Chris Sloan

The Planning Commission will meet tonight at 7pm. The agenda is available at tooelecity.gov/government/bo…. Watch the meeting live on our YouTube Channel by logging onto youtube.com and searching "Tooele City Channel" or by following this link youtube.com/@tooelecity.

"Off Ramp" author Gov. @SpencerJCox urges Americans to have conversations with each other to heal the nation

The "Disagree Better" movement has been misunderstood and misconstrued since its inception. I enjoyed watching this conversation (youtu.be/kBQQAbssaGY?si=S-aN…) between two people who are very ideologically different. Governor @SpencerJCox made some great points here while talking about his new book, Off Ramp, explaining something that I think is really important: "There is no argument that I'm making here that we should compromise on our principles, [or] that we have to give up on our core beliefs. I'm not talking about just being nice to each other... This is about sitting here and having this debate face to face. You tell me how you feel, I'm gonna tell you how I feel. We might find some areas where we agree, and we might not." "I think we actually need more disagreement, instead of the 'I'm not going to engage with you because I think you're beneath me'... I think there's nothing more unamerican than hating our fellow Americans." Because Governor Cox is a partisan politician, there are some people on the left and on the right who misrepresent these points. Some say it's hypocrisy for someone to promote peacemaking when they support XYZ policy, and others say it's compromising with those "evil radicals" who would destroy our country. But all of that misses the point. You do not have to moderate your beliefs. You do not have to compromise on what you believe is right. What the Governor is pleading for us to do is at least hear each other out, have conversations, and separate someone's politics from their morality or their worth as a person. We cannot solve problems without listening to each other. We cannot win anyone over to whatever our position is without making them feel heard. Outrage and hatred do numbers on the timeline, but they don't actually solve anything. Most of all, we cannot preserve our relationships with family members, neighbors, and associates if we are so adamant in the worship of our politics that we can't see their humanity as children of God. Go watch the interview! I'm excited to read Governor Cox's new book. And by all means, if you disagree with me, I'm happy to have a respectful conversation to hear you out. I'm not always very good at it, but I'm trying! youtu.be/kBQQAbssaGY?si=S-aN…

Listening and agreeing are not the same thing. The growing trend of claiming that legislative bodies “don’t listen to the people” whenever a decision doesn’t go someone’s way doesn’t make sense. As we celebrate 250 years of the United States, it’s worth remembering that representative government is foundational to the American system. We are not a direct democracy where whoever fills a meeting room on a particular night determines the outcome. Public comment matters. Emails matter. Phone calls matter. Showing up matters. Those voices absolutely deserve to be heard and seriously considered and they are but a room full of people supporting or opposing an issue is not necessarily “the will of the people.” It represents one important part of the public input elected officials should consider. I think we have to be consistent about that. It’s easy to want elected officials to follow the crowd when the room is filled with people who agree with us. We probably wouldn’t feel the same way if an opposing group filled the next meeting and elected officials simply voted whichever way that crowd demanded. That’s one of the reasons we have representative government. We elect people, hopefully based on principles and priorities supported by the broader voting public and entrust them to hear both sides, gather stakeholder input, understand the legal and financial realities, consider the broader and long term impacts and ultimately make the decision they believe is best for the community, that they also live in. After hundreds of emails, calls and texts and hours of public comment and discussion, saying elected officials “didn’t listen” simply because the final vote didn’t go your way doesn’t make sense. Reasonable people can hear the same information and reach different conclusions. We see the difficult tradeoffs of governing all the time. Nearly every single economic development project faces opposition. At the same time, every proposed tax increase, whether it amounts to $1 a month or $30 a month faces opposition too. Yet police, fire, roads, courts, elections and other essential services still have to be paid for. Local governments only have property tax and sales tax to provide them. That’s it. We should absolutely scrutinize development and challenge tax increases but ultimately the math still has to work. Elected officials aren’t waking up in the morning asking, “How can I make people’s lives more difficult today?” Most are trying to make the best decisions they can while balancing competing interests, legal requirements, financial realities and the long term needs of their communities. By all means, hold elected officials accountable. Challenge reasoning. Question decisions. Disagree loudly when you think something is wrong but disagreement with a decision does not mean your voice wasn’t heard. Representative government requires listening to people, weighing competing interests and then making a decision. Sometimes that decision will be popular with the people in the room and sometimes it won’t. That isn’t a failure of representative government. That is representative government. Is this about a specific vote? No, this happens every week whether it’s at city council or the state legislature. Should I have posted this thought? Probably not. Will I get beat up in the comments? Yep. Ultimately, I think our community is better when people are informed, engagement is high, and those tasked with representing others are accessible, even when that accessibility brings more scrutiny. I’ll always prefer more engagement, more discussion and more people paying attention to their local government. We won’t always agree, and that’s okay. In fact, that’s part of the process.

One of the most valuable habits I've ever developed is asking myself questions. Not questions for other people. Questions for me. Knowing that the quality of my answers depends upon the quality of my questions, every now and then, I stop to ask myself some good ones. Like... Am I spending my time wisely? Am I becoming the kind of person I hoped I would be? Am I contributing more than I'm consuming? Am I making decisions based on conviction or simply convenience? Those aren't always comfortable questions. In fact, some of the best questions rarely are. But I've found that growth almost always begins there. It's easy to look around and identify problems. Most people can tell you what's wrong with the world, the country, their workplace, or their neighborhood. It takes a little more courage to look in the mirror and ask what needs to change in us. Good questions have a way of revealing things we might otherwise miss. They expose blind spots. They clarify priorities. They help us close the gap between who we are and who we want to become. So here's a question worth considering: What question do you need to ask yourself today?

I might say more about this later but with regard to Senator McConnell’s health issues and the sudden death of Senator Graham is it too much to expect people to behave with a modicum of decency? Running for office or being elected to office does not suddenly make someone no longer human and no longer deserving of being treated with dignity. And for those who share the Christian faith we are called to treat every person with dignity. It is so disheartening to see people make light of or even celebrate someone else’s health challenges or death. As a people, I believe we are better than that.

The Planning Commission will meet tonight at 7pm. The agenda is available at tooelecity.gov/government/bo…. Watch the meeting live on our YouTube Channel by logging onto youtube.com and searching "Tooele City Channel" or by following this link youtube.com/@tooelecity.

Every person has a different experience with the national anthem. For me it is a reminder of those who sacrificed all for our country. I will many times sing it in unison with the singer because it fills me with gratitude, pride and love for my country. Sometimes it brings tears.

Sheldon Birch will do a great job in the Utah House.

The Planning Commission will meet tonight at 7pm. The agenda is available at tooelecity.gov/government/bo…. Watch the meeting live on our YouTube Channel by logging onto youtube.com and searching "Tooele City Channel" or by following this link youtube.com/@tooelecity.

The Tooele City RDA will meet in a Business Meeting tonight at 7:00 pm. A City Council Business Meeting will begin following the RDA Meeting. There will be no Work Meeting. Agendas available at: tooelecity.gov/government/ci…

Tooele City is seeing a rise in vandalism at park facilities, especially the England Acres restrooms. Repair costs take funding away from park improvements and could lead to temporary restroom closures. If you see something, contact the Tooele City PD at 435-882-5600.

Utah’s local burger joint did not have a royal morning when the fire department had to extinguish flames coming from their attic. Read more: abc4.com/news/wasatch-front/…

This will be my last performance with the Choir. It has been such a blessing in my life. Truly Forever grateful for this opportunity.