Meet the candidate: Jim Harvey, incumbent for Weber County Commission Seat C

As Election Day nears, KSL NewsRadio is interviewing candidates to get their stance on today’s issues. Keep an eye on our election coverage as we continue to speak to the 2024 General Election candidates.

SALT LAKE CITY — Jim Harvey is the incumbent running for Weber County Commission, Seat C. He is a Utah native and served in the U.S. military. He is a graduate of Weber State University in communication, sociology, and technical sales. According to his campaign website, he worked in travel for ten years before working with Weber County managing the Golden Spike Event Center. Harvey spoke with KSL at Night Hosts Leah Murray and Andy Cupp on Oct. 30, 2024. A partial transcript and the full podcast are provided below.

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KSL NewsRadio has modified this interview transcript for brevity and clarity.

HOST LEAH MURRAY: Commissioner Harvey, I always tell my students that a campaign is the answer to the question, ‘Why [should] a voter should vote for a candidate.’ What is your answer to that question?

GUEST JIM HARVEY: It’s just experience. I chose to stay here and be educated instead of taking opportunities elsewhere. … and [I] love where I live. I love the people here, and I felt good about serving here. Our area, our region, the Weber County region, is unique. It’s unique to the state. It’s unique to this part of the region, and certainly the country. And I have the experience of knowing all the small little details and don’t have to worry about learning them.

I’ve also got some business background. I had some time with a company called Morris Travel that was the second largest, highest lift operator out of Salt Lake, behind Western Airlines. Morris then became Southwest … later on [I spent] some time running the Golden Spike Event Center. [I] decided to get into politics to run Weber County Corporation. We’re now in the top 2% of the country as far as … our credit rating goes. I think that experience, being able to work with teams and having them be incredibly efficient, I think that’s the one thing I can bring.

Jim Harvey on his number one issue

HOST ANDY CUPP: What would you say is the number one issue you want to address in another term?

HARVEY: Housing attainability [in Weber County] is a reality. We have so many people who work at Hill Air Force Base up in this area, but because of the price of housing, and because of the price to live, these young families are having a difficult time being able to get into their first house. So one of the big things for me is to do things smart and right, but [at the same time] protect property rights of those who have worked in the farms their whole life. I’m hoping that people in our area can choose to create wealth [by buying a home] if that’s what they want to do.

Another thing … I want to make sure that our recreation areas stay good and vibrant. We enjoy the Golden Spike Event Center and Perry’s Egyptian Theater. There’s the Ogden Eccles Conference Center. We have a fantastic ice sheet and a shooting complex. There’s an archery center that’s [been called] one of the best in the West. We also have the Upper Valley Memorial Park and North Fork Park. Unfortunately, [Weber County] is not a secret anymore. We’ve had more than 1,000% growth in the last six years up there at those parks. The great thing about that is our tourism is so high up here now that property taxes no longer fund the shortfall of those facilities. I want to keep working to get some of those things continued.

Please listen to the full interview from KSL at Night below.
 

Related reading:  How Weber County, Utah, is preparing for high voter turnout

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