(GILBERT, AZ.) – The Gilbert Town Council sees three incumbent candidates this year, and one of them is current councilman Jim Torgeson. OpGov.News met with Torgeson via Zoom on Apr. 1 to discuss his ideas for Gilbert, how he hopes the town develops, and his most important goals.
Torgeson brings chairman experience and a small business owner voice to the council, having graduated from UCLA as a political science major.
Photo Credit: Town of Gilbert / Jim Torgeson
As expected of a local business owner of a sign and promotional shop during elections season, Torgeson met with me via Zoom from his busy shop and opened up about what he hopes Gilbert can look like in the near future, ranging from employment opportunities to thriving economics and culture.
“I don't think there's ever an ideal vision because that means that you've stopped. There is no stopping,” he says, “In the near future, I would like to see Gilbert bringing in more high-paying jobs, more commercial, more tourism, and those kinds of things to maintain the quality of life that we've come to expect and [that] we basically take for granted.”
Torgeson hopes to focus on “creating a better revenue base” rather than continuing to increase costs elsewhere.
As far as what he thinks the residents of Gilbert need the most right now, security and a solid future come to mind.
“What they need is to know that their police and their fire and their roads and everything are stable and going to be accounted for. That their water is there for the future.”
But aside from knowing that their futures are being heavily planned for, Torgeson hopes that the residents of Gilbert can be reassured that there will be no further “sticker shock” like the recent severe increases in utility rates that have been explained by the council as necessary to ensure a future water supply beyond the current ten years’ worth stored underground.
Photo Credit: Facebook
On the leadership side of things, not only had Torgeson never heard of imposter syndrome, but he states he’s also never experienced it. We should all be so lucky.
What does weigh on his mind, though, is the impossibility of pleasing the entire town.
Torgeson says the goal in a public service role such as his is to make people happier and to leave the town in a better state than it was before. He believes that every move a council member makes should be in pursuit of that goal.
“Even if you make the greatest move possible, it feels like half the room is mad at you. You sit there and you stew on that because you really want them to know or at least understand the move.”
The biggest obstacle, he says, is communication.
“You sit up at night thinking about, “how can I express this better so the point comes across in a better way?’ There's no puzzle piece other than that and that's just that's the human condition.”
The contrast is that despite its issues, Gilbert still feels like a small town to Torgeson, who says that despite its size, “You don’t feel overburdened or overstimulated like you would living in some other places that are even smaller but have lost that feel.”
“Generally, people are kind and it's magically kept that feel against all odds. And that's a very intentional thing… to try and do everything to maintain that, whatever it is,” he says, “...It's just a very friendly community, and it's maintained that. That's what I love about Gilbert.”
As for Torgeson’s own goals, he hopes that residents of Gilbert maintain their civility as decisions are made.
“I would hope that people continue to engage, to remember to maintain civility. Gilbert has to learn to be involved in the process so that when things feel wrong, you can find out why. You would hope that that amount of community involvement would be there, rather than [residents] just being frustrated or angry,” he says.
Torgeson’s personal goal for Gilbert, however, is to provide a community resource that is unfortunately minimal with the town and often outsourced to surrounding areas.
“I would like to have a domestic violence shelter of some sort for families,” Torgeson shares, “It is one thing that we do lack in Gilbert. (...) It’s not a huge public investment, but it’s there to protect the most vulnerable people.”
“To be frank, a lot of women in this community do not have the option of going somewhere to avoid an ugly situation [such as] violence,” he continues, “Along with that means the kids. And while government shouldn’t do everything for people, it should be able to serve those most in need.”
Torgeson states that if there were one goal he’d want to accomplish, it would be this one, because “no one deserves to live in physical fear.”
To contact me, please email me at tracy.t@lead4earth.org and leave a comment below with your thoughts!
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