A Candidate Explains How He’ll Listen, Follow Up, And Fix What Town Hall Ignores

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Apple Valley Public Forum: https://www.facebook.com/groups/473556675301944/

Tired of watching decisions happen to you instead of with you? We sat down with Apple Valley District 4 candidate Matthew Rutledge to pull the curtain back on how town hall can move from box-checking to real transparency. Matthew shares why he’s running, how being raised on integrity shapes his approach, and what follow-through should look like when residents bring real problems to the mic.

We get specific about the Brown Act and how it’s too often treated like a mute button. Matthew lays out a simple blueprint: acknowledge concerns in public, exchange contact info, and follow up after meetings unless it’s a closed-session item. From there we dig into the budget shortfall, the risks of leaning on reserves, and smarter ways to prioritize spending. Measure P takes center stage as we examine oversight that feels anything but independent, why committee selection matters, and how to rebuild trust with clear criteria, public minutes, and visible outcomes.

Land use and quality of life are on the line with a proposed truck and trailer parking site near homes. Matthew makes the public health and traffic case for relocating heavy uses away from neighborhoods, while we also revisit the “free” Sing Center and the costly realities of deferred maintenance. For residents asking what they can do, we map out real steps: attend meetings, contact council members directly, organize neighbors, and push for regular town halls and accessible contact info. We close with a practical plan for durable road repairs that serve wheelchair users, cyclists, and drivers alike, plus Matthew’s commitment to take calls, return messages, and document progress.

If you care about accountability, budgets that add up, and decisions that reflect community voice, this one’s for you. Listen, share with a neighbor, and tell us the top issue you want addressed next. Subscribe for more local deep dives, leave a review to help others find the show, and send your questions so we can take them straight to the people in power.

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Transcript

Setting The Mission

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hey there Apple Valley. Are you tired of feeling like decisions are being made for you instead of with you? Do you ever wonder what the town council is actually voting on or why that new development is suddenly popping up next to your favorite spot? Well, welcome to the High Desert Insiders, the podcast dedicated to pulling back the curtain on our local government and the issues that truly matter right here in the High Desert. I'm your host, Scott, and every week we're diving deep into the heart of Apple Valley politics in the high desert. We're not here for the drama, we're here for the discussion. And this week we have an awesome episode. We're talking to Matthew Rutledge. He's uh running for Town Council and District 4 here in Apple Valley, uh, just talking to him about what his interests are, what he thinks he would change, things we're doing good, and things we need to improve. And big issue here, transparency. So this is where your voice gets heard, your questions get answered, and we all become a little bit more informed and engaged residents of the high desert. So whether you're passing by the iconic Apple Valley Golf Course or waiting for the light on Bear Valley Road, tune in. Let's get the real story, let's make a difference. The High Desert Insiders starts right now. Well, um, welcome to the uh show, Matthew. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Good, how are you?

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Um, doing good, doing good, and loving this uh kind of rainy-ish weather here. So um I got connected to you on Facebook and uh because you uh you've lived up lived up here for a number of years, um, almost 11, right? Correct. And uh and you are running for election to town council district four, is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yeah, that's correct.

Why Run: Voices Ignored

SPEAKER_03 1:46

All right. So um you you we'll talk about your previous campaign in a in a minute here, but what what uh what really wanted, you know, I mean, it's a it's a it's a volunteer effort, basically, or it should be. What uh what um what what made you want to run for town council? What what do you see you know that's like that could be done better in the town? What and what what kind of things would you like to work on when when you're elected?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Well, I originally wanted to run for town council because I would attend town council meetings and I would hear that there were people that were having um issues being ignored, or they would bring up an issue to the council, and the council would say, Hey, I'm I'll I'll get back to you. And nothing would ever happen. I remember actually talking to somebody and asked them, hey, did the council ever get back to you just because I was curious? And they said, No, they didn't. I said, That's not right at all. Um, but I also wanted to run um to make a difference in my community because you know, as somebody of a young age, as myself, um, you know, I'm open to ideas and I'm open to listening to people, you know, and I want to be that void, I want to be that voice for the people that feel that they're not hurt at all. And, you know, going to that being in town council, I want to be the one where they can go, oh hey, he he you know works in my district or he works for the town. Um, let's talk to him and see what he has in mind because I'm willing to, you know, talk to people. And then finally, the uh reason why I wanted to run was because uh my mom actually experienced issues with the council. Um, in the past when we moved up here, Barbara Stanton was on um town council at the time, and my mom brought up an issue because my mom is physically disabled and uses a wheelchair, and she was trying to find out, you know, how could she get to work, you know, because we moved down from Lakewood up to here, which is a completely different change in pace of life. Um, to where we went to the town council meeting, Barb was she was either mayor or council member if I remember correctly at the time, I don't remember which. Um but my mom had asked her a simple question of hey, you know, is there accessibility arrangement and Barb's answer was pretty rude to my mom. So it's like not only am I doing it because I want people's voices to be hear, to be heard, um, but I also want people to know that their concerns are actually, you know, being being met because you know, I face them daily, obviously as a resident. But my mom also faces them daily as well if she wants to, you know, go to the grocery store in her wheelchair. The roads aren't that great and they're not always that safe for somebody in a wheelchair to travel. So, you know, I want to be that voice. I want people to know that hey, somebody is actually listening to you. And if I tell you I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do that. I'm not gonna, you know, I can't say the words that they would say, you know, you know, going around the issue, you know, it's that's not me. You know, I'm a person of integrity and I'm a person of my work. If I tell you I'm gonna do something, I'm nice.

Transparency And The Brown Act

SPEAKER_03 4:55

Okay, yeah, that's definitely something we need. And I think I think anyone who lives up here would agree that transparency is an issue with the town council. You know, I mean, yeah, you could pull up the budget reports and the the warrants and all that stuff, right? But you know, we've you know, we bring up issues, you know, at least when I've been there the last few, except for the very last one, we'll ask issues and they just hide behind the Brown Act. And I get I get the point behind the Brown Act, you know, but I think they use it as a shield more than anything, and unfortunately. And so with that transparency issue, you know, whole topic being very important to us, what uh what are your thoughts on that? How would you feel, you know, how would you what would you do differently when uh when you're elected?

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Well, I would what I would do differently if I was elected is the Brown Act, yes, we obviously have to follow the law, but what I would do is I would wait till the council meeting was over and say, hey, I heard about your issue. Here's my number, here's my email, you know, give me a call, email me, and I'll see what I can do. You know, obviously, because in the moment you can't always speak about it, but they never say, Oh, you can't talk to somebody before or after the meeting about an issue. You know, of course, if as long as it's not a closed item issue, you know, closed session issue, you can speak about it, you know. So, you know, if it's on the council at the time of like, like, hey, I I if I'm allowed to speak, you know, say, hey, I do hear your issue. Um, thank you for letting us know. And then of course, after the meeting's over, as long as we don't have closed session, even if we do, I could, you know, go over to the person, say, hey, um, you know, write down my phone number or write down my email, whatever it is, hand it to them and say, Hey, give me a call.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Okay. Yeah, and I I think that's that's huge, right? Um I know that I I'm I I tried to find the best in people, right? Even even the current council members. Yeah. Um, you know, and I know Mayor Nassif is, you know, oh, we're gonna do town halls. And uh unfortunately he said that before though. And how many town halls do we have this year? I don't know if we had any, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

I don't know, I honestly don't think we have any.

Budget Shortfalls And Priorities

SPEAKER_03 6:58

And I think my problem was is I've I've talked to Carrie and I have my own personal um uh we'll call it issues with that to stay out of legal trouble. Yeah, uh because she was a realtor and we bought our house. But uh um she made a comment, and I I don't know if you saw that, I believe it was David Denker, if you've you know talked to him or seen him on Facebook about the budget, right? And how she basically said on Facebook, like, hey, we've had a shortfall, but we're balanced. Like, well, that doesn't make any sense. And then she'll talk about how well they they've used the reserve of the town to balance the budget, like that's terrible. But then people go to ask her about that in the meetings in the town council, and she says, Well, I can't because it's the Brown Act. It's like, well, that's not the point of the Brown Act, yeah. The point of the Brown Act was to say, hey, like, we're not holding any secret meetings, right? Right was the whole point is to to keep the public informed, not to keep things from the public. And uh, and I I'll tell you, like, I've even I've invited her onto this, you know, podcast, and she, you know, like, well, I'll wait till next year, you know, and lot, you know, kind of grumbles about it. Like, same thing with mere nasa. Like, well, thanks. I I appreciate that, but not so um, but with that being said, I mean, so the with the budget, since we're on that kind of topic, right? Um, obviously we have a shortfall, right? Um, you know, KFC lunches excluded. I mean, uh, with inside joke there, just follow the pages if you're listening. Uh, but uh budget, there's a budget shortfall, and we're kind of pushing it off and pushing it off. What are your thoughts and general topics? I know I know you don't, you know, you're not there yet, but what what kind of things would you change or do to help uh alleviate that budget shortfall and and keep that reserve for sometime when we actually do need it?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

I would see what we could do with Measure P funds to start off with, um, because that's you know extra money that we have that we can potentially use. Um, I would look at, okay, are we really excessively spending where we don't need to spend? You know, because I know, you know, as you said, for KFC, I know we're not talking on that topic, but for KFC, if we're me, I'd be like, hey, I can go get my own food. Let me just pay for it myself, you know, that kind of thing. Because it's like, I I get it, it's free. And as a teacher, we've had food catered to our schools, but there are times that we pay for it, you know, and it's like, why accept something when you can spend your own money on it, you know? But finding ways to not excessively spend on things outrageous. Um, maybe using more locally owned businesses, family-owned businesses, save some money within the town, use your resources because I have noticed that the town likes to go out of the community and get contracts from other cities and other companies. Try going in the town first, talk to companies within the town, see what can be can be done to save money. You know, I've learned to save money for since I was little, you know, and you don't spend money when you don't have it. And even if you do have it, you only use it for when you do need it. And if you don't need it, you save it.

The Sing Center Costs

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Yeah, yeah. I I think I think there's a lot of things that the butt that the town could do. And unfortunately, I think, I mean, you've been at town council meetings more than I have, where they every everything gets rubber stamped, basically. I I don't know if I've seen, watched, been to a town council where they've had any disagreeing opinions on a vote. It's all been unanimous every single time I've seen. But yeah, you know, I mean you get things like the Sing Center. I don't know. Uh for any so for anyone who's not listened, doesn't know this backstory of the Sing Center. It's the old movie theater at uh Central and Bear Valley. They got uh the town was quote unquote given the center, but they've had to do a lot of renovations to it, so spent a ton of money on it. Um, I don't know. What are your thoughts on the Sing Center in general?

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Um, I think with the donation that was nice and it was great, but could the town really afford to keep it up? You know, because when something's donated to you, you of course accept it in the condition that it's in. And you know, what I would have done is I would have, as a town, I would have looked at it and said, okay, what needs to be fixed? And what I would have done is with the property owner, obviously, the property owners generally have money, I would talk to the property owner and um say, hey, this needs to be fixed, and this needs to be fixed, and this needs to be fixed. Can we work on the deal before we're donated this building? That way the donation doesn't go to waste, you know, because I know that they were talking about, oh, you know, the roof needs to be fixed, or it was leaking pipes need to be fixed, what what have you. And I would have told this the property owner, we'll gladly accept the donation, but we need to make sure that these issues are fixed first before you know you give us this building.

Measure P Oversight Concerns

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that's a great idea. Um, and unfortunately, I think they just looked right past that, like, oh, free, free stuff. Let's get it. Exactly. Um, so uh along with something you mentioned there briefly in uh in a minute or two ago is Measure P, right? So Measure P has been kind of a huge topic because we got all these funds and there are supposed to be these civilian oversight committees, and they I I don't, and you could probably inform me better. You might probably are very much more informed on this than I am, but the lack of oversight when there was promise to be oversight. Um and we I know we bought it, we bought, we are, you know, funded more deputies, eight more, which is awesome. That's a huge, huge win for the city, but like there's a ton of other money, and I feel like the civilian over there is supposed to be oversight, but there isn't, you know. And I don't I think a lot of people are feeling gypped by it. I don't know what your thoughts on Measure P or P are and maybe what your plans for that uh, you know, when you get elected.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Yeah, I feel gypped by it too, because that oversight committee that they said they were gonna have, I actually filled out an application three times to be on that committee, and I was denied every single time. So I think that was outrageous. And the fact that every council member, and I did mention to them, I said, hey, just let you know, look out for my my application. I put in for it. Okay, great, yeah, we'll look out for it. But then to find out that the council uh members uh prove people that they already knew or had some kind of connection to them, that's not okay. That's favoritism, and that's not that's not right at all. And as far as I know, I think it's illegal in some circumstances. Don't quote me on that. But um, but personally, from my standpoint, um, applying for three times for that committee and being denied, and I have no connections to the town council whatsoever at all, is not okay. It's it's very frustrating. And so their quote-unquote advisory committee, I don't really think it's an advisory committee at all. I think it's just okay. Uh, for example, you know, Carrie wants this, okay, I'll do it. You know, I worked with her before, or Larry wants this, and whoever he chose, oh, I know him. Yeah, I'll put it in for him. No, you need somebody who's you know unbiased, somebody that knows, you know, essentially nothing about the council except for that they work for the town. Yep. But you know, somebody like myself, I'm impartial, I'm unbiased, you know. Choose me. Like, I will actually look at, you know, is it worth it to have these things being funded by Measure P if we truly need them?

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Yep. And I I I get it right. I I get part of it. I get like, okay, they know them, these people, right? They can trust, quote unquote, they can trust these people. At least that's what they're gonna say, right?

unknown 15:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Like, how can you vet like other people that they don't know? All right, cool, point taken. But exactly what you said, right? Is that like the point of that advisory committee is to be a secondary group who is not connected to the town council, who is not paid for by the town, so that they can give an unbiased opinion. And when it's your people, how are they actually going to give an unbiased opinion when they're all connected to the town council? That just exactly it just blows my mind.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah, it blows my mind too.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

You know, and and with that, I mean, like the town, I I heard a stat, and I I haven't verified all of these numbers exactly, but I'm pretty sure they're accurate. Is that the average like uh tenure of the town council members right now is something like 13 years on average.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

And I believe so, yeah.

How Residents Can Get Involved

SPEAKER_03 16:05

And you know, with some of them being there longer than that, by the way, and some being you know shorter, but still, like, I mean, you go back, I go back to when I was dating. So my wife grew up here in Apple Valley, right? I'm not from here, and we got married in 2007, left, got you know, went to the military, came back, um, because family was here, not necessarily by choice, but trying to make it the best we can now. And uh we were when we were here in 2007, some of the same town council members were were here. Like that that blows my mind. It's like so why would someone when you're getting paid? I think the number is like 48,000 a year. If I'm not, I could be completely off on that, but I think that's the number I saw, right? 48,000 a year for a council member. Like, why would they continue to do this? Yeah, for 30 years on, I think one of them has been here. Like, why? Maybe because they're making money on the side from some of these deals. I don't know. That's just a thought. You don't have to answer that, but just my own thinking here. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just to be clear. Yeah, but I don't know. It just it's it's a it's an interesting choice, I I feel like it is.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

I agree.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

Um and then I think I think the thing that a lot of people don't I think people just don't know how to get involved, you know. Um, I got involved a year or so ago when hit one of the Hit brothers, I think Chris Hit tried to build the the gas station at Central in Walu. Um and he basically came up at the end of the planning commission meeting and said, I'm pulling my app. Like, sorry. I know I've wasted now millions of dollars on this, but sorry, no one wants it, so I'm I'm done, right? And that's so I kind of got involved then, and then when this whole truck parking lot, which we'll talk about in a second, started happening, I actually got involved in it a lot of a lot, and I think people are just a little clueless about the count town government, right? And the fact that the planning commission is just an advisory thing, really. They're all volunteers. The the town council who gets the stuff after the planning commission, they they don't have to abide by what the council says, or the commission, rather, you know. I think it's a it's an interesting government, and I think people need to get involved. And so I don't I'm curious what your thoughts on what you would tell people who like find some of these topics, see, hey, I I really this is interesting. How would I get involved? So, what would you what would you say to them, people who are just finding out about some of these issues and thinking, hey, I'd like to get involved, but don't know how.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

I would tell them obviously go to council meetings, reach out to the council members of the town, and if it's an issue that you don't happen to like, let your voice be heard, you know, whether it's putting up, you know, appropriate signage, protesting the idea. You know, I'm okay with signage and you know, things like that. But if you want to get involved, talk to the town, talk to your neighbors, see what your neighbors think about it, because everybody has differing opinions, you know. But go to the town, you know, email council members, because I know they do have email. Um, call them if there's any way to personally call them. Um, but just go to council meetings, let your voice be heard, and even talk to the council members when you see them in the community. Don't be afraid to go up to them and say, hey, this is what's going on. You know, I don't like, for example, um Kurt Emick, he's a pharmacist, you know, and I have seen people go up to him, obviously, you know, not when he's on the clock, but you know, go up to him and say, hey, there's this issue going on in town, you know, what can be done to fix it? And I've even gone up to him to him and spoken to him personally about you know the issues I've seen. Um, but yeah, just talking to them, you know, they're they're people too. Yes, they make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, but they're people too. Just, you know, go out, talk to them, see them in person, stop.

Residency Rules And Access

Truck Parking Lot Debate

SPEAKER_03 20:00

talk i mean talk to them yeah i i would i wouldn't say that that's also a good idea and i will say so i've to pile on to that a little bit right maybe this is something you can make a change on i don't know if you if you wish to or not it's up to you but i i i actually so it had been trying to reach out to the council members right to have them on here right to let that like try and give a two sides to every story type of a thing you know right and uh in find trying to find how to get a hold of them was almost impossible so on the town council website it doesn't list any contact info at all so I had to like google their their phone numbers which is totally creepy I know but like uh you know they're public officials so I was like that's okay whatever but you know and I and and looking them up on Facebook too and I that's how I got I got a hold of mayor nassif and carrie and I was able to talk to them on their like via text which texting with Scott Nassif is a whole is a lot of fun by the way he hates technology so um and so it was impossible to like like it it took a lot of work to get in contact with them and especially if Carrie Leon is my I mean I'll say this in my my district area representative she I'm I technically live in the county by like a hundred feet so that's why I didn't run otherwise I would have but uh you know so she's my area up here in district three i i couldn't i i couldn't get a hold of her to save the life you know it took me like an hour two's worth of work to get a hold of her um so yeah that was that was frustrating and uh i i also would love to talk to carrie about how i'd love to talk well i'll say this backtrack on that is i'd love to look at the rules and see how what are the rules of when and how you can run for town council member right like do you have to just own property up here or do you have to live up here because I have a feeling I won't name any names but there are people who own property in the districts that they supervise but they don't actually live in in the city or in the town actually yeah uh from running actually back in 2022 I can answer that question you just have to live within the town and you just have to be uh of age to run I don't I think that I think they told me it was 18 or 21 to run if I remember correctly but you just have to live within town.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

I don't own property I don't you know own anything but go ahead with your I mean does that I mean does would owning property in the in the district limits like count because I know and I won't name any names but I know one person who has property in the district that that person be careful how I say this you know runs but they live in Hesperia yeah um no because they they their voter registration would be in the city of Hesperia because voter registration is based off the address that you live even if you own property in town that's just a business.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

You have to have your own uh personal um that's in the system because when I ran in 2022 um people would obviously sign their name address and I would take it to town councils they could verify the signatures to get me put on the ballot and they would actually contact the county and the county would say okay this one's good they do live here they're registered they do live here oh this one isn't good they they have a a business address but it's not within apple valley they're not allowed to do it they would have to vote in this area so things like that um but yeah so if you just live within the town that's usually how it goes okay interesting well that's a topic for another another date then something more to look into I guess um but so there's so it's something I touched on briefly and I'm curious about your quick input on it you know you know you may not follow a whole lot because it's not in your district but the uh the truck parking lot the Walu Navajo truck trailer parking lot I don't know what are what are your thoughts on that if you're aware of that whole everything going on there with the the battle between the residents and the property owner yeah I'm very well aware of it I don't just monitor issues within my district I do my best to monitor issues in the whole town so the town is obviously herd as a whole not just my my district I didn't do that on purpose but that worked out well yeah no you're good um but no i'm I'm against it honestly especially with the way the area that they want to put it in the fact that it backs up to people's private homes and things like that that's not okay it does expose them to the the diesel fumes and things like that and um it's not okay you know I want areas where they're meant to be wide open and nothing on it that's how I want to keep it because the more that you add to stuff the less desert we have you know and the more that you're just encouraging up you know and I I'm just not for it you know at all.

Integrity, Follow-Through, And Roads

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Now if they put it out in the middle of nowhere where it wouldn't affect anybody then I would have no problem with it. But they want to put it up in your homes and that's not okay. You know people have the right to you know live peacefully the way the way they want to in this desert you know it's nice and quiet and that's the way it should be you know they shouldn't be exposed to you know carcinogens and all this stuff that could cause cancer and health issues and what have you you know it's not okay. You know the town definitely should have you know done a survey like they said they didn't I know they didn't they just made it seem like they didn't um but actually talk to people and say hey we have this idea what do you think about it you know the people like we don't like it and if you get a a majority say that we don't like it then don't do it. Find another place to put it you know but where they want it that intersection is already busy enough as it is you really think that truck 18 wheeler trucks or what have you whatever kind of trucks it may be can be on that road that road's gonna get as bad as some of the other roads I've seen out there. It's not gonna it's not gonna be able to be handled well.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

Yep yeah I I 100% agree um and I think I and in order to protect the uh the not so innocent but I I have a friend who I'll I'll call him a a friend I go to church with him you know and uh he knows Scott Himley you know he's he I'll say that he knows Scott Himley well he's I think he's friends with him and he's basically told me that Scott is aware of the opposition and he just doesn't care. Are you kidding me? No yeah he doesn't live Scott doesn't live up here either he lives down the hill so he wouldn't care you know it's just a business for him so but it's it's sad. Yeah so um well are are there any I mean I'm I'm just getting in a start into town politics right but are there any other big topic issues that kind of you have um a you know thoughts on things you want to share about with people you know uh as you uh prepare to uh get this 2026 you know election season up and running um yeah uh let's say for transparency within the town you know like I said previously you know people are feeling that they're not heard people find that the council isn't doing their um their jobs as they're were voted to do and letting people know that if I am voted in in this year in 2026 um you know I am a person of integrity.

How To Reach Matthew & Closing

SPEAKER_01 28:02

I was raised to be a person of integrity. You know if there's something that I can do I would definitely do my best to look into it and see what can be done. And if it's something that I can't do that's not within my power then I will find what department or what agency or whatever manager person of whatever department it may be that can handle the issue. And I would follow up with that person till the job is done and for then follow up with the um the community member and say hey your issue was you know addressed, taken care of please you know when you get a moment take a look at it whatever it may be that they brought up go take a look at it when you get a moment and just let me know what you think you know kind of things. And then um the other one is with obviously how bad our roads are you know I have found other methods that I don't think the town has looked at excuse me at fixing our roads I um would definitely look into the issues because my mom like I've said you know has gone out to go to the grocery store or where have you and her chair has almost literally gotten stuck in some of these cracks and potholes and things like that. And that's definitely not okay. You know you're not you're saying oh we're gonna fix the roads and we're gonna do it by this time. Okay well don't say you're gonna do it by this time unless you know for sure that it's gonna be done. You don't just give out a random date to say it's gonna be done. You need to make sure that everything is set in motion you have the materials you have everything ready to go but the uh way that I found out about fixing the roads that they probably haven't looked into is there was a community in uh in uh the UK that um would actually cut out the potholes with a rotary saw and they would actually fill it in cut out the pothole remove it fill in that area of road pat it down do everything else and it was perfect. You know I've seen where they fill the potholes they take the material from the truck and just fill it in and um just pad it down and call it a day. You know for me I would be like hey let's look at this let's look at how a different countries fixing their road and see what we can do to try and try and um emulate that you know tell them hey you know look at this look at this video and I show the video you know how it works what have you let's try this let's try this and see if this works because you don't just you know put a band aid on it as they say and say it's fixed and just move on about your date you make sure that it's done right the first time so you don't have to keep going back again and again just to fix that needs to be fixed right the first time.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

Yep. Yeah I think all too often we don't look at those type of things when why would they when they could just spend the money or just ignore it. But I don't know that's that's my take um well Matthew if if um is there any like uh I don't know if you have a Facebook page or an email group or anything where people can watch your progress your uh campaign anything like that that we can plug here and we'll put the link below if you do have it.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Yeah I don't have any links currently but I am on the Apple Valley uh public forum group as well as the voice of Apple Valley where I will be posting videos um throughout the year as a teacher obviously you know I have to post now and then but I will make sure I get videos out there of the issues I actually have a video um that I'm gonna be doing coming up about the animal shelter and how the animals are taken care of and what can be done to improve the animal shelter from what it is like wow. I've worked in rescue personally for several years so I know what it's like. And then I also have a Google Voice number I can provide the number on here that people can call me on, text me on and I will get to those uh phone calls and messages as soon as I can they can call me or text me between the hours of eight and three during those times I am teaching but they can still call me or leave a voicemail and um around four or five o'clock after I get off of work I can respond to those. And my number is going to be 7605152608. And again that's if anybody can get that that's 760 5152608. And if you see me out of the community and you have an issue that you feel that needs to be addressed by all means come up to me and and speak to me. I'm I'm willing to hear what you have to say and I would definitely I'm not on the council right now but I can still as a community member put your intern out there and make sure that it gets addressed.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

Okay yeah and I'll put uh that number down in the uh comments or description for the uh respective platform so people can reach that if need be uh and give you a call as well as the Apple Valley Town forum page so well um thank you Matthew I I really appreciate you coming on and joining me I know you're a a busy man got a lot going on so thank you for joining us I uh I wish you the best of luck as we start 2026 and I uh look forward to hopefully having you on as the uh election cycle continues and seeing how the uh the uh it's going things are going for you thank you I appreciate your time yep thanks Matthew thank you and that wraps up another episode of High Desert Insiders we want to give a big thank you to Matthew Rutledge for joining us today and for shedding light on his campaign for District 4 of the Apple Valley Town Council. Remember that your involvement is what makes Apple Valley thrive and don't let the conversation end here. You can find all the resources we discussed including links to the town council agenda down in the description below. We love hearing from you and what's on your mind so please send us your questions, ideas for future topics or feedback using the link in the top of the description on your respective platform. So thank you for spending your time with us and staying informed and being a high desert insider. Join us next week as we tackle another important issue for the high desert but until then be informed be involved and have a great week