Steve Harmsen has been away from politics for 20 years, practicing a little law and then running several businesses.
He's getting back in the public eye this year running for Salt Lake mayor.Back in the days of the old Salt Lake City Commission, Harmsen was Commissioner Harmsen in 1971, at age 29 one of the youngest people ever elected to the five-member governing board. He served only one four-year term, however. Some rough times overseeing the city's streets as the public works commissioner, an opportunity to run for the U.S. House in 1974 and a failed mayoral bid in 1975 got him out of politics.
Harmsen won the GOP nomination for the 2nd Congressional District but lost the 1974 general election to Democrat Allan Howe. In 1975, Harmsen ran for mayor but was eliminated in the primary election. Harmsen then practiced law for three years.
"But I didn't like being an attorney. Business always held more of a draw for me." Harmsen bought the then-small Steve Regan & Co., a family-held firm of two farm supply outlet stores. "We had eight employees then. Over the years we've built the company into eight stores in Utah and Idaho. We have 55 employees and do $20 million a year in sales."
Harmsen also got into some development projects.
He and several partners convinced the Salt Lake City School Board to sell them the old Ensign School property on the upper Avenues, a block of land bordered by 9th and 10th avenues and E and F streets. West American Finance, the partners' firm, agreed to donate the southeast corner of the block for a city library branch. "I think it's safe to say if we hadn't given the land, there wouldn't be a successful library branch on the Avenues at all," says Harmsen.
But the rest of the plan didn't go as well. The land lay vacant for some years before Harmsen and his associates built 13 condominium town houses on the north side of the block. "We had some neighborhood problems (with local residents), and the city - everyone involved - had never approved a town house project like this before. It took some time."
Unfortunately for the developers, their first phase was finished during the housing recession of 1986-87. "A lot of competitors went bankrupt. We didn't, we kept our heads above water and made it work while real estate (developments) all around us went in the tank." Still, only half the block was developed. The lower half of the block remained a vacant lot. The rest of the town houses - priced between $160,000 and $180,000 - were finished last year, and all have been sold. "It turned out to be a very good project for everyone, and the residents got a new library as well," says Harmsen.
He's also dabbled in the emerging field of small hydroelectric power generation. Harmsen owns or owns parts of four hydroelectric plants in Idaho - HK Hydro, Mud Creek Hydro, Lateral 10 Hydro and Cogeneration Inc.
Ironically, says Harmsen: "I was up in Idaho putting together the first operation the same time that Bonneville Pacific guys were up there. They were paying way too much money for their hydroelectric operations. I knew the numbers, and I knew there was no way they could make money the way they were spending it."
Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Cor-ra-dini, one of Harmsen's opponents, was an officer in several firms associated with Bonneville Pacific - which later went into bankruptcy - and her first term in office was marred by speculation of her involvement in the failed company's problems.
Harmsen has also been involved in remodeling an old city school, Oquirrh, 350 E. 400 South. Under Oquirrh Associates, a family-held partnership, Harmsen remodeled the school into offices and in the mid-1980s also purchased a nine-unit apartment house on the same block at 376 E. 300 South. Using a city housing program of low-interest loans, Oquirrh Associates "gutted the apartment house and put in new plumbing, wiring, bringing all up to code."
The apartment house, however, has a history of housing code violations. In 1990 it was cited for 28 code violations, in 1993 cited for 49 violations and in 1994 12 violations. Most violations are minor problems, like a light switch cover being broken or removed, city records show. However, some were more serious, like inadequate smoke detectors written up in the 1994 inspection. Harmsen says all problems were quickly attended to.
The 1990 problems were so severe the city ordered the property closed. Repairs were made. The 49 violations in 1993 were "part of a misunderstanding," says Harmsen. He was already having tenants move out as he prepared to "gut" and remodel the building with the city low-interest loan when inspectors visited. "After the (remodeling) work, we passed all city inspections," says Harmsen. Now the tenants, mostly low-income people, are happy with the remodeled, 70-year-old structure. "We even have signed affidavits from the nine tenants saying how good the property is and how much they like living there," Harmsen adds.
Owning an apartment house has actually given him new insights into city-dwellers problems, Harmsen said. "I've been in the business world and succeeded. I've met a payroll. I know the problems of low-income renters and the problems of landlords. I've seen both sides and deal with it daily. I believe it's my experience that sets me apart" from the other mayoral candidates, says Harmsen.