KUNA, Idaho — On Nov. 7 in Kuna, residents will head to the polls to elect a new mayor.
All three Kuna mayoral candidates, Joe Stear, Robert ‘Bobby’ Rossadillo, and Cristin Sandu, could all agree, that the big topic the Kuna community is facing right now, is growth.
Stear is seeking his third term as mayor. As a Kuna native, he has seen the city grow throughout the years, “I grew up here and I’d like for it to be 1979 again and farms all over the place, but obviously we’re not going back to that. We do need to have it slow down some, and that’s something we're going to do moving forward. The council has been very specific in their needs and in their ideas and what they want to do.”
Rossadillo is the President of the Board of Directors for Kuna’s Chamber of Commerce and has seen the growth firsthand, “So it’s been a challenge getting new business in the area, smaller owned businesses to be able to give them outlets to be able to market themselves and advertise and to be able to maintain that community feel, because we have had such large residential growth, and people don’t have the jobs down here to stay here.”
Sandu told me he moved to the area two years ago and wants to invest in the community, “It’s not the people moving here, because the people moving here, we are all looking for the same thing. It’s the developers, it’s the corporations, it’s the corporate greed that depletes our lands.
Education and the Kuna School District, spaces for parks and recreation, and local government transparency were other issues the candidates mentioned Kuna is facing.
“I have kids that play sports and one of the challenges for sports teams here is finding space to be able to practice and play,” said Rossadillo.
“Schools have one funding source and that’s bonding. I’d like to see us be able to do something in the way of mitigation fees for schools,” said Stear.
“Being more transparent to the public on what really is happening, and giving the public the true information on certain developments can go a long way,” said Sandu.
Two city council seats were also in rotation to be filled this year, but as there are no new candidates, only Matt Briggs and Greg McPherson running again, the city decided the election for council seats is canceled.
On a lighter note, I asked each of the mayoral hopefuls for a restaurant they like to go to, and here’s what they recommend
“I kinda like Smoky Mountain Pizza,” said Stear. “Depends on what kind of food you like but Big Mic’s is usually good if you like barbeque,” said Rossadillo. “I like Starbucks, there is one not too far from where I live,” said Sandu.
Idaho News 6 will continue to cover the race through results on November 7th.
