Nampa. To those outside Idaho, it sounds like someone with a cold trying to say “Tampa.” My granduncle raised his family in Nampa starting in the 1950s, so it’s a name I’ve known for a long time. I visited him and my grandaunt in the early 2000s, so it was surreal when I later moved to the area myself in 2018.
Nampa grew around the Oregon Short Line Railroad in the second half of the 19th century, incorporating as a city just a year after Idaho’s statehood. Miner W. H. Dewey built the Dewey Palace Hotel in 1902 to much acclaim, while Karcher Mall, built on the site of pioneer George Karcher’s homestead, was the only enclosed mall in Idaho when it opened in 1965.
Nampa’s population grew steadily throughout the 20th century, passing 100,000 in 2020. That same year, the Legislature required any city with more than 100,000 residents to divide its council into districts, which Nampa accomplished prior to the 2023 elections. Council Districts 1, 3, and 5 are on the ballot this year, along with the mayor’s office.
Mayor Debbie Kling is nearing the end of her second term and announced last June that she would not seek a third. I don’t have much firsthand knowledge of Nampa politics, but friends and acquaintances seem to have had a generally positive view of her tenure. However, she made the wrong sort of headlines when, during a hearing about the Ford Idaho Center, she told a testifier that she had brought some ideas from “someplace else” that did not reflect Nampa. (Kling herself moved to Idaho from Kansas in 1991.)
Last August, the council split on a new budget that raised property taxes while giving themselves a large pay raise. Council members Natalie Jangula, David Bills, and Dale Reynolds voted in support, with Victor Rodriguez, Randy Haverfield, and Sebastian Griffin opposed. Mayor Kling broke the tie in the affirmative.
What to do with the Ford Idaho Center has been a topic of intense debate in recent months. Constructed in 1997, the complex was built by the City of Nampa at a cost of approximately $50 million. It has hosted the Snake River Stampede, numerous sporting events, concerts, and other extravaganzas.
According to city staff, Nampa loses more than $1 million annually on the complex and needs $20–25 million more to bring it up to date. Earlier this year, the council outlined three options: continue operating the complex, sell it for no less than $75 million, or gift it to the College of Western Idaho (CWI), which expressed interest in taking over the facility.
Last Monday night, the Nampa City Council voted 4–2 to give the Ford Center to CWI. Council members Randy Haverfield and Victor Rodriguez, who will face each other in November’s election, were the two dissenting votes.
I admit this does not make much sense to me, and I hope to learn more about this issue in the future. If the taxpayers of Nampa can’t foot the bill for maintenance and operations, how will the taxpayers who support CWI handle it?
Additionally, Nampa citizens just approved the creation of an auditorium district last year, which added a 5% tax on hotels. Chaired by former state senator Jeff Agenbroad, the committee supporting the district’s creation indicated that maintaining the Ford Idaho Center was one of its goals. What was the point if the council was just going to give it away?
It will be up to the voters of Nampa to respond to these decisions by the mayor and council.
Mayor
Of the candidates for Nampa mayor, I am only acquainted with Rick Hogaboam. I’ve had several conversations with him over the past year or two and reached out a couple of times to republish his long Facebook posts evaluating topics like ranked-choice voting or municipal growth as op-eds, because I appreciated the thoughtfulness with which he approached the issues. I think he would be a great leader for Nampa, though I don’t know the other candidates personally.
Haadiya Tariq of the Idaho Press wrote an overview of a forum featuring most of the mayoral candidates a few weeks ago. Matt Todd of the Ranch Podcast has sat down with every candidate in a contested race, and I’ve linked those interviews here. I attempted to find websites for each candidate and linked to the ones I found.
Justin Buchholz
Rick Hogaboam
Eric Myricks
Suzi Robinson
Council
On the council side, I know even less. Due to the redistricting following the law change, incumbents Victor Rodriguez and Randy Haverfield are squaring off in District 5, along with two other candidates. Incumbent David Bills is unopposed in District 3, while Kody Daffer and Debbie Skaug are vying for the open seat in District 1.
Skaug is married to Rep. Bruce Skaug, and I’ve met her in passing a couple of times. If she’s anything like her husband, she will be a strong leader for Nampa.
District 1
Kody Daffer
Debbie Skaug
District 5
Randy Haverfield
Wendy Rhodes
Victor Rodriguez
Shaun M. Simmons
Like many cities in Idaho, Nampa is struggling with its own identity in the face of unprecedented growth. Longtime residents must still feel like they’re living in the small town of their youth, even as the population nears 120,000 people. The decisions made by the next mayor and council members will set the course of the city for the next generation. I pray my friends in Nampa choose wisely.