GARDEN CITY, Idaho — For twenty years, John Evans has directed the future of Garden City. But now he says it's time for someone else to take the reins.
As he looks to hand off the responsibilities of mayor, Evans says he remains proud of his career in public service.
Garden City Mayor John Evans speaks with Senior Reporter Don Nelson about his public service as Mayor of Garden City
As a real estate developer, he felt the need to give back to a community he loved— so he decided to run for mayor some 20 years ago.
When asked what spurred that feeling, Johson responded that he felt it was his duty to share his experience with a city he loves.
Evans never looked at the mayor's office as a bully pulpit, where he could express his personal opinion and bias over things he had no control over.
"My job is to make sure that your water comes on, it's clean, that you have an award-winning library where you can bring your kids to a puppet show," said Evans. "That when you call 9-1-1, a highly trained, competent police officer shows up at your door with the best response time in the valley at two and a half minutes in an emergency."
But not everything came up roses for John Evans.
There was what's known as "Evans-Gate".
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Mayor Evans said he wouldn't budge regarding a prohibition on bike riding on a stretch of a gravel pathway along the north side of the Boise River.
Instead, he wanted families to enjoy a walk with their children and pets without having to watch out for bikers riding by.
"I had some bicycle advocates that accused me of [having] my own ulterior motives behind doing that, and so it was coined Evans-Gate," said the outgoing mayor. "Of course, I didn't live on [the pathway], but that was beside the point."
The path is still there, but in a couple of months, John Evans will be out of the office.
"It's fun, I mean, if you're doing something you like and you're seeing some success in accomplishments, some things change that are a blessing for other people— then it's fun."
