St. George • As befitting the owner of a mortuary, Mayor-elect Jimmie Hughes pledges to run the city like a business once he is sworn in as St. George’s 34th mayor on Monday.
Speaking from his office at Hughes Mortuary, Hughes described St. George as a business, with the City Council as the board of directors, himself as the chairman, and residents as customers.
Hughes said he plans to focus the city on being efficient, starting with exploring the consolidation of council meetings. Currently, the mayor and council meet weekly, alternating between work sessions one week and regular council meetings the next. Hughes advocates for holding both on the same day, arguing that this would be more efficient and allow council members every other Thursday off.
Hughes, who has served on the City Council since 2012, defeated Mayor Michele Randall in the November general election by a 56% to 44% margin, which is nearly identical to the margin of the race he lost to Randall in 2021.
“So we kind of flipped the script,” said Hughes, adding he was pleasantly surprised by his margin of victory.
Lofty goals
Hughes has some lofty goals for his first term as mayor. He wants to work with the Federal Aviation Administration and other federal and state partners to secure roughly $100 million in funds to more than double the size of the St. George Regional Airport’s terminal.
The design, which is about 60% complete, includes several key additions, such as more gates to increase the airport’s capacity for commercial air carriers, potentially including Alaska Airlines. It also features skywalks, which will allow passengers to board planes directly from the terminal.
“That’s why it is important to meet and build relationships with the FAA, state and other partners we will need money from,” Hughes said. “If you are going to ask them for money, you don’t want to do it long distance.”
Hughes also wants to ensure St. George and other member cities of the Washington County Water Conservancy District are not treading water when it comes to building more reservoirs, which could store more reuse water in the drought-prone area rather than lose it by sending it downstream to Lake Mead. He especially wants to help get construction rolling on Graveyard Wash and Warner Valley reservoirs.
In meetings over the past week, Hughes said he has relayed his vision to department heads.
“We have talked about the customer always being right,” Hughes said, emphasizing the customer service nature of municipal work. “I’ve talked with each department head that we want to find the fastest way to say ‘yes.’ That doesn’t mean we can always say yes, but if we have to say no we can do it in a nicer way.”
In keeping with his campaign rhetoric, Hughes vows to “really listen” to St. George residents. To that end, he plans on restoring the public comment period at the start of council meetings to what it was before Randall imposed limits on public comment in 2023.
Hughes said that means residents will have three minutes to comment rather than two and won’t have to wait three months before addressing the council again, two of the restrictions Randall implemented.
“Since that will be at my discretion as mayor, I am going to open that back up,” Hughes said. “The message we want to send is that we really want to hear from our residents and get their input.”
Hughes also pledges to ensure council members have all the information they need to arrive at decisions, something he said that has been lacking on occasion over the past few years.
“That way I can advocate for what I think is the right way to go on an issue, let the council members do the same and then reach a consensus,” he explained.
Hughes said he will be a wise steward of taxpayers’ money, meaning he will balk at any pitch to raise property taxes. He said he will be a fully present mayor when it comes to civic functions and meetings with state legislators and federal partners to advance the city’s interests, an inference during the campaign that Randall missed too many meetings, something his opponent vehemently denied.
Council member Natalie Larsen said she looks forward to working with her former council colleague.
“From my experience with Jimmie Hughes, I know he is transparent, approachable, fiscally responsible and committed [to] conservative values,” she said. “He truly understands the role of an elected official, and the people he represents, which shows in the way he interacts with the community.”
As business-minded as his mayoral approach will be, Hughes said it won’t come at the expense of fun. He said there are lots of fun and exciting developments happening, most notably the new $45 million City Hall that will debut on Jan. 17. He said a lot of businesses are looking to move to St. George.
“But you know what would be the capstone?” he asked. “It sure would be great if, over the next four years, we could get a Trader Joe’s to come.”
Hughes’ overriding hope is for a fun and fulfilling first term.
“I want people to look back in four years and say, ‘He did what he said he was going to do, he worked hard and had fun doing it.’ So I’m looking forward to being mayor. This is going to be fun.”