The Mayor I see

Well I started my feature story and what I was going to do was a profile on the mayor of Rexburg. I started my research by emailing him, Mayor Shawn Larsen, and his associates to find out what he thinks of his job and what his associates think of him.

Since my research was premature I only received a very small amount of quotes, which came from him and one of his coworkers. But through some research on his Web site and the incite of his coworker a lot was revealed to me about the Mayor of Rexburg.

He told me where I could find a majority of the information I was looking for on his Web site but then he also talked about what his plans for the city are. "I recently gave my State of the City speech and it will also provide you some information about our community and some of the projects we have planned for this year."

This actually helped to point me in the right direction and gave me some ideas of where to look for more information on what is going on in the city that would be of interest to the people. But he also informed in more detail of what his role of mayor entailed.

"My responsibilities are to ensure the efficient day-to-day operations of the City of Rexburg. I am in the second year of my second four-year term. I served on the City Council for two years prior to being elected mayor."

I thought that this was interesting because I personally didn't know what the mayor really did. He gave a small glimpse of what he does but its pretty much make sure that things run as smoothly as possible in Rexburg.

On www.rexburg.com I also liked the quote he used to describe what he did and the importance of the small local decisions that are made. "It is at the local level that parks are developed, water is treated, garbage is picked up, pot holes are filled, streets are maintained, and jobs are created.
I also emailed Jennifer Steinmetz, who works directly with the mayor and what she had to say about him was very positive. She noticed a lot of the things that I have noticed recently noticed about him through emails and reports.

"He is very generous with his time, in particular, and his desire to make happier the lives of the citizens of Rexburg is very apparent in his manner."She noticed a certain sincerity about him that was particularly interesting to me because so many representatives and just anyone are so unwilling to sacrifice time. It is a good sign when someone is willing to take the time to stop and help you with what you need.

I liked how she summed up her feeling for Mayor Shawn Larsen and that is how I will sum this up too. "I think he is a very admirable person and I think he has done an excellent job as mayor. I think he has helped raise morale in Rexburg."