Richland City Council Pos 6
Kurt H Maier
Elected Experience
Incumbent, Richland City Council Position 6
Other Professional Experience
I’ve collaborated with people from all walks of life at Google, IBM, the University of Maryland, PNNL, and other organizations, in Nashville, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Kabul, and more. I’m a veteran of the United States Army. I’ve worked as a telephone repairman, an auto mechanic, a roofer, a chicken farmer, a manager, and a professional cook, but mostly as a supercomputing engineer, which is what I do these days.
Education
B.Sc. in General Science, MTSU; M.Sc. in Data Analytics, WGU
Community Service
Richland Public Library Board of Trustees member from 2017 to 2022. Chair from 2020-2022.
Statement
When I was elected to this office, I said we need housing affordable enough that our families can live here. We need a city code that encourages local businesses, instead of tying them up with red tape. These are the things I've been working towards since I started serving on the Council. Already we've removed several outdated laws from our municipal code, and I've led the charge on finding ways to remove the red tape that's keeping housing so expensive. There's so much more we can do, but I need your support in order to do it!
This election season, look for the candidates with real plans that focus on Richland. Too often our local leaders are beholden to political parties or other outside interests. Voting for me gets you a councilmember who is independent. I am laser-focused on what's best for Richland, and not someone spouting empty buzzwords pasted in from some career politician's playbook. City council seats are supposed to be non-partisan. Whether or not they actually are ... is up to you.
Kyle Saltz
Elected Experience
11 years elected leadership of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). 5 years elected Commander.
Other Professional Experience
Served 11 years as an Active-duty Army Counterintelligence Agent. Currently still serving in the Army reserve from 2023-present. Hanford Patrol from 2017-present on the Tactical Response Team.
Education
Master's Degree in Criminal Justice. Master's Degree in Liberal Arts. Graduate of the Defense Language Institute.
Community Service
VFW Honor guard for funerals, events, and educational activities. Volunteer for the Special Olympics and Love on a Leash (visits nursing homes, hospitals with k9 friend Maxwell). Veterans Courts Mentor of Benton County.
Statement
I joined the Army after witnessing the events of 9/11 as a high school senior. I became a Counterintelligence Agent for 11 years and deploying multiple times to Afghanistan. I have worked for Hanford Patrol for 8 years and am proud of my fellow Law Enforcement Officers. I rejoined the Army as an Army Reserve Counterintelligence Agent.
I have been involved in the Richland community since returning home from active duty. In addition to my work with the VFW and Veterans courts, I volunteer with the Special Olympics, and I visit nursing homes and hospitals through the Love on the Leash program.
My priority will be to ensure the safety of our community, and particularly our businesses. The growing problem with homelessness must be address in a compassionate manner that does not endanger the health and safety of workers and customers. I plan to review Richland's municipal codes and find ways to conduct business more efficiently while maintaining high levels of professionalism and service. I will also focus on Richlands Police department to work with crime analysts to study crime trends in our city and how best through policy and problem-oriented policing we can make our community safer.
Community Engagement
Community Engagement
- ✅ Tri-Cities Vote Q&A
- ❌ League of Women Voters
- ✅ TC Regional Chamber Q&A
- ❌ Ballotpedia Survey 2025
- ✅ Indivisible Tri-Cities
- ❌ Stonewall News Q&A
- ✅ TC Regional Chamber Video
- ❌ Tri-City Herald Q&A
Endorsements and Opposition
No letters of support or opposition listed yet.
Endorsements and Opposition
Donors
Donors
💰 $460 from 1+ donors ($460 cash / $0 in-kind): including Kurt H Maier ($460)
Donors
Donors
💰 $17,689 from 11+ donors ($4,288 cash / $13,401 in-kind): including Kyle Saltz ($12,901)UA Local 598 Plumbers & Steamfitters ($1,200)Tri-City Association of Realtors ($1,000)WA Realtors PAC ($1,000)WA Patriot State PAC ($500)Benjamin Charlotte ($350)Anonymous Contributions ($268)VFW Post 7952 ($250)
2025 City Council Questionnaire
Rank the city's top 3 most pressing challenges. How would you address them?
Kurt H Maier
1) Housing afforability. I'm working to address restrictive zoning and code requirements. 2) Public trust. City council needs to make itself available to press and citizens. 3) Poor representation. Council districts are a step in the right direction, but the culture of political party interference needs to end.
Kyle Saltz
Security and Safety is number 1. We need to support our first responders and ensure our community is safe. We currently don't have enough officers. We have the budget for it but just not the bodies. We need more men and woman in uniform. Ensuring the positive growth of Richland by being a business friendly environment. This is done by finding ways not to nickel and dime investors and builders. Reducing fees for new businesses would help encourage more people to start their own businesses. Finally, we need to go over our Municiple Codes and regulations. I have already identified several that needs to be changed. In fact some of the ones I have pointed out as a candidate are being changed. I also had to work with city officials just weeks ago when I identified our city of Richland website had a link to a third party site that promised services for donation. It was a faulty website so people could donate to the third party and never get services. It had been left up for years possibly scamming our people. Upon finding that it was taken down immediately. This had been up for years. You need people that care enough to go through the weeds and finding where we can improve upon and identifying things like this.
Pick one piece of city-owned property and express your vision for it.
Kurt H Maier
The grass field where the old city hall used to be, and the grounds of the neighboring police headquarters, should be reworked to extend John Dam Plaza and make that whole block public space. The police have repeatedly advised council they need a new facility, so we should take advantage of that to give downtown Richland a bigger public park!
Kyle Saltz
This is a hard choice. I have several ideas of what we can do. I have spoke about the bridge. I would love to see a parking garage by the historic downtown region of Richland. However, before I get ahead of myself, I have to look at what we need most right now with-in the budget. That is that our current police station is not big enough for the needs of our officers and the city. We would need to rebuild the station that can fit the growing demands of the city and ensure we are all safe in our community.
If money was no object and you could wave a magic wand, what single thing would you do to improve our city?
Kurt H Maier
If money were no object, I'd provide gratis housing and free college/tradeschool tuition for anyone who wants it.
Kyle Saltz
I would love to build a bridge from North Richland to Pasco. This would help the flow of traffic from Hanford. It would save 30 minutes of travel time for truckers going to Spokane. It would also meet the current development from Pasco moving that direction. Both cities would benefit from it. It would ease traffic and congestion in the city as well for peak times.
| Statement A | Strong A | Lean A | Lean B | Strong B | Statement B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
When making an important decision, I tend to trust in my own lived experiences, judgment, and beliefs. | When making an important decision, I tend to seek out opinions and perspectives different from my own. | ||||
In addition to increasing affordable housing options, we should address homelessness by prioritizing the enforcement of camping bans in public spaces. | In addition to increasing affordable housing options, we should address homelessness by prioritizing the development of low-barrier shelters. | ||||
We have adequate public transportation options; time and money are better spent elsewhere. | Our region should invest in / improve public transportation options. | ||||
We should take a multimodal view of transportation, finding examples from other small cities that have developed safe and thriving bike and pedestrian flow. | Traffic flow should be the top priority of transportation infrastructure investment. | ||||
We should address behavioral health needs by focusing on inpatient services for people experiencing addiction and other crises. | We should address behavioral health needs by focusing on education, harm reduction, and reducing stigma. | ||||
When it comes to energy initiatives, one effective strategy might be to support advanced nuclear technology (small modular reactors). | When it comes to energy initiatives, one effective strategy might be to support renewable energy options (like solar and hydro). | ||||
To better develop small businesses in our city, we should adjust regulations, including zoning, permits, and licensing fees. | To better develop small businesses in our city, we should invest in downtown revitalization and other infrastructure projects that create thriving areas for small business development. | ||||
The city is doing a good job of being transparent. | The city should do a much better job of being transparent. | ||||
The Columbia River shore should be returned to local control. | The Columbia River shore should remain under control of the Army Corps of Engineers. |