Kohout: More openness with citizens, more control of city government needed

At the behest of her fellow citizens, Diane Kohout is running for mayor of Electric City, with the intention of giving the citizens more of a voice in their government.

"What I want to bring back to the city is to have someone that they can actually talk to and hopefully get answers from," Kohout told The Star in an interview on Monday. "I want the city government to be more open and the people of the city to have more of a voice."

"I think what we will do is have certain times when the mayor will be available or councilmembers be available," Kohout continued. "Perhaps spend time doing open meetings or doing one-on-one conversations with people in their homes, actually visiting them in their homes so we can hear what people want and what they feel their needs are. Communication to me is very important. We feel the meetings should be more open."

Kohout wants copies of the council meeting agendas available at the meetings, and the proposed agenda available online "so people know what we are talking about."

"A lot of people ... were not happy with the way things were going with the city," Kohout said about deciding to run for mayor. "I was not happy. A lot of people asked me and felt that I would be a good candidate, and I thought about it for quite a while and finally decided yes, it's time for a change and a new direction for Electric City."

She said that people are unhappy about "the expenditures of the city, the things they were doing without people really knowing much about it. You'd just learn it from the newspaper, mainly. City council meetings are not very open, and people felt they weren't being heard. They could go sign in and speak, but there was nobody that would talk to them about it or even answer questions if they had questions during the meeting. The meetings are pretty closed."

Specifically, people have been unhappy "with the park, with the closure of Western Avenue, with the potential of a trail running down the lake in front of peoples' properties," Kohout said, citing examples of issues from recent years. "Everybody was just feeling like everything was being ramrodded through without their real input."

Kohout spoke about a couple of focuses she'd have in office.

"We need to continue to build the infrastructure of the city. I'm talking everyday infrastructure, the city streets the sewer lines, the water lines, whatever needs to be maintained or fixed," she said. "Those things are important to help make the city more livable."

Kohout said if she occupies the mayor's office she would also be paying attention. "If there is waste, over-expenditure, if there are areas that need more monitoring, whether with the employees, the council members, or the mayor, if there is more monitoring that needs to be done, I plan to make sure that that gets done."

Kohout was born and raised in Seattle and travelled all around the state for her job, all year long, talking to people, a skill she feels will help her if she is elected mayor.

"I worked in public service for 28 years for the union that represented state employees," she said. "So I know how to listen to issues and how to work with people to correct those issues.

I feel that I'm a good listener. I always followed through on everything I said I was going to do. And if for some reason I couldn't do something, I made sure they understood why."

Kohout said she always wanted to live in the country. She moved here 10 years ago and married George Kohout, and has been here ever since.

She is involved in rodeo activities, with The Moose Lodge, various chamber of commerce activities, and tries to volunteer as much as she can.

"I'm sure there's going to be a high learning curve as far as how to do things, how to get things done, because I haven't been in a city government before," Kohout said, "but I will certainly try to do my best."