Local Idaho

Episode 10 Kate Simonds—Main Street Idaho Podcast Season 3

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Head of Lift Local Idaho, Kate Simonds, joins us for episode 10 of the Main Street Idaho Podcast. As an emerging leader in the Gem State, Simonds outlines the mission of Lift Local Idaho to improve quality of life, economic development, and inform Idaho communities of public policies. As Idaho continues to see growth from outside the state, Simonds advocates for local option taxes to give voters the agency to decide what their community needs.

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0:00

welcome to the Idaho Main Street podcast where we talk about the issues that matter to

0:05

[Music] you welcome back to another episode of

0:12

the Idaho Main Street podcast we've got a pretty impressive guest here with us today an emerging leader in the Gem

0:18

State the the head and leader of Lyft local Idaho the one and only Kate Simons

0:26

how' we do I get all those words right Kate that was perfect Perfect Look at that okay we're off to congratulations

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you're the first K Kate was briefing me beforehand and making sure that um I pronounced everything correctly and now

0:38

we can have fun because I said everything correct once so now if I mess it up again H that's okay right yeah

0:44

that's great it's what post productions for right perfect so Kate uh we're really excited to talk about your

0:49

organization today lift local Idaho all the great things you're doing in that space But first a little bit about you

0:55

born and raised in Idaho graduated from Timberline High School in boisee but then dipped off for a little bit and

1:02

educated at UC Berkeley what was that experience like going from education in

1:08

Idaho to then education at Berkeley of all places you know it was brutal and I

1:13

also think it's one of the best things that's ever happened to me uh it would be hard to imagine a more different

1:20

culture than going from from Idaho to to the Bay Area during the uh you know I

1:26

moved in in 2015 so it's during the the presidential election during black lives

1:32

matter uh during pretty significant culture shifts um in in the area and

1:38

across the country so I I really saw the spectrum of political ideology uh and it

1:45

was a you know like being being thrown into a uh thrown into a a pool with a lot of

1:54

sharks I would say but I learned so much I learned so much about myself I learned so much about my own beliefs

2:00

and uh I feel really grateful for my time there and also feel really grateful to to be back here because I think it

2:06

made me a lot better uh at my job yeah and I love the analogy of you in the

2:11

pool with the sharks I think at times we look in Idaho at the US versus them and

2:16

we have to Discount everybody that's not us but there is some significant value as you mentioned in in being somewhere

2:22

else and then particularly coming back home what was it about uh Idaho that

2:28

brought you back it's the quality of life I really think that I I measure this all the time you know I'm somebody

2:34

who's really Enchanted by I I've done a lot of travel and I'm somebody who you know every time I go to a new city in

2:41

the first five minutes of being there I think wow should I move and every time I touchdown back home I'm so grateful to

2:48

be here I'm so grateful to be able to be on my bike in five minutes to be on my

2:54

skis in half an hour uh I love saying hi to everybody uh on the street um it's

3:00

just a a great place to be and I I just know that anywhere else I might move in my life uh it would be an erosion of

3:08

quality of life so it's hard to imagine myself leaving yeah it it does take leaving to to appreciate home we had

3:14

sender r on the podcast and he talked about wanting to uh make it a requirement for every uh you know

3:21

college freshman or senior you know some in their youth to go live in a different country for a period of time I think he

3:27

particularly said a communist country he said they'll come back and appr apprciate the country and well that may be um a pretty Stark requirement I think

3:34

that whenever people travel they appreciate Idaho a little bit more yeah

3:39

yeah I mean I think it's important to leave also uh to appreciate other places and and recognize how we might grow um

3:47

that's kind of the the Crux of the work that we're doing is is focused on focused on growth and I've learned a lot

3:52

about what I think cities and communities could and should look like based on the Travel that I've gotten to

3:58

do so I'm really great for those experiences and um also really grateful for for the community that we we have

4:05

here and the diversity of communities that we have across our state yeah I think that's that's a beautiful preface to the work that Lyft local Idaho is

4:12

doing uh so this is an organization that that you lead that meets at this this perfect intersection of public policy of

4:21

Economic Development and of community in involvement or Community organization and those three things are all essential

4:27

parts of enacting institutional ch change but also just general Improvement of if you want to get things fixed and

4:33

better that's the place to be and that's where your organization is yeah that's a that's a beautiful

4:39

introduction to our organization I I get to tell people all the time that I think I have the best job in the State uh a

4:45

huge part of my job is getting to travel around the the state of Idaho a friend of mine jokes that I'm Idaho's Johnny

4:52

Cash because I've been literally everywhere uh I spend so much of my time on the road visiting various communities

5:00

uh you know I've been to dozens and dozens in the in the two years that I've been doing this and uh man I just really

5:06

I really love our state and I I love getting to be at the epicenter of that work uh and it's it's such a broad

5:12

conversation as well right like you mentioned that we work in quality of life we work in Economic Development we

5:18

work in public policy and what I've found is these are are really emotional

5:23

conversations because Ians are so protective over this these communities

5:29

that we've built and we're very protective over our quality of life which I think goes to show why the work

5:35

is so necessary and and so important um and it makes the it makes the job it makes the conversations really really

5:41

meaningful because I get to be one of the people one of the many people across the state doing this work uh getting to

5:48

help them protect that and and bolster that and despite all of the challenges that our communities are facing you know

5:56

relating to growth or not uh I get to be one of the people to say I'm I'm here to help you maintain what you love about

6:02

your community uh and it's it's just really influential work really impactful and for our younger listeners we'd

6:09

encourage you to go on Spotify and listen to the song I've Been Everywhere Man by Johnny Cash they're probably missed that

6:16

reference but I caught it don't worry Kate I caught it thank you now then walk us through a little bit about the

6:22

mission so lift local Idaho has a fantastic name right it uh envelops the

6:28

imagery of of elevation of of rising up and then The Branding is awesome the

6:33

logo everything's cool but that's really just the paper tiger of it uh there's actually a a meaningful and passionate

6:40

Mission talk to us about why that exists and why you care so much about it yeah

6:46

uh first of all thank you for complimenting our branding I can't take credit for that that was done by by our

6:51

friends at Drake Cooper here in boisee and what I love about our logo is we have a mountainscape like like many you

6:57

know nonprofits like many organizations based and Idaho have in their logos but what we have is a a corner cornered off

7:05

uh triangles making up this mountainscape which are meant to represent the different regions of our

7:11

state um and what I love about that is that Idaho is you know relatively small

7:17

we're I mean a big state geographically but we don't have that many people and what we know in this work that we've

7:23

that we've done and in the research that I've done is these regions could not be more different but together we have this

7:29

this this shared state that we're all really proud of so uh thank you for for complimenting the the logo I think it's

7:35

a it's a great one um but yeah our lift local Idaho we were we were founded in

7:41

officially in in 2023 unofficially in 2022 by Casey Lynch who is the CEO of uh

7:49

roundhouse and our mission is to give all voters in Idaho the choice and the tools to directly impact uh and address

7:56

their unique Community needs um and this is of course uh including but is a is

8:02

not uh limited to the expansion of local option Authority which is uh kind of our

8:09

our our big thing right now so we're focused on uh who can utilize local option Authority who might use it in the

8:15

future and what that might look like for the state so I care a lot about this work um because as I as I've said and as

8:23

as you introduced me I am a lifelong idahoan I love it here um and in my my

8:29

travels with this job I have had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of conversations with idahoans across the

8:36

state whether they're you know concerned citizens their Business Leaders their

8:41

legislators their you know City administrators um whoever it might be

8:46

everyone really cares about Idaho everyone really cares about their community and they're also very aware of

8:53

the problems that their communities are facing idahoans are are in tune uh with

8:59

what's happening happening at home and they share those stories with me I carry those stories with me in in the work

9:05

that I do in the advocacy work that I do um and I I just care I care a lot about

9:10

about this work personally and selfishly I just I love it here I I want to

9:17

protect this state I want to protect the city that I live in um and I want to make sure that future Generations get to

9:23

enjoy it as much as as much as I did Growing Up So I'm really proud of the the work that we're doing and um really

9:30

hoping that we can continue with this mission of just letting cities have the ability to invest the in themselves the

9:37

way that they want to yeah and and when you talk about allowing these cities to

9:42

have the resources and tools they need to put government closer and closest to the people uh it feels good and it

9:49

mirrors a lot of what we see in campaign season when the Flyers show up in our mailbox and you know it seems like most

9:56

if not all candidates support local control and want to return as much power

10:01

back to their local leaders so you referenced um you know local taxing Authority uh you know the the ability

10:08

for taxing policy to be a solution to some of these growth challenges and for those of who aren't familiar with this

10:14

mechanism or this resource which is a vital part of what your organization is looking to do give us the oneone on it

10:22

sure so uh the tool itself is called a local option tax the formal name for it

10:28

is a non-property local option sales tax so what it looks like um in many of the

10:35

other states in the nation 37 of them including 56 of Idaho's neighbors the

10:41

exception being Oregon which does not charge any form of sales tax um it's also something that's used internally in

10:48

Idaho as well in 22 of our communities here those are all Resort uh Resort

10:54

cities with fewer than 10,000 people uh it's it's a local option tax so you

10:59

might you may have heard of it as a a penny tax or a tourist tax ultimately what it is is a tool where a city can

11:07

increase sales tax by a quarter percent up to a percent and that addition that

11:14

additional sales tax is maintained locally to be used on infrastructure and public service projects so a lot of the

11:21

time you'll see it for things like Street repair uh water police fire and

11:27

so on but what is unique about a local option tax is that is ex it is extremely

11:32

transparent the it is designed to be extremely transparent so it has to be voted on by the voters in in a specific

11:41

region so in you know various uh case studies across the country you see this happening at the city level at the

11:47

county level whatever ultimately voters have to know what the additional sales

11:54

tax is they have to know exactly what the project is or what the project projects are and the predetermined and

12:02

uh mandatory Sunset period so voters have all of that information before they are given the option to vote Yes or no

12:10

and ultimately the buck stops with them so a city like uh the city of Twin Falls

12:16

for example they're kind of our quintessential case study for what local option could look like in the state of

12:22

Idaho where they have a population of just over 50,000 people on any given day

12:28

in additional 100,000 people come into the city of Twin Falls which means that

12:33

public services are diluted for residents of twinfalls it also means

12:39

that property taxpayers in the city of twinfalls are paying for the infrastructure and public services to be

12:46

provided for the additional 200% of the population that comes in on any given day so they need more police they need

12:52

more fire they need more water they need more Broadband they need more education all of the things that fall within this

12:59

basket of infrastructure uh and so if the city of twinfalls wanted to they could increase sales tax by up to a

13:06

percent uh and that depends on on what the city of twinfalls would want to do and ultimately uh I have been told by by

13:15

um their team that that could raise up to almost $16 million a year for the

13:21

city to provide those services and the City of Twin Falls if they chose to uh

13:27

because they of course are already gener generating that funding in in property taxx Revenue they could potentially

13:33

decrease property taxes for the folks in their area by up to 40% so it really

13:39

looks like a diversification of of funds for the city um and so Twin Falls is is

13:46

a a really great example because they need this funding right they they want to provide the highest quality of life

13:51

possible for the folks the the residents in their area who are already paying these property taxes and and love the

13:58

city of twin Falls that they live in um in their most recent City survey they actually were able to ask this question

14:05

to their residents and say what do what do you think about two things one should we have the option to do this and two

14:12

would you vote Yes if if we were to put this on the ballot and what we saw was

14:17

that 70% of those respondents supported the idea of Twin Falls having the option

14:24

to ask their voters if they would like to enact the tax um and so we we know

14:29

that that is is a really popular idea um within cities and uh yeah we're we're

14:36

excited to be able to offer that as an option potentially and really become the forum for those for those discussions to

14:42

happen in all cities across the state whether they look like fnf Falls whether they are a University Town like

14:48

Pocatello like Rexburg like Moscow or whether they're a rural area with maybe

14:55

they've got a a pizza parlor and they need to stripe the the roads if they can

15:00

get a percentage of sales tax earned in their area that might be the uh be the

15:05

reason why they're able to maintain or improve the quality of life for the people who love and live there yeah I

15:12

think that's a great explanation of the tool is we dig in a little bit more to our our libertarian listeners uh they

15:18

love two-thirds of that right they love local they love option but you lost them at tax help us understand you you

15:25

referenced a few times the value of being able to reduce taxes out where you also referenced the tax burden shift I

15:32

mean and I'm binging the the Kevin Costner TV show Yellowstone and so a lot of this is ringing true of this idea of

15:38

having Outsiders come in and maybe take more of the tax burden than than the residents uh all this seems very nice

15:44

but why is this tax policy at times actually the fiscally conservative

15:51

option yeah thank you for thank you for asking that question you know a lot of the time you hear folks especially I

15:59

would say in in the state of Idaho saying that we should run government more like a business and the um the

16:06

truth of that if that if that were to be the way that things were right now in places like Twin Falls in places like um

16:14

I mean really any city that has any sort of it's on some sort of Transit Corridor maybe there's tourists whether they are

16:21

out of state or Regional you have people coming through town in a place like twinfalls for example where they maybe

16:28

have 200 to 250% of their population coming into their town on or the size of their

16:34

population coming into their town on any given day if it were a business it would mean that they're charging only a

16:41

quarter of the customers that walk through their door and so it doesn't make a lot of sense for us not to be

16:48

charging and diversifying who is paying for these infrastructure and those public services so from a business

16:54

standpoint that's that's the wrong thing to do right we also know that cities

16:59

because we are are limited they're Limited in what they can do uh to fund these infrastructure and public service

17:06

projects right they can either increase property taxes that's

17:11

the the tool that they have which is is limited right they can only do that up to a certain percent they can ask for

17:16

funding from the state or from the federal government which is not a not a popular choice either or they can

17:23

withhold from investing in in those Investments to begin with and we know

17:29

that delaying those maintenance costs can actually make those projects way more expensive down the road so the

17:35

number that I often I often see in my research is up to 600% projects can become up to 600% more

17:44

expensive if we kick the cost down the road uh and choose to deal with it at a

17:49

later point and that's just not something that is is the fiscally responsible choice right we know that

17:56

someone is going to have to pay for water services at some point someone is going to have to pay for roads for

18:04

police for fire for a new squad car whatever it might be uh and the right

18:09

choice the the cheapest Choice the the most fiscally responsible choice is to take on those costs as they come up um

18:16

not only because that's the best thing to do for for our residents and their quality of life but also because it's

18:22

the uh it's the cheapest choice and the timing of this matters because we have almost become a

18:28

inoculated to the phrase that Idaho is experiencing unprecedented growth to the point that we just kind of all accept it

18:35

but we almost all need to just take a breath and acknowledge that Idaho's unprecedented growth matters and at lift

18:42

local Idaho you you all talk a lot about how there's a right way to manage and

18:48

experience growth and there's a wrong way to grow and you know we're not we're not counting heads as people come in and

18:54

say okay sorry uh we're full for a little bit come back later it's coming and most these cities and these local

19:00

communities have to just inherently be reactive to it and as you reference the

19:05

idea of deferred maintenance and it's everything from you know roads and bridges to police and schools and all of

19:12

these complicated challenges that come as a result of growth what is the wrong way to manage growth and what is the

19:18

right way to manage growth right well the wrong way to manage growth is to ignore it and hope it doesn't happen and

19:24

I think that the truth of the situation and it it's it's hard for some people people to believe and it's it's hard for

19:30

some people to hear but Idaho is growing because Idaho is great and we've done a

19:35

really fantastic job building out a set of values that we all share we've done a

19:42

really great job building a quality of life that people are attracted to and people are moving toward uh families

19:48

want to be here young people want to be here um some retired people want to be

19:54

here of course businesses want to be here and if we ignore growth it means

19:59

that we are going to have skyrocketing property taxes later on we're going to have eroding infrastructure we're going

20:06

to have worsening traffic we're going to have overcrowded schools and we are going to have a quality of life that is

20:12

increasingly vulnerable and that is not going to affect whether or not people

20:17

move here people are going to move here because it's beautiful because we're familyfriendly because our economy is great we we know those things to be true

20:25

and so we know what we need to do is address that growth headon make sure that we're ready for it and make sure

20:31

that we have the systems in place and the tools in place to make sure that we're we're capable of handling that

20:36

growth when it comes and the local option tax is a key resource to help

20:42

manage that growth right it's one of the key resources to help manage that growth uh local option is is certainly not a

20:50

silver bullet for the state um you know not all of our our cities even have a

20:55

business that charges sales tax so it's it's not something that is a prescription it's not something that is

21:01

going to fix all of the infrastructure needs that we have so we know um because

21:08

uh of the research that we've done and we actually have a really cool tool on our website that we built out in

21:15

partnership with the association of Idaho cities and a group called Clearwater uh where we were able to

21:21

survey Idaho 200 cities and get a sense of what their infrastructure needs are

21:27

and we turned it into an interactive dashboard so it lives on our website and it's really cool because you can filter

21:33

by type of need by city by District by County by zip and really understand what

21:40

the needs are across the state um and what we found is first of all we have an enormous amount of needs at the at the

21:47

city level so uh with about 75 75% response rate we saw about $4.8 billion

21:56

in unmet infrastructure and public services needs uh so that's billion with with a B that is a a massive number and

22:03

is a I I think a bit of a jump scare it feels almost unfathomable how big that

22:08

number is but we also know that almost half of that is water related right

22:14

these are these are drinking water and and Wastewater needs and about 95% of water infrastructure is paid for

22:22

at the local level so that's scary right we know we have a lot of cities across the state have needs that will need to

22:30

be funded exclusively at at the local level and what we we learned is that

22:36

actually rural cities are disproportionately burdened with the task of taking that on because if you

22:42

have a town of 200 people your water project might

22:47

be $23 million it might be $30 million and if you have a larger population

22:52

you're able to distribute that amongst the population right who who pays for it but if you have a couple hundred people

22:59

there's no way that a small town like Gooding for example which is you know facing a um they they need a new a new

23:06

water infrastructure system they have a $23 million project the only way that

23:11

they are able to to do that is by potentially tripling the water bill for

23:18

the residents who live there so we know that local option is a is a great option

23:23

to be looking at for cities like Gooding cities like we see cities like Moscow

23:30

Rexburg Ammon cordelan um a lot of these Pocatello even a lot of these

23:36

communities that have a a tourist population flowing through whether they're there you know to go to they're

23:43

they're on their way into Utah they're going to Pocatello for a soccer game they're going up to Moscow for for

23:50

homecoming weekend or maybe they're doing what I did last weekend they're driving up Highway 95 and they stop into

23:58

to a gas station to uh get a snack and and fill up the tank on on the way up to

24:03

a work trip right there are people doing all having all kinds of movement across the state and if cities are able to

24:10

capitalize on that um as they as they should be right um then it will allow

24:16

them to help fund those infrastructure needs so it really is a conversation of

24:22

it it's not a conversation of should all cities have a local option tax it's

24:27

could they and and do they have the right to and that is the conversation that lifw Glo is is really uh excited to

24:34

facilitate so there are people listening right now who are hearing this and say yeah makes sense uh it gives the it

24:40

gives transparency it gives local power to local voters to decide whether or not that's a mechanism that they want to use

24:46

for funding and then the the question is with the percentage of approval that

24:52

you've talked about and just the common sense layout of of such a a fiscal policy why has there not been more

24:58

movement on this front yeah it's a it's a great question um you know I was up in

25:04

I was up in Moscow last week having a conversation with a bunch of businesses on on this exact topic and there was a

25:10

woman in the audience that said um you know I didn't really know what I was getting into today but I actually saw a

25:15

presentation similar to this in the 80s and it was uh you know it's funny right

25:22

it's it's clear that there have been a lot of people who have been shepherding this conversation for a long time time

25:28

and llo Glo is certainly not the first group to be taking this on and I'm in a

25:35

position where I get to look at at all of the efforts that have preceded me and

25:40

I get to assess what worked what didn't work what can we what can we do differently and that's why we're taking

25:46

such a unique approach we're a a business-led coalition first and foremost we're a nonprofit and I would

25:52

say arguably most most importantly we are we're Statewide and so we know that

25:58

there are a lot of people that have been left out of the conversation there are a lot of needs that did not exist

26:05

previously that are now at a Tipping Point uh and there are just a lot of people who have moved to the state since

26:10

these these conversations have previously happened that deserve to have a voice in this conversation so previous

26:16

efforts uh previous efforts have failed of course um which is which is why we're we're taking on this work now and I

26:24

would say the the answer to that question is because um despite unilateral or I guess

26:33

Universal excuse me um despite this sort of ubiquitous support from cities from

26:40

chambers from advocacy groups from Economic Development groups from citizens from people who are adjacent to

26:47

politics or adjacent to business folks who understand that our quality of life

26:53

is at risk and our infrastructure needs are reaching their their tipping points these are things that have been true for

27:00

a very long time yes the the severity of those needs has become more uh

27:06

significant yes the the salience of the topic has increased but ultimately the

27:12

reason why this has not been successful

27:17

legislatively is because the legislature has not wanted us to be successful we know that there are legislators who

27:24

believe and have believed for a long time that this is a decision that should not within within cities so it's a

27:30

really uh paternalistic relationship I would say between the legislature and and cities and cities are asking for

27:37

more cities have always been asking for more and this is this is why the conversation has been going on for

27:45

decades and decades at this point uh to which I respond with you know when are we when are we going to stop wasting

27:50

time talking about this if this is what cities are so desperate for if Idaho is really that much of a home rule state

27:57

then the legisl should take property tax relief seriously and infrastructure

28:02

funding seriously and let cities have what they're what they're asking for and have been asking for for decades um this

28:08

is within their power to to address those things with with one swipe um and they they haven't done so so uh we know

28:14

that there are a lot of legislators who are really eager to to work on this we recently finished our uh candidate

28:22

survey for the general election coming up I have heard from a lot of legislators that they're really excited

28:27

to work with us on this and that there are a lot of legislators who care a lot about the the communities that they

28:33

represent and so there's there's movement uh we know that progress is is incremental in this space and it's it's

28:40

really about moving the needle which is why we have set ourselves up to build a

28:45

a long uh a long on-ramp so we're not introducing legislation in 2025 uh we

28:51

might not introduce legislation in 2026 um we have a lot of relationships to build and frankly a lot of Education

28:57

work to do we know that the word tax is scary to folks and no one wants to be

29:04

charged more and we know that everyone is hurting right now and what we're our

29:10

primary focus is is really not to do not to do any harm so we have a lot of work to do to do the research we need to do

29:17

to make sure we're building a tool that will effectively work for for communities across the state and a lot

29:23

of uh education work to do and relationship building with legislators to get them to understand that yeah this

29:30

is something that has focused on boisey in the past it's something that has this tool the conversation around local

29:35

option has focused on things like transportation in the past and we're really hoping to be Shepherds of a much

29:43

broader conversation to discuss all infrastructure whether that's Transportation whether that's water

29:49

whether that's Public Safety whether that's education um and include all regions of the State uh to make sure

29:56

that this is something that ultimately you know will impact idahoans the way that we want it to so if I'm a legislator who doesn't

30:06

support um you know this this mechanism or or cities being having the autonomy to kind of make these decisions briefly

30:14

explain to us what my thought process is in opposition to this yeah well you know

30:19

the first thing I want to say is that it's fine if people don't want to have a local option in their city that is okay

30:25

it's not my job to tell a city what to do with their economy with their

30:31

money with their finances that's not up to me nor should it be right I'm not I'm not the Arbiter of this policy but I do

30:39

believe that every city should have the same toolbox regardless of what their economy looks like regardless of who's

30:46

in their City who's coming into their City who's leaving their City how many people live there what their industry is

30:52

we think that all cities should have all communities really should have the same access to tools

30:58

and that seems to me to be a pretty Idaho in value so I would first and foremost say to those legislators do you

31:06

agree with that right should every city have have equal access to these tools and ultimately whether a city chooses to

31:13

use this or not is up to them and I'm excited to be setting up a a long paper

31:19

trail of research for them to be successful with those campaigns should they choose to endure them later on uh

31:27

but right now again the conversation should focus on should cities have the right should communities have the right

31:32

should Counties have the right to even ask their residents this question so the

31:38

the Crux of this isn't necessarily okay do you agree or disagree that your city should have this tool um the answer is

31:46

that not every city it doesn't make sense economically for every city to be able to utilize this and what is so

31:52

great about the tool itself is and the way that it works now and what we're hoping to expand is that it is extremely

31:59

malleable so you look at a an area like um Valley County you know you have Mcall

32:05

you have Cascade you have Donley all of these communities have the ability to utilize local option all of them apply

32:12

it differently and use the funds differently based on what their Community needs and where they're

32:18

getting their financing where those tourists are are coming from and so that's really what we're we're hoping to expand is let cities do what they do

32:26

best which is know themselves right so that is the first thing that I would want to to say to a legislator in

32:32

opposition is okay great uh if if this is something

32:37

that you're personally opposed to that's fine maybe your city is opposed to it as well maybe your population is opposed to

32:43

it in addition that's fine but shouldn't we all have equal access to the tool and

32:49

I believe that most legislators would say yes no legislation coming so all of our

32:54

legislative listeners can take a deep breath knowing that you're not going to come knocked down on their door with with a piece of legislation but to

33:00

listeners who the listeners who are suddenly uh born again now when it comes

33:06

to local option tax and just these General conversations surrounding uh

33:11

growth and empowerment of cities what can we do H how do we get involved is there a spot for us in the

33:18

Coalition first of all I love the phrase uh Born Again local option supporters that's

33:23

hilarious I'm hoping I'm hoping to convert all of you um yeah there's a there a few ways that that you can get

33:29

involved the first thing is just having a conversation with me as I've said I spend a lot of time on the road getting

33:36

to travel the state and I would love to come speak to to you to whoever's

33:41

listening um reach out to me and and let's let's have a conversation about what your what Your Community needs are

33:49

and if local option might be uh might be a good tool for for your community so I

33:55

often speak in you know various settings I'll speak with Chambers I'll I'll do presentations even down to things like

34:02

lions groups for Lions Clubs um I'm all over the place and would love to would love to to come to your community it's

34:09

it's my favorite part of my job so reach out to me uh join the Coalition if you'd like to there's a a few tiers of of ways

34:16

that you can be involved whether you're a a supporter an advocate or a champion

34:22

and ultimately that just looks like joining the conversation and and doing what we can to to educate folks on on

34:29

what this might look like uh in the years to come and to learn more your

34:34

website is lift loal idaho.org lift loal idaho.org and the best part of Kate

34:41

coming to visit is not only is she gonna speak but she's gonna bring her dog

34:46

olive and Olive is a Springers spanel adorable we were bonding earlier on our love for Springers now Kate since this

34:52

is your first time on the podcast there's a few things we have to do to initiate you number one is we got to commit you to coming back next time we

34:58

got to get you in studio because you've been everywhere so you're going to have to come here in studio and have an interview so that's step number one

35:03

perfect do I get a walk song yeah it's gonna be uh Johnny Cash so you got it but we expect you in Black

35:10

next time all in black okay that's a Johnny Cash reference for our younger listeners that was not me telling

35:15

anybody what they should and shouldn't wear okay number two uh you've been everywhere so we have to know as you've

35:21

been traveling through Idaho what is one little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that you've been to that you would recommend

35:26

if somebody is traveling through through that town they need to try that place this feels

35:33

proprietary you can add a you can add a disclaimer I do I I have a I have a list

35:38

on my phone of of spots that I found whether they're I I love I love Hot

35:43

Springs um I'll I'll visit different hot springs or different Trails um I love to

35:50

uh you know put the put the skis in the car the bike on the car and um ex get to

35:55

explore our our our state as we uh as I as I take on these work trips um let's

36:03

see oh I think it was in the vice presidential debate one of the candidates looked at the other and said that is a daming non-answer and that's

36:09

what I'm going to throw at you Kate is that was a daming non-answer I don't want to give away my spot that's all

36:15

right well how about you what what's worse uh giving us your favorite Hot Springs locations or your favorite

36:21

restaurant locations I don't know the answer to

36:27

that okay there there's a really really great Hot Springs between

36:33

um I don't know if I can give this to you brenon all right well we're gonna we're gonna work on some trust okay

36:40

let's build some trust here on some trust um let's it uh you know what I

36:45

this is this is a really is not a unique answer but I love

36:51

to get a hot fudge milkshake at my father's place uh after skiing at Brundage or after any sort of uh

36:59

activity near Mcall so we'll use that answer we're gonna take that now the second question gets

37:06

harder so if you struggled with that that one we're in big trouble Kate book

37:11

recommendation one book that you would recommend our Millions our hundreds of millions of listeners right now uh I

37:18

mean List yep we got a lot of people listening what is the one book you would recommend that everybody needs to go out

37:24

and read because it will change their life does it need to be Idaho related I

37:29

I mean I read a lot of books on a on tax policy these days um that director Adams

37:38

when we had him on he told us about reading about regulations to his daughter to put her to sleep at night so

37:44

if it's something as dry as that we'll take it but we will also judge you in the process no no no I I've got I've got

37:50

interesting uh let me think you know I

37:59

I love I'm gonna you know what I'm going to do is I'm going to uh highlight a a local author uh I really really loved

38:07

Cloud cucko Land by Anthony dor uh who uh identified a a fake mountain town uh

38:16

in Idaho and a lot of this book takes place in it and it's it's about you know

38:22

protecting the natural environment it's about um doing what we can

38:28

to create and protect a sense of home uh and I just I just really loved it um so

38:35

I'm going to say cloud cucko Land by by Anthony dor Cloud Cuckoo Land yeah all

38:40

right well we can we haven't had that one come up yet very much about supporting our public libraries which is

38:47

something that I'm really passionate about so uh shout out shout out Tony door and uh and our our public libraries

38:54

and our public spaces I love it Kate you have been so so generous with your secrets today as well as your time we

39:00

appreciate your inaugural session on the Main Street podcast we've got you committed to coming back and coming in

39:05

studios we love what you've taught us today about the power of local control and the ability and tools that can be at

39:11

people's disposal this is the first of many conversations as you go out and build relationships we hope that we too

39:17

can be at the table and help you in your endeavors but until then thank you so much and we'll look forward to seeing

39:22

you and the adorable little puppy next time you got it see you Idaho Falls

39:27

thanks Kate [Music]