Your attendance is encouraged at Pocatello town hall this weekend

POCATELLO – The last Democrat representing Pocatello voters will hold an event this weekend to hear what issues are most important to them.

Sen. James Ruchti is hosting a non-partisan town hall on Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. It will be held in the council chambers of Pocatello City Hall.

Ruchti will share some opening thoughts at the beginning of the meeting, along with what he thinks are the most important issues facing the state. The public can chime in with their thoughts as well.

“This is open to everybody, all constituents. You don’t have to be somebody who is a Democrat or a Republican to come visit and share your thoughts,” Ruchti said.

Some issues that Ruchti plans to bring up first are what he calls the school vouchers proposals headed through the legislature this session. This would allow families to use public funds to pay for private school.

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“(School vouchers are) a dramatic shift in how we have funded public education. If we go down this road … those monies (will compete) with our traditional neighborhood schools,” Ruchti said. “Everybody needs to be aware of it. You don’t want this to happen, and hopefully it won’t.”

“As the population increases and as our tax revenues increase, are we spending the right amount of money to maintain our infrastructure? That’s roads and bridges, that’s school facilities and teachers and court systems,” he adds. “We just have to constantly be vigilant about what we do with our tax revenues. And if we’re gonna do tax cuts, they should probably be targeted and done smartly.”

Ruchti expects a wide variety of issues to be brought up in the town hall.

“In a democracy, people have different interests. I’m sure people (who) show up (will) have something they want to share with us,” Ruchti said.