Cheney Mayor Grover points to experience, but challenger Martin says she’s ready to take the reins

In his third run to lead Cheney, Mayor Chris Grover is facing his first opponent, political newcomer Elsa Martin.

Martin, a former chemical engineer turned children’s minister, said she’d like to see the city make improvements, particularly in the way it communicates with citizens and in public services.

“I’m not a politician,” she said. “I just would really like our city to be a place people want to live in and are proud to live in.”

Grover, who served in the U.S. Navy for 23 years after growing up in Cheney, said he always knew he was coming back to Cheney after he retired from the military. He has worked as a financial planner since he left the military.

“I consider Cheney my home,” he said. “It’s where I established roots.”

He decided to run for one more term as mayor to finish several long-term projects, including the purple pipe project slated to be completed next year to bring treated wastewater to local parks and schools for irrigation.

Martin lived in Montana and Texas before moving to Cheney in the seventh grade. She earned her degree in chemical engineering from Montana State University in Bozeman.

She worked for a design build contractor for several years and later did industrial safety audits before quitting to raise her children. She and her husband moved to Cheney, where she attended Cheney Faith Center. She would go on to become a children’s minister at the church for eight years.

Martin currently homeschools her four children, is involved in two homeschool co-ops and coaches soccer and track and field.

“I’ve been able to volunteer a lot more,” she said.

She first became interested in how the city runs a couple years ago when she attended a soccer game at a local park. Martin said the bathrooms were in bad shape and began to talk with other parents about that and other issues.

“It started to perk my ears that there might be some things I need to learn,” she said. “I started going to city council meetings, park board meetings.”

She learned that one reason the bathrooms were in poor repair was repeated vandalism, which in turn seemed connected to the lack of lighting at night. Martin said she learned that it’s not as simple as fixing the bathrooms, because other issues also have to be addressed.

Martin said she decided to run for office because she’s never one to sit around and complain.

“It seemed like now is the right time,” she said.

Martin said she would like to see the city communicate with residents better. There is no social media page, and the city doesn’t have a staff member dedicated to the job.

“I would like to see better communication,” she said. “That’s a point of frustration for many people in our town. I think we could make some significant website improvements.”

Grover said he would love to have someone on staff dedicated to social media and communications, but the city can’t afford it.

“Our city runs on a pretty minimal staff,” he said. “It all comes down to being good stewards of taxpayer money. I have to balance the books at the end of the day.”

The city also needs to address issues with its water system, she said.

“We have a water issue in Cheney,” she said. “It’s either not clean, or in the summer, it’s not there.”

Grover said that while the city’s water occasionally has sediment in it, it’s safe to drink. The city has eight wells, and the water system as a whole is very large and old, Grover said. The city makes an effort to repair and replace equipment every year, he said.

“We have a long-term schedule for maintenance of our wells,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t have a lot of money to improve a bunch of wells at once.”

He hopes the purple pipe system, once complete, will ease the demand on the city’s water system.

“Right now we’re using potable water to do that,” he said. “That will decrease our water usage significantly.”

The city is also missing several key staff members, including a police chief and a city administrator. Former Police Chief Richard Beghtol, who had served as interim chief for two years, resigned in February. A new interim chief, Chris Oakes, was sworn in in March. Former city administrator Mark Schuller resigned in August after all six of the city’s employee unions gave him a vote of no confidence in May. The city has since appointed two staff members as interim co-city administrators.

“Those are both very essential and important positions in our city government,” Martin said. “I think it’s important we have qualified candidates.”

Martin said she is trusting the city to follow the appropriate process to replace the two, but said she’s heard little more than rumors. She said Beghtol was well-respected and left big shoes to fill, but she believes Oakes would be a good fit for the job.

Grover said he has not put out any news releases or other information on the staffing issues. He has talked it over with the city council in executive session, which is not open to the public.

“I’m very cautious about making public personnel issues,” he said.

Grover said he’s currently reviewing proposals from consulting firms the city can hire to do a national search for a new city administrator. He’s also considering a wider search for a new police chief.

“At this point, we do have an interim, and he’s doing a good job,” he said of Oakes. “He’s interested in the permanent position. I do think he’d be a good police chief.”

Grover said he knows some community members are concerned that the searches are taking too long.

“As mayor, I do have to do my due diligence,” he said. “I need to be very deliberate about who is filling these very important roles in the city.”

The city is also without a city planner, who quit in February. The planning commission, in charge of holding hearings and making recommendations to the city council on a variety of issues, has not met since then. Grover said he’s not sure if the planner will be replaced.

“We’re going through budget season right now,” he said. “Right now, we haven’t opened that position up to hire somebody.”

Martin said she believes she’s fully qualified to lead the city.

“I value the input of our citizens,” she said. “This is my home. This is going to be my home. My family is fully involved in the community.”

Grover said he hopes voters look to his experience in government.

“I’m passionate about this city,” he said. “I think I’m the person, with the leadership that I have, to keep leading the city down the positive road that we need to go down.”