‘People really wanted change’: Why challengers won in all 3 Caldwell City Council races
A new era in local government is coming to Caldwell, with the election of three new city councilors who all beat longtime incumbents.
Caldwell is preparing to elect a new mayor for the first time in 24 years in a runoff election on Tuesday, Nov. 30. Voters also decided to bring in three new City Council members along with a new mayor.
“A lot of people were looking for change,” said Diana Register, the incoming City Councilwoman for Seat 3. “There were a lot of incumbents with a lot of experience who served the city well, but it came to a point where people really wanted some change.”
Another incoming city councilor, Chuck Stadick, said that voters were sick of increasing property taxes and that taxes spurred them to elect three new council members.
Stadick served on the City Council in 2015, but lost reelection in 2019. He won Council Seat 2 this year, beating incumbent Dennis Callsen, who has served on the council since 2001.
When Stadick was on the council in 2015, he said the councilors refused to look at increasing Caldwell’s impact fees, which are fees paid by developers on new construction to offset the costs that new growth places on public services. Stadick was pushing for those.
The council recently increased the impact fees, but it was for the first time in over five years, Stadick said.
“It is always reactive and not pro-active,” he said.
Stadick also said Caldwell voters want a City Council who can speak up for their interests in the Idaho Legislature when it is deciding on tax bills.
He said during the hearings this year on House Bill 389, a new law that aims to reduce property taxes by capping the amount of funding local governments can get from new development, the current City Council did not testify. Some Treasure Valley municipal leaders say the caps hinder their efforts to get growth to pay for itself. Caldwell and Meridian temporarily halted development applications in response to the law.
Stadick is an advisor on the Concerned Citizens of Canyon County Committee, called 5C, that advocates for conservative taxation by local governments. The organization went to the statehouse every day the bill had a hearing to testify against it, he said.
“The council members didn’t participate, and they are supposed to represent the taxpayers,” Stadick said.
Stadick and the concerned citizens group plans to go to the statehouse again next session to advocate for a new property tax relief bill.
Did the mayoral election lead to three new council members?
Register said she thought that with Mayor Garret Nancolas retiring, “it seemed like a good time to bring in a new council.”
Register beat incumbent Rob Hopper, who has served in Seat 3 since 2001.
The driving force behind Register’s decision to run was funding for public safety in the city.
Register’s late husband was a Caldwell police officer, and she recalls him one day going to work with an expired bulletproof vest. She said when she pressed him, he said there wasn’t enough money in the police budget to get officers new vests.
“We couldn’t protect them — the people who protect us,” she said.
Register has worked in law enforcement for about 20 years. In Caldwell she worked as a community service officer with the police department and then as a 9-1-1 dispatcher with the Nampa Police Department.
“I have seen it, officers and firefighters working so much that they are burned out, or turnover that is bad because they are underpaid and not getting benefits, or are just underappreciated,” she said.
Brad Doty, who won City Council Seat 1, shares Register’s goal of uplifting the police and fire departments in Caldwell, with better funding.
He agrees that Caldwell residents were ready for a change with Nancolas leaving.
“I think it is more in line with Mayor Nancolas leaving, and he was in there a long time,” Doty said. “And people just wanted a fresh set of eyes on budget, police and fire, on the city’s growth and the city’s taxes.”
Mike Pollard, the current City Councilman for Seat 1, said he congratulated Doty on his election victory. Pollard said Doty would be a great addition to the council, though he questioned what the other two winners would bring.
“I had hoped everyone would reelect the incumbents, just because we did not know who the new mayor was going to be, and I think the new mayor needs experienced city council members,” Pollard said. “I think they should have realized that experience matters, but they didn’t.”
Stadick said the new council is a good thing.
“When I talked to the other folks that won their seats, they are close in line with what I have said, with what we have to do to turn this around,” he said. “I think this is a positive. We have been coasting along and not doing anything except watching our taxes go up.”
Councilman Dennis Callsen and Hopper did not respond to requests for comment.
