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'Blunt as a falling safe,' Providence councilman speaks his mind By
Heidi Thueson Victor Jay Saunders says it like it is. Or, in his words, "I'm as blunt as a falling safe." Saunders certainly finds plenty of opportunity to say it like it is. Between acting as the director of development at Utah State University, a city councilman in Providence, and a dedicated husband and father, he interacts with throngs of people daily. It comes as a surprise that someone who is always so outspoken and jovial in city council meetings once hated government. As a student at USU, Saunders wasn't too eager to take a required political science class from Professor Dan Jones. He was in for a pleasant surprise. "[Jones] really made politics exciting," Saunders says. "From there on, I took every political science class I could take." It seems politics runs in the family. Saunders' twin brother Vincent Ray served on the Nibley City Council for 13 years. The twins grew up in Nibley on a diversified farm along with an older brother, four sisters, and an Apache Indian who joined the family through the LDS Indian Placement Program. The family also raised mink. "I hated it," says Saunders. Luckily, Saunders managed to escape the mink business when he moved to Auckland, New Zealand, to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Proselytizing must have whetted his appetite to talk to people. When he returned, Saunders pursued a degree in radio and TV broadcasting at USU and helped with U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen's 1980 campaign for office. Saunders also joined a selective choir, The Sounds of Zion, and traveled to Poland to perform. Poland was under solidarity rule at the time, and Saunders did some reporting for The Associated Press on the side. "I got to interview leaders of solidarity -- it was a great experience," Saunders said. All work and no play makes Vic a dull boy, thoughąduring his senior year, he went to "Tarzan Night" at the Logan Institute of Religion and there met his future wife, Kelley. "Kelley was meant for me," Saunders says. "I couldn't ask for a better wife." The two now have two sons, and a daughter who is attending USU's College of Business. "All my kids will be Aggies, no doubt about it," Saunders asserts. "I've always loved Utah State since 1964, when I first saw an Aggie basketball game." After earning his degree in 1981, he got his big start in his career reporting farm news at KVNU. Saunders says that the hectic schedule got old pretty fast. Luckily he was rescued by Harold Kinzer, one of his professors, who recommended Saunders for a position at the Utah Farm Bureau. For 15 years Saunders worked at the bureau. He was named director of broadcast services in June of 1982, and went on to create a weekly farming program called Countryside. He climbed the corporate ladder and eventually became vice president of communication. Saunders moved to Providence when he was hired by USU as director of development about three years ago, and remembers calling his wife Kelley to come stand outside with him one night, shortly after they moved. "Do you hear that?" he asked his wife. "No," she replied. "Exactly," Saunders said. Providence isn't all peace and quiet for Saunders, though. One day he was commenting on the high impact fees in Providence and Randy Simmons overheard him. Simmons encouraged Saunders to run for city office if he was dissatisfied with the way the town was run. A few year later Saunders did just that, and in January of 2002 he was sworn into office as city councilman. "We had controversy right off the bat," said Saunders, referring to the recent decision of the council to relieve Mayor Alma Leonhardt of his city managerial duties. "Providence is growing exponentially. We're at a crossroads where we need to act like the big city we are becoming." Saunders was one of the few council members who made his stand on the issue public before the vote was taken. He voted to remove Leonhardt from city managerial duties. "My personal style is to say what I mean, rather than beat around the bush," he said. "People will respect your viewpoint when you stand firmly. By taking a stand, you take the politics out of it." Hence the reputation for being as blunt as a falling safe. "I usually make my decisions based on research, until I can be convinced it is faulty," Saunders said. "I was a little discouraged initially by people's inability to handle things professionally and not personally." Saunders acknowledges that when he was elected, he stopped his practice of saying things merely to measure shock value. "I've had to rein in my personality," he said. "If you're in the public eye, you don't have any protection." It seems his style does not go unappreciated. Saunders was invited by several people to run for the Utah Legislature, but he turned them down. "I don't have any big desire to have a career in politics. My intent is to serve my four years as city councilman," he said. And so Saunders will keep his family in Providence. "Living up on that bench is the greatest thing," he says. "As a kid growing up in Nibley, Providence seemed like the cool place to be." It's nice to be one of the cool kids now.
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