Susan Morée:
First question, tell us about how your background has prepared you to serve in this office.
Bruce Swingle:
I have 35 years of government leadership experience and I've been county manager in three counties in New Mexico and city manager in the city of Truth or Consequences. I've dealt with just about every type of issue and crisis that could come up. I've learned of the positive things you can do in an organization to advance the community and the organization and the negative things. So I would like to bring that experience to bear. I would like to bring that experience to Sierra County. I was Sierra County manager and I'll use that information to move us forward. We have not progressed forward in a number of years and I would like to see us do that.
Susan Morée:
And second question, why are you running for this office?
Bruce Swingle:
I'm running because for three decades this community's economy has been stagnant or declined and we need to do something about that in the community and I've been involved in economic development for several decades myself and I would like to use my experience and what we have accomplished in moving the community forward. I'm also interested in creating a minimum pool of the lake. We've got to create a minimum pool, a minimum conservation pool of the lake to protect the ecosystem of the lake and ensure that we have a lake of some size indefinitely in this community.
Susan Morée:
And third question, what are the top issues in your district for this office?
Bruce Swingle:
It's the same issues. It's economic development. It is the creation of a minimum conservation pool. And the third item would be the socioeconomics and health challenges that this community's experienced for a very long time. We're losing population. We have been losing population for three decades. We have to change or we're going to basically self-destruct. So, our economy's been stagnant. We've lost our youth. Very few people live here that are in the ages of 18 to 24, 25, maybe 30 years of age.
Susan Morée:
And fourthquestion, how would you successfully address those issues?
Bruce Swingle:
With respect to the economy, economic development, we'll sponsor economic development policies that create meaningful jobs, you know, jobs with living wages and benefits for the community, support existing businesses and help them grow and attract new businesses and industries. And, of course, expand job opportunities across all sectors in the community. With respect to the minimum pool, we've been working on that for a long time in this community and we're making headway on it. So, we're going to continue to work with key stakeholders in the state engineer's office to accomplish the creation of a designated minimum conservation pool.
Susan Morée:
And last question, what else do you think is important for voters to know about your campaign?
Bruce Swingle:
I think that we need steady leadership, leadership that understands county government, knows how to navigate the challenges in government, and can keep the community moving forward. I think we're all going to be experiencing difficult times over the next four years, four to 10 years. And I've spent a decade working with counties in New Mexico with the New Mexico counties group and advocated for the advancement of county governments all across the state. We need steady leadership, leadership that understands county government, knows how to navigate the challenges.
