleverley, chief Leasing Officer
with Allquist.
I'm here with Kakoa.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, Kakoa now.
He now is on the leasing team.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
We thought it'd be good to just take a quick minute
and review North Ranch, justbecause it's a project that we
bought four or five years agoand always thought it was going
to be a 10-year project andwe're down to the last five
acres that you have undercontract.
We can talk.
We'll talk about that in aminute.
But just a little bit ofhistory of North Ranch.
This was a site that St Luke'shad purchased.
(01:18):
They were going to put theirkind of their Canyon County
Hospital out there.
I remember at TOK when I wasthere, that was a huge purchase
back then and St Luke's came in.
Everybody was excited that theywere going to go out there
build that Canyon CountyHospital.
They sat on it for a long, longtime and then we ended up
coming in five years ago andbuying it from them for a good
(01:41):
price.
And the city of Caldwell wasamazing.
When we were working with themit was in their URD Urban
Renewal District and city ofCaldwell was great.
And then fast forward fiveyears and we're like out of
space at North Ranch.
So kind of give us kind of walkthrough what has happened over
(02:03):
the last few years out there.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, and and it's been really cool to see kind of
evolution of Caldwell itself,you know starting back with
Marin and Colas and and hisvision for developing Caldwell
into what it is today.
And you know Stephen Jenkinsand Mayor Wagner now continuing
that and just really businessfriendly to work with and you
know our whole experience withthem out in North ranch.
That was one of my firstprojects, um, when joining all
(02:31):
quests that I kind of got to getmy uh, go kill it out of North
ranch and go jump in.
And so, yeah, originally alittle over a hundred acres out
there and and there and um,we're down to our last four
acres that are under contractand so it's been a really cool
progression.
Like you said, happened a lotfaster than I think anyone was
(02:53):
anticipating.
Um, which speaks a lot to thedevelopment of caldwell, the
expansion of highway 2026 andjust the access of the
development where it's at, andum, you know, one of the the
biggest groups out there and therelationship that we've really
enjoyed developing as dmb, dmbsupply with their 100,000 square
(03:13):
foot flagship store thatthey've got out there.
We got a distribution, you know, over 100,000 square foot
distribution center out therefinishing up their corporate
office, you know.
So it's really cool for them tobe able to plant their flag in
Caldwell in a big way, wherethey started out, and so some
big anchor, a big anchor to thatwhole site, huge for that site.
(03:37):
Yeah, so awesome and what theydo for the community, they're
awesome, they're good guys.
Then you got the Maverick gasstation out there retail store
that we've got one or two suitesleft, you know.
You got the fat guy's deli outthere which, if you haven't been
, probably love fat guy's delilove fat guys yeah um, baskin
(03:58):
robbins just opened up.
we've got a couple other leasesthat are going to start
construction pretty soon andjust got one or two spaces left
out there, um, and then we'vegot the couple other leases that
are going to start constructionpretty soon and just got one or
two spaces left out there.
And then we've got the VAMedical Hospital out there that
finished up Idaho Central CreditUnion branch, les Schwab's,
under construction right now androlling.
And then these last four acreswe got under contract with the
(04:22):
multifamily group, so workingwith the city right now to get
that in there.
But all of these uses comingtogether to be a really nice
mixed-use commercial project.
That also fits kind of what thecity was envisioning for that
area.
And so crazy to have it allwrapped up in four to five years
.
But been awesome to work withCaldwell and ready to do our,
(04:44):
our next project with themhopefully and it it's a
testament to uh these citieswhen they have a vision and when
they.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Mayor Nancolis was amazing out in Caldwell for for
several years, uh, with thedowntown of Caldwell, and then
he was looking here off theinterchange, uh, right there and
with the widening of highway2026 right there, and then and
then looking him having thevision of this is going to be an
(05:13):
incredible site, right, and andso it's it's great it allows us
to come in and kind of do ourthing.
But when we have the support ofa city like Caldwell was
supportive of this, it justmakes our job that much easier,
right, I mean it's, it's amazingand you get it, you form a
great relationship with them andand it's so fun working with
(05:34):
with these cities when they,when they kind of have that
vision and know what they wantit's been great 100% and I think
if you you go to some otherjurisdictions or maybe some
other states and you say, ohyeah, we took over a hundred
acre piece and developed it inless than five years, I think
they'll think you're crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
But, like you're saying, that's a testament to
the team over at Caldwell andour team of being able to
implement and turn vision intoreality.
And it's been really fun.
And I think, like you hadmentioned earlier, a big
proponent of Mariana and Coles'vision and ability to execute on
it is the Urban RenewalDistrict and using that as a
(06:12):
tool to help develop an areathat was a great area but needed
some work and needed thesebusinesses and different mixed
uses to come in and kind oftransform that area.
So we're excited, yeah love it.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, we appreciate your hard work out there, man.
It's been amazing to watch overdifferent mixed uses to come in
and kind of transform that area.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So we're excited.
Yeah, love it.
Well, we appreciate your hardwork out there, man.
It's been amazing to watch overthe last four or five years.
Yeah, it's been a great ride,it's been fun.
Great job.
Only getting started, goodstuff.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Mayor, thanks for coming on.
We've tried to get you for awhile because we want to hear
all the great for coming on.
We've tried to get you for awhile because we want to hear
all the great stuff going on.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yeah, super excited to be here.
So, yeah, it's great to be ableto talk about Caldwell and just
be here with you as well, soI'm excited.
This will be really fun.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Hey, I want to start a little bit by just hearing a
little bit about you, because Ithink a lot of people know you.
You're moving and shaking and Ithink you've got a lot of great
things going on.
But I want to start where itall began for you, and so if you
tell us a little bit aboutgrowing up and a little bit
about your background, that'd begreat.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah, I'd love to.
So I grew up in when I was veryyoung in eastern Idaho, born in
Rexburg, lived in Pocatello,idaho Falls.
My dad was a banker In thattime.
There's a lot of acquisitionsgoing on with different banks so
we ended up moving a lot andthat's actually what ended up
bringing my family to Caldwell.
So I moved to Caldwell when Iwas 14 years old, eighth grade
(07:40):
at Jefferson Junior High, mydad's bank got bought out by
Valley Bank, got bought out byKey Bank and that brought him to
Caldwell to manage the Key Bankbranch in downtown.
So that's where I attendedjunior high, high school,
graduated from Caldwell High aswell, just loved the opportunity
to grow up in Caldwell.
It's an amazing community atthe time.
I'm growing into and I'm surewe'll get into this into just
(08:01):
what nobody could have imaginedat that time.
Then graduated high school,ended up leaving the country for
a couple years down to Chileserving a mission for my church,
was able to learn Spanish,which has come in huge unhelpful
in Caldwell with the Hispaniccommunity we have there.
When I got home I attendedBYU-Idaho for a year or two and
(08:23):
then ended up in Arizona.
I went to Arizona StateUniversity, got my degree in
business from when I was thereand then met my wonderful wife
while I was there, also gotmarried and then shortly
thereafter moved back to Idaho.
So she was born and raised inTempe, arizona, right just a
stone's throw from ASU campus.
But she loves the outdoors, thecold not so much, but she loves
the outdoors and so it was apretty easy convince to get her
(08:45):
up here.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
It's that time of year, though she's probably like
by the time we get to February.
I'm just like okay.
Yes, yes, we're all there,unfortunately, we're still like
months away from them, butthat's cool.
And how many kids do you have?
So three, we have three boys,okay great.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
How old are they?
So they are 17, 16, and 11.
So we've got a couple highschoolers and then a sixth
grader Great ages.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yep Great ages and tell us a little bit about
business up until you ran formayor.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
So yeah, like I said, I have a business degree on
that so I was able to utilizethat, Did a little financial
planning when I lived in Arizonabefore we moved back up here,
and then really when I got up toCaldwell, just kind of looking
at different options and what todo and ended up with land use
planning, so kind of went fromfinancial planning to land use
planning and worked for CanyonCounty as a planner there.
Achd did transportationplanning for them and then from
(09:35):
there I was recruited to comeand work for Caldwell actually,
and so I was the senior plannerfor Caldwell for a number of
years also and actually ACHDsare the first time we met I
don't know if you remember thator not one of your projects that
you were working on when Iworked there.
So it was a great opportunityand it was really nice having
the county, the transportation,the city really rounding me out
as a planner.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Incredible background to be mayor.
Yeah, I mean you think of allthe things a mayor does,
basically the CEO of a city.
So you're running the businessof the city, the budgets of the
cities, but also the planning ofthe city.
So tremendous experiencepreparing you for what you're
doing now.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Yeah, and it really has.
And a lot of people ask youknow how do you become mayor and
all of these different things?
And I just say you know, it'sthe experience it's just getting
well-rounded in many differentthings.
You have that understanding andit really you know.
You know God has a plan for allof us and you never know really
why am I going this directionor that.
And it really all of it led tothat culmination of being able
to be where I'm at right now.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Hey talk about.
So there's a lot of greatpeople from Caldwell.
There's just, I mean, just alot of people that just grew up
and you got these great storiesabout Caldwell and what it was
and then it kind of went through.
I think most towns Caldwellsize when things changed from
rail and just the way you drovethrough towns, I think a lot of
(10:52):
Idaho and American towns kind ofwent through this.
Okay, what are we going to be?
And then how are we coming outthe other side?
I think Caldwell is probablythe shining example of coming
out the other side.
But what was it like growing upin Caldwell?
Speaker 4 (11:05):
So it was.
It was great.
It was a lot different when Ilived when I was growing up in
the mid nineties to what it isnow, but I mean it was still
something to be proud of eventhen.
And and you talked a lot aboutthere's so much history in
Caldwell that people do notrealize.
You know several governors youknow from Caldwell.
Frank Stunenberg, who was agovernor, actually ended up
being assassinated,unfortunately back in the early
(11:26):
1900s, but they were greatfounders of the community you
know through.
You know JR Simplot has ties toCaldwell, joe Albertson has
ties to Caldwell.
So many of those great things.
I remember this was years ago.
I was sitting in a legislativemeeting and Butch Otter was
governor at the time and he wastalking.
He talked about Caldwell and hetalked about when he was born.
(11:47):
His family was living inFarmway Village on the outskirts
of Caldwell and I had no idea.
So you just never know who elseis going to pop up.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
we had him on.
I think his podcast getsreleased very soon, I think next
week, but but most of the wholefirst half of it is Caldwell,
yeah, and and the stories andhim working in the plant that
was his first job for Simplotand he tells some great stories.
So, yeah, deep, deep roots.
And then there's some legacystuff out there with the college
(12:14):
, with the rodeo.
I mean there's just so manygreat people and then great kind
of Idaho.
I mean it is the heritage ofIdaho is deep in Caldwell.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Yeah, no, it truly is , and, like you said, it kind of
.
You know, everything in life isso cyclical and Caldwell is a
great example of that.
You know, back in the heydays,in the 50s, 60s, it was the
place to be.
The downtown was bustling,everything was happening, and
then it kind of went into decayfor a couple decades there.
But now again it's thatrevitalization, that phoenix
rising from the ashes.
But, like I said, some of thosethings that have really helped
(12:48):
Caldwell, I think, maintain whatthey have is the College of
Idaho is huge for Caldwell, theCaldwell Night Rodeo, so you
have those elements that havebeen in Caldwell.
Regardless of what phase we arein that cycle, they've been
stalwarts.
You know, cnr just celebratedtheir 100-year anniversary last
year, which is just crazy tothink about One of the best
outdoor rodeos in the country.
They've got some greatimprovements going on right now
(13:11):
to make it even better.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Talk a little bit about those.
I don't think people know, butthere's quite a bit of change
going on to upgrade the rodeofacility.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Yeah, and it's a really great story.
I remember actually it was acouple years ago, so it was at
the 99th Kola Night Rodeo and Iwas walking around Obviously I
loved to go and to be there andran into Ed Lodge and Rob Vavold
and Rob was the incomingpresident for that 100 year and
then Ed is actually thepresident for this year and we
just started kind of talking andbrainstorming and saying, hey,
what can we do to really makethis just shine even more?
(13:41):
And so we came up with somethoughts and ideas and you know
where the city can maybe getsome money to put in towards it.
And then also, and it reallyjust shows the partnerships too
that we have in Caldwell, thatwe're able to talk to them and
be like, okay, we can put in,let's do a 50-50, you know, try
to get both sides.
So it's not just the cityputting going to go to, to meet
them, and they've, I think,almost doubled what we were
going to do.
But it just shows thatcommitment, that partnership,
(14:08):
and so, yeah, they're doing somenew grandstands at the rodeo, a
new press box as well, whichwill be great.
Randy Corley when he comes back,he's one of the all-time great
announcers in rodeo.
He's going to be done by thetime the rodeo this year it will
, yeah, so it will so, andthere's other phases we hope in
(14:29):
the future, but this phase onefor sure.
When's the date for the rodeothis year?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
so it is in mid-august well, it's, it's a,
it's a tradition for us and wejust, we just love it.
Um, uh, and the college it'sinteresting because we have you
on.
I mean, this is, we are veryCaldwell-centric, we had Jim
Everett on.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Oh, he's amazing, Jim .
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And you look at his love for that community and what
he's done at the college there.
And then one of our big-time,our close friends is Mark
Schmidt with DMV which is agreat Caldwell company that,
thanks to you, stayed inCaldwell.
I mean, if you look at whathappened at Sky Ranch and then
North Ranch and the ability tokeep companies where they were
(15:08):
grown is pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
A lot of great heritage there.
Yeah, it is, and, like allthose names you just said, are
just fantastic people.
And that's what I love tooabout Caldwell is we have
amazing businesses, but thegreat thing is the businesses
themselves aren't just amazing,it's the people who run them.
You know Mark Schmidt, like youmentioned, just a great, great
guy, and what he does, uh, jimEverett.
I mean, you couldn't find abetter human on the planet than
Jim Everett, and so it's justneed to be associated with these
(15:32):
people, their businesses.
But learning how great they areand that's what really makes
their business so great is whothey are.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The other thing I was just thinking and um a blend of
everything else.
But people don't realize thatthe Caldwell hospital um is is
HCA um owns that.
But it's interesting when youdig into the way hospitals run
and function.
That is their most profitableand busy and high quality
(15:59):
hospital in their system, andI'll I'll tell you that it's
pretty, pretty amazing.
So so you got kind of goteverything out there with health
, core and employment, and nowyou look at I do want to get
into growth, because I think thesouth part of Caldwell is now
just driving right into Nampaand it is kind of one continuous
community at some point here,just because of all the growth
we've experienced, growth hastwo sides to it too, right?
Yep, yes, it does Just likeanything else.
(16:20):
Back in 07, 08, we were allheroes for trying to do stuff,
and now not so much.
Right, I think a lot of peoplehave come here and said, hey,
enough, but talk us through alittle bit of getting to this
point and then what some of thefuture plans are and some of the
challenges you might have.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, and that's a great point, you know, to bring
up, to be able to discuss that,because, like you said, there
are two sides of that.
You know, back in it's a greatexample back in 07-08, people
were begging anything We'll take, whatever you got, bring it.
And now it's kind of thereverse on that you know very
it's kind of like, hey, let'sput the brakes on in this
regards and I understand youknow there's the concern and
(16:59):
people come, like growing up inCaldwell right, their thoughts
on these changes and this growththat we've experienced.
You know, when I was growing up, caldwell was 20,000 people and
now we're 75,000 plus and soit's changed a lot in that time
frame and so, but it's been.
It's something that we'vereally kept the character of
Caldwell, and I think that'ssomething you can do regardless
of the size of the city as yougrow.
(17:20):
As long as you keep thatcharacter, keep that down-home
feel, then I think the peopleunderstand that and, to be
honest, the majority of thepeople that I hear complain are
the newer people in Caldwell inthe last five to ten years, and
you still have some of thosethat have been there forever.
That actually doesn't surpriseme, though.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Because I think if you look at where I mean before,
indian Creek kind of went frombeing part of that downtown and
you look at everything shutteredup, went from, you know, being
part of that downtown, and youlook at everything shuttered up
and you know, I think back whenwe did the movie theater there
Yep, I mean, the movie theaterhad to be in oh, maybe 10, 2010
maybe.
But you think about go back tothose days and you would walk
(18:06):
around those streets, eventhough the creek was already
kind of developed and you hadTreasure Valley Community
College right right across theright across the way, there was
still not a lot going on.
And it's taken vision andplanning to say, hey, let's
create something where peoplewant to come.
So so if you were part of thator you were a Caldwell citizen,
then you're probably like thisis one of the greatest
transformations in America.
I mean you probably have peopleI mean I've had multiple people
(18:29):
say how did Caldwell do it?
I mean in the region, likewhat's your best example of a
city redefining itself?
It's been Caldwell.
So if you're on that side of it, you're like, oh my word.
We think of the business andthe tax base that goes into our
schools and think of the placeof community.
We have people to raise theirfamily and to stay in the
heritage.
That's the good side of it.
I do think it's maybe some ofthe later people that come that
(18:53):
are like hey, we're here now.
We love this little place, stopit no more, right?
So it'll always be that balanceand I think as economies change
and things change, it alwayscomes and goes.
But gosh, I can't imaginethere's too much criticisms of
what probably is the best-randevelopment vision, however you
(19:13):
want to do it.
I mean, caldwell is the shiningexample.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Yeah, and I would agree, and that's a great point
that you bring up with thatbecause, yeah, those of us that
lived through it, we're soexcited for what we have and I
think we still have thatsmall-town charm, regardless of
the size we have.
It's about the, it's about thecommunity, it's about the things
you do within your community,the events that you have and you
know keeping, like you know,the Coblenut Rodeo, the College
of Idaho, the 4th of July paradeand activities we have.
(19:39):
That is what creates yourcommunity, regardless of the
size of it it's 50,000, 500,000,or 5 million you create those
places and people will come andhave that fill.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Talk a little bit about.
The one thing you've done wellfor 20 years and you continue to
do well, is you are at theforefront of attracting working
jobs like livable working jobsand, in a lot of ways, just kind
of beating up on surroundingjurisdictions.
You just did I mean and I thinkyou continue to do so right.
(20:11):
A lot of that was with yourvision for Sky Ranch.
Some of that was the vision foryour next big project.
You're actively gettingcompanies Idaho Grown and other
companies coming here withlivable wages to locate in
Caldwell, here with livablewages to locate in Caldwell.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Talk about how that's been and how that's going and
what the future looks like.
Yeah, and that's a big part ofyou know, vision and carrying
out that vision that we've had.
And I have to give a lot ofcredit to my predecessor I know
he's a good friend of yours,garrett Nancolis.
That had that vision.
You know he was mayor for 24years, which you don't hear a
lot about these days.
I don't know Andy again kudosto him.
After being in for almost fouryears, I don't know how he could
(20:51):
do it for 24, but he had thatvision and he carried it forward
regardless of the naysayers atthe side, and so that helped
tremendously to set it up where,when I was able to come in into
office, that things were justrunning and it's like just don't
screw it up when you get inthere, just keep things going.
And I think we've done a reallygood job on that.
But a lot of credit goes out toGarrett and to the former
council as well.
That really helped set a lot ofthose things up, to put them in
(21:13):
motion for today.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, one of the things I want to.
I know you've got a new program, your initiative Caldwell
Season of Caring Talk to usabout that.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yeah, so, yeah.
So that kind of came up.
We were having some discussionabout you know, how can we
create that positivity Again,that down-home feel, what we
want to keep Caldwell, caldwell.
And so we talked about you knowhow do we create more
positivity in our community, andso it kind of started.
We were blessed to have thegiving machines in Caldwell this
year, which was tremendous onthat, and I mean one of a few
(21:41):
hundred, not even a few hundred,just a hundred in the in the
world to have that opportunity.
And so we talked about you know,the season of giving and that
kind of blossomed into thesewhat we call our seasons of
Caldwell.
And so they are, you know,specific points throughout the
year where we're going to focuson something positive and try to
get that out into the socialmedia world, just have people
share the great things they'redoing.
(22:02):
So the first one what we're inright now is our season of
caring, and we're justencouraging people to do
something that shows that youcare.
And you know, take a picture,do a video, put it out on your
social media and hashtagCaldwell, season of caring, and
then that way we can try to getsome positivity out there, the
great things are happening.
It's so easy to complain andput negative things out in the
world today, but we need thepositive.
(22:23):
And so we've got the fourseasons.
Like I said, right now is theseason of caring Um.
In April, towards the end ofApril, it's going to be the
season of service Um and we'regoing to get the service clubs
involved on that.
And then in August we're goingto do the season of learning,
with the school getting back insession and, you know, caldwell
school district and Valley Viewschool district, get them to
(22:49):
partner and really excited to goback to school, and then
wrapping it up with the seasonof giving, again in december,
just, you know, opportunity togive back to the community in
whatever way that is.
And again, and the big thing is, just, you know, highlighting
those great things.
And again it's, I tell people,it's not about showing how good
you are, but encouraging othersto follow your example.
So do that picture, do thatvideo, post it hashtag, call it
a season of whatever the seasonis at that time, let's spread a
little bit of positivity in thecommunity.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
That's incredible.
So right now, going through theseason of caring, I love that.
I love that.
Talk a little bit more aboutthe impact of the school
districts, because one of thethings there's some legacy there
I know Roger Quarles was outthere for a long time your
schools despite sometimes somechallenges you look at some of
(23:32):
the demographics and funding andthose sort of things you've
really done a great job in yourpublic schools in Caldwell.
Talk a little bit about howproud you are of those things.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Yeah for sure, schools are very important.
That comes up a lot.
We had a city council meetingand schools came up and some of
the requests that were goingforward there and it's an
important partnership that wehave to have with the school
districts.
You know we are integral withCaldwell School District and
Valley View School District aswell.
That encompass, you know, thecity and so it's important for
us to be a part of that, to know, you know, what's going on in
(24:00):
the schools, what are theirneeds, and then us to meet with
them and talk with them.
And it's a tough thing becauseyou know we talked about growth
and development and that doesaffect our schools.
You know they are gettingovercrowded and it's a very
different dynamic from CaldwellSchool District, which I was I
was a Caldwell High alum, proudof that.
Go Cougs, my kids go toRidgeview High School, which is
part of the Valley View SchoolDistrict.
So we're deeply entrenched withthat as well.
(24:22):
But it's such a differentdynamic between those two
schools, school districts.
So Caldwell School District isreally basically kind of
enclosed, you know.
There's not much room to growand things of that nature.
Majority of developments we seeis in the Valley View School
District.
So Caldwell's enrollment hasreally stayed kind of stagnant
for many, many years and ValleyView is just the opposite.
You know, going back to when Igrew up, caldwell High, we were
(24:43):
much bigger than Valley ViewHigh School at least twice as
big, I would say.
And now Valley View has twohigh schools and both of them
are a lot bigger than the oneCaldwell High School, and so
it's just such a differentdynamic and you know how do you
plan for that and it's I mean,it's a, it's difficult to kind
of figure that out.
Some state funding would begreat and hopefully they can
kind of figure something out ofthe legislature.
(25:04):
We'll see.
But you know the bonds aredifficult to pass these days
with that two-thirds majorityand that really hamstrings the
valley school district a lotwith some overcrowding.
They were able to get somebonds passed recently, which is
great to get two new elementaryschools.
But with the growth we continueto see it.
Just we need to continue goingdown that road and providing.
You know that's our futureright there, and so we got to
provide for.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that.
I mean we've been discovered.
I mean this thing is notslowing down.
So, whether from from Caldwellwell, even I would.
The other thing about answeringabout Caldwell you don't realize
that you're kind of the gatewayin from the West into the
treasure Valley and and and soyou're in Trapman area or I
(25:43):
don't know what they call itLike in healthcare, they call it
Trapman area or whatever it'slike a referral area to the
hospital.
I mean it goes.
You've got all these smallercommunities really all the way
until you get over to Fruitland,ontario.
There's a dividing line where alot of that just comes to you
right.
So I remember when you look atthose studies of where those
(26:10):
dollars go, a lot of that comesinto Caldwell and it's your
first entry in.
So you've got that.
All those communities aregrowing.
I mean it's crazy to go evenout to some of those smaller
communities.
People are moving in all overfrom California and other places
and you can go out there andlive in this beautiful country.
Some of the most beautifulcountry in Idaho is kind of
Caldwell, around that back endof Southwest Idaho and that's
growing.
Caldwell's growing Kind ofconnecting with Nampa.
Now, how do you plan forinfrastructure and how do you
(26:34):
plan for all of the other needswith education?
And I mean it's a balance right, because you've got property
tax and you've got there's justall of these different factors
and being the mayor, you're theguy that's like okay, how are we
going to manage?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
all this, yeah, and, like I said, there's a lot of
balls in the air and so tryingto make sure you don't forget
about the ones that are comingdown and keep them up in the air
, and it's a difficult thing.
You know the people it's funnyyou hear about.
You know we want more grocerystores, we want more retail, we
want all want any more houses.
It's like, well, if you stopthe houses, you're not going to
get the grocery stores, and theones that are open may close
(27:07):
because they don't have the newcustomers coming in.
And so it's.
You know, I think a lot of it iseducation.
You know, teaching people likeyou know this is you're going to
have some growing pains, butwith that comes all these great
things.
You know we get hammered a lotbecause you know of property
taxes and they're, you know,significantly high, and so I was
like, well, how do you offsetthat?
You know our sales tax is verylow.
The amount of sales tax we getfrom the state is probably less
(27:29):
than half what Nampa gets, andthey're not double our size.
But it's because there's a lotmore shopping opportunities in
Nampa and so we're trying toattract those to Caldwell to
increase our sales tax dollars.
I think people.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I mean not to go into this too much, but there's kind
of the three stools of taxes,right Income tax, sales tax and
property tax.
That's how everything's paidfor and, whether anyone likes it
or not, government needs to befunded for the things it does.
And there's things that it does, like you just brought up roads
services, police, fire, gels,schools.
(28:04):
I mean all these things have tobe funded and that's really the
three ways it's done.
But if you look at sales tax,it is like in a call, well, a
city like caldwell, when thatleakage happens to costco in
nampa or that leakage happens totarget in nampa, or I mean
you're just right there on theborder.
All of those sales tax, um,don't proportionally come back
(28:24):
to you, right?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
yeah correct.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
So if you start looking at, okay, how does all
this stuff get funded?
It is through property tax isyour major thing, unless you
have those other services thatthen bring in more taxes on the
sales tax side.
And that's what I think youprobably try to explain to a lot
of your citizens is it is abalance and you kind of need to
have a vision or a plan for allthese things to create the base
that you need to be able tocover a lot of these things.
(28:47):
Am I saying that right?
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, I would say so, exactly on that.
And so, yeah, it can be a bigdeal.
You know it's.
You know several milliondollars that we miss out on that
.
We're trying to attract that in, and the great thing about
sales tax is it's, you know, aportion is from your community,
but a portion is from outside,so it's people that are visiting
Caldwell.
So now, instead of going toNampa and giving them your sales
tax dollars, we can keep it inCaldwell and get other people
(29:10):
from around the community andimagine where you're positioned
right.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
You could be that next first place, which is, I
think, what you're becoming Yep.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
No, it's true.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I know I had some friends that their parents live
in Nyssa and so they drive toCostco and Nampa to go do their
shopping and then go back home,and so if we can create more
(29:38):
shop opportunities in Caldwellwhere that stop, you know, for
the Fruitlands, the Nissas, theOntarios, whatever that is,
they're coming to Caldwellinstead of passing us and going
to the next city down the road.
Can you talk a little bit aboutbig growth areas for you right
now in Caldwell, where some ofthat explosive growth is still
happening and you see ithappening in the next three or
four years?
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Yeah.
So I think there's two areas Iwould say Sky Ranch is still
growing tremendously and there'sstill a good chunk of land
between what I'd say Sky Ranch,which is just kind of off of the
freeway, and 2026 out towardswell, ridgeview high school on
that.
So Ridgeview is kind of theoutskirts of Nampa, the very
edge and everything to the westof there is Caldwell Impact Area
(30:07):
and so there's still a lot ofground out there to be developed
and being very interested inthat and as city services extend
that way, you're starting tosee a lot of that go and that's
a great corridor.
It's going to connect obviouslyinto Nampa, meridian and Boise.
Lots of commercial growth goingon out there which is going to
attract a lot of residentialcoming as well.
So that's a very hot area stilland still a good amount of land
(30:27):
out there.
And then over off of Highway 55as well, karcher Road.
There's been some bigdevelopments approved out there.
They're starting to take off.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Sewer and water is getting down there Many people
may not drive that route, but ifyou do I mean you think back to
even eight or nine years ago itis dramatic.
Yeah, you think back to eveneight or nine years ago.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
It is dramatic, yeah, yeah, I remember when, as a kid
, driving to karcher mall, welived out kind of that type part
of town so we'd go up karcherand it was way.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, it was so much different than what it is today
that entire corridor is justbooming and and and you know
much of that is caldwell beingyour impact area.
I think there's going to besome more commercial out there.
There's some other great stuffgoing on out there for you and
that is you know people do.
I mean growth.
I mean you probably hear it allthe time and I'm a developer,
so you know you get hammered forgrowth.
(31:14):
But you know, I think infillgrowth that takes advantage of
existing infrastructure andutilities, that is the kind of
growth we ought to be looking at.
All that corridor that's infill.
Yeah, growth.
We ought to be looking at that.
All that corridor that's infill.
Yeah, right and so, and and.
To your other point over on theother side by sky ranch, over
to where you hit into nampa,that's infill.
So, so in a lot of ways thatstops sprawl from going out into
(31:36):
foothills and farmlands andother things is just exactly the
way it's supposed to be going.
And I think, um, one of thethings we've done a lot of work
with call well over the last 20years.
But you seem to be your publicworks department, your vision
for kind of how to plan thisthing.
You're kind of playing chesswhere a lot of jurisdictions are
(31:56):
playing checkers right.
You've kind of thought this outand I want to talk about your
teams and how much planning goesinto this, because you're kind
of ready for it.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Yeah, yeah, and the team is so important, as you
know.
Right, if you're going to havea successful business, it
doesn't matter how good andgreat you are, if you don't have
great people below you, youwill never succeed, and that's
you know.
At Caldwell, we pride ourselvesin that we have an incredible
what I'd call our executive team.
You know our public worksdirector, police fire chiefs,
our HR I mean our fire chiefs,our HR I mean our HR director,
(32:24):
our planning and zoning director, and the list goes on.
Everybody there our economicdevelopment director just great
people too.
So they're doing great work andthey're good, good people, and
that's you know.
A big part of it is planningthat out and knowing, you know,
where is these roads going toneed to go, where is a new well
going to go for the city?
Those different types of thingsMake sure you have capacity at
your sewer plant, and so they'vedone a great job of planning
that out and preparing for it.
(32:45):
There's still things that comeup.
You're going to have hiccupsalong the way and we learn from
those and then we do the best wecan and continue to move on.
And great thing when thosehiccups happen is the
relationships that we have withthe community, with the
development community, say look,maybe something caught us here,
we need to kind of fix this.
And they're great to reach upand partner with us on that, to
(33:05):
kind of get through thosehurdles or struggles that may
pop up, and then it reallybenefits everybody at the end of
the day.
It benefits the city, thecommunity development, it
benefits the citizens.
So, just working together andovercoming those obstacles when
they do pop up, Super, superwell said.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
That's awesome.
When are you up again for your?
Is it now?
Speaker 4 (33:23):
It is now well November, is it?
Yep, it is.
Is it is now well november?
Yeah, is it?
So?
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
it is this year, it goes by so fast it does honestly
, I'm just looking down at mynotes I'm like oh, it's this
year it is yep, so we're alreadygearing up, so I am definitely
running again.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
There's so many things going on in caldwell.
I want to make sure we see getto the finish line, and so I'm
excited for another four yearsgo fast they did, they really,
really did so.
There's some days it's like man.
It feels like it's been forever, but it's gone by so fast.
I can't believe that we're herealready at this time.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
So well, they're lucky to have you.
You've done a tremendous job.
Um, I think you know you.
You you come in after a guylike Garrett been there a long
time and there's probably some.
You want to be your own guy andyou want to do your own thing.
You probably had your own ideasof how to take this thing and
you've done an incredible job ofsaying, hey, that guy was great
and here's my turn.
Right, that's got to be kind ofa kind of a delicate thing.
(34:14):
Did you come in?
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Yeah, it was.
I look at, robert did the samething behind Tammy right.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I mean she I think her 20 years right, and he's
kind of dealt with that.
But how has that been?
Speaker 4 (34:25):
It's been really good and it was like you said.
Coming in it was different, youknow, and because you come in
and even with all the greatthings, you know that Gerda did
and, like I said, I'd worked forthe city, so I'd seen that and
been a part of some of that.
You still want to carry on that, but also you have your own
kind of thoughts and ideas thatyou want to bring forward, and
so it was a little, you know,the dynamic was a little
(34:46):
difficult at first, but you knowGarrett's a great guy and we
have a great relationship and westill talk.
You, let me know, and I didn'tfor the first, while I wanted to
kind of set my own pace, butthis last year or two I've
really reached out to him a lotand it's nice to have somebody
who's been through so much tokind of help you.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
He's an incredible, incredible guy right, I mean
just a good guy, but also it'sprobably pretty personal, if
it's Right.
I remember talking to MayorSimpson about that.
I mean it just is, it's justpart of it.
So so now I want your baby andyou're four years in and then
(35:24):
you get to do it again.
Yep, how's the council been?
Speaker 4 (35:27):
So they've been.
It's been good.
You know it's there's differentdynamics that come in into that
regards and that really boilsdown, in my opinion, boils down
to respect.
You know, definitely do notagree with the council all the
time and there's some thingsthat I wish went different,
different regards in the waythat things were said or how
(35:47):
they were handled, but at theend of the day you just got to
show respect.
You know they were elected tothat position.
Whether I agree or disagreewith them, at the end of the day
Just try to show respect andcompassion.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Well, and most of the time I mean, I think of again
been doing this for a long, longtime and we do it in all
jurisdictions.
But you'll have most of the time, you know people follow people
and you have a really strongleader from Caldwell.
You love this place, you wantto do the right thing and then
you get these councils that theyalso are passionate people that
want to do it their way Rightand, as long as you like, one of
(36:19):
the lines that I've always usedas long give me someone that's
a critical thinker, that canlook at data and that can
understand people and what'sbest for people, and most of the
time you come together prettyquickly.
Every once in a while and I sawit happen a couple of times
over the years you'll get just aknucklehead that doesn't really
look at data and is notcritically thinking and just
wants to drop a bomb somewhere,and that's tough, but they don't
(36:42):
usually last very long, becauseI think authenticity wins and
people that are genuine anddoing it for the right reason.
And most of the time, we cometogether on things that matter
to communities, even if wedisagree a little bit, but every
once in a while.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
Yes, yes, that's very accurate every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yes, yes, it's very accurate.
Every once in a while ithappens, and um, and you have a
great group of mayors right nowin this valley too.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
Yeah, really do and we all get along really well,
regardless of our politicalviews.
You know mayor's nice becauseit's, you know, non-partisan um
and yeah, we get along reallyreally well, work great together
.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
You know all the way, and you've been in now long
enough, between you and Debbieand Robert, and Mayor Evans, and
then Mayor McLean I mean that'sthe stretch of this valley oh
and Mayor Steer.
And then can't forget Star.
I mean Star's booming.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
Yeah, yeah, and Mayor Chadwick, he's a great guy.
He's a character I love talkingto him, so he's fun to talk to.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
He's a great guy, but I mean you get a good group of
people that are hearts in theright place, really great
leaders, and we're kind of in areally—people ask me all the
time about growth.
I mean that's just what we get,and most of the time it's in a
negative connotation becauseit's like, hey, what do you
think?
And you're part of the problem,what's going on?
And I'm like well, part of thething is when you have Micron do
(37:56):
what they're doing and when youhave big companies coming here
or that are founded here thathave really great jobs.
I always remind people that ifyou go back two decades ago, I
was on all these boards on theUnited Way board for a while and
you were talking all the timeabout how do we keep our kids
here?
That was like our kids areleaving.
(38:17):
Our kids are leaving.
We need to have jobs.
We need to have jobs.
Well, now you have industry inthe Treasure Valley and in Idaho
where your kids can come here.
That's harder for them toafford a house because there's
been a disparate increase inhousing prices over wages, but
they have really good, livablewages compared to other places
and they have options in careersin almost every avenue right
(38:41):
now.
So that box has been checkedfor families in Idaho, for my
kids, for your kids, for theirkids, for the generations that
are coming.
Now the hard thing is, okay howdo we manage growth?
How do we do it in a way that,because they're going to come
here, people are going to comehere, they're just going to come
here.
I mean we have.
I think this is the greatestplace on the planet earth to be
and live in community, for everyone of the reasons that we love
(39:03):
this place, and why wouldn'tpeople come here?
They're fleeing the coast indroves.
A lot of places that are, thatare like us in the intermountain
West are filling up, and youknow Boise and this valley's
next.
So anyway, I think we just theanswer is we got to try to work
together and the answer I giveit's a lot.
That was a long statement.
To get to the point, I alwayssay look at our leadership.
(39:25):
We have great local leadership.
Look at, like, all up and downthis.
You know there's some things tofigure out and they're big and
they're challenging, but we havegreat local leadership.
You look at even ourrepresentatives.
I know our legislature, youknow, gets a bad rap sometimes
and there's a balance, but wehave really good people in those
positions that are doing thebest they can, and I think
that's what you do is you try toget good people in great, in
(39:48):
big, important positions thatauthentically want to lead and
serve and you work with them andyou may not agree on everything
, but you try to do the best forthe people you serve and we're
in really good shape.
I'm very optimistic.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Yeah, no, I agree, and you know I appreciate
bringing up the legislature onthat.
I had the opportunity to servein the legislature as well and
love to use that experience also.
And you know I have some verydear friends still from the
legislature and we definitelydisagreed on a lot of things but
at the end of the day we couldrespect each other because I
knew that they were really doingit for their community.
(40:20):
What they felt those peoplewant it wasn't for them.
Regardless if you agree ordisagree with them, their heart
for the most part.
And again you said you do havethose bad apples that come in
occasionally but they weedthemselves out over time they do
.
The people that are there thatreally care are going to be
there and you may disagree withwhat they care about, but they
may disagree what you care about.
And so again it's that respectfor each other on what you
(40:40):
really believe is best for yourcommunity.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
And, frankly, it's what makes this country we live
in.
I mean, it is differingopinions of people coming
together trying to figure outand learning from each other.
It's just great.
What are some other excitingthings in Caldwell that you look
for in the coming years?
Our time went by really fast,but tell us what you're looking
(41:03):
forward to besides the electionin November.
I'm looking forward to thatbeing over and hopefully, on the
right side of the coin, noone's going to challenge you
there, so that.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
But I'm super excited , yeah, for that opportunity
Again just to hike to showcasethe great things we're doing.
But there is so much great.
You know, if you went in, if wehad a time machine, you went
back five, ten years from nowand looked at Caldwell, you
wouldn't recognize it today thedowntown, and so that's kind of
we obviously want to keep that.
But the thought is, even if youwere able to go forward five
years, you wouldn't recognize ittoday.
We have to continue to evolve.
(41:32):
We, when I came in, I know wehad all these great things
Enneacreek Plaza just opened,the Winter Wonderland,
everything's so much going on inCaldwell.
If we just kicked back and said, you know what, this is great,
let's just enjoy the view, thenwe're going to be behind the
next year.
And so that's been.
The goal is just to continuedoing great things and so that
five years from now you don'trecognize it because it's even
(41:52):
blossomed even more to whatwe're doing.
And so there's some greatprojects coming into Caldwell
some new hotel that's going tobe under construction here soon,
which is great.
We do have two hotels there,but they're max capacity the
majority of the time.
We don't have places for peopleto stay.
So then that helps the salestax again and the room tax that
comes into Caldwell Continue togrow.
(42:14):
The Caldwell Night RodeoContinue to partner with the
College of Idaho.
We have great partnership thereand just ideas of things that
make it even better, enhancingtheir sports programs.
They are one of the peopledon't realize this, but they're
one of the best sports schoolsin the country.
They're at their NAIA level, sothey don't get as much
recognition as the biggerschools.
But I'll walk around with myCollege of Idaho National
(42:35):
Championship sweatshirt on fromthe college basketball team a
few years ago and people arelike College of Idaho, what's
that?
And so I'll be able to tellthem about it.
And you know they have thetrack team won the national, the
cross-country team won nationalchampionship and then another
one, and so they are doingphenomenal things, and so I
think that we're going tocontinue to grow that see some
exciting things happening out atour Caldwell Event Center Just
some other really neat thingscoming in Caldwell.
(42:57):
That's the goal.
You know, five years ago I waslike wow, I didn't even know
this was coming.
And now look what we got herein Caldwell.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Well, you're a great leader and we're lucky to have
you lead one of the mostimportant cities here in Idaho
and in the Valley growing likecrazy.
It's just.
It's always good to work withand and see the great things
you're doing in the community.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
Thanks for coming on well, my pleasure and appreciate
you as well and the greatthings you do in our community.
Thanks, thanks everybody.
Today on the Ever Odd Word podcast, we have Mayor
Wagner from the city of Caldwell.
Caldwell is exploding withgrowth.
He is in his first term.
Fourth year of his first term.
It's going to be really greatto catch up with him and hear
about all of the exciting thingshappening in Caldwell, idaho.
He grew up in Caldwell, workedat ACHD, then the city of
(00:20):
Caldwell, he was in thelegislature so just an
incredible history beforebecoming mayor four years ago.
It'll be fun to catch up withhim and talk about all the
wonderful things happening inCaldwell.
Before mayor comes on todaywe're going to hear from Kakoa
Nawahini and Mark Cleverley andthey're ironically going to talk
about Caldwell, our ProjectNorth Ranch.
So first Kakoa and Mark andthen Mayor Wagner.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Good morning, mark Cleverley, chief Leasing Officer
with Allquist.
I'm here with Kakoa.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, Kakoa now.
He now is on the leasing team.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
We thought it'd be good to just take a quick minute
and review North Ranch, justbecause it's a project that we
bought four or five years agoand always thought it was going
to be a 10-year project andwe're down to the last five
acres that you have undercontract.
We can talk.
We'll talk about that in aminute.
But just a little bit ofhistory of North Ranch.
This was a site that St Luke'shad purchased.
(01:18):
They were going to put theirkind of their Canyon County
Hospital out there.
I remember at TOK when I wasthere, that was a huge purchase
back then and St Luke's came in.
Everybody was excited that theywere going to go out there
build that Canyon CountyHospital.
They sat on it for a long, longtime and then we ended up
coming in five years ago andbuying it from them for a good
(01:41):
price.
And the city of Caldwell wasamazing.
When we were working with themit was in their URD Urban
Renewal District and city ofCaldwell was great.
And then fast forward fiveyears and we're like out of
space at North Ranch.
So kind of give us kind of walkthrough what has happened over
(02:03):
the last few years out there.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, and and it's been really cool to see kind of
evolution of Caldwell itself,you know starting back with
Marin and Colas and and hisvision for developing Caldwell
into what it is today.
And you know Stephen Jenkinsand Mayor Wagner now continuing
that and just really businessfriendly to work with and you
know our whole experience withthem out in North ranch.
That was one of my firstprojects, um, when joining all
(02:31):
quests that I kind of got to getmy uh, go kill it out of North
ranch and go jump in.
And so, yeah, originally alittle over a hundred acres out
there and and there and um,we're down to our last four
acres that are under contractand so it's been a really cool
progression.
Like you said, happened a lotfaster than I think anyone was
(02:53):
anticipating.
Um, which speaks a lot to thedevelopment of caldwell, the
expansion of highway 2026 andjust the access of the
development where it's at, andum, you know, one of the the
biggest groups out there and therelationship that we've really
enjoyed developing as dmb, dmbsupply with their 100,000 square
(03:13):
foot flagship store thatthey've got out there.
We got a distribution, you know, over 100,000 square foot
distribution center out therefinishing up their corporate
office, you know.
So it's really cool for them tobe able to plant their flag in
Caldwell in a big way, wherethey started out, and so some
big anchor, a big anchor to thatwhole site, huge for that site.
(03:37):
Yeah, so awesome and what theydo for the community, they're
awesome, they're good guys.
Then you got the Maverick gasstation out there retail store
that we've got one or two suitesleft, you know.
You got the fat guy's deli outthere which, if you haven't been
, probably love fat guy's delilove fat guys yeah um, baskin
(03:58):
robbins just opened up.
we've got a couple other leasesthat are going to start
construction pretty soon andjust got one or two spaces left
out there, um, and then we'vegot the couple other leases that
are going to start constructionpretty soon and just got one or
two spaces left out there.
And then we've got the VAMedical Hospital out there that
finished up Idaho Central CreditUnion branch, les Schwab's,
under construction right now androlling.
And then these last four acreswe got under contract with the
(04:22):
multifamily group, so workingwith the city right now to get
that in there.
But all of these uses comingtogether to be a really nice
mixed-use commercial project.
That also fits kind of what thecity was envisioning for that
area.
And so crazy to have it allwrapped up in four to five years
.
But been awesome to work withCaldwell and ready to do our,
(04:44):
our next project with themhopefully and it it's a
testament to uh these citieswhen they have a vision and when
they.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Mayor Nancolis was amazing out in Caldwell for for
several years, uh, with thedowntown of Caldwell, and then
he was looking here off theinterchange, uh, right there and
with the widening of highway2026 right there, and then and
then looking him having thevision of this is going to be an
(05:13):
incredible site, right, and andso it's it's great it allows us
to come in and kind of do ourthing.
But when we have the support ofa city like Caldwell was
supportive of this, it justmakes our job that much easier,
right, I mean it's, it's amazingand you get it, you form a
great relationship with them andand it's so fun working with
(05:34):
with these cities when they,when they kind of have that
vision and know what they wantit's been great 100% and I think
if you you go to some otherjurisdictions or maybe some
other states and you say, ohyeah, we took over a hundred
acre piece and developed it inless than five years, I think
they'll think you're crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
But, like you're saying, that's a testament to
the team over at Caldwell andour team of being able to
implement and turn vision intoreality.
And it's been really fun.
And I think, like you hadmentioned earlier, a big
proponent of Mariana and Coles'vision and ability to execute on
it is the Urban RenewalDistrict and using that as a
(06:12):
tool to help develop an areathat was a great area but needed
some work and needed thesebusinesses and different mixed
uses to come in and kind oftransform that area.
So we're excited, yeah love it.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, we appreciate your hard work out there, man.
It's been amazing to watch overdifferent mixed uses to come in
and kind of transform that area.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
So we're excited.
Yeah, love it.
Well, we appreciate your hardwork out there, man.
It's been amazing to watch overthe last four or five years.
Yeah, it's been a great ride,it's been fun.
Great job.
Only getting started, goodstuff.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Mayor, thanks for coming on.
We've tried to get you for awhile because we want to hear
all the great for coming on.
We've tried to get you for awhile because we want to hear
all the great stuff going on.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Yeah, super excited to be here.
So, yeah, it's great to be ableto talk about Caldwell and just
be here with you as well, soI'm excited.
This will be really fun.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Hey, I want to start a little bit by just hearing a
little bit about you, because Ithink a lot of people know you.
You're moving and shaking and Ithink you've got a lot of great
things going on.
But I want to start where itall began for you, and so if you
tell us a little bit aboutgrowing up and a little bit
about your background, that'd begreat.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah, I'd love to.
So I grew up in when I was veryyoung in eastern Idaho, born in
Rexburg, lived in Pocatello,idaho Falls.
My dad was a banker In thattime.
There's a lot of acquisitionsgoing on with different banks so
we ended up moving a lot andthat's actually what ended up
bringing my family to Caldwell.
So I moved to Caldwell when Iwas 14 years old, eighth grade
(07:40):
at Jefferson Junior High, mydad's bank got bought out by
Valley Bank, got bought out byKey Bank and that brought him to
Caldwell to manage the Key Bankbranch in downtown.
So that's where I attendedjunior high, high school,
graduated from Caldwell High aswell, just loved the opportunity
to grow up in Caldwell.
It's an amazing community atthe time.
I'm growing into and I'm surewe'll get into this into just
(08:01):
what nobody could have imaginedat that time.
Then graduated high school,ended up leaving the country for
a couple years down to Chileserving a mission for my church,
was able to learn Spanish,which has come in huge unhelpful
in Caldwell with the Hispaniccommunity we have there.
When I got home I attendedBYU-Idaho for a year or two and
(08:23):
then ended up in Arizona.
I went to Arizona StateUniversity, got my degree in
business from when I was thereand then met my wonderful wife
while I was there, also gotmarried and then shortly
thereafter moved back to Idaho.
So she was born and raised inTempe, arizona, right just a
stone's throw from ASU campus.
But she loves the outdoors, thecold not so much, but she loves
the outdoors and so it was apretty easy convince to get her
(08:45):
up here.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
It's that time of year, though she's probably like
by the time we get to February.
I'm just like okay.
Yes, yes, we're all there,unfortunately, we're still like
months away from them, butthat's cool.
And how many kids do you have?
So three, we have three boys,okay great.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
How old are they?
So they are 17, 16, and 11.
So we've got a couple highschoolers and then a sixth
grader Great ages.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yep Great ages and tell us a little bit about
business up until you ran formayor.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
So yeah, like I said, I have a business degree on
that so I was able to utilizethat, Did a little financial
planning when I lived in Arizonabefore we moved back up here,
and then really when I got up toCaldwell, just kind of looking
at different options and what todo and ended up with land use
planning, so kind of went fromfinancial planning to land use
planning and worked for CanyonCounty as a planner there.
Achd did transportationplanning for them and then from
(09:35):
there I was recruited to comeand work for Caldwell actually,
and so I was the senior plannerfor Caldwell for a number of
years also and actually ACHDsare the first time we met I
don't know if you remember thator not one of your projects that
you were working on when Iworked there.
So it was a great opportunityand it was really nice having
the county, the transportation,the city really rounding me out
as a planner.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Incredible background to be mayor.
Yeah, I mean you think of allthe things a mayor does,
basically the CEO of a city.
So you're running the businessof the city, the budgets of the
cities, but also the planning ofthe city.
So tremendous experiencepreparing you for what you're
doing now.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Yeah, and it really has.
And a lot of people ask youknow how do you become mayor and
all of these different things?
And I just say you know, it'sthe experience it's just getting
well-rounded in many differentthings.
You have that understanding andit really you know.
You know God has a plan for allof us and you never know really
why am I going this directionor that.
And it really all of it led tothat culmination of being able
to be where I'm at right now.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Hey talk about.
So there's a lot of greatpeople from Caldwell.
There's just, I mean, just alot of people that just grew up
and you got these great storiesabout Caldwell and what it was
and then it kind of went through.
I think most towns Caldwellsize when things changed from
rail and just the way you drovethrough towns, I think a lot of
(10:52):
Idaho and American towns kind ofwent through this.
Okay, what are we going to be?
And then how are we coming outthe other side?
I think Caldwell is probablythe shining example of coming
out the other side.
But what was it like growing upin Caldwell?
Speaker 4 (11:05):
So it was.
It was great.
It was a lot different when Ilived when I was growing up in
the mid nineties to what it isnow, but I mean it was still
something to be proud of eventhen.
And and you talked a lot aboutthere's so much history in
Caldwell that people do notrealize.
You know several governors youknow from Caldwell.
Frank Stunenberg, who was agovernor, actually ended up
being assassinated,unfortunately back in the early
(11:26):
1900s, but they were greatfounders of the community you
know through.
You know JR Simplot has ties toCaldwell, joe Albertson has
ties to Caldwell.
So many of those great things.
I remember this was years ago.
I was sitting in a legislativemeeting and Butch Otter was
governor at the time and he wastalking.
He talked about Caldwell and hetalked about when he was born.
(11:47):
His family was living inFarmway Village on the outskirts
of Caldwell and I had no idea.
So you just never know who elseis going to pop up.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
we had him on.
I think his podcast getsreleased very soon, I think next
week, but but most of the wholefirst half of it is Caldwell,
yeah, and and the stories andhim working in the plant that
was his first job for Simplotand he tells some great stories.
So, yeah, deep, deep roots.
And then there's some legacystuff out there with the college
(12:14):
, with the rodeo.
I mean there's just so manygreat people and then great kind
of Idaho.
I mean it is the heritage ofIdaho is deep in Caldwell.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Yeah, no, it truly is , and, like you said, it kind of
.
You know, everything in life isso cyclical and Caldwell is a
great example of that.
You know, back in the heydays,in the 50s, 60s, it was the
place to be.
The downtown was bustling,everything was happening, and
then it kind of went into decayfor a couple decades there.
But now again it's thatrevitalization, that phoenix
rising from the ashes.
But, like I said, some of thosethings that have really helped
(12:48):
Caldwell, I think, maintain whatthey have is the College of
Idaho is huge for Caldwell, theCaldwell Night Rodeo, so you
have those elements that havebeen in Caldwell.
Regardless of what phase we arein that cycle, they've been
stalwarts.
You know, cnr just celebratedtheir 100-year anniversary last
year, which is just crazy tothink about One of the best
outdoor rodeos in the country.
They've got some greatimprovements going on right now
(13:11):
to make it even better.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Talk a little bit about those.
I don't think people know, butthere's quite a bit of change
going on to upgrade the rodeofacility.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Yeah, and it's a really great story.
I remember actually it was acouple years ago, so it was at
the 99th Kola Night Rodeo and Iwas walking around Obviously I
loved to go and to be there andran into Ed Lodge and Rob Vavold
and Rob was the incomingpresident for that 100 year and
then Ed is actually thepresident for this year and we
just started kind of talking andbrainstorming and saying, hey,
what can we do to really makethis just shine even more?
(13:41):
And so we came up with somethoughts and ideas and you know
where the city can maybe getsome money to put in towards it.
And then also, and it reallyjust shows the partnerships too
that we have in Caldwell, thatwe're able to talk to them and
be like, okay, we can put in,let's do a 50-50, you know, try
to get both sides.
So it's not just the cityputting going to go to, to meet
them, and they've, I think,almost doubled what we were
going to do.
But it just shows thatcommitment, that partnership,
(14:08):
and so, yeah, they're doing somenew grandstands at the rodeo, a
new press box as well, whichwill be great.
Randy Corley when he comes back,he's one of the all-time great
announcers in rodeo.
He's going to be done by thetime the rodeo this year it will
, yeah, so it will so, andthere's other phases we hope in
(14:29):
the future, but this phase onefor sure.
When's the date for the rodeothis year?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
so it is in mid-august well, it's, it's a,
it's a tradition for us and wejust, we just love it.
Um, uh, and the college it'sinteresting because we have you
on.
I mean, this is, we are veryCaldwell-centric, we had Jim
Everett on.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Oh, he's amazing, Jim .
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And you look at his love for that community and what
he's done at the college there.
And then one of our big-time,our close friends is Mark
Schmidt with DMV which is agreat Caldwell company that,
thanks to you, stayed inCaldwell.
I mean, if you look at whathappened at Sky Ranch and then
North Ranch and the ability tokeep companies where they were
(15:08):
grown is pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
A lot of great heritage there.
Yeah, it is, and, like allthose names you just said, are
just fantastic people.
And that's what I love tooabout Caldwell is we have
amazing businesses, but thegreat thing is the businesses
themselves aren't just amazing,it's the people who run them.
You know Mark Schmidt, like youmentioned, just a great, great
guy, and what he does, uh, jimEverett.
I mean, you couldn't find abetter human on the planet than
Jim Everett, and so it's justneed to be associated with these
(15:32):
people, their businesses.
But learning how great they areand that's what really makes
their business so great is whothey are.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The other thing I was just thinking and um a blend of
everything else.
But people don't realize thatthe Caldwell hospital um is is
HCA um owns that.
But it's interesting when youdig into the way hospitals run
and function.
That is their most profitableand busy and high quality
(15:59):
hospital in their system, andI'll I'll tell you that it's
pretty, pretty amazing.
So so you got kind of goteverything out there with health
, core and employment, and nowyou look at I do want to get
into growth, because I think thesouth part of Caldwell is now
just driving right into Nampaand it is kind of one continuous
community at some point here,just because of all the growth
we've experienced, growth hastwo sides to it too, right?
Yep, yes, it does Just likeanything else.
(16:20):
Back in 07, 08, we were allheroes for trying to do stuff,
and now not so much.
Right, I think a lot of peoplehave come here and said, hey,
enough, but talk us through alittle bit of getting to this
point and then what some of thefuture plans are and some of the
challenges you might have.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, and that's a great point, you know, to bring
up, to be able to discuss that,because, like you said, there
are two sides of that.
You know, back in it's a greatexample back in 07-08, people
were begging anything We'll take, whatever you got, bring it.
And now it's kind of thereverse on that you know very
it's kind of like, hey, let'sput the brakes on in this
regards and I understand youknow there's the concern and
(16:59):
people come, like growing up inCaldwell right, their thoughts
on these changes and this growththat we've experienced.
You know, when I was growing up, caldwell was 20,000 people and
now we're 75,000 plus and soit's changed a lot in that time
frame and so, but it's been.
It's something that we'vereally kept the character of
Caldwell, and I think that'ssomething you can do regardless
of the size of the city as yougrow.
(17:20):
As long as you keep thatcharacter, keep that down-home
feel, then I think the peopleunderstand that and, to be
honest, the majority of thepeople that I hear complain are
the newer people in Caldwell inthe last five to ten years, and
you still have some of thosethat have been there forever.
That actually doesn't surpriseme, though.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Because I think if you look at where I mean before,
indian Creek kind of went frombeing part of that downtown and
you look at everything shutteredup, went from, you know, being
part of that downtown, and youlook at everything shuttered up
and you know, I think back whenwe did the movie theater there
Yep, I mean, the movie theaterhad to be in oh, maybe 10, 2010
maybe.
But you think about go back tothose days and you would walk
(18:06):
around those streets, eventhough the creek was already
kind of developed and you hadTreasure Valley Community
College right right across theright across the way, there was
still not a lot going on.
And it's taken vision andplanning to say, hey, let's
create something where peoplewant to come.
So so if you were part of thator you were a Caldwell citizen,
then you're probably like thisis one of the greatest
transformations in America.
I mean you probably have peopleI mean I've had multiple people
(18:29):
say how did Caldwell do it?
I mean in the region, likewhat's your best example of a
city redefining itself?
It's been Caldwell.
So if you're on that side of it, you're like, oh my word.
We think of the business andthe tax base that goes into our
schools and think of the placeof community.
We have people to raise theirfamily and to stay in the
heritage.
That's the good side of it.
I do think it's maybe some ofthe later people that come that
(18:53):
are like hey, we're here now.
We love this little place, stopit no more, right?
So it'll always be that balanceand I think as economies change
and things change, it alwayscomes and goes.
But gosh, I can't imaginethere's too much criticisms of
what probably is the best-randevelopment vision, however you
(19:13):
want to do it.
I mean, caldwell is the shiningexample.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Yeah, and I would agree, and that's a great point
that you bring up with thatbecause, yeah, those of us that
lived through it, we're soexcited for what we have and I
think we still have thatsmall-town charm, regardless of
the size we have.
It's about the, it's about thecommunity, it's about the things
you do within your community,the events that you have and you
know keeping, like you know,the Coblenut Rodeo, the College
of Idaho, the 4th of July paradeand activities we have.
(19:39):
That is what creates yourcommunity, regardless of the
size of it it's 50,000, 500,000,or 5 million you create those
places and people will come andhave that fill.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Talk a little bit about.
The one thing you've done wellfor 20 years and you continue to
do well, is you are at theforefront of attracting working
jobs like livable working jobsand, in a lot of ways, just kind
of beating up on surroundingjurisdictions.
You just did I mean and I thinkyou continue to do so right.
(20:11):
A lot of that was with yourvision for Sky Ranch.
Some of that was the vision foryour next big project.
You're actively gettingcompanies Idaho Grown and other
companies coming here withlivable wages to locate in
Caldwell, here with livablewages to locate in Caldwell.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Talk about how that's been and how that's going and
what the future looks like.
Yeah, and that's a big part ofyou know, vision and carrying
out that vision that we've had.
And I have to give a lot ofcredit to my predecessor I know
he's a good friend of yours,garrett Nancolis.
That had that vision.
You know he was mayor for 24years, which you don't hear a
lot about these days.
I don't know Andy again kudosto him.
After being in for almost fouryears, I don't know how he could
(20:51):
do it for 24, but he had thatvision and he carried it forward
regardless of the naysayers atthe side, and so that helped
tremendously to set it up where,when I was able to come in into
office, that things were justrunning and it's like just don't
screw it up when you get inthere, just keep things going.
And I think we've done a reallygood job on that.
But a lot of credit goes out toGarrett and to the former
council as well.
That really helped set a lot ofthose things up, to put them in
(21:13):
motion for today.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, one of the things I want to.
I know you've got a new program, your initiative Caldwell
Season of Caring Talk to usabout that.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Yeah, so, yeah.
So that kind of came up.
We were having some discussionabout you know, how can we
create that positivity Again,that down-home feel, what we
want to keep Caldwell, caldwell.
And so we talked about you knowhow do we create more
positivity in our community, andso it kind of started.
We were blessed to have thegiving machines in Caldwell this
year, which was tremendous onthat, and I mean one of a few
(21:41):
hundred, not even a few hundred,just a hundred in the in the
world to have that opportunity.
And so we talked about you know,the season of giving and that
kind of blossomed into thesewhat we call our seasons of
Caldwell.
And so they are, you know,specific points throughout the
year where we're going to focuson something positive and try to
get that out into the socialmedia world, just have people
share the great things they'redoing.
(22:02):
So the first one what we're inright now is our season of
caring, and we're justencouraging people to do
something that shows that youcare.
And you know, take a picture,do a video, put it out on your
social media and hashtagCaldwell, season of caring, and
then that way we can try to getsome positivity out there, the
great things are happening.
It's so easy to complain andput negative things out in the
world today, but we need thepositive.
(22:23):
And so we've got the fourseasons.
Like I said, right now is theseason of caring Um.
In April, towards the end ofApril, it's going to be the
season of service Um and we'regoing to get the service clubs
involved on that.
And then in August we're goingto do the season of learning,
with the school getting back insession and, you know, caldwell
school district and Valley Viewschool district, get them to
(22:49):
partner and really excited to goback to school, and then
wrapping it up with the seasonof giving, again in december,
just, you know, opportunity togive back to the community in
whatever way that is.
And again, and the big thing is, just, you know, highlighting
those great things.
And again it's, I tell people,it's not about showing how good
you are, but encouraging othersto follow your example.
So do that picture, do thatvideo, post it hashtag, call it
a season of whatever the seasonis at that time, let's spread a
little bit of positivity in thecommunity.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
That's incredible.
So right now, going through theseason of caring, I love that.
I love that.
Talk a little bit more aboutthe impact of the school
districts, because one of thethings there's some legacy there
I know Roger Quarles was outthere for a long time your
schools despite sometimes somechallenges you look at some of
(23:32):
the demographics and funding andthose sort of things you've
really done a great job in yourpublic schools in Caldwell.
Talk a little bit about howproud you are of those things.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Yeah for sure, schools are very important.
That comes up a lot.
We had a city council meetingand schools came up and some of
the requests that were goingforward there and it's an
important partnership that wehave to have with the school
districts.
You know we are integral withCaldwell School District and
Valley View School District aswell.
That encompass, you know, thecity and so it's important for
us to be a part of that, to know, you know, what's going on in
(24:00):
the schools, what are theirneeds, and then us to meet with
them and talk with them.
And it's a tough thing becauseyou know we talked about growth
and development and that doesaffect our schools.
You know they are gettingovercrowded and it's a very
different dynamic from CaldwellSchool District, which I was I
was a Caldwell High alum, proudof that.
Go Cougs, my kids go toRidgeview High School, which is
part of the Valley View SchoolDistrict.
So we're deeply entrenched withthat as well.
(24:22):
But it's such a differentdynamic between those two
schools, school districts.
So Caldwell School District isreally basically kind of
enclosed, you know.
There's not much room to growand things of that nature.
Majority of developments we seeis in the Valley View School
District.
So Caldwell's enrollment hasreally stayed kind of stagnant
for many, many years and ValleyView is just the opposite.
You know, going back to when Igrew up, caldwell High, we were
(24:43):
much bigger than Valley ViewHigh School at least twice as
big, I would say.
And now Valley View has twohigh schools and both of them
are a lot bigger than the oneCaldwell High School, and so
it's just such a differentdynamic and you know how do you
plan for that and it's I mean,it's a, it's difficult to kind
of figure that out.
Some state funding would begreat and hopefully they can
kind of figure something out ofthe legislature.
(25:04):
We'll see.
But you know the bonds aredifficult to pass these days
with that two-thirds majorityand that really hamstrings the
valley school district a lotwith some overcrowding.
They were able to get somebonds passed recently, which is
great to get two new elementaryschools.
But with the growth we continueto see it.
Just we need to continue goingdown that road and providing.
You know that's our futureright there, and so we got to
provide for.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that.
I mean we've been discovered.
I mean this thing is notslowing down.
So, whether from from Caldwellwell, even I would.
The other thing about answeringabout Caldwell you don't realize
that you're kind of the gatewayin from the West into the
treasure Valley and and and soyou're in Trapman area or I
(25:43):
don't know what they call itLike in healthcare, they call it
Trapman area or whatever it'slike a referral area to the
hospital.
I mean it goes.
You've got all these smallercommunities really all the way
until you get over to Fruitland,ontario.
There's a dividing line where alot of that just comes to you
right.
So I remember when you look atthose studies of where those
(26:10):
dollars go, a lot of that comesinto Caldwell and it's your
first entry in.
So you've got that.
All those communities aregrowing.
I mean it's crazy to go evenout to some of those smaller
communities.
People are moving in all overfrom California and other places
and you can go out there andlive in this beautiful country.
Some of the most beautifulcountry in Idaho is kind of
Caldwell, around that back endof Southwest Idaho and that's
growing.
Caldwell's growing Kind ofconnecting with Nampa.
Now, how do you plan forinfrastructure and how do you
(26:34):
plan for all of the other needswith education?
And I mean it's a balance right, because you've got property
tax and you've got there's justall of these different factors
and being the mayor, you're theguy that's like okay, how are we
going to manage?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
all this, yeah, and, like I said, there's a lot of
balls in the air and so tryingto make sure you don't forget
about the ones that are comingdown and keep them up in the air
, and it's a difficult thing.
You know the people it's funnyyou hear about.
You know we want more grocerystores, we want more retail, we
want all want any more houses.
It's like, well, if you stopthe houses, you're not going to
get the grocery stores, and theones that are open may close
(27:07):
because they don't have the newcustomers coming in.
And so it's.
You know, I think a lot of it iseducation.
You know, teaching people likeyou know this is you're going to
have some growing pains, butwith that comes all these great
things.
You know we get hammered a lotbecause you know of property
taxes and they're, you know,significantly high, and so I was
like, well, how do you offsetthat?
You know our sales tax is verylow.
The amount of sales tax we getfrom the state is probably less
(27:29):
than half what Nampa gets, andthey're not double our size.
But it's because there's a lotmore shopping opportunities in
Nampa and so we're trying toattract those to Caldwell to
increase our sales tax dollars.
I think people.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I mean not to go into this too much, but there's kind
of the three stools of taxes,right Income tax, sales tax and
property tax.
That's how everything's paidfor and, whether anyone likes it
or not, government needs to befunded for the things it does.
And there's things that it does, like you just brought up roads
services, police, fire, gels,schools.
(28:04):
I mean all these things have tobe funded and that's really the
three ways it's done.
But if you look at sales tax,it is like in a call, well, a
city like caldwell, when thatleakage happens to costco in
nampa or that leakage happens totarget in nampa, or I mean
you're just right there on theborder.
All of those sales tax, um,don't proportionally come back
(28:24):
to you, right?
Speaker 4 (28:25):
yeah correct.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
So if you start looking at, okay, how does all
this stuff get funded?
It is through property tax isyour major thing, unless you
have those other services thatthen bring in more taxes on the
sales tax side.
And that's what I think youprobably try to explain to a lot
of your citizens is it is abalance and you kind of need to
have a vision or a plan for allthese things to create the base
that you need to be able tocover a lot of these things.
(28:47):
Am I saying that right?
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Yeah, I would say so, exactly on that.
And so, yeah, it can be a bigdeal.
You know it's.
You know several milliondollars that we miss out on that
.
We're trying to attract that in, and the great thing about
sales tax is it's, you know, aportion is from your community,
but a portion is from outside,so it's people that are visiting
Caldwell.
So now, instead of going toNampa and giving them your sales
tax dollars, we can keep it inCaldwell and get other people
(29:10):
from around the community andimagine where you're positioned
right.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
You could be that next first place, which is, I
think, what you're becoming Yep.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
No, it's true.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I know I had some friends that their parents live
in Nyssa and so they drive toCostco and Nampa to go do their
shopping and then go back home,and so if we can create more
(29:38):
shop opportunities in Caldwellwhere that stop, you know, for
the Fruitlands, the Nissas, theOntarios, whatever that is,
they're coming to Caldwellinstead of passing us and going
to the next city down the road.
Can you talk a little bit aboutbig growth areas for you right
now in Caldwell, where some ofthat explosive growth is still
happening and you see ithappening in the next three or
four years?
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Yeah.
So I think there's two areas Iwould say Sky Ranch is still
growing tremendously and there'sstill a good chunk of land
between what I'd say Sky Ranch,which is just kind of off of the
freeway, and 2026 out towardswell, ridgeview high school on
that.
So Ridgeview is kind of theoutskirts of Nampa, the very
edge and everything to the westof there is Caldwell Impact Area
(30:07):
and so there's still a lot ofground out there to be developed
and being very interested inthat and as city services extend
that way, you're starting tosee a lot of that go and that's
a great corridor.
It's going to connect obviouslyinto Nampa, meridian and Boise.
Lots of commercial growth goingon out there which is going to
attract a lot of residentialcoming as well.
So that's a very hot area stilland still a good amount of land
(30:27):
out there.
And then over off of Highway 55as well, karcher Road.
There's been some bigdevelopments approved out there.
They're starting to take off.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Sewer and water is getting down there Many people
may not drive that route, but ifyou do I mean you think back to
even eight or nine years ago itis dramatic.
Yeah, you think back to eveneight or nine years ago.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
It is dramatic, yeah, yeah, I remember when, as a kid
, driving to karcher mall, welived out kind of that type part
of town so we'd go up karcherand it was way.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, it was so much different than what it is today
that entire corridor is justbooming and and and you know
much of that is caldwell beingyour impact area.
I think there's going to besome more commercial out there.
There's some other great stuffgoing on out there for you and
that is you know people do.
I mean growth.
I mean you probably hear it allthe time and I'm a developer,
so you know you get hammered forgrowth.
(31:14):
But you know, I think infillgrowth that takes advantage of
existing infrastructure andutilities, that is the kind of
growth we ought to be looking at.
All that corridor that's infill.
Yeah, growth.
We ought to be looking at that.
All that corridor that's infill.
Yeah, right and so, and and.
To your other point over on theother side by sky ranch, over
to where you hit into nampa,that's infill.
So, so in a lot of ways thatstops sprawl from going out into
(31:36):
foothills and farmlands andother things is just exactly the
way it's supposed to be going.
And I think, um, one of thethings we've done a lot of work
with call well over the last 20years.
But you seem to be your publicworks department, your vision
for kind of how to plan thisthing.
You're kind of playing chesswhere a lot of jurisdictions are
(31:56):
playing checkers right.
You've kind of thought this outand I want to talk about your
teams and how much planning goesinto this, because you're kind
of ready for it.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Yeah, yeah, and the team is so important, as you
know.
Right, if you're going to havea successful business, it
doesn't matter how good andgreat you are, if you don't have
great people below you, youwill never succeed, and that's
you know.
At Caldwell, we pride ourselvesin that we have an incredible
what I'd call our executive team.
You know our public worksdirector, police fire chiefs,
our HR I mean our fire chiefs,our HR I mean our HR director,
(32:24):
our planning and zoning director, and the list goes on.
Everybody there our economicdevelopment director just great
people too.
So they're doing great work andthey're good, good people, and
that's you know.
A big part of it is planningthat out and knowing, you know,
where is these roads going toneed to go, where is a new well
going to go for the city?
Those different types of thingsMake sure you have capacity at
your sewer plant, and so they'vedone a great job of planning
that out and preparing for it.
(32:45):
There's still things that comeup.
You're going to have hiccupsalong the way and we learn from
those and then we do the best wecan and continue to move on.
And great thing when thosehiccups happen is the
relationships that we have withthe community, with the
development community, say look,maybe something caught us here,
we need to kind of fix this.
And they're great to reach upand partner with us on that, to
(33:05):
kind of get through thosehurdles or struggles that may
pop up, and then it reallybenefits everybody at the end of
the day.
It benefits the city, thecommunity development, it
benefits the citizens.
So, just working together andovercoming those obstacles when
they do pop up, Super, superwell said.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
That's awesome.
When are you up again for your?
Is it now?
Speaker 4 (33:23):
It is now well November, is it?
Yep, it is.
Is it is now well november?
Yeah, is it?
So?
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
it is this year, it goes by so fast it does honestly
, I'm just looking down at mynotes I'm like oh, it's this
year it is yep, so we're alreadygearing up, so I am definitely
running again.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
There's so many things going on in caldwell.
I want to make sure we see getto the finish line, and so I'm
excited for another four yearsgo fast they did, they really,
really did so.
There's some days it's like man.
It feels like it's been forever, but it's gone by so fast.
I can't believe that we're herealready at this time.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
So well, they're lucky to have you.
You've done a tremendous job.
Um, I think you know you.
You you come in after a guylike Garrett been there a long
time and there's probably some.
You want to be your own guy andyou want to do your own thing.
You probably had your own ideasof how to take this thing and
you've done an incredible job ofsaying, hey, that guy was great
and here's my turn.
Right, that's got to be kind ofa kind of a delicate thing.
(34:14):
Did you come in?
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Yeah, it was.
I look at, robert did the samething behind Tammy right.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I mean she I think her 20 years right, and he's
kind of dealt with that.
But how has that been?
Speaker 4 (34:25):
It's been really good and it was like you said.
Coming in it was different, youknow, and because you come in
and even with all the greatthings, you know that Gerda did
and, like I said, I'd worked forthe city, so I'd seen that and
been a part of some of that.
You still want to carry on that, but also you have your own
kind of thoughts and ideas thatyou want to bring forward, and
so it was a little, you know,the dynamic was a little
(34:46):
difficult at first, but you knowGarrett's a great guy and we
have a great relationship and westill talk.
You, let me know, and I didn'tfor the first, while I wanted to
kind of set my own pace, butthis last year or two I've
really reached out to him a lotand it's nice to have somebody
who's been through so much tokind of help you.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
He's an incredible, incredible guy right, I mean
just a good guy, but also it'sprobably pretty personal, if
it's Right.
I remember talking to MayorSimpson about that.
I mean it just is, it's justpart of it.
So so now I want your baby andyou're four years in and then
(35:24):
you get to do it again.
Yep, how's the council been?
Speaker 4 (35:27):
So they've been.
It's been good.
You know it's there's differentdynamics that come in into that
regards and that really boilsdown, in my opinion, boils down
to respect.
You know, definitely do notagree with the council all the
time and there's some thingsthat I wish went different,
different regards in the waythat things were said or how
(35:47):
they were handled, but at theend of the day you just got to
show respect.
You know they were elected tothat position.
Whether I agree or disagreewith them, at the end of the day
Just try to show respect andcompassion.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Well, and most of the time I mean, I think of again
been doing this for a long, longtime and we do it in all
jurisdictions.
But you'll have most of the time, you know people follow people
and you have a really strongleader from Caldwell.
You love this place, you wantto do the right thing and then
you get these councils that theyalso are passionate people that
want to do it their way Rightand, as long as you like, one of
(36:19):
the lines that I've always usedas long give me someone that's
a critical thinker, that canlook at data and that can
understand people and what'sbest for people, and most of the
time you come together prettyquickly.
Every once in a while and I sawit happen a couple of times
over the years you'll get just aknucklehead that doesn't really
look at data and is notcritically thinking and just
wants to drop a bomb somewhere,and that's tough, but they don't
(36:42):
usually last very long, becauseI think authenticity wins and
people that are genuine anddoing it for the right reason.
And most of the time, we cometogether on things that matter
to communities, even if wedisagree a little bit, but every
once in a while.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
Yes, yes, that's very accurate every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Yes, yes, it's very accurate.
Every once in a while ithappens, and um, and you have a
great group of mayors right nowin this valley too.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
Yeah, really do and we all get along really well,
regardless of our politicalviews.
You know mayor's nice becauseit's, you know, non-partisan um
and yeah, we get along reallyreally well, work great together
.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
You know all the way, and you've been in now long
enough, between you and Debbieand Robert, and Mayor Evans, and
then Mayor McLean I mean that'sthe stretch of this valley oh
and Mayor Steer.
And then can't forget Star.
I mean Star's booming.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
Yeah, yeah, and Mayor Chadwick, he's a great guy.
He's a character I love talkingto him, so he's fun to talk to.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
He's a great guy, but I mean you get a good group of
people that are hearts in theright place, really great
leaders, and we're kind of in areally—people ask me all the
time about growth.
I mean that's just what we get,and most of the time it's in a
negative connotation becauseit's like, hey, what do you
think?
And you're part of the problem,what's going on?
And I'm like well, part of thething is when you have Micron do
(37:56):
what they're doing and when youhave big companies coming here
or that are founded here thathave really great jobs.
I always remind people that ifyou go back two decades ago, I
was on all these boards on theUnited Way board for a while and
you were talking all the timeabout how do we keep our kids
here?
That was like our kids areleaving.
(38:17):
Our kids are leaving.
We need to have jobs.
We need to have jobs.
Well, now you have industry inthe Treasure Valley and in Idaho
where your kids can come here.
That's harder for them toafford a house because there's
been a disparate increase inhousing prices over wages, but
they have really good, livablewages compared to other places
and they have options in careersin almost every avenue right
(38:41):
now.
So that box has been checkedfor families in Idaho, for my
kids, for your kids, for theirkids, for the generations that
are coming.
Now the hard thing is, okay howdo we manage growth?
How do we do it in a way that,because they're going to come
here, people are going to comehere, they're just going to come
here.
I mean we have.
I think this is the greatestplace on the planet earth to be
and live in community, for everyone of the reasons that we love
(39:03):
this place, and why wouldn'tpeople come here?
They're fleeing the coast indroves.
A lot of places that are, thatare like us in the intermountain
West are filling up, and youknow Boise and this valley's
next.
So anyway, I think we just theanswer is we got to try to work
together and the answer I giveit's a lot.
That was a long statement.
To get to the point, I alwayssay look at our leadership.
(39:25):
We have great local leadership.
Look at, like, all up and downthis.
You know there's some things tofigure out and they're big and
they're challenging, but we havegreat local leadership.
You look at even ourrepresentatives.
I know our legislature, youknow, gets a bad rap sometimes
and there's a balance, but wehave really good people in those
positions that are doing thebest they can, and I think
that's what you do is you try toget good people in great, in
(39:48):
big, important positions thatauthentically want to lead and
serve and you work with them andyou may not agree on everything
, but you try to do the best forthe people you serve and we're
in really good shape.
I'm very optimistic.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
Yeah, no, I agree, and you know I appreciate
bringing up the legislature onthat.
I had the opportunity to servein the legislature as well and
love to use that experience also.
And you know I have some verydear friends still from the
legislature and we definitelydisagreed on a lot of things but
at the end of the day we couldrespect each other because I
knew that they were really doingit for their community.
(40:20):
What they felt those peoplewant it wasn't for them.
Regardless if you agree ordisagree with them, their heart
for the most part.
And again you said you do havethose bad apples that come in
occasionally but they weedthemselves out over time they do
.
The people that are there thatreally care are going to be
there and you may disagree withwhat they care about, but they
may disagree what you care about.
And so again it's that respectfor each other on what you
(40:40):
really believe is best for yourcommunity.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
And, frankly, it's what makes this country we live
in.
I mean, it is differingopinions of people coming
together trying to figure outand learning from each other.
It's just great.
What are some other excitingthings in Caldwell that you look
for in the coming years?
Our time went by really fast,but tell us what you're looking
(41:03):
forward to besides the electionin November.
I'm looking forward to thatbeing over and hopefully, on the
right side of the coin, noone's going to challenge you
there, so that.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
But I'm super excited , yeah, for that opportunity
Again just to hike to showcasethe great things we're doing.
But there is so much great.
You know, if you went in, if wehad a time machine, you went
back five, ten years from nowand looked at Caldwell, you
wouldn't recognize it today thedowntown, and so that's kind of
we obviously want to keep that.
But the thought is, even if youwere able to go forward five
years, you wouldn't recognize ittoday.
We have to continue to evolve.
(41:32):
We, when I came in, I know wehad all these great things
Enneacreek Plaza just opened,the Winter Wonderland,
everything's so much going on inCaldwell.
If we just kicked back and said, you know what, this is great,
let's just enjoy the view, thenwe're going to be behind the
next year.
And so that's been.
The goal is just to continuedoing great things and so that
five years from now you don'trecognize it because it's even
(41:52):
blossomed even more to whatwe're doing.
And so there's some greatprojects coming into Caldwell
some new hotel that's going tobe under construction here soon,
which is great.
We do have two hotels there,but they're max capacity the
majority of the time.
We don't have places for peopleto stay.
So then that helps the salestax again and the room tax that
comes into Caldwell Continue togrow.
(42:14):
The Caldwell Night RodeoContinue to partner with the
College of Idaho.
We have great partnership thereand just ideas of things that
make it even better, enhancingtheir sports programs.
They are one of the peopledon't realize this, but they're
one of the best sports schoolsin the country.
They're at their NAIA level, sothey don't get as much
recognition as the biggerschools.
But I'll walk around with myCollege of Idaho National
(42:35):
Championship sweatshirt on fromthe college basketball team a
few years ago and people arelike College of Idaho, what's
that?
And so I'll be able to tellthem about it.
And you know they have thetrack team won the national, the
cross-country team won nationalchampionship and then another
one, and so they are doingphenomenal things, and so I
think that we're going tocontinue to grow that see some
exciting things happening out atour Caldwell Event Center Just
some other really neat thingscoming in Caldwell.
(42:57):
That's the goal.
You know, five years ago I waslike wow, I didn't even know
this was coming.
And now look what we got herein Caldwell.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Well, you're a great leader and we're lucky to have
you lead one of the mostimportant cities here in Idaho
and in the Valley growing likecrazy.
It's just.
It's always good to work withand and see the great things
you're doing in the community.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
Thanks for coming on well, my pleasure and appreciate
you as well and the greatthings you do in our community.
Thanks, thanks everybody.
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