Farmer and retired steelworker Glen Hawkins has announced his candidacy as a Democrat for the two-year seat on Utah County Commission.
Hawkins, 57, Benjamin, is running to promote a balance of power on the commission between the two major political parties. He said a two-party balance will stop the abuses of taxpayers' money like those that have recently occurred in the county."The Soviet Union has a one-party system that doesn't work, and the one-party system on the Utah County Commission hasn't worked either," Hawkins said.
As a property owner, he knows exactly how much taxes have increased and what a burden they are on taxpayers, Hawkins said. He pledges to be a fiscal conservative with tax dollars.
"I can assure the taxpayers of this county as commissioner I will never accept a salary increase," Hawkins said. "I will seek ways to cut the costs of government wherever possible."
He believes promoting the expansion of existing businesses and working to attract new industries to the county is the best way to generate necessary additional tax revenue.
Hawkins said working in agriculture, industrial trades and public service has given him the practical experience to be an effective, full-time county commissioner.
He retired in 1986 after 36 years with U.S. Steel at the Geneva Works, and is proud of his cost-cutting suggestions that were adopted by the plant's management. He operates a 65-acre farm that was recognized in 1981 as the highest producer of grain corn per acre in Utah.
Hawkins graduated from Utah Valley Community College and attended Brigham Young University. He served for eight years each on the Benjamin Drainage District Board and on the personnel, public relations and property development committees of the Strawberry Water Users Association.
He served on an ad hoc building committee for Nebo School District and chaired a Benjamin community park planning and beautification committee. He has served in the Utah National Guard, worked in Boy Scout programs and held many positions in his local LDS Church ward.
Hawkins and his wife, Blanche, are the parents of four grown children.