Two Providence City councilmembers want to become mayor

After serving as a member of the Providence City Council over the last four years, John Drew has decided to run for mayor to help complete some of the improvements already finished or underway.

Kirk Allen is the other candidate wanting to replace the current mayor, Don Calderwood, who chose not to seek another term in that position. Allen has been a member of the city council for the last two years.

Drew says he loves the city of Providence and believes a lot has been done to make it even better over the last few years. But he says there is still a lot that needs to be done.

Many people want to live in Providence and, in fact, Drew says when a house comes up for sale it is usually gone within a week. However, he feels that much more needs to be done by way of economic development. In fact, he, along with his supporters, are doing something about that.

“We’ve got a meeting with the Economic Development Corporation of Utah next week to try and get some movement forward on that,” says Drew. “But there really hasn’t been an effort to promote economic development in Providence at all.

“Economic Development (Corporation) of Utah works with local cities to help them attract business. It has various tools and resources to help us do that.”

Allen is a retired educator and says he is running because he loves Providence City and wants to give the citizens and employees a choice between him and his opponent.

“He led the charge on the changing our city government a year ago, from mayor-city council situation to having a full-time city manager,” Allen claims. “It was soundly defeated two-to-one, by the way, but he was the principal person behind that.

“He was the principal person behind wanting to sell the new office building that we had purchased, because it was so sorely needed. Even after we bought it his statement was, ‘I think we ought to sell it even if we lose money.'”

Drew says the complaint he hears the most about in the city is the condition of the streets in Providence. He does not claim to be an engineer, but he says it is important to get the right people to do something about the issue as soon as possible.

Drew says he has contacted some employees of the USU civil engineering department to find out the best way to go. 

Allen says he feels Providence is a well-run city with a great future and he would enjoy being part of the planning. He previously served as a member of the River Heights City Council. He has been both a teacher and an administrator in the education field.

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