Clearing up the facts about my suposed “6%” response rate as a firefighter
One thing my opponent has been saying about me is that I only have a 6% response rate as a volunteer firefighter. What he doesn’t understand about this is that the 6% is only my average percentage of off-shift response to the number of calls where volunteers were dispatched, and this is only my average for last year, my overall average is much higher. First, that shows you how uninvolved he is in the details of the city and second, I’ve dedicated more time this past year volunteering with the League of Cities and Towns helping lobby for good legislation, I work in Provo, and I traveled a lot during 2024, so I simply was not in town to respond to more calls than that. Two key facts that paint the bigger picture is that my overall off-shift response rate over the past 10 years is closer to 40% average, but even more crucial is that those percentages do not even take into account the hundreds of hours I am actually volunteering on-shift. For years I volunteered for 4-5 twelve-hour shifts per week, and I did that consistently for many years. Just in the past few years as I have been on the city council and working on a master’s degree my availability for shifts dropped closer to 1 shift per week average. None of those hours nor all my continuing-education hours nor my weekly training hours count toward that 6%. Once you know the whole story, you can see that my service is being grossly misrepresented.
Clearing up the facts about my stipend for volunteering as an EMT
Yes, I am an EMT and a fully certified volunteer firefighter with Mapleton Fire Department. I do get paid a small stipend but only for official shifts that I work on the ambulance. All the trainings, certification courses, and firefighter duties I have done have been completely for free.
Yes, I am and have been a member of the Budget and Personnel Committee, however we have not ever talked about, let alone set the rate that EMT’s get for their stipend. That stipend was set by the fire chief years ago and it has not changed during my entire tenure as an elected official. So no, I have never had a say in raising those rates.
The stipend rates for EMT’s are: $1/hr. for uncertified volunteers during active shifts on the ambulance. The rate goes up as an individual gets higher certifications. Over the past 9 years I have worked my way up to the level of an Advanced EMT. The rate for my level of certification is around $4/hr. or $48 per 12-hour shift. During every shift, we are required to be in uniform, ready to respond at the drop of every 911 call and immediately report to the ambulance.
Over the past 9 years I have served hundreds of 12-hour ambulance shifts, thus my stipend has added up over those years to just over $60k. My opponent attempted to use this against me in a recent debate I can only imagine in attempt to deflect the negative attention he has gotten about his past business dealings with city projects. However, if you break it all down, it reveals that not only is my earning a stipend for my dedicated years of unpaid medical training, responding during all hours of the night, and saving lives in my spare time is not a comparable conflict but it also reveals just how many hours I have volunteered.
If you average my stipend rate over those years to say $3/hr. and divide that into $60k, that equals about 20,000 hours during those 9 years. (I’ll also point out that I’ve only been an elected official for the past 6 of those 9 years). 20,000 divided by 9 years equals about 2,200 hours per year. How many hours does a full-time hourly worker work in our society annually? 2080 hours per year. That means over the past 9 years I’ve served enough ambulance shifts to equal a second full-time job. All that in addition to all the certification courses I’ve taken, my training and firefighter volunteer hours, all which were unpaid.
Fact about my ability to put my “all” into being your mayor
All this volunteering, in addition to my regular full-time job, plus my family life, and church service, and Planning Commission, and City Council and working on a master’s degree shows you my capacity to serve. When I am elected Mayor, I am retiring from the Fire Department and wrapping up my schooling. I will then be dedicating all the hours that I used to put into these other things and will focus only on my faith, my family, my full-time job and this community!
Facts about the over-reacted-to mailer drama:
Here are the facts that I know.
I used a local print shop to design and print a positive mailer/flyer for my campaign to highlight my strengths and some great people that have endorsed me. Those flyers were sent out on Saturday the 18th.
The other flyer resembles my flyer, and it was sent out to Mapleton residents using the same mass mailing account that was used to send out my flyers.
I can see why it is a logical assumption that I designed both flyers. The truth is I had no knowledge of or involvement in the negative flyer.
During my involvement in city leadership and most recently during my campaign, I have met many people who have expressed anger and frustration with my opponent. Lots of them spoke of past negative experiences with him whether that was in past business deals or city related issues. Because of that, I know there are dozens and dozens of people in our community who could have and would have motive to create that mailer.
They obviously used the same print shop to design and send out their flyer. I’ve thought long and hard about revealing the name of the print shop that I used and how that could exonerate me in this confusion, however, after reaching out to all of them I cannot find any evidence pointing to the print shop employees or anyone who I might suspect would have done or been involved in creating the negative flyer. So, to protect the reputation of the innocent who might get caught in the crossfires, I am choosing not to name the print shop or any of the many names of the people who I suspect may have been involved.
I have chosen and continue to choose to run a positive campaign. I have and will continue to plead for positivity on all sides of this election, but it's not a crime to voice an opinion and I cannot control the actions of other people.
I hope everyone will develop their own opinions based on facts and not jump to conclusions based on appearances and overreactions to those appearances. I can only ask you to believe me.
My Response to the Recent “FlyerGate” claims
I want to address the claims made in the recent flyer and clarify a few things. Some of the claims are similar to topics that I have spoken about that show where I differ from my opponent, however I hope this clears up any misunderstandings.
Attendance:
Yes, Dallas has missed meetings, but the numbers in the flyer are exaggerated. In addition to witnessing it, I’ve seen the accurate attendance numbers over the past few years and there was a noticeable decline. This helped me realize the importance of staying focused on the responsibilities and optics surrounding the position of trust. As mayor, I will stay fully engaged throughout my entire term.
City Debt:
All current debt was agreed upon by city leadership. The fiber network appears to be a smart investment, and the sewer plant was a state mandate—thankfully, Spanish Fork helped us finance it. Now that we’re just starting to repay both of those bonds, we must be cautious about launching new large-scale ventures until we see how Mapleton Fiber performs.
Creative Revenue:
I strongly support finding new revenue sources—but we must do it strategically and together. I oppose selling or leasing our water rights; water is too valuable. I’ve long supported a wildland fire deployment program, which many cities use to generate general fund revenue with minimal investment. It’s a smart, proven idea.
I’m open to studying a city-run power utility, but we need solid data before moving forward. Our financial position is more stable than my opponent claims, and rushing into another unproven venture is risky. Let’s focus on stabilizing the fiber network and researching future opportunities responsibly.
Ethics & Transparency:
How someone runs their campaign or business is their choice. I’ve been clear in only speaking out about my discomfort with a mayor’s personal company doing large city projects or developing land within city limits while in office. It might not be illegal or even unethical—but I have the right to express concern. Just because others used those and similar concerns in a negative flyer doesn’t make me the villain.
Early in this campaign, I got a lot of pressure to specify what makes me different and I find it funny that as I have done this, instead of just accepting my differences and allowing the community to use those differences to make their choice, my opponent and his campaign team have attempted to turn my perspectives into scandals.
Now, I hope we can spend what time is left in the campaign focusing only on the positive things all of us candidates bring to the table!
Thank you for the overwhelming support! Stay tuned for more updates—and reach out if you’d like to attend or host a cottage meeting.