I was born in the San Francisco Bay area to a family with strong Utah County ties. My teenage years were spent in Guam and Hawaii chasing my father’s work assignments and visiting various locations throughout the Pacific. In my twenties, I moved to Provo to further my education, and other than a short business assignment to Texas, have spent the last 48 years here in Utah County. I earned a bachelor degree at BYU—Hawaii, a master degree at BYU and a Ph.D. from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.I have worked mostly in education-related industries, designing and implementing educational programs and materials driven by computers and associated technologies. I recently retired but previously was employed as a testing scientist a psychometrician helping others design, create, measure, administer, and interpret valid, reliable certification and licensure tests. Utah County is my home. I married and raised a family here, and now enjoy watching my children do the same. Claudia and I have seven children, seventeen grandchildren, and now four great-grandchildren. Vineyard has become the hub for our little extendedfamily—our gathering place. We really appreciate the way we have been welcomed into the Vineyard family. You have made our almost 12 years here the best of our lives. For the last eight years I have attended most official city leadership meetings—often as
the only private citizen in the room (the others being either elected or appointed officials or employees). That includes City Council, Redevelopment Agency (RDA), and Planning Commission meetings. Over the last 18 months, as an advisor to councilman Jacob Holdaway, I have attended his coordination meetings with the city manager. This has allowed me to hear, see and study first-hand the issues before the city. I also serve on the board of the Vineyard Heritage Foundation which seeks ways to preserve the unique, rich, amazing heritage left us by generations gone before. Add to that serving at our annual Vineyard Heritage Daya part of our Vineyard Days festival. Especially enjoyable to me is introducing our youngest residents to the vintage games, attractions, and petting zoo we sponsor there.
The current city council has done a number of good and helpful things for our city, and I applaud those efforts and accomplishments.However, I am troubled by a long-running trend toward secrecy and control. The annual number of closed sessions of the city council is at an all-time high. Many issues are introduced on the city council agenda and voted on that same evening, giving little or no time for the community to weigh in. What we, the public, think seems an inconvenience to the city government. The cake seems already baked, so to speak, before we get to hear about it. Public comment at city council meetings is limited severely and placed at the end of hours-long agendas. The city council, with few exceptions, just goes along with proposals, entertaining little constructive debate, feigning unity, and rubber stamping everything as they go. That is not good for our city.Over the last 18 months, Councilman Jake Holdaway has fought back, trying to shine a light on many of the city’s questionable doings. But his has only been one vote. I am running to be an independent voice on the council that will question the status quo and bring as much of the city’s workings out into the public as possible. I stand for transparency—true transparency—where the issues before the city are open and known to the public long before they are acted upon by the city council. Where public comment is welcomed and carefully considered. Where citizen input happens earlier in the process when changes can be made without huge disruptions to projects. I am also running to help change the “control” culture within Vineyard City government.Currently, citizens make requests of the city for important changes that will improve conditions. City officials then decide whether they will grant the request or not. That is backwards. Citizen initiatives should be granted out of hand, unless there is some legal or safety issue that needs further refinement before it is implemented. The emphasis should always be on how to make it happen, not whether it should be allowed to happen. The attitude within our city offices should be one of advocating and working for the citizens, not for the city bureaucracy.As a member of your city council, I will work hard to bring openness, honesty, thoroughness, timeliness, accessibility, and accountability—true transparency—to our city government. I will work to make sure citizens are informed and have a chance to understand and contribute to how our city is changing and growing. I will work to make city government advocates for the people, not defenders of the bureaucracy.Of course, I will also continue to work to find ways to repair mistakes of the past, complete needed roads, decrease crime, limit density to pre-planned levels, involve communities in fixing parking problems, attract desirable businesses, hold developers to established and approved plans, clean up and reclaim our blighted Geneva Steel RDA land, improve our Utah Lake shoreline, and keep Vineyard the safe, clean, desirable place that brought us here to start with.My name is David Lauret, and I’m asking for your vote on November 4th to become a member of your Vineyard City Council.Thank you.
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