Jack Curtis

Age: 64

Hometown: Spokane

Employment/Business/Other Experience: I was elected to the City of Ritzville City Council Ward #4 in 1998. I was fortunate to work alongside people like Linda Kadlec, John Marshall, Sharon Tison, Larry Swift and other very smart people. I was in the heavy construction concrete/asphalt and rock materials industry for 45 years. 30 of those years in a management position. Part of my management job duties were producing and overseeing multi-million-dollar budgets on an annual basis. Along with labor, equipment/maintenance and material quality control and project management. Also, part of my management duties were to meet on a regular basis with Federal, State, County and Local officials.

Community service: Aside from my job, I donated my time for 12 years to Annual and Community events such as "We Love Our Military", "Pig out In the Park", "Heritage Days", "Music in the Park" Fireman's Auction, PGA Qualifiers, and I managed the Annual Corvette Car show were all proceeds went to non-profit organizations along with many others.

Education:

Family: I am retired and we are debt free. I have been married for 35 years. We have 3 children and 7 grandchildren. One of our children graduated from Ritzville High School. We have one grandchild in Ritzville Grade School and one in Lind-Ritzville Middle School. They are also involved in a number of sports leagues.

The following questions were answered by candidates in 100 words or less. We do not edit the answers, other than to enforce the word limit.

Question 1: What steps would you take to encourage new development in Ritzville?

I will put together a forum that will meet quarterly, consisting of business leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, and citizens, to work through some of the issues they have, the good things happening and any leads that I can follow-up on. Apartments in some buildings are a great idea. We need to streamline the permitting process and work to change some of the permitting requirements. I love the projects that are in progress downtown and as mayor I will do everything possible to make sure those projects are finished.

PROTECT THE PAST AND LOOK TO THE FUTURE

Question 2: What steps would you take to ensure that the city hires reliable contractors for public service projects such as wells, roundabouts, etc?

One reason I am running for mayor, is "It's good enough for Ritzville," is not the answer while I am mayor. We need project requirements for oversite, workmanship, materials, and testing. A Quality / performance-based payment schedule. If necessary, we need to withhold payments as we did in 1998 when I was chairperson of Finance on the City Council. This was during the sewer plant project, when we found failures and poor quality of the work performed. Engineering firm oversight, quality of materials used and testing on any project are to be priority one while I am mayor.