Eric Pool

Below are some community questions for Eric.  We will add more as we receive them.

About Me

CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE

1. What is your main purpose in running for this position? 
I have followed and studied many of the current topics in our community. I have the education, experience, and time to help serve in our community and I wanted to offer voters a choice for different ideas and directions. I’m very grateful for our community and I want to contribute and help by giving back. 

2. Have you ever held another office, if so where? 
No 

3. What are your qualifications for this position? 
I have a Bachelors degree in business administration and over 30 years of business management experience. I have seven years experience as a commercial construction project manager. I have experience in many different jurisdictions throughout the country. I have extensive experience in human resource management, scheduling, budget management, commercial lease interpretation; personnel management, development, and accountability. I also have a great deal of knowledge around solution based problem analysis. 

4. Do you have any specific goals you are looking to achieve during your term?
I hope to share and implement a more fiscally conservative approach to county budgeting, facilities management, and governmental services. I want to listen and understand what tools and training the current county employees need to help make their jobs and responsibilities easier.

5. How do you propose growing local businesses?
The first area is to promote responsible budget/spending reductions to help lower property taxes on area businesses, farms, and residents. This allows for more disposable income to be spent in the local economy. By reducing property tax requirements we can also offer tax incentives to recruit new businesses to the area. We must work toward creating a business friendly environment in our county. That starts with creating more streamlined fiscal policies and a reduced tax burden for area residents, businesses, and farms. 

6. What do you think about transportation and infrastructure challenges here?
Public transportation is very important even small communities such as ours. It’s critical for the county and city to work together to provide safe, reliable public transportation. But we, as a community must make it a priority. It will mean a redirecting of resources from other areas. Transportation is critical to economic growth and development, as well as the health and safety of the community. 

7. How would you get the community more involved in decision-making for the city?  Transparency with local meetings is absolutely essential. The county commissioners meeting should be recorded and streamed online so all citizens can view the details of county business at their convenience. Not everyone can make meetings. I plan to encourage email, face to face meetings, town halls, and an improved streamlined county webpage that is modern and user friendly. 

8. There have been some safety concerns and crime issues that seem to have increased lately--how would you address those issues?
Again, we must support our law enforcement agencies with resources and continued training. I would support accountability by our county attorney to prosecute crimes and support law enforcement to help mitigate the recidivism rate in our county. Increase social media use to inform the public on current crimes, BOLOs, and community policing policies.

 9. What's your stance on the EPIC proposal? 
I absolutely support the EPIC proposal. I think it’s extremely important to remove the burden of property tax from property owners. A consumption tax helps to spread the responsibility of revenue for maintaining government services a crossed a wider tax base. The 7.5% rate is set and can only be changed by the people. It allows revenue to be generated off of economic activity and growth. While we all know no tax plan is perfect, this plan also has the flexibility to be adjusted and refined by the people.The state of Nebraska currently refines its tax plan several times a year. It gives the tax payers a choice how they spend their money. No one should ever lose their home, farm, or business to a property tax delinquency. EPIC allows tax payers not be at the mercy of local governments spending and fiscal policies. With the increased economic growth that I believe will occur, I believe small communities like ours will receive more revenue because of the economic growth and activity that will come with this proposal. 

10. What would your priorities be in allocating city financial resources?
In relation to county resources, it’s imperative to continue to strengthen law enforcement by supporting continued training, equipment upgrades, recruiting, and community policing policies. With county roads it’s crucial to also continue training and recruiting to improve road maintenance to allow for farm equipment and crop movement efficiently and effectively throughout the county.We must maximize federal and state funding by ensuring due diligence on large purchases, this allows us to save and redirect monies in other areas of the budget. 

11. How will you ensure that citizens are well-informed and feel confident that their voices are heard and represented? 
I think slowing down the vetting process for large important community decisions is critical. Life moves fast and as we open lines of communication in our community people need time to catch up. I would like to see more open discussions and conversations before votes are cast on large projects and expenditures. Local officials and bureaucrats must refrain from squelching public comments on large expenditures. An open honest assessment from the community is needed on such projects. 

12. Sidney and Cheyenne County have challenges and problems to fix/resolve. Are you confident you can fix/resolve these problems, like the time that you fixed/resolved...? 
Throughout my career I’ve found that encouraging the sharing of ideas and honest problem analysis is the key to making needed changes and improving any situation. I’ve promoted training and team building, as well as recognizing accomplishments. Transparency in communication is key in helping share visions with a team and in this case a community. As I’ve walked and visited with our community, they have a lot of great ideas and concerns for our community. No one person can solve the problems/challenges, but as a community that is open and transparent we can encourage ideas and solutions. 

13. How long have you been a resident of Sidney and/or Cheyenne County?
 We purchased our forever home here in Feb of 2019.