MERIDIAN, Idaho — Idaho's second-largest city is getting ready to vote for Mayor.
The two candidates, Robert Simison and Mike Hon, say they are both focused on growth and safety.
Simison is the city's incumbent Mayor, and was elected in 2019. Simison says he's handled growth well, holding his hat on opening up new fire stations, new parks, and progress on the Linder overpass.
"When you work together and you bring services to the same area, that’s how you grow responsibly," said Simison. "You get road improvements, it benefits all those people, you bring housing to the area, it helps benefit.”
On Tuesday, the city accepted an $8 Million FEMA grant called SAFER. The grant will be used to hire 24 new firefighters.
RELATED | City of Meridian accepts $8 million FEMA grant for fire department staffing
The grant was awarded in September, but the city didn't initially take the money, needing an extension. The city says they had to make sure they could support the positions after the federal money ran out.
“If we were just going to say 'yes, let's do this then how does that impact the police department’s request for the positions that they’re going to need?" Simison said. "What about the next park that wants to open up and they need positions for that park?”
Hon said he would also have taken the money, bringing up the fire department's slower response times as a reason.
"Their response time according to a report that I received from the fire chief is over 11 minutes from 'hello' to someone knocking on the door a lot can happen in 11 minutes," Hon said.
Hon says he wants to focus on traffic.
“If you look at the interior of Meridian, there’s a lot of roads that need to be widened," Hon said. "So that means that I’ve got to knock on ACHD’s door and say hey can you prioritize this road widening, why are we building an apartment building next to a road that can’t accommodate the traffic?"
Hon is known for being the face of the movement to dissolve, the restructure, the Meridian Library District.
Related | Meridian Library District will not face dissolution on the November ballot
The petition made its way to an Ada County Commissioners hearing vote, after public testimony where the vast majority of support was against the dissolution.
The commissioners decided not to put it on the ballot.
When asked if the lack of public support for his library effort reflected his electability, Hon responded "We'll see on November 7."
Mayor Simison did not speak on which side he stood on the issue, but did say, Meridian residents showed up to the commissioner's meeting, and the library trustee board elections and showed what they thought was important.
“I respect both sides in terms of the conversation," Simison said. "But, I firmly believe that our community is where the Meridian Library District serves best the people when they know and they hear from community and they hear that feedback, and that’s what they’ve been doing."
The election is November 7.
