Welcome! I'm Ready to Work for Cedar City and for You!

Thank you for visiting the site of 

Fred C Rowley 

Candidate for Cedar City Council

Election Day is Tuesday November 5th* 
*despite the fact that my sticky note on the newspaper said the 6th!

You can vote at ANY of the city polling places if you bring your driver's license. 
I would greatly appreciate your vote!
If you like what you see here,
 would you please forward this web address to others who might be interested? 
Thank you!

Phone: (435) 267-2315

Email: fred4cedar@gmail.com
Like us on Facebook at: facebook.com/fred4cedar

A Brief Biography

I grew up in southeastern Arizona in the town of Thatcher and spent my youth working with my father, grandfather, and three brothers raising alfalfa, cattle, and cotton.

My mother was the bookstore manager at Eastern Arizona College where I received my associate's degree. I received a bachelor's degree in organizational communication from BYU in 1980. Before entering the world of education, I worked for four years as a financial planner with United California Business and Estate Planning in Riverside, California.

I left the business world and received a teaching credential from California State University San Bernardino in 1984. We moved our family to Santa Clara in 1988 and I taught at the Woodward Sixth-Grade center in St. George. During that time I earned my master's degree and level II math endorsement from SUU.

I served both as a city councilman and then as mayor in Santa Clara City between the years of 1996 and 2002.

We've owned a home here in Cedar City for ten years, and when our youngest son graduated from high school six years ago, we were free to move here simply because we love it. I currently serve as the elementary math specialist for Iron County School District and North Elementary.

I'm married to Glenda Koplin Rowley from Sandy, Utah. We have four children and six and-a-half grandchildren.

Why I'm Running

Some of the friends that I've known for years look at me with their eyes bulging out and ask, "Why are you running again? Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?"

I must admit that there's a big difference between running for city council and running for an office on the national level. On the national level you get to take junkets to tropical isles and have a gym set aside for your personal use. Running for an office like that makes sense to the average person. But when you get involved with local politics such as school board or city council, a lot of folks look at that and decide they'd just as soon put their head in a vise and crank it down real tight.

Years and years ago, before I ran for office the first time, I was walking with a friend who had served many years on our city council. I mentioned that someday I might consider such a thing, and he said something to this effect: "You should! Somebody's got to help out around here." It struck me quite forcefully. Up until then, I'd always thought of public office as a thing people did to feather their own nests, not as doing something that requires self-sacrifice in the same vein as being in the PTA or a scoutmaster. So I thought about it and decided I wanted to be someone who "helped out around here."

Well, you'd think that six years of that kind of business would have been enough. I certainly thought it was at the time.

But a strange thing happened to me a while back. Many mornings I get on my bike and ride around the university campus and the city for exercise. It just so happened that the storm-drain installation crew  was working at the corner of 200 South and 300 West one morning when I rode by. I stopped and watched them as long as I could before they began to think I was some sort of creep and then went on my way. But as I rode that day, I realized that I missed that sort of thing--being part of making the world a better place.

So when the opportunity arose to run for city council, I marched in and signed up.

I don't have any sort of grand agenda or axe to grind. I just want to be a part of "helping out around here" to make our city beautiful, safe, and stable. I hope you'll give me that chance.

A Note from Washington County Commissioner Dennis Drake

      Denny Drake succeeded me as mayor of Santa Clara after my term was complete. He now serves Washington County as a whole.

 I have known Fred Rowley for some 15 years. I served as a city councilman when Fred was Mayor of Santa Clara. He was diligent in doing his job; open to the citizens; thoughtful in all that he did. He made our community better with his foresight and planning. Fred has great ideas and works hard to accomplish them. He is conservative yet progressive, a quality not often found these days. Fred is an excellent leader and will make a great city councilman. I fully support Fred Rowley for the Cedar City City Council.

Dennis Drake
Washington County Commissioner

A Note from City Manager Ricky Horst

On June 11th, I received the following letter from Ricky Horst, a city manager that was employed by the City of Santa Clara during the time I served as mayor.

June 11, 2013

I have had the pleasure of serving as an experienced professional City Manager with over
twenty-five years of service in cities both large and small. During that time my career has
moved me to various locations and has caused me to work with hundreds of elected officials.
And on occasion you get that unique opportunity to work with an individual who reminds you
of the true meaning of public service. Such has been my honor to work with Fred Rowley during my service as City Manager for Santa Clara, Utah. For every one hundred politicians you find one Fred Rowley.

Ricky A. Horst
City Manager, City of Rocklin California
ICMA Credentialed City Manager



A Note from City Manager Ricky Horst

A Note from City Manager Matthew Brower

     When Ricky Horst was offered the opportunity to serve as city manager for South Jordan Utah, he recommended a young man who had served as his intern in Florida--Matthew Brower. Matt and I worked together for nearly two years until my term concluded. He was city manager during the great Santa Clara flood in 2005, and was at the helm when Santa Clara was rebuilt. Much of the beauty you see as you drive through Santa Clara now was the result of Matt's  (and Mayor Drake's) efforts. 

       While serving as City Manager of Santa Clara, Utah I had the honor of working with then Mayor Fred Rowley. Fred has a proven track record of effective leadership.   Today's financial climate demands a candidate with proven leadership abilities, Fred Rowley is that candidate.  His leadership can be credited with placing Santa Clara's finances on a firm standing.  Now, more than ever, these demonstrated leadership traits are critical of any candidate seeking public office.
      Fred has a proven track record of effective leadership predicated on the principle of personal responsibility. He has a record of tackling the tough issues and advancing long term sustainable solutions.  His leadership style can best be described as selfless, leading with personal humility and professional will.  The Cedar City Community will be well served by a man of character dedicated to preserving the community's quality of life and long term financial sustainability.

Matthew Brower
City Manager
Ocala, Florida

Some Past Projects and Activities

Because Santa Clara was a much smaller city that Cedar, I think it gave me the opportunity to have six-years worth of experiences in ALL aspects of city government.  For this post, I thought I'd just rattle off some of the things I was involved with, either as mayor or on the council just to give you a glimpse of the range of things I've been involved with.

Council 1996 and 1997

We constructed an earthquake-resistant water tank at the mouth of Snow Canyon providing 2.5 million gallons of water storage for the city.

Added a second fire station to service the northern section of Santa Clara.

Planned Pioneer Parkway in northern Santa Clara that provided the only east-west alternative through the city during the flood of 2005 when Old Highway 91 was washed away.

Worked with UAMPS (Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems) as Santa Clara moved into ownership of its own power system to ensure that we had a reliable, low-priced power grid.

Installed a looped water system that created more balanced water pressure throughout the city.

Worked with law enforcement and firefighters in the city to insure that they had the tools they needed to   keep the city safe--including the above-mentioned fire station and a new fire engine.

Purchased a street sweeper to keep the city clean and to assist the folks in the valley with the endless clean-up of the leaves from Santa Clara's signature sycamore trees.

Added a stage/pavillion and playground equipment to the city's main park.

Mayor 1998-2002

Acquired enough water rights from various sources to drill a new well that can produce over 1,300 gallons per minute of some of America's finest culinary water.

Procured land that has since become the home of four baseball fields, a water park, and Lava Ridge Intermediate School.

Funded and constructed Pioneer Parkway.

Added miles of biking/walking trails using matching funds from the Utah Department of Transportation.

Added statues throughout the city via private funding to commemorate notable citizens.

Worked with developers to create landscaped trims in their subdivisions to create a more beautiful city.

Worked with citizens to accumulate funds to make downtown Santa Clara particularly beautiful during the Christmas season.

Worked with local citizens to create Heritage Square, a beautiful spot downtown that has hosted hundreds of community events.

Worked with developers and homeowners to manage the water problems that were creating havoc with the blue clay and causing home damage.

Instituted a "Distinguished Citizen" program to honor and spotlight regular folks in the city who had provided voluntary service to make the city better and had as yet gone unrecognized.

Worked with St. George City to fund and construct Sand Hollow Aquatic Center on the Santa Clara/St. George Border

Signed a water compact with the Shivwits Band of Paiutes that enabled a pressurized irrigation system for Santa Clara farmers from the Santa Clara River, and thus enabled the Shivwits Band to have water for their own economic development.

Worked with Washington County Conservancy District to build a water system that allows water to be moved from one end of the county to the other to meet the needed demand.

Worked with designers and architects to develop a plan for downtown Santa Clara, which now makes it one of the most beautiful downtown landscapes in Washington County.

Created an Economic Development Board, and a City Utility Board to advise the Mayor and City Council in those two matters, and to seek out ways to improve both for the city.

Served on the Executive Board of the Washington County Solid Waste Board.

Negotiated with the state's Air Quality Control Board when the refused to grant us permission to run our auxiliary diesel-powered generator when there was a heatwave and power prices from outside sources were spiking. They finally relented and we saved thousands of dollars.

Met regularly with Mayors of St. George and Ivins to coordinate city projects.

In two separate instances, went personally to the homes of landowners who were locked in lawsuits with the city over land issues, and talked with them until we came to common ground and settled the suits amicably to the benefit of both parties.

Wrote a monthly mayoral newsletter that gave the members of the community an inside look into our deliberations which was greatly appreciated by many citizens.

Arranged for unused city property to become a dog agility park.

Occasionally would walk into neighborhoods and knock on a random door and talk to the person that answered to ask them about their feelings concerning the standing of the city.

Wrangled with the president of a cell phone company when the tower we got turned out to be considerably taller and uglier than the tower that was represented. The tower was replaced.

Worked with Santa Clara Historical Society to greatly enhance and promote Swiss Days, our annual heritage event.

Worked with Washington County Solid Waste to provide dumpsters quarterly in various neighborhoods so the citizens could clean up their yards and bring the debris to a nearby location for disposal.

Suggested and worked to install a 24 hour dumping dock at the Washington County Landfill so citizens wouldn't have "The dump was closed" as an excuse for defiling the desert.

Worked with Gerald Sherratt when he served as president of Tuacahn to develop a cooperative agreement between our city and the complex in Ivins.

Expanded the city limits to provide protection for Native American Petroglyphs which was the beginning phase of the Santa Clara River Reserve.

Worked with the Bureau of Land Management to provide a balance of protection and recreation of the BLM lands inside city limits.

Served as a charter board member of the Southwest Mosquito Abatement District when West Nile Virus and Equine Encephalitis began to threaten the region. This involved going to each city council in the county to enlist their financial support to form the District.

How We Came to Live in Cedar City

My great-grandfather, John Rowley as a young man, crossed the Rocky Ridge in Wyoming that cold October night in 1856 with his mother, Ann Jewell Rowley and his brothers as part of the Willie Handcart Company. Most of the Rowleys ended up settling in Parowan, but John spent some time in Nephi working a gypsum mine there. Nephi City still has a piece of water pipe made from plaster of Paris that John made and installed to give that city a water distribution system.

Eventually, John and his family headed for Mexico where he died after an accident while he was building a flour mill. His son, Lorenzo Jewell Rowley migrated northward to southern Arizona after being expelled from Mexico by Pancho Villa. He homesteaded land in the town of Thatcher and it was  there that my father, and later I, was born.

I came north to Utah to get a college degree and met my wife, Glenda, who grew up in Sandy. On our honeymoon, we drove through Santa Clara and commented that it would be a nice place to live someday. It offered Glenda the opportunity to live in Utah, but offered me the snow-free climate that I was accustomed to. When our children became school-age, we bid farewell to California and moved to Santa Clara where we lived for 18 years.

I was teaching 7th-grade pre-algebra at Lava Ridge Intermediate School in Santa Clara when Glenda finally determined that she just couldn't take the heat anymore!

To solve that problem, she would come to Cedar City and by using a little map she'd drawn, she'd drive up and down the streets looking for the perfect home. One day in February, ten years ago, she found it. It was on 700 West, south of the university. It had belonged to Wilford and Gwen Clark, and was across the street from the Rymal Williams home and the Royden Braithwaite home. We bought it and made it into a rental and began to fix it up.

Finally, the day came that our youngest son graduated from high school and we were free to move to Cedar. I applied for a job with Iron County School District and made the stipulation that the lowest grade I'd be able to teach would be 5th grade. Principal Ray Whittier at Fiddler's Elementary called me and offered me a job teaching 2ND GRADE! (With a promise that 5th would come the year after.) I took took a deep breath, gulped a couple of times, and agreed to do it.

When we announced to our Dixie friends that we were moving, each and every one of them made this bold announcement: "But.....it SNOWS up there!" Yes it does. And for each of the six years we've been here, we've enjoyed the four distinct seasons that Cedar has to offer. It is our home.