Washington City Council appoints Ben Martinsen to fill Staheli's council seat

The Washington City Council officially picked its newest member on Tuesday, voting to appoint businessman Ben Martinsen to fill the seat only recently left vacant when former council member Kress Staheli was elected mayor.

Picking from among 10 candidates, the council voted unanimously for Martinsen, with the 4-0 vote marking the culmination of an 11-year journey for him to gain a seat in city government. He first ran for mayor in 2011 and then did it again in 2017, failing to win election either time. In 2019, he ran to be on the city council, again falling short of the votes needed to get a seat. But on Tuesday, after his speech about how he feels connected to Washington City, the four sitting members of the council voted him in.

“I've always had a desire to serve in Washington City because there's something unique that we have here in Washington City that other cities in the surrounding areas do not have,” he said. “That's our heritage. Other cities have that but I feel that Washington City’s is deeper. That's where Dixie began.”

After speaking with the 10 applicants, the council narrowed the list to two finalists, Martinsen and Kody Mitchell. Both finalists spoke on the need for collaboration as a city council, with Mitchell speaking about the importance of the government protecting people’s rights as citizens while also fostering the community to be an open and welcoming place.

“When I was young, the celebrations were a highlight. We knew each other,” Mitchell said. “Events can help keep a community close.”

Martinsen was asked about pressing issues related to growth by Staheli, including his position on two proposed projects, the Lake Powell Pipeline and the Northern Corridor, He said he supports the Northern Corridor, a proposed highway that would cross part of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, although he said his viewpoint on the pipeline has evolved over time.

“I've always been of the stance where we need to conserve where we can," Martinsen said. "We need to start there so that we can continue to live in the desert. I also think that the Lake Powell Pipeline would be needed and so we need to do those things in an effort and not just 100% rely on that pipeline because it may or may not come.”

The open term on the city council was available since Staheli won the mayoral election in November and still had two years left on his four-year term. Martinsen gets to finish that term, with another election set for the seat at the end of 2023.

Martinsen, who has a background in sales and business development, says he’s committed to the city of Washington since he’s had multiple opportunities to leave but always found a reason to stay. During his time in Washington, Martinsen has spent seven and a half years on the city planning commission, which he described as "a good learning experience.”

He said he knew how to help people make sense of regulations and wanted to use that experience to help support the city's plans to revitalize the downtown area. That revitalization could include more events and an effort to attract more commercial businesses to build the tax base, Martinsen said.

“Eventually, if we don't get that tax base will move we will become a bedroom community,” he said. “And it'll hurt everybody's pocketbook worse than inflation is hurting our pocketbook now.”

Bedroom communities are places where the predominant revenue the local government collects is from property taxes and limited sales tax.

Martinsen said he was also concerned about growing transportation options and water resources.

“Any of the problems that come with that growth are the biggest problems that are facing our community,” he said.

Growth and business development were also brought up by the other nine applicants for the position. They all said they love the current feel of Washington but that the city needs to address growth head-on in order to manage the growth in a smart way.

“[Washington has got] so much growth coming at us. We're at a crossroads," said Cory Anderson, one of those candidates. "We can either become a suburb of St. George, where we basically get all the suburban sprawl, or we can remain, you know, our own entity. We can remain a viable, thriving community of its own."

The nine other applicants included a variety of Washington residents including some relative newcomers to Washington like Cameron Black, who said he had only lived in the city for the past five years while others were born and raised Washingtonians like Anderson.

Marissa Thayn, who ran in the 2021 city council election, applied for the open council seat but didn’t get enough votes to be a finalist for the spot.

No matter what happens in the future, Martinsen said he would remain committed to Washington City because he feels connected to the city. His family has been in the area since around the time it was settled.

“It's our responsibility to city council members to serve the community, in whatever aspect that looks like,” he said. “If that means going out and helping with sandbags on Main Street at three o'clock in the morning, because there's a flood, you're out there and helping.”

Sean Hemmersmeier covers local government, growth and development in Southwestern Utah. Follow on Twitter @seanhemmers34. Our work depends on subscribers so if you want more coverage on these issues you can subscribe here: http://www.thespectrum.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Washington City appoints Ben Martinsen to fill Staheli's council seat