Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
Born and raised in a small village in Cyprus, Yianni John Ioannou never imagined he'd one day be running for the Salt Lake County mayor's office. But his personal life has certainly prepared him for just that.
With his father serving as mayor of his small town, Yianni learned the importance of one's civic duty, dedication, responsibility and hard work. Since the village had no public services department, Yianni and his father often repaired potholes and cobblestones, trimmed trees, collected trash and fixed water lines on public property.
As a former refugee who's experienced homelessness twice, a fully bilingual and bicultural veteran and ex-police officer, Yianni is also able to see issues from various perspectives. He understands the importance of public safety and appreciates the personal risks and sacrifices of local law enforcement and military members to keep citizens safe.
Yianni first came to Utah during the 2002 Winter Olympics, where he worked as a volunteer interpreter for the Greek delegation. After falling in love with Salt Lake, he returned in 2007 as the landfill director for Salt Lake County and has been there ever since. Over the last 17 years, he's gained a lot of institutional knowledge of the inner workings of Salt Lake County.
Yianni holds Industrial Supervision, Business Management and Master of Business Administration degrees. Those combined with a successful track record of managing multi-million dollar waste management projects, will serve him — and the citizens of Salt Lake County — well in office.
As mayor of Salt Lake County, he hopes to bring these values of hard work and service to the office, along with a promise to keep the budget and property taxes in check.
Here's where Yianni stands on several key issues.
Public safety
As a veteran and an ex-police officer, Yianni is a big supporter of public safety and local city control. He opposes the recent Utah Legislature bill that ruled in favor of dissolving the Unified Police Department and promises to stop those seeking to politicize policing.
Duplicate services
"Across Salt Lake County, independent cities under local control provide their own services. Those few residents living in unincorporated areas still get many services from the Municipal Services District (MSD), or the UPD (Unified Police Department)," Yianni's website states.
Yianni will work to eliminate unnecessary duplicate services throughout Salt Lake County, which are costing taxpayers extra money.
High taxation
Yianni claims to be "allergic" to soaring taxes and budgets, promising to scale back the county government, reduce administrative bureaucracy and provide tax relief to citizens.
"In all projects, Yianni employs the principles of simplicity, standardization, uniformity, safety, frugality, cooperation and productivity. Yianni will use these principles to keep the budget in check," his website states.
Yianni wants to hear from you
One of Yianni's biggest strengths is his ability to listen and bring others' ideas to the table, which would be an important trait as Salt Lake County mayor. If you have suggestions, questions or comments, Yanni wants to hear them. You can contact him via his website, his email address (Yianni4Mayor@gmail.com) or by phone at 801-381-3467.
For more information, visit yianni4mayor.com.
